Under the Christmas Star (Crossroads Collection)

by Amanda Tru

  I’m so honored and pleased to get to introduce her and the next book in this collection, Shattered Pieces. Lovers of her Kennedy Stern series will recognize this family and enjoy getting to know their story a little better. Those unfamiliar with the series may just find out why they should pick up book one today!

  Author of Tangoed In Tinsel

  a novella by

  Copyright Notice

  Shattered Pieces, original copyright © 2018 by Alana Terry, all rights reserved.

  The characters in this book are fictional. Any resemblance to real persons is coincidental. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form (electronic, audio, print, film, etc.) without the author’s written consent.

  Scriptures quoted from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

  Note: The views of the characters in this novel do not necessarily reflect the views of the author, nor is their behavior necessarily condoned.

  Description: A young boy discovers the story of how his parents survived as an interracial couple in the American South during the Civil Rights movement.

  www.alanaterry.com

  Disclaimer: Each book in this collection is the intellectual property and copyrighted material of the respective author and/or publisher and is reprinted as a part of this collection (anthology) only once, only for a limited time, and only by permission of the owners. Olivia Kimbrell Press™ makes absolutely no claim on, or to, the property of the owner(s) which exceeds that permission.

  Dear Miss Sheldon,

  My name is Woong, and I live with my mom and my dad in Medford, Massachusetts. You may be wondering how old I am except I couldn’t say for sure on account of me being adopted from Korea. Things got hard enough for me there that I sort of lost track of how many years went by, which is how come I couldn’t say for sure my real age. But I’m in seventh grade, and most of my friends are twelve, so sometimes when I don’t feel like explaining the whole story to folks, I decide to tell them that’s how old I am, too.

  Anyway, Miss Sheldon, the reason I’m writing you is because I’m looking for a Christmas present for my mom, and when I saw your Little Star webpage, I knew the ornaments you make and sell are just the kind of thing she’d like. She gets all girly about stuff like that, you know, things that make her feel so good inside she starts to cry a little except they’re happy tears. There’s a word to describe folks like her, only I’m forgetting it just now.

  But back to my original point. I’m writing you because you make these really pretty Christmas ornaments, and I’ve been saving up the money I’ve earned doing some babysitting for my Auntie Hannah. Only it’s not really babysitting, by the way. What happens, see, is Auntie comes over to do Bible studies with Mom. I guess I should mention something else first. Dad’s a pastor, which means that Mom always has people coming over to do things like pray and read their Bibles and stuff and nonsense like that. And I don’t know if you’re a Christian, Miss Sheldon, but I kind of think that maybe you are on account of how many of your ornaments have decorations of baby Jesus and whatnot. But if you aren’t a Christian, something you need to know about pastors’ wives is they love praying with folks and having lady friends over and drinking tea together.

  So whenever Auntie comes over, I babysit her little girl, Emily, who’s going to be two this summer, which means she gets into basically anything she wants. Like once, Mom and Auntie were talking about this really important Bible verse for women called Proverbs 31, which tells moms and stuff the kinds of things they’re supposed to do if they want to make God happiest, and Emily walked into the bathroom and pulled out a box of … Well, maybe I shouldn’t tell you on account of them being something that ladies use but it’s a little personal, so it’s sort of like a secret. But Emily got into this box and got a whole lot of these secret things out (I know the name for them, by the way, but it’s a little embarrassing to write it out here), and she started unwrapping them all and sticking them on the walls and drawers and even the inside of the bathtub. Mom laughed, but Auntie got a little cross, which if you knew Auntie says a lot because she never gets mad at anyone.

  So starting that day, Auntie asked me if I’d keep an eye on Emily. And that reminds me of something I should explain. She’s not really my aunt. I just call her that because I’ve known her for such a long amount of time. And this part’s kind of funny too because Auntie’s Korean, and I’m Korean, but Emily’s not because she’s adopted too, just like me.

  Well, what happened was Mom said that if I do a good job keeping Emily out of trouble when she and Auntie are doing their tea and praying time that she would give me five dollars if I promise to be good and remember to put a tithe into the church offering and then at least another fifty cents into my savings envelope. And I think that’s a pretty good deal, don’t you?

  And now you understand what I mean when I tell you that it’s not really babysitting because I’m not home alone with just Emily and me. Mom doesn’t let me stay home alone, which if you ask me, I’d say it’s an abomination because this boy at my school, Chuckie Mansfield, his parents both leave for work before seven in the morning and don’t get back until at least seven at night, and nobody makes a big deal about him being home alone for that long. Then again, his dad yells a lot and his mom never smiles, so maybe it doesn’t make an awful lot of sense for me to be jealous of someone like that.

  All that is to say I’ve got money in my savings envelope now from all that babysitting I do (even though, like I said, it’s not actual babysitting). So I can afford one of your ornaments except your website didn’t tell me how much it would cost for the shipping, so I hope I end up having enough.

  I’m actually not sure which ornament Mom would like, so what I thought I’d do is tell you a little bit about the kinds of things she tends to enjoy, and then you can pick something out special for her.

  So here’s the things you need to know about my mom. First, she’s a pastor’s wife, and that’s pretty much all she does. She’s kind of old —old enough to be a grandma actually, and I even have nephews and nieces who are almost adults by now. Weird, huh? See, Mom and Dad were married for a long time before I was even born, and at first they had some kids the usual way (I hope you get what I mean because I really don’t want to have to write it out). After that they adopted a few more, and then they were foster parents for a whole bunch of others. So basically any time we go to the store, we run into someone Mom calls my brother or sister even though I’ve never met them, and if you were to stand us all together, we certainly don’t look like we could be related at all.

  Here’s what I mean. Mom’s got peachy skin, and her hair’s brown even though she says it’s blond, but if you really want to know the truth, it looks gray to me. She keeps it in a braid most of the time, so if she comes in to tell me something at night and she’s got it down, she doesn’t even look like my mom at all. She says she doesn’t like how much she weighs, and she’s always doing some kind of diet or stuff and nonsense like that, but Dad says he likes her exactly the way she is.

  See, my Mom and Dad have been in love forever. But even though things are really good for them now, it wasn’t always the case back in the olden days.

  I told you about Mom’s peachy skin and gray hair (except if you ever meet her, you probably shouldn’t call it that on account of not wanting to hurt her feelings), but my dad’s got really brown skin, and they fell in love back in that time when black people and white people hadn’t learned how to get along with each other too well yet. Which is sad, if you ask me, because if Mom and Dad hadn’t gotten married and decided to adopt, I might still be in that orphanage in Korea, know what I mean?

  And I guess I need to be careful because I actually don’t even know what color skin you have on account of your website not having any pictures of you, and some people have certain words about skin color that they say are just fine, but other folks tell them
not to use them. Here’s what I mean. Dad tells people it’s okay to say that someone’s black, but other people try to find other ways of putting it or just don’t mention it. But I’m used to my dad’s way of doing it, so I hope it doesn’t hurt your feelings at all.

  So anyway, my dad’s black, and my mom’s white (even though technically I’d call his skin brown and her skin peachy), and that sort of thing happens all the time now, you know, when people with two different kinds of skin fall in love. There’s a word for it, I’ve just forgotten it right now. But back in the olden days, that sort of thing made people mad. The only reason I’m telling you this is because I think it might help you get to know Mom a little better so you can decide on the best kind of Christmas ornament, although now that I think about it, I’ve never really seen ornaments that couldn’t go on a white person’s Christmas tree just as easily as on a black person’s Christmas tree or the other way around, so maybe that part of their story doesn’t matter too much after all.

  But what you do need to know (and now I remember why I brought up the skin color thing to start with) is that Mom and Dad love each other. I mean they really love each other. Like sometimes it’s even a little gross. I’m probably not supposed to tell you this on account of you being a stranger and all, but whenever Mom’s cooking in the kitchen and Dad walks by her, he’ll actually spank her. I’m not talking about the kind of spanking a kid gets if he’s being bad, by the way. I know some adults don’t like the idea of kids being spanked, and Mom and Dad say it’s okay in certain situations but definitely not okay in others, but that’s not the sort of spanking I mean.

  I’m talking about kind of like a pat on the butt except he’s doing it all the time, so sometimes Mom complains that she can’t even get any work done because she’s afraid to turn around and trip over him because he’s always coming up behind her and doing that. So now you know what I mean when I tell you they love each other so much. Dad says I shouldn’t complain, that lots of kids my age have parents who don’t like each other at all let alone love each other, and I suppose that makes sense. My best friend, Becky Linklater, her dad divorced her mom, and it’s made her really sad. Becky’s the one who’s sad, I mean, not her mom, although now that I think about it, Mrs. Linklater’s probably sad too on account of her still loving her husband except he’s fallen out of love with her. I think that would be a terrible abomination, don’t you?

  Mom says she prays for me every day to grow up and find a wife who’s nice and loves Jesus and that we’ll be just as happy together as she and Dad are, which I suppose wouldn’t be all that bad except for the part about having to ask a girl to marry me and stuff and nonsense like that. I don’t know how to go about doing that sort of thing, so I hope I learn before the time I have to try my hand at it. I figure I’ll probably ask Becky Linklater to be my girlfriend, and some of the kids at school are already starting to go out together, but Mom and Dad won’t let me until I’m older. Dad said once I’m not allowed to date until I’m married, but I’m pretty sure that was just a joke.

  So anyway, what I wanted to ask is if you’ve got any ornaments that would be really good for someone who loves her husband just as much as my mom does because I think that’s just the sort of present she would like the most. You can email me back here, but I’m only allowed on the computer between 4:30 and 5:00 every day, and that’s only if I’ve got my homework done, and do you know how hard junior high is? I used to do homeschool with Mom, which was okay except I missed my friends from Medford Academy, and now that I’m at Medford Middle School, I get four out of my six classes with Becky Linklater, so I really wouldn’t want to go back to homeschool, which is what Mom says will happen if I don’t stay on top of my grades. So that’s why it might take me a little bit of time to write back to you.

  Sincerely,

  Woong Lindgren

  P.S. Until I get more babysitting jobs, I only have $4.30 extra after paying for the ornament. Will that be enough for shipping?

  Hi, Miss Sheldon.

  Or actually, now that I think about it, I’m not sure if you’re Miss Sheldon or Mrs. Sheldon, or maybe you’re something else altogether. I really can’t tell from your website, so sorry if I got it wrong. You can email me back and tell me if I made a mistake so I don’t do the same thing again next time.

  I was really happy to hear from you. I was surprised you were the one to write me that email. I thought maybe you’d have an assistant or someone to do that sort of stuff, kind of like how Dad has the church secretary who prints out the bulletins. Now that I think about it, I’m sure she does more than that, I just don’t know what.

  Anyway, I liked your idea about Christmas carols, so I even found a sneaky way to ask Mom what her favorite Christmas song was. She says she really likes Mary Did You Know? because it reminds her how hard it must have been to be as young as Mary and have such an important job as being pregnant with God, know what I mean? The biggest problem is that song always makes her cry, so I’m not sure it’d be the best to do an ornament out of.

  She also really likes Little Drummer Boy, but I don’t think that one would work on account of Dad saying there’s nothing in the Bible about a little drummer boy, and he’s kind of particular about that sort of thing. That reminds me of a Bible question for you. Do you know how many wise men came to visit baby Jesus? Did you guess three? Well, you’re wrong. The answer’s none.

  Know why? Because the Bible says the wise men didn’t come to see Jesus as a baby, that he may have been as old as two when they gave him all those presents. Which is how old the kids were in Bethlehem when that really sad part with King Herod happens. You’ll have to look it up and read it yourself if you don’t know what I’m talking about, but it’s really upsetting on account of the kids being so little when it took place. But it’s kind of strange if you ask me because Mom and Dad won’t let me watch the third Star Wars movie (that’s the one where Anakin goes to the dark side) on account of them saying it’s too violent. Becky Linklater told me that Anakin even kills some little kids, but then every year we read about King Herod doing the same thing, and not just to little kids but to babies. My parents make me read that part of the Christmas story, so why don’t they let me watch Revenge of the Sith, I wonder?

  All that is to say Mom loves Little Drummer Boy because it makes her feel so happy that even someone without any money or gold or spices can still give Jesus their gifts, but Dad wouldn’t like it too much if we got an ornament about a part of Christmas that didn’t even happen in the Bible. Although now that I think about it, the Bible doesn’t specifically say that there wasn’t a drummer boy at the stable, so maybe it’d be all right after all.

  I’ll have to find a way to ask Dad about that one.

  But other than those two songs, Mom really likes O Holy Night. There’s this singer, I forget his name just now, but Mom listens to his Christmas album all the time (even if it’s not winter), and she says he does the best O Holy Night version of anyone. Which reminds me of something really funny. Once after school, Becky Linklater and I were both staying for drama club, and while we were waiting for our teacher, Becky showed me a video on her phone where they actually have goats singing O Holy Night. I don’t mean they were singing the words, but they yelled out the right tune, and it was really funny.

  But back to your question about whether or not Mom would like an ornament that has to do with Christmas songs. We sing all the usual ones at church, and I don’t think there’s any church music Mom doesn’t like. But you’ve got to be careful with other kinds of Christmas songs because Dad’s not a big fan of Santa Claus. I don’t know when you said Christmas carols if you were talking about just baby Jesus music or if you meant things like Jolly Old St. Nicholas and stuff and nonsense like that, but we should probably avoid Santa ornaments if possible.

  Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

  Woong Lindgren

  Dear Miss Sheldon,

  It’s me again, Woong Lindgren.
I’m really glad you wrote me back, although after I sent you my last email, I started to wonder if maybe I’d acted kind of rude. Mom’s always talking to me about how important it is for me to have good manners, especially because my dad’s a pastor. She says it’s not fair, but people are going to judge me stricter when they find out my dad’s a preacher, and if I do something bad like forget to say thank you or mumble when I’m shaking a new person’s hand, Mom says it can cause trouble for Dad at work. And he really loves his job, so none of us want anything bad to happen on account of him being such a good preacher.

  Did I tell you he even got some kind of award from the Bible school around here? Well, now that I think about it, I don’t think award is the right word to use. I think that maybe there are rules about pastors not being able to accept awards on account of they’re supposed to be extra humble and stuff and nonsense like that, but there’s this Bible college where they train people to become preachers, and last year they let my dad wear a special graduation cap and gave him a fancy piece of paper that Mom put in a frame and Dad hung up in his office at our church.

  So, seeing as how my dad’s the kind of preacher to be getting fancy papers from different Bible schools and whatnot, I know it’s important for me to try not to be selfish or rude. All that being said, when I sent you my email the last time, I felt kind of bad afterward on account of only talking to you about my mom and dad and forgetting to ask anything about you. Where do you live? Your website didn’t really have any address, at least none that I could find, so that got me wondering. Because if you lived anywhere near me and my family in Massachusetts, I know Dad would want me to invite you to our church. We go to this big one in Cambridge called St. Margaret’s, and if you were to come visit, Mom would be sure to ask you to come over for lunch afterward, so you might want to show up a little hungry on account of Mom always making plenty of extra food for guests.