O Little Town

by Reid, Don

  By the time Dove and Millie made their way to the back of the sanctuary, the choir had begun to sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” Two of Millie’s friends walked in and she turned to her mother and asked if she could sit with them.

  “Sure.” And they were off, leaving Dove standing in the open doorway. The church was full. Paul would be pleased with the turnout. Dove looked up and down the center and side aisles in search of an empty seat. She finally spotted one on the back row. As the choir began the second verse, she slipped in quietly and sat down. It wasn’t until she reached for a hymnbook that she looked up to see who was next to her.

  “Well, I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” Dove said.

  “I wasn’t expecting to come,” Colleen answered. “But Milton was sleeping. I’ll go back as soon as the service is over. I just needed to be here tonight.”

  There was magic in Paul Franklin’s sermon. Everyone who heard his words felt the impact of them on their hearts.

  Campbell Sterrett, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with his wife, heard a quiet tug on his spirit to soften his heart toward her. His son would be fine. Life would make Louis Wayne the man he was destined to be. Contending through it all with the woman beside him was where he needed more strength. This was his private prayer—to be granted the spiritual wherewithal to deal with his wife in her new role in their growing family.

  Doris Sterrett looked down at her hands as Rev. Franklin’s words rang in her ears. She knew she had to manage her emotions in a more acceptable way. She had to get a hold on herself and develop a healthy relationship with her daughter-in-law-to-be. Now was the time to drop her pride and admit the things that were most important. Isn’t that what Paul said just a few second ago? “Forgiveness is first a private matter before you can pass it on.”

  Buddy Briggs knew better than anyone how difficult this sermon must be on Paul. He was pretty sure Paul thought the same thing about him. The boy sitting next to his daughter, not six feet away, was the core of it all for Buddy. He had to forgive him. He knew that. And he would. Maybe not tonight. Certainly not as easily as Amanda would. Amanda looked over and smiled at him. He knew what was in her mind. She was seeing a newborn baby, a new creation, a new life that would make a difference in their family from this day on. She was incapable of not forgiving. That’s just how her heart was built. He smiled back at her. He always did.

  Millie Franklin was sitting with her friends, and Kay was passing a note back and forth between them. They did this often in church but tonight Millie wished they wouldn’t. She wanted to listen to her father’s words without distraction. They were touching her in a new way.

  “There is love through blood that can’t be denied or altered,” he said.

  She knew forgiveness was hers and she knew what she had to do with it. She closed her eyes there in the pew and made a promise never to knowingly do anything again in her life to hurt or humiliate her parents. And then she prayed for the will to keep that promise. When she opened her eyes, her dad was looking at her and smiling.

  Louis Wayne and Shirley Ann wanted to hold hands but knew it would appear too pretentious in church … and next to their parents. Shared thoughts drifted between them. They both wanted to make everything right with their families. Shirley Ann wanted her dad to understand and her mother to know just how much she loved her for the support already given. Louis Wayne wanted his dad to say something—anything that would let him know how he truly felt. And he wanted his mother to let the world know a little less about how she felt. But all these wishes to be understood and accepted were overshadowed by the very real knowledge that they, the two of them, had put everyone in this awkward position. It was their actions that brought all these emotions to a head. The first and foremost need they felt, sitting there listening to Rev. Franklin, was God’s forgiveness and a chance to make their lives matter. And that’s what they silently vowed to one another with a quick glance as Paul Franklin said, “Forgiveness is always possible if first you have love.” Just then Louis Wayne reached over and squeezed Shirley Ann’s hand. Tears accented their eyes and they both felt a warmth of grace they would feel as a couple for decades to come.

  Milton Sandridge was not asleep as Colleen had thought. He was staring at the ceiling of his hospital room and listening to the words of the Mason Street Methodist pastor over the radio. He knew the words were for him. He felt the personal thump on his heart as Rev. Franklin said, “Struggling for the truth is hard but struggling with the truth is even harder.” Milton didn’t move. He just lay there waiting for the next word to fall, hoping in his heart that God would give him the mercy he didn’t deserve.

  Walter Selman sat alone on the back bench. He wanted to hear the sermon but also wanted to see the full scope of the people and the church. He and Ella often would sit in the back. How he missed her this night. She would have known just the right words to say to Doris and just the right blend of scolding and encouragement to offer Louis Wayne. And she would have made Shirley Ann feel welcome and still have found a graceful way to warn her about what she was getting into—about how to handle this side of the family. Yes, he missed her. He pretended for just a moment that she was sitting beside him until he couldn’t stand to pretend anymore. Then he smiled a knowing smile and thought, Isn’t that what we do in life? We pretend until God shows us how.

  Paul had long disregarded his notes and was speaking from his heart. He, like the rest of the people in the sanctuary, was hearing these words for the first time. He was talking to himself as surely as if he had been in his car alone rehearsing memory verses. All this talk of forgiveness was not advice for a captive audience; it was Paul working things out for himself. He thought of his daughter—a young lady reaching for independence and gaining the difficult wisdom of experience. He thought of his wife looking him in the eye and telling him she had been “dishonest” with him. As the day progressed and the Devil played with his suspicions, he became less and less certain about what she’d meant. But he was certain of one thing: God knew the difference. Paul’s job was simple—to offer Dove the balm of forgiveness and accept love both coming and going. He spotted Dove and thought he could see tears in her eyes. Then he saw Dove lean over and put her arm around Colleen’s shoulders.

  “Colleen,” she whispered, “It’s going to be all right.”

  “Is it, Dove?”

  “Yes. I promise.”

  Walter stood in the vestibule with the other deacons and handed out candy canes to kids and adults alike as they filed out at the end of the service. His family gathered at the front door and just then a soft sprinkle of snow began to fall. He said good night to Colleen and kissed her on the cheek and wished her Merry Christmas and watched as she went toward her car. Doris and Campbell stopped near the curb to wave good-bye to Colleen.

  “Are you riding home with us, Dad?”

  “No. You two go on ahead.”

  “How are you getting home?” his daughter asked.

  “The same way I got here. Little pal and his girlfriend are going to take me.”

  Just then Louis Wayne pulled up in his car. Shirley Ann got out and climbed into the back, making the front passenger seat available to Walter.

  Doris stood on the corner not believing this scene, but she laughed in spite of her mood at the sight of her father and son and his young fiancée piling into a car together.

  “Well, just where are you three going and what time are you coming home?”

  “Don’t know,” Walter said and he closed the door. “Could be pretty late.”

  Doris shook her head and smiled and waved and gave in to the spirit of the season. And as they drove away, they passed under a streetlight. Doris saw something lying in the back window. It looked like a bunch of roses. She shook her head. Where would anyone find roses on a cold winter night like this?

  EPILOGUE

  As I said at the beginning, I can see where almost all of it took place from where I’m sitting in my office overlooking Main Street.
So much has changed and yet, with a little imagination, it’s not difficult to picture it as it was. Macalbee’s is now a local appliance center. The police station moved into a new building at the outskirts of town. Well, it’s twenty years old now. The original building just up the hill from here is gone. In its place is a parking lot for the hair salon next door.

  The Crown Theater, which had flourished for so long, died in the ’70s when the new multiplex came in at the mall. It stood empty and dark for nearly two decades, but then a group of nostalgic citizens got together, raised some money, tore out the screen, and restored it to its original grandeur. Today it looks pretty much the way Adrienne Knoles must have seen it.

  And the Mason Street Methodist Church? Still there. The congregation bought adjoining properties, tore down a few houses, and added a lot of Sunday school rooms and a fellowship hall, but all in all, it still looks the same as it did when the Franklins left the following year. They moved somewhere west; Illinois or Indiana, I think. I never really knew them but I did get to know Millie after she moved back to Mt. Jefferson. She taught high school here for years. She was my history teacher at MJHS. She was and still is a good friend to my parents, and, according to my dad and some old pictures I’ve seen, her mother, Dove, was every bit the beauty people said she was.

  My great-grandpa Walter passed away quietly in his sleep—eleven years after that Christmas Eve—at the age of eighty-one. Turns out his illness was a virus just like they originally thought. For the undue agony he blamed the doctors, the doctors blamed the lab, and the lab blamed the technology. I didn’t care who was to blame, I was just glad we had him all those extra years. I count that as one of my many blessings and I think he did too. We spent many an after-school afternoon together just walking in the park, eating hamburgers and ice cream, and talking about anything and everything.

  My great uncle Milton took an early retirement, and he and Aunt Colleen moved back to Richmond where he joined the family business. Office equipment I think. I never really knew them except for holiday get-togethers and a few family reunions.

  Grandmother Doris and Pop Sterrett live in Florida and fish every morning and play bridge four times a week. She calls every Sunday night without fail and I have to tell her everything I had to eat for the past week, tell her what each of my kids did in school, and assure her that I’m still recycling. Pop seldom gets to talk but I know he cares.

  Grandpa Buddy was offered the chief of police job, but turned it down and left the force. He took a less stressful job teaching a law enforcement class at a community college just down the road. And Grandma Amanda? Well, she held the family together. Some of the happiest moments in my life were spent in her kitchen and her backyard and simply in her presence. They, too, are gone and sorely missed. There’s a picture of the two of them just over there on the bookcase. They were a handsome couple.

  Uncle Hoyt is a doctor and lives in Europe. I’m not real sure where, as his address seems to change nearly as often as his marital status. My kids get birthday cards from him stuffed with money every year but no one has seen him since he stopped in to show off a new bride nearly ten years ago.

  And Mom and Dad. What can I say? They didn’t have it easy but they’re still in love, and you can’t get any better than that. Dad kept every promise he made at the precarious age of seventeen. He went to college, got his degree, and he and Mom raised three of us. We still get together on holidays and for family reunions. And though we enjoy Christmas mornings in our own homes, every Christmas Eve, we get together at Mom and Dad’s for an old fashioned bow-and-paper-strewn living room Christmas celebration with kids rolling on the floor and more food than ten families could eat. For some of us it’s a shorter night than it is for others. But no matter what time I finally get to bed, I can always be assured that sometime around 3 a.m., Dad will be sitting in the car in front of the house with two cups of coffee, waiting for me. To most people a middle-of-the-night Christmas Eve adventure might seem an imposition at best, or a fool’s errand at worst, but we wouldn’t miss it for all the roses in the world. Or even just for the eight long-stemmed ones that are always lying on the backseat of his car.

  Four for Adrienne. And four for Walter.

  … a little more …

  When a delightful concert comes to an end,

  the orchestra might offer an encore.

  When a fine meal comes to an end,

  it’s always nice to savor a bit of dessert.

  When a great story comes to an end,

  we think you may want to linger.

  And so, we offer ...

  AfterWords—just a little something more after you

  have finished a David C Cook novel.

  We invite you to stay awhile in the story.

  Thanks for reading!

  Turn the page for ...

  • A Conversation with Don Reid

  • Discussion Question

  A Conversation with Don Reid

  What was the original inspiration for O Little Town?

  Around the turn of the century, a member of a traveling circus troupe was murdered in Staunton, Virginia, the town upon which this story is based (and also my hometown). Her name was Eva Clark. Every year mysterious flowers are placed on her grave. That was the inspiration. The rest is fiction.

  What sort of research did you do as you wrote this novel?

  I love research books. I have loads of them. I used them to check dates and become familiar with fashions and learn about common expressions from the early 1900s. I didn’t have to do much research for the 1958 storyline—I just referred to my own memories. I was only a kid then, but I was deep into that decade with my formative years.

  Which character (or characters) do you relate to most in the story?

  This may sound corny, but there’s a little bit of me in each of the characters. In order to really know them and develop them, I think I had to become a part of their thinking process. I love Walter—his grumpiness and wisdom. His matter-of-fact look at life. And I found Dove attractive even though she was full of problems of the heart. I really liked all these people. Even Doris. (Every family has one.)

  How did you approach the writing of this novel? Did you map out the story before you dug into the writing, did you follow an idea to see where it took you, some combination of the two?

  I did my own strange outline. This wasn’t anything like I learned in creative writing classes in school. I listed all my characters on a legal pad and drew lines from one name to the other and then wrote on the lines what their relationship was. Then I made notes about what I wanted to cover in each of the chapters—just three or four lines to remind me where the story would go. I knew from day one how the last page would read.

  As the book took shape, what surprised you most about the characters or storyline?

  I don’t think anything about the storyline surprised me, but the people did. They all were more complex than I first thought—less “black and white.” There were no goodie-goodies and not a devil among them. They were the people next door and I was just looking in their windows.

  How would you describe the role of faith in O Little Town? The role of family?

  The whole punch to the book is forgiveness. Every character whose family played a role came from a strong and good and faithful family. Some of the folks in the 1904 storyline didn’t have strong family connections. They were just out there drifting. And without God we all would be.

  What was the most rewarding aspect of writing O Little Town? The most challenging?

  The most rewarding thing was seeing these people leap from my mind to the paper and take on life. That, and having people respond with a smile after reading it.

  And the most challenging? Keeping the timelines in order. Making sure the ages checked out and worked within the time frame.

  What do you hope readers will take away from the story?

  I hope they’re entertained, inspired, and moved. I hope they recognize in the characters p
eople in their own lives, and perhaps even see themselves in there somewhere.

  Discussion Questions

  Gather some friends together after reading O Little Town to talk about the themes and characters. Use these questions to spark a lively discussion.

  1. What’s your initial reaction to the main characters in the story? What did you like about them? What did you dislike?

  2. What intrigued you most about the storyline that was based in 1904?

  3. In what ways were the two different time periods similar? What were the most striking differences?

  4. What did you learn about Walter from the way he reminisced? From the way he interacted with his family?

  5. What surprised you most about Adrienne? About young Walter?

  6. What were some of the main characters’ greatest areas of personal growth?

  7. Which storyline was most compelling to you? Which one could you relate to most from your own experience?

  8. Which character do you relate to most? Why?

  9. What role did the Crown Theater play in the story? Macalbees? What are some of the buildings or locations that play important roles in your life?

  10. Describe your first impression of Millie. How did those first impressions change over the course of the novel?

  11. What role does forgiveness play in the two storylines?