Chapter Eight
Amy, Tracy and Robbie had a big meal, turkey, mashed potatoes, cooked carrots, and cranberry sauce, then they made a batch of eggnog. They took cups of the ‘nog outside and looked for a suitable log. A very light snow started, and isolated flakes drifted to the ground.
The largest fireplace in the house could hold a six foot log, but Robbie thought the ends wouldn’t burn, so they stuck with something shorter. He carried a big piece of maple wood into the house and Tracy prepared a nest of kindling and branches and smaller split logs to hold it. She looked to Robbie to light it.
He gestured to her and Amy, “You guys do it.”
Tracy said, “I think we’re supposed to throw some eggnog on it once it’s going--that’s like the anointing.”
Robbie shrugged, “OK, I guess let it really get roaring, right?”
Amy and Tracy lit either end of the pile of kindling and in a few seconds the log was surrounded in orange white flames.
Amy and Robbie sat together on a big leather couch and Tracy flopped down in front of the fire on a fluffy rug.
Robbie asked, “Aren’t you gonna anoint it?”
Tracy threw the contents of her mug on the log. The alcohol burned off, then the remaining fluid sizzled and popped and charred in the heat. She trotted back into the kitchen to get more.
Robbie said, “Don’t drink too much! You don’t want to get sick on eggnog.”
Amy said, “Sounds like you speak from experience.”
He nodded and laughed, “Yes! When I was a young man. I remember it like yesterday. Ick.”
“Yet you still drink it?” She raised an eyebrow.
“Just once a year, it’s a tradition.” He laughed.
Tracy sat with them on the couch and kicked her feet up on the coffee table. They contemplated the log burning for a long time in silent contentment. Tracy put her hand to her head and said, “I think I actually get it.”
Amy asked, “Get what?”
“Alright the sun becomes the log. We burn it to set Him free, well, symbolically. It’s the new solar year.” She explained.
Rubbed grunted in appreciation. “That seems about right.”
Amy nodded. “That’s very interesting.” She lounged back on Robbie’s lap.
Tracy eyed them suspiciously, “Are you two a couple?”
Robbie looked to Amy to explain. She said, “Well... No. Later this winter I’m going to apprentice at a farm in Pennsylvania, and get started with my new life. We’ll figure it out eventually.”
The Chardon Chronicles: Season Two --- The Winter Page 51