Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: BRISK (10/12/23)
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TITLE: Views on a Stormy Night | Previous Challenge Entry
By LINDA GERMAIN
10/19/23 -
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Tomorrow had promises to keep. She had cooked enough food to last for days. Tonight was for snuggling on the sofa and filling stockings so carefully hung by the chimney with care. Toby, the dear little mutt, was already curled up in his bed near the fireplace. He would be happy with the new chew toy awaiting.
Ginger slowly exhaled as she watched Freddy through the window from her cozy chair. He was always so faithful to haul in extra wood for the fireplace. She was glad he had warm gloves and sturdy boots and was wearing the muffler she had knitted so many years ago. That made her smile.
Tiny slivers of ice decorated the old oak out front and clung to the eaves of the lovely house. A slight wind seemed to make frozen diamonds dance under the streetlight. She noticed well-planned decorations on the neighbors’ homes. The whole street looked like a wonderland. Wouldn’t a dazzling blanket of snow complete the perfect Yuletide picture?
After her dear spouse had settled in and was shod in his wool-lined slippers, she poured their traditional hot chocolate topped with marshmallows. They clinked holiday-inspired red and green cups and sighed.
As sleet pummeled the roof and windows, they felt completely safe and content. Almost in unison, they both declared, “We are so blessed!
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Across town, Amber stirred the soup as she waited for John to get home from his second job. At least he would have tomorrow off. The tiny house was so chilly she had put all three kids in the same bed. She hoped he would bring some more wood to feed the small cast iron stove.
She went to the freezing cold window several times praying his old truck would make it on those worn-out tires. The increasing icy weather was of concern. What if it snowed?
“Thank you, Lord,” she sighed when the headlights on John’s truck turned in the driveway. She opened the door to a surprise he was trying to lug into the room. It was a small tree about four feet tall.
“Oh, John, where did you get this? It smells so good.”
He gave her a hug and that endearing boyish grin.
“I passed a tree lot where they were giving away the scrubby ones left and then stopped at the all-night drug store for lights and tinsel at seventy-five percent off."
John was like a little kid. His boss had handed each one a small check, enough to cover a couple of games and books for the children, a cake for tomorrow, and a small load of wood to burn.
He and Amber were so excited to get the spindly Christmas tree decorated and wrap the few little presents with some old tissue paper she had saved. They could hardly wait to see the faces of their precious children who were not expecting anything, even though dreams of sugar plums were skipping about in their sleepy heads.
Amber served John his hot soup in a big mug as they sat close under her grandmother’s quilt on the old sheet-covered sofa. Minerva, the beloved cat, napped as close to the old stove as she could.
Almost in unison, they looked at each other and declared, “We are so blessed!
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Job 37:9 (NLT)
The stormy wind comes from its chamber, and the driving winds bring the cold.
Psalm 147:13 (NLT)
For he has strengthened the bars of your gates and blessed your children within your walls.
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