Christmas in Harmony (8 page)

I heard a slight sniff and came out of my reverie. “Uh, Sam, I was wondering if you could maybe do me a favor?”

“Sure, Frank, what is it?”

“I was hoping maybe you could you read the second chapter of Luke for me. Not the whole thing, just the birth part.”

“Yeah, I can do that.” I reached for a pew Bible.

“No, Sam, not here. Could you read it from the pulpit, like we’ve always done?”

I walked up to the pulpit, opened the pulpit Bible to the Gospel of Luke, and began to read. Frank closed his eyes and tilted his head back, letting the words wash over him. “And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed…. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn…Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.”

I closed the Bible and sat back down next to Frank. He reached in his coat pocket and pulled out the cookies I had given him earlier. “Care for a cookie?” he asked.

“Thank you, Frank. Don’t mind if I do.”

We sat like that until the Frieda Hampton memorial clock bonged midnight.

“Merry Christmas, Sam.”

“Merry Christmas to you, Frank.”

The stream of some forty Christmas Eves in that place now blend into one, except for that year, which I’ve never told anyone about until now, trusting you will not think me foolish for believing it to be perhaps my finest Christmas Eve ever.

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