The Christmas Eve Letter: A Time Travel Novel (36 page)

Inside the dingy, smoky hallway there was little warmth.  A lone gas lamp hung on the wall, giving off feeble light, the flame flickering in a cold, drafty breeze.  Eve heard the wind wheezing through cracks.  She heard the cry of babies and smelled coal dust, which made her cough.

She lifted her skirt and started up the creaking stairs, seeing wide-eyed kids pop their heads from behind partially opened doors.  She smiled at some and waved at others.  None responded.  On the fourth floor she turned left and walked across the ancient, worn carpet she’d recalled from her last visit, until she found the door that had a tarnished tin number 3 nailed to it.  Eve recognized it.

She gathered herself, knocked lightly and waited, nerves wiggling her gloved fingers. 

The door opened, squeaking on its rusty hinges.  Standing before her, to her surprise, was Clayton Sharland.

“Clayton?” Eve asked.

Clayton gave her a welcoming smile.  “Yes, Miss Kennedy.  What a nice surprise.  Please come in.”

Eve did so, removing her winter bonnet and glancing about.  She saw wooden crates, packed full with clothes, candles and books.  She saw furniture stacked neatly near the door.

“I’m moving my mother out of here,” Clayton said.  “She’s coming to live with me.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Eve said.  “Is she home?”

“She’s in the back room packing up some last minute articles of clothing.  I came last night and told her about Evelyn’s miraculous recovery, that she was sitting up in bed, looking well and happy.  I also told Mother that Evelyn had expressed an urgent desire to see her, to make amends.  I urged Mother to visit Evelyn, if for no other reason than to keep the spirit of Christmas.”

“That’s good news, Clayton.  I’m glad you’re moving her out of this place.”

“I should have done it long ago, but then we don’t always do what we should.  I am so grateful for all you have done, Miss Kennedy.  Truly, I shudder to think what would have happened if you hadn’t removed Evelyn from Dr. Begley’s care.  She surely would have died.”

“Let’s just hope that Evelyn is up and around for Christmas,” Eve said, a little distractedly, as she scanned the room, looking for the lantern among the gathered items.  She didn’t see it. 

Just then Mrs. Sharland emerged from the back room, still a thin woman, with her gray hair askew and her pale white dress smudged with dust and soot.  When she saw Eve, she gave her a wonderful, sunshine smile that reduced her age by five years.

“Hello, Miss Kennedy,” she said, stepping over to take Eve’s hand.

Eve was a bit taken aback by the woman’s transformation.  The sullen bitterness, the low grinding speech of regret, anger and weary old age, were all replaced by kind eyes and a sweet soprano voice.

“It’s so good to see you again,” Eve said.

Mrs. Sharland patted her hair self-consciously.  “I must look a mess.  I have been packing since first dawn’s light.”

“You look very well,” Eve said.  “I’m so happy you’re going to live with Clayton.”

“You have been good to us, Miss Kennedy.  Clayton told me what you did for Evelyn.  He told me she is nearly whole again and that is such a weight off my mind.  I cannot say I understand why you have been so generous to us, Miss Kennedy, but I am thankful for your many kindnesses.  If I can ever repay you in any way, please let me know.”

“Well, actually, Mrs. Sharland, Evelyn wanted me to stop by to retrieve a lantern.”

Mrs. Sharland paused in thought.  “Lantern?”

“Yes.  Evelyn said there was a lantern here.  It has sentimental value to her.  Have you seen it?”

“Oh, yes, of course, there was a lantern in the back closet.”

Eve lifted to her full height.  “Then it is here, Mrs. Sharland?” Eve said, hope rising in her chest and lifting her voice.

Mrs. Sharland turned toward the back room, a thoughtful finger to her lips.  “Well, let me see now.  Yes… at least it was.”

She looked at Clayton.  “Clayton, did you take those crates downstairs to the backyard trash?”

“Yes, Mother, an hour or so ago.  I’m sure there was a lantern in the second crate.  I remember seeing it.”

Eve struggled for calm, turning to Mrs. Sharland.  “Did you put it in one of those crates?”

Mrs. Sharland nodded.  “Yes.  I have not used it and I did not think Evelyn would want it.”

Eve’s voice took on urgency.  “Then it’s out back?  Have they collected the garbage yet?”

“No, I do not believe so,” Clayton said.

Eve swung around to the front door.  “Excuse me, Mrs. Sharland.  I need to get it.  It’s very important.”

As Eve opened the door, Mrs. Sharland and Clayton exchanged puzzled glances.

“Wait, Miss Kennedy, I will go with you,” Clayton called.

Eve descended the stairs and, on the first floor, she swung around the banister and down the back hallway until she came to an unlocked door.  She pushed it open and stepped out into a backyard, with a leaning wooden fence and an alleyway to the right.  Eve saw mounds of coal cinders, discarded brown beer bottles, and a broken carriage wheel, all partially covered by snow.  She searched about, looking for the two crates, and she finally found them, pushed up against a back wall.  She hurried over, just as Clayton emerged from the building and went to her.

“Do you see it?”

Eve rummaged through the crates, anxiously, searching, removing items and peering inside.  But there was no lantern.

Eve shot Clayton a glance.  “You do remember seeing it, don’t you?” she asked.

Clayton leaned over.  “Yes, it was in the second one here.  On top.”

Eve sighed, her breath smoking in the cold.  “Damn!”

Clayton flashed her a surprised glance. 

“Sorry, Clayton.  Sometimes the modern woman in me comes out.”

Clayton didn’t know how to respond to that, so he said nothing.  Eve placed her hands on her hips as she cast searching looks around the yard.  She stepped over to the alleyway and peered up and down, seeing clotheslines stretched across the windows above her, and old dingy clothes blowing in the cold wind. 

When she turned around to face Clayton, she saw a small, curly-blonde-haired girl emerge through the back door into the yard.  She was no more than five or six years old, and she wore a thin woolen coat and a woolen cap.  Eve’s eyes widened.  She froze on the spot, her heart in her throat.  She saw the lantern!  The little girl had gripped the handle and was dragging it across the ground, making a little path in the snow as she moved. 

Eve hurried over, elated and fretful. 

“Little girl… Little girl?”

The blonde-haired girl turned.  She had a cherub-like face, with round blue eyes and a pouty mouth, as if she were irritated at being disturbed.

Eve moved closer, focusing hard on the lantern’s detail.  Yes, this was it.  She was sure of it.  It was 12 inches high, made of iron, and painted a greenish brown.  There were four glass window panes with wire guards, and there was an anchor design on each side of the roof.

Eve smiled, entranced.  How strange it was to see the lantern again back in its own time, knowing that someday, far into the future, it would wind up in
The Time Past Antique Shop
. 

Emotions arose, urgency arose.  She felt a wild longing to return to her own time and to escape forever from this place.

Eve sat on her haunches before the sulking little girl.  Eve’s eyes shifted first to the girl and then to the lantern, lying only inches away from her anxious grasp.

“Is that yours?” Eve asked.

The little girl nodded.

“Did you find it in the wooden crate over there?”

Another nod.

Eve’s breath sped up. “Have you lighted the lantern?”  And then Eve held her breath, waiting.

The girl didn’t move.  Clayton had wandered over and was looking down at them both.

“Did you light it?” Eve asked, softly.  Non-threateningly.

“I don’t have a candle.  Do you have one?”

Eve let out a breath of relief.  What would have happened if the little girl
had
lighted the lantern?  Would she have been transported off into another world?  A better world?  A world where this poor little girl would never be hungry again?  Did the lantern’s powers only have relevance to Evelyn Sharland and John Allister Harringshaw? 

“I can get you a candle, little Miss,” Clayton said, kindly.

“No!” Eve said, sharply.  And then more softly.  “I mean… Well, I have an idea.  What is your name, Miss?”

The little girl hesitated.  “Dora.”

“Dora,” Eve said.  “Would you take a gold coin for the lantern?”

“I like the lantern.  I want to light it,” Dora said.

“Yes, it is a nice lantern, isn’t it?”

Eve reached for her purse, took out her change purse and shook out a Liberty Head Double Eagle Head gold coin worth 20 dollars.  She stretched her open hand toward Dora and smiled.

Clayton’s eyes went round with astonishment.  “Miss Kennedy.  Forgive me, but that is a lot of money for a little girl.”

Eve ignored him.  “Dora, this coin can buy you many dresses and dolls and lots of goodies for Christmas.  It’s like a magic coin.  Can I offer you this gold coin for that lantern?”

Dora stared at the coin in confused wonder.  Then she looked at Eve with a puckered mouth, and wiped an eye with her free hand.

Just then a tall, young, gaunt woman exited the building, throwing darting glances, obviously looking for her daughter.  She spotted Dora, Eve and Clayton and she turned cautious and fretful, afraid Dora had gotten into some kind of mischief.

“Dora?  I’ve been calling you.”

Dora didn’t look at her mother.  She was caught between the practical item she still gripped in her left hand and the fascinating gold coin that lay on the outstretched hand before her.

The woman came over, her long, shabby, open coat flapping in the wind, snow flurries whipping across her pallid face.  She grabbed and pinched her coat at the collar for warmth and stood near Clayton, calculating the situation.

Eve looked up at the woman, whose sad and suffering eyes touched Eve.  She was so very thin and obviously cold, and surely hungry.

“Has Dora done anything wrong?” the mother asked.

“No,” Eve said.  “No, not at all.  I want to purchase her lantern.”

The woman’s expression held questions as she stared down at Eve’s open hand holding the 20-dollar coin.

“She found it,” the mother said.  “She just found it in the trash.”

“Yes, but
she
found it,” Eve said, staring intently at Dora.  “Dora found it.  She is the owner now.”

Eve closed her hand, reached into her change purse and took out a 10-dollar coin and added it to the 20-dollar coin. 

“It’s another magic coin,” Eve said, her face filled with wonder.

Eve wanted this little family to have the money.  Yes, Eve wanted the lantern, but she also wanted this little girl and her mother to have a happy Christmas with plenty of food and presents.

Eve stretched out her hand again, now displaying two gold coins worth 30 dollars.

“Miss Kennedy!?” Clayton exclaimed.

“Dora… I offer you these two gold coins for the lantern.  Take it or leave it.”

Dora’s face was filled with conflict.  If Dora didn’t accept her offer, Eve would have to go to plan B, whatever that was.  She hadn’t come up with it yet.

Dora’s mother had been guarded, but now with the real possibility of a sudden fortune, she grew suspicious and hopeful.  “What are you trying to do, Miss?” she said to Eve, her voice quivering a little.  “She found the lantern in the trash heap.  It’s not worth that kind of money.  What do you want?  That lantern is not worth anything.”

“It’s worth a lot to me,” Eve said.

Eve fixed Dora with a pointed stare.  “What do you say, Dora?  The lantern or the magic, shiny gold coins?”

The mother was suddenly stung by a desperate need.  She took a step forward.  “Take the money, Dora,” the woman said, in a sharp, desperate voice.  “Do you hear me?  Give her the lantern and take the money, girl.  Take it!”

Dora was unmoving, still pondering.

The mother took two more aggressive steps forward to snatch the lantern from Dora’s hand.  Eve’s loud voice stopped her.

“No!  It’s Dora’s decision.”

Dora’s face slowly relaxed.  “Are those really magic coins?” she asked.

Eve smiled.  “Yes, Dora.  They’ll buy you many things, including a brand new lantern that you can light for Christmas.”

Dora stared up into the gray, frosty morning and sighed.  At last, she dragged the lantern forward, depositing it before Eve.  “I’ll take the magic coins,” she said, her eyes now locked on them, already imagining far off lands and sugar cookies and little pink fairies flying about her head. 

“Open both hands,” Eve said, with an open face, smiling brightly.

Dora did so and Eve dropped first one, and then two coins into her pudgy hands. 

Eve saw Dora’s mother fight back tears and noted that the woman possessed a kind of subdued elegance that even poverty couldn’t defeat.

With hopeful eagerness, Eve reached and took possession of the lantern, gripping it firmly.  She climbed to her feet, feeling the weight of the lantern, feeling relief and optimism—and then new anxieties assaulted her.  Once lighted, would it take her back to her own time?  Would she be able to take Patrick with her so she could save his life?

Eve looked down at Dora, who was completely absorbed in her magic coins, touching them, turning them and speaking to them in a strange language that only children know and understand.

“Merry Christmas, Dora,” Eve said.

Dora looked up.  “I like them.  Merry Christmas.”

Eve turned to Dora’s mother, who straightened with dignity.  Eve was impressed by her, by her fragile pride, her tears, and her obvious love of her daughter.

“Merry Christmas,” Eve said, with kindness.

The woman didn’t smile or speak.  She just nodded.

Having what she’d come for, Eve said her goodbyes to Clayton and Mrs. Sharland and started back to the hospital.

CHAPTER 32

When Eve arrived back at the hospital, a telegram was waiting for her.  To her revulsion, it was from Albert Harringshaw.  She tore it open and read, feeling panicked and sick.