Advent story serialization, installment two: She looked up at the - TopicsExpress

Advent story serialization, installment two: She looked up at the sky. Rain was coming, maybe snow. Shed never seen any appreciable snow, having grown up in Montgomery, Alabama. But those clouds looked menacing. She bundled Joshua into the carrier shed found at the Salvation Army, zippered her two-sizes-too-big fleece jacket around both of them, and started walking. She saw the barn and the white farmhouse just as the rain changed from a drizzle to a downpour. She ran up the drive and into the porch. It seemed much smaller than the house of her long-ago Christmas memory, but over the years, she had certainly added embellishments. Living in a succession of foster homes, shed gone so far as to imagine a pretend life for herself, here in Grandpas farmhouse; shed even imagined a boy next door named Joe who was her best friend. So she couldnt be sure about anything, except that being here was better than being in a womans shelter in Montgomery. She knocked on the door and got only an echo. Her toes were starting to go numb and Joshua was beginning to fuss. So she pulled her soggy hood over her head and dashed to the barn. It didnt look like any animals had been there for a long time; it was pristine. She headed up to the loft, and there, nestled in some straw, covered by a musty old horse blanket, she nursed her baby. (Hope Ramsay, Silent Night, 2013).