PENNIES
“That clock, and that teacup, and that box of old baseball cards, we can’t
put these up for sale.”
Faye gave him a curious
look. “Why not?”
“Is it because they're
old?” Monica inquired. He nodded. “It appears that a lot of these
things might be antiques. I bet we'd probably get a better market price
for them if we took them to an antique dealer.” He looked at Monica. “What
do you think?”
“I think it’s worth a
try. Do you know of a reputable dealer?” Monica asked.
“Vollmering. Otto
Vollmering,” Ralph grinned. “He runs a shop called
Time Gone By, over
on Tanner.”
“I've never been there,
but I know of the place,” Monica acknowledged. “It shouldn't take us long
to reach it.”
Ralph pulled out his
cell phone. “Let me call him first to see if he's open before we head over
there.”
Faye pointed to several
other items. “You might want to take a load with you. There’s a few more
things that might be of value.”
“Great! I’ll help you
box them up.” Monica glanced around her. “Is there an empty box
somewhere?”
“Should be one in the
kitchen,” Faye told her. Nodding, Monica went to fetch an empty container. She was passing through the foyer, when the front door opened, and a man stepped inside the shelter. She was momentarily stunned by his appearance—the bright red corduroy overalls, the green suspenders, and the white Henley with the long sleeves rolled up to his elbows. But what caught her attention the most was the head of snowy hair, and the full, flowing beard and mustache that were so white, they blended into the color of his shirt.
ELF NUTS
“Do you know what this
is?” her teacher asked, smiling. “It’s an elf nut.”
“A what?”
Several children
gathered around, intrigued.
“Actually, it’s an
acorn. Elves love acorns. They cook them up into all sorts of delicious
meals, like acorn soup, and acorn pies, and acorn bread.”
“No way!” Brayden had
scoffed. He scoffed at everything.
Mrs. Ferris didn’t mind
his rudeness. Instead, she instructed them to find as many acorns as they
could. “We’ll take them inside and leave them by the vents for the elves
to find. That way they won’t have to go out into the cold to search for
them.”
“What do they taste
like?” Ginger had asked.
“Oh, we humans can’t
eat these,” their teacher quickly warned. “They’d make us sick if we did.
But to elves, they’re like pecans or walnuts.”
Every student went on
the hunt for any late acorns. All total, they found five more, which Mrs.
Ferris said was plenty. “I know the elves will be grateful for your help,”
she praised them.
The acorns were placed
in a small dish and left by the heating vent. When they returned later,
after lunch, someone noticed two of the acorns were missing. And when they
got back from the library, one more had disappeared. Of course, the
following morning, when they reported to their classroom, the dish was
empty. More amazing, there was a tiny wrapped gift lying on every child’s
seat. Each one contained a plastic ring with either a Santa, Rudolph, or a
snowman on it. Ginger remembered how excited she’d been with her Rudolph
one.
Conversation died. The room grew quiet. Now that she was relatively warm,
safe, and comfortable, Trinka found herself slowly sinking into sleep. A
tapping at the window suddenly jerked her awake, and she almost went into
a crouch when she realized what was making the sound.
“It’s starting to
snow,” Danby muttered. “You naysayers owe me.”
Filipe let out a bark
of laughter. “Bite me.”
Trinka noticed Ray
appeared to be studying Arkie. The man had his knees drawn up, and his
arms and face buried against them as he gently rocked himself forward and
back. Ray caught her watching him.
“He don’t say much,
does he?”
“We don’t know what he
suffered before we found him. But whatever it was, it’s scarred him for
life.”
“He was injured and
starving,” Danby volunteered. “He’s harmless. Every now and then he’ll say
something that’ll surprise us. Otherwise, he’s just another victim of the
devastation we’ve all endured.”
“We didn’t have the
heart to leave him where we found him,” Trinka added.
“Is it really as bad
out there as we think it is?” Alma softly asked.
Filipe gave a nod. “In
some places, yeah.”
“But we’ll come back.
Humanity will make a comeback,” Trinka predicted, hoping she sounded more
positive than she felt. “It’ll take us a while. Maybe decades. We just
gotta have faith.”
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