Gaer
"Angel whisperer"
- Location
- New Mexico U.S.A.
By my Dad, December 24, 1945, Cortland K. Gaer
When you say it was cold, you better spell it with a capitol G, G-d D--m!, that Christmans Eve in Montana.
The mail had been heavy with packages and letters from relatives and friends, so there was no room for the surprise packages and bundles from the mail order houses. They were still considered Christmas presents, and should be delivered that night.
I brought the mail back to Baker at 5
o P.M. but found there's no freight that night. I went to the depot to get the express and the freight; then home to kiss my wife and kids and eat a sandwich before taking off to Ekalaka, 42 miles South.
The road sort of meandered through the buttes and hills, and was graveled. I was glad of that, because frozen gravel is easy to drive on where it's been swept smooth by the wind before it's frozen.
That night you could not see the road.
Just snow,
No wind,
Just snowing.
Eachflake seemed as soft and light as a feather, where each raindrop, when leaving the cloud, had popped like popcorn anddrifted slowly down to land righton that gravel road. It seemed as though the sky, the snow and I, were the only things left in the world. They danced and sparkled in the headlights, as I plowed through them.
I felt alittle like Santa must feel, because I knew the freight had to be delivered that night. On the road to Ekalaka, their were only five homes, with onlytwo close to the road.
Everyday, for two weeks, a small boy who was bundled up so he could hardlywalk, and aparentlyfrom some house out of sight from the road, had been at his mailbox waiting for his airplane. As I came around the curve, at the top of the hill, way below, on the flat section of the road, I would see him waiting. How long before I came, had he waited by the lonely mailbox? Only his Mother knew. Every day, I think. I prayed he would get that airplane. If it hadn't come in the Christmas Eve mail, I hoped it was on the stage that night.
There were no lights on the road. Not even a gleam from a distant light. There was just a bright, full moon, stars you could almost touch, and sparkling, dancing, oversized snowflakes sparkling in the headlights.
It was nin o clock when i came down the hill and turned into the Main street of Ekalaka. There, in the center of the street, was a Christmas tree, with red, yellow, green and purple lights. A crowd ofcowboys, their wives and children, arewaiting for me, eachwith anopen hymnbook, singing, as the snowflakes drifted down.
No picture was ever painted nor a storyever told, that would describe that scene. As I drove up to the Christmas tree in the middle of the street, I delivered and collected fees for the Christmas presentsthat had come, just in the nick of time.
The little boy was never waiting by the mailbox again, so I know the airplane had been on the stage that Christmas Eve.
Although I had no Christmas Eve with my own family, I knew I had really helped Santa Clause!
PS: Aunt Marge, I sent this out in lieu of Christmas cards this year.
Thank you all for your indulgence. Merry Christmas!
When you say it was cold, you better spell it with a capitol G, G-d D--m!, that Christmans Eve in Montana.
The mail had been heavy with packages and letters from relatives and friends, so there was no room for the surprise packages and bundles from the mail order houses. They were still considered Christmas presents, and should be delivered that night.
I brought the mail back to Baker at 5
o P.M. but found there's no freight that night. I went to the depot to get the express and the freight; then home to kiss my wife and kids and eat a sandwich before taking off to Ekalaka, 42 miles South.The road sort of meandered through the buttes and hills, and was graveled. I was glad of that, because frozen gravel is easy to drive on where it's been swept smooth by the wind before it's frozen.
That night you could not see the road.
Just snow,
No wind,
Just snowing.
Eachflake seemed as soft and light as a feather, where each raindrop, when leaving the cloud, had popped like popcorn anddrifted slowly down to land righton that gravel road. It seemed as though the sky, the snow and I, were the only things left in the world. They danced and sparkled in the headlights, as I plowed through them.
I felt alittle like Santa must feel, because I knew the freight had to be delivered that night. On the road to Ekalaka, their were only five homes, with onlytwo close to the road.
Everyday, for two weeks, a small boy who was bundled up so he could hardlywalk, and aparentlyfrom some house out of sight from the road, had been at his mailbox waiting for his airplane. As I came around the curve, at the top of the hill, way below, on the flat section of the road, I would see him waiting. How long before I came, had he waited by the lonely mailbox? Only his Mother knew. Every day, I think. I prayed he would get that airplane. If it hadn't come in the Christmas Eve mail, I hoped it was on the stage that night.
There were no lights on the road. Not even a gleam from a distant light. There was just a bright, full moon, stars you could almost touch, and sparkling, dancing, oversized snowflakes sparkling in the headlights.
It was nin o clock when i came down the hill and turned into the Main street of Ekalaka. There, in the center of the street, was a Christmas tree, with red, yellow, green and purple lights. A crowd ofcowboys, their wives and children, arewaiting for me, eachwith anopen hymnbook, singing, as the snowflakes drifted down.
No picture was ever painted nor a storyever told, that would describe that scene. As I drove up to the Christmas tree in the middle of the street, I delivered and collected fees for the Christmas presentsthat had come, just in the nick of time.
The little boy was never waiting by the mailbox again, so I know the airplane had been on the stage that Christmas Eve.
Although I had no Christmas Eve with my own family, I knew I had really helped Santa Clause!
PS: Aunt Marge, I sent this out in lieu of Christmas cards this year.
Thank you all for your indulgence. Merry Christmas!
