Gold Thread at Christmas

A short story by Anna Ilona Mussmann

This is something that I wrote two years ago and have recently edited. It's a bit of light fun, and no babies were harmed in the making of it. Merry Christmas to all my readers!

Shivering, the dwarf pressed both hands into his armpits. His summer jacket was as inconsequential here as if the void through which he had passed had spat him out naked. While he waited for the dizziness to pass, he scowled at the brick buildings that loomed upwards in their narrow lots—they filled him with a sense of puny unimportance. This world was tall and bland, full of unadorned cart horses and workmen in iced-over mustaches. He would be doing a favor to the child he had come to take.

Despite the cold, the dwarf unfastened the second to last button on his waistcoat before he selected assistance.

Two men trotted along the sidewalk, sprigs of holly pinned to their lapels. The open bottle that one of them clasped against his snowy shirt front seemed to be their defense against the cold. They, too, towered above him, glossy black hats increasing the contrast in height.

“I beg your pardon,” he declared, barring their path. “Can you gentleman direct me to the location of the royal birth?”

Two bewhiskered faces stared down at him. One guffawed, baring tobacco stained teeth. “What have we here? A circus midget? Better get back to your keepers, little fellow, or you’re liable to be mistaken for an organ-grinder’s monkey.”

“Look at him!” exclaimed the plump one. “Gold embroidery, red cap, the lot.”

Stepping backward, the small traveler cracked his hairy knuckles. “I beg your pardon,” he repeated grimly. “Do you intend to answer my question?”

“Loopy,” the tobacco-lover observed.

The plump one added more kindly, “This is a democracy, my small friend. We don’t hold much with royalty here.”

Advent Trees and Christmas Folliage: 7 Quick Takes (Volume VIII)

I am suddenly seized by the last-minute desire to participate in 7 Quick Takes Friday even though I am sitting amidst toast crumbs at the breakfast table with a nursing baby in my lap.

I realize that Christmas trees during Advent might seem a little pre-seasonal, but it's appropriate to plan ahead, right? Besides, I won't be posting on Christmas.

First, though, an Advent tree:

1.

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Two years ago, when I was teaching in a Lutheran school, my students begged to decorate for Christmas. I reminded them that our headmaster wanted us to remain seasonally and liturgically appropriate and to celebrate Advent. This was their solution:

2.

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My paternal great-grandparents immigrated from Norway. We still have a picture of my great-grandmother at Christmas in Norway, c. 1905. Look at their tree!