Book View Cafe 2020 Holiday Story Collection

Shannon Page

Description

Nine holiday stories to delight, chill, cheer, or frighten you on a cold winter's night. Includes stories from Alma Alexander, Patricia Rice, Jennifer Stevenson, and more!

Sujets

• Fantasy (canción de Mariah Carey)
• Fantasy

Informations

• Publié par: Book View Cafe
• Date de parution: 17 novembre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781611389388
• Langue: English

Extrait

Book View Café 2020 Holiday Collection
edited by
Shannon Page

www.bookviewcafe.com
Book ViewCafé Edition November 17, 2020 ISBN: 978-1-61138-938-8 Copyright © 2020 Book View Café
Editor’s Introduction
Come wintertime, the days grow shorter, colder…darker. 
Human communities have long gathered together in thesetimes, to share the warmth of a fire, the pleasure of company, the cheer andcomfort of a hearty feast. 
Feasts turned into annual festivals, that became the winterholidays: celebrated to bring light to the growing darkness, to restore hopewhen all hope seems lost. To strengthen our connections and get us through the seasonof killing cold.
In these modern times, we all react differently to winter.Some lean into the darkness, enjoying the time of reflection, of quiet, ofslowing down and staying indoors. Others seek laughter and light, parties andpleasure, tinsel and liquid cheer. 
Whatever your mood or desire, this double handful of winterholiday stories will see you through the long dark nights. Enjoy in goodhealth, and may 2021 bring ever so many great things our way!
Shannon Page, Editor
Orcas Island, Washington
October 21, 2020
* * *
A Very Wary Christmas
Katharine Eliska Kimbriel
It was two weeks until Christmas and the toy store was amadhouse. Mergit had already fielded two prank phone calls while working thefront register, and she was not in the mood for any more stupid remarks.
“You look whipped,” said her manager’s voice as he walkedby. “Let me take over for a while. You go help people in the doll section.” Herboss moved behind the counter, grabbed the engineer’s cap off her head andslapped it on his crew cut. The owners of Hobby Galaxy took playtime seriously;Dan-the-Man-ager fit right in.
Glad for a chance to move her long legs, Mergit strode downthe towering baby doll aisle, leading a frazzled dad to the Princess Barbiesand pointing out to a grandmother a bassinet complete with christening dressand Hispanic newborn. When she paused to hang a few sets of Barbie clothingback on pegs someone behind her said: “I need a special doll.”
“For what age child?” Mergit said, turning and dredging up asmile for the well-dressed, subdued woman.
“Oh, it’s not for a child. It’s for me. I collectdollhouses.”
Mergit looked down (always down—she had her father’s height)and hoped her long, dark hair was neat. The client’s gold-streaked curls wereperfect. Collectors meant good money, if you had what they wanted, and Mergitwas trying to break into the custom doll market by making specialty figurines.“Our miniature dolls are down this way.” Mergit gestured toward the west wallof the store.
“Not miniatures. This house is for Barbie Dolls. It’s amulti-story barn-roof colonial; I built it myself.” The woman spoke as ifanyone could build a house scaled for Barbie dolls.
“I‘ve never seen a kit or blueprint for a barn roof,” Mergitsaid as she moved down the corridor holding Barbie, Barbie’s friends andBarbie’s frenemies. (Ken never quite recovered from Barbie throwing him overfor GI Joe, or so one buyer told Mergit.)
“I designed it as well,” the woman answered, followingMergit to the foot-high dolls. “It’s modeled on the Amityville Horror house.”
Mergit blinked. Oh, boy, do I need sleep . “Is it aHalloween house?”
The woman gave her an odd look. “You mean with jack o’lanterns and such? Of course not.”
Then why did you pick the Amityville House? Mergitdecided not to volunteer this thought. “What kind of doll are you looking for?”she asked aloud.
“I need an exorcist doll.”
Mergit gave the woman a long look.
There was not a trace of humor in the customer’s face.Mergit wasn’t sure she knew how to smile, much less pull a leg. “An exorcistdoll. Do you want a priest doll?”
“Not necessarily. I just need an exorcist. The dolls aren’tCatholic, and I have no idea yet what the ghost believes. I’ve always thoughtthat you have to use the correct ritual for the type of spirits you have. Don’tyou agree?” The lady looked up and down the row as she started digging in herpurse. “Here’s the family—nice dolls, every one of them. They didn’t deservethis.”
Mergit looked at the picture of the dolls. “Did you makethem?” If so, this woman was an artist. The workmanship was lovely, the facesunique. They might be Barbie-sized, but these weren’t retreads of a German sextoy.
On the other hand, the dolls had lousy taste in clothing.Mergit had seen better clothes on the Jerry Springer show, and the people whoshowed up there were always train wrecks waiting to happen. Perhaps the womanintended for them to look bland, to show off the house? Upscale bland—there was even a maid andgardener.
“Yes, I was the one to bring them into this world,” the ladyreplied, sounding much like a proud parent.
O0oookay . It was time to get this one moving. “I havea couple you might want to think about.” Mergit quickly unlocked the glass casefull of dolls. “I have a Monk doll here, you know the crazy detective who is aclean freak? He might be able to handle a doll pretending to be a ghost. Andthen—”
”I don’t think there’s any pretending going on,” the womanbroke in. “I think a spirit has moved in—maybemore than one.”
Two beats of silence. “But you don’t want a priest doll. Howabout a…preacher doll? We could get one in a nice suit and we have miniature Bibles…”
“I’m just not sure a regular minister is going to be able tohandle the situation,” the woman said primly.
Her expression looked both evasive and as if she had thehigh moral ground. There were no other words for the look on her sculpted face.Except “Bags O’ Money,” of course. Part of the reason she had no expression wasan expensive facelift. Mergit looked hard but couldn’t see any incision lines.             No regular ministers… Drat! Why hadn’t she gone ahead with theMarie Laveau doll? A voodoo priestess should be exotic enough for this woman.But there was no way Mergit could make that doll in one night: The plans for itwere too elaborate, and she was not going to trash her future reputation on apoorly made figure.
“Well, if you want out-of-the-ordinary power, I could getyou a Marie Laveau figurine, but it would take a few days. She’s the voodoopriestess of New Orleans.”
“I must admit I’ve been wondering about the housemaid. Sheis from Louisiana, and you never know who might be into that sort of thing,”the woman confided. “Some protection spell might have gone wrong. Marie Laveauisn’t the current priestess of New Orleans, is she? I thought she was dead.”
“She’s been gone a while, but when you’re the big name invoodoo, dying is just a change of address.”
“Perhaps we could save her for a backup? I’d really like totry something tonight.”
Mergit searched the shelves for anything that might countwhen trying to exorcize a dollhouse. Noticing the Disney section, she had anidea. “How about this doll?” Mergit lifted the heroine of the Hunchback ofNotre Dame animated movie. “A Romani might be able to communicate with thegh— spirit world.”
The woman considered the doll. “Too young,” she announced.“Although I like the idea.”
Setting down the animation figure, Mergit walked two stepsand lifted a beautiful, limited edition fortune teller. Her costume was a riotof color and texture. The seated Romani woman wore enough jewelry to jingle,and came with a crystal ball on a parlor table and a deck of tarot cards. Mostimportantly, she looked attractive but mature. “I’ll bet this lady has thematurity to face The Other Side.”
The customer nodded her streaked curls. “I agree; she can atleast communicate with them. I’ll take her.”
Score! It was an expensive figurine, and if the store didwell there were bonuses to be had. Since the woman didn’t need gift-wrapping,Mergit boxed the doll, wished the lady the best and left her to pay for thecard reader. Part of Mergit wanted to tell this tale in the break room, andpart of her felt really odd about things. Her mind accepted the split decision,and she held her tongue.
Mergit told her roommate Beth about it that night, though,while Beth studied law and Mergit carefully finished the stitching on a yetifigure’s pelt. “And that’s where it stands right now.”
“Do you think she’s doing it for attention?” Beth asked fromher perch on the futon.
“Maybe,” Mergit replied. “It didn’t feel like a con, though.She could be certifiable, enjoying a good fantasy, or dealing with a haunteddollhouse.”
“Yeah, right.” Beth moved her brown hair out of her face, asure sign of skepticism.
“Maybe her family is pulling her leg,” Mergit offered,standing the yeti up next to his associate, the sasquatch.
“She’ll be back,” Beth warned. “If her kids are pulling aprank, it’s too good a joke to let go of yet.”
“What do you think?” Mergit asked, gesturing to the twofigurines.
“I like the sasquatch better,” Beth decided. “He looksfriendlier.”
“That’s a thought. Maybe I’ll make a family for each ofthem.”
Beth sighed. “Are you ever going to sell any of thesethings? They’re beautiful, they take time and money to make, and they’refilling up your workroom.”
“I’m going to take them in next week to show a buyer from aspecialty house,” Mergit said. “After I make Marie Laveau.”
“Sell them online,” Beth advised and headed for the kitchen.“Higher profit margin.”
* * *
The next day at work, Mergit kept an eagle eye out for thenicely dressed Mrs. Bags O’ Money. Sure enough, the woman arrived about an hourafter opening, carrying the store bag.
Great , Mergit thought. I hope she didn’t damagethe doll.
The lady set the sack down on the counter, and carefullyslid out the large box. “It wasn’t successful, but we made contact.” Openingthe lid, she gently lifted out the fortune teller.
The doll was still sitting on her stool, her crystal ball inthe center of the table. But she was no longer laying out tarot cards. Cardswere scattered over the table and wooden platform, and the doll had her handson either side of the crystal ball. The lovely face now looked stunned.
Her black hair was no