"Two wrongs may not make a right but a thousand wrongs make a writer.”

Friday, December 24, 2010

Advent Ghosts - The Making Of

This story is my entry into Loren Eaton's Shared Storytelling event for Christmas 2010.

The schoolhouse was transformed for the Christmas play. There was a stage in place of a teacher's desk, a velvet curtain instead of a chalkboard, and tinsel draped around the windows. The children were dressed in patent leather shoes and even the boys who had grown out of their desks but couldn’t pass 6th grade were dressed up and behaving.

Mary folded her hands in her lap and admired the drape of her robe and repeated her lines to herself. She was the lead and her mother had spent extra time on her hair.

Joseph beckoned to her from the dark behind the stage by the door that led to the outside, and she adjusted her veil and went to him.

The lights were dimmed, and the audience held their breath for the play to begin.
They waited. The entire schoolhouse held its breath, but Mary and Joseph didn't appear.

The play was aborted and the dogs were brought in, but it was of no use. The two were never found. Only a veil blown into a ditch and covered with twigs and snow was uncovered.



If you think Christmas might be more about Dicken's Marley than Santa's Rudolph, please read the other stories that make up the Advent Ghosts 2010 event organized by Loren Eaton at I Saw Lightning Fall.

18 comments:

Rosaria Williams said...

This is stunning, so unexpected, so tightly woven.

Wine and Words said...

Ah. This was perfect, as I am in no mood for Santa! Advent Ghosts...what a great idea!

Travener said...

Hey, thanks. Merry Christmas.

C. N. Nevets said...

Nicely eerie!

Michelle D. Argyle said...

*shivers*

Those poor children! Thanks for sharing!

Anthony Duce said...

This is good. We are in need of some new stories for this holiday. I’m bored to death.

Suzanne Casamento said...

C.N. Nevets is right - EERIE. Great story.

Unknown said...

Really enjoyed this.

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Phil W said...

Mercy, that's sad. Thanks for the yarn. It's well done.

Loren Eaton said...

Creepy. Sad. Poignant. Well done, Yvonne. So glad you could join us this year!

Yvonne Osborne said...

Rosaria,
Thank you so much! I appreciate you commenting.

Annie,
Thanks! I love the idea of Advent Ghosts too.

Trav,
Thank you and Merry Christmas!

Nevets,
Thanks!

Michelle,
Thank you. Reading yours inspired me.

Tony,
I'm glad you liked my story. I'm glad it didn't bore you! Merry Christmas.

Suzanne,
Thank you so much! Now we need some candlelight to ward off the ghosts.

Wendy,
Thank you so much and Merry Christmas to you.

Phil,
Hey....thank you so much. It's a pleasure to meet you.

Loren,
Thank you and it's nice to meet you as well. Thanks for the inspirtion to write an Advent Ghost story. It think it's a GREAT idea. Like Anthony said, sometimes Christmas stuff can get a little boring.

dolorah said...

An unexplained disappearance; eerie indeed.

......dhole

AidanF said...

I enjoyed the opening image and the aspects of stage fright that this touches on in the beginning that turn into something darker.

Yvonne Osborne said...

Donna,
Thank you so much.

Aidan,
Thank you. I liked the transistion from stage fright to more. Thanks for commenting.

Anonymous said...

bravo

Yvonne Osborne said...

Ian,
Thanks for visiting and then taking the time to comment. I appreciate it very much.

eutychus said...

Unexpectedly sad. Nicely done. Merry Christmas!
I think its a sign of old age that I could not find the "comments" section first go around. (What a doof) :-)

Yvonne Osborne said...

Eutychus,
Hello, there. Thank you so much! I tried to visit you but failed. I guess you aren't the only doof:)