Katherina Minardo, Sculptor

On Christmas morning out of a cardboard box came several old tree decorations. And with great excitement the tree was decorated. The grandmother was especially happy to see that the twins had (almost) stopped fighting. She knew it was only a temporary calm, but she always hoped that they would start to get along and care for each other.

The living room, with its roaring fire in the stone fireplace, the fine tree in the corner, and the table set for dinner, looked warm and cosy. When they sat down to eat Penny and Jim kept looking under the tree. They had been told over and over not to expect any presents this year, but they could not stop hoping for a “miracle.”

After dinner but before the Christmas pudding, the grandmother sent the twins out of the room with some excuse, then rushed to the woodpile to retrieve the teddy. She had found a nice new ribbon to put around his neck. She placed him under the tree and went back to the table.

The twins did not notice him immediately, distracted as they were in devouring their favourite Christmas dessert.

Penny saw him first. She opened her mouth to cry out in excitement, but no sound came. She just looked at the beautiful bear, speechless. 

Then Jim saw him too. At that point, they both jumped from their chairs and approached the bear. They were so excited that at first they did not know what to do. Then, quick as lightning, Penny grabbed the bear in her arms and said, “He’s mine!”

It took Jim just a second to react. He grabbed the bear’s arm and yanked him out of his sister’s embrace, yelling, “No! He’s mine!”

The poor grandmother jumped from her chair, saying, “Children, children, please. The teddy bear is for both of you. You can play with him together, you can take turns.”

She had been afraid that something like this would happen. But lately they had gotten along a little better, and she had hoped it would only improve. Now Jim was running around the table clutching the bear, while Penny, screaming and crying, chased him.

“Please, please, children!”

Her words were drowned out by Penny’s and Jim’s shrieks. Penny was short and chubby, but also remarkably quick, and wanting the bear put wings on her feet. She caught up with Jim and grabbed his sweater. He dropped the bear and they started pummelling each other.

The horrified grandmother stepped in to separate the children. “Please stop! It’s Christmas!”

She grabbed Jim by the shoulder and Penny by the arm and pulled them apart. Unfortunately, in doing so she lost her balance and fell backwards. As she fell her head struck the corner of the heavy wooden table. There was a loud thunk. Grandmother lay still on the floor, blood oozing out from a cut on her head.

There was silence. The children looked horrified at each other. Suddenly, they realized what their behaviour had caused.

“Oh no, Grandmother’s dead! What are we going to do?” Penny fell to her knees beside the old woman and started to cry. Jim, paralyzed by guilt, could only stare. Fortunately, at that moment, Grandmother opened her eyes.

“Grandma! Grandma! You’re alive!” Both children knelt beside her. But Grandmother was hurt and she knew it.

“Jim,” she said, “fetch Doctor Miller. Penny will stay with me.” She spoke slowly, as if with great effort. “Jim, put on your heavy coat and take the lantern.” Then, almost as an afterthought, she said, “Jim, take the teddy bear with you. It will keep you company. Hurry, Jim.”

Her last words trailed off into a whisper and she lost consciousness again.

The children looked at each other. They felt very alone for the first time in their lives. Penny kept saying, “What are we going to do? I’m too scared to stay alone with Grandmother. What are we going to do?”

Jim was afraid also, afraid to go out at night into the dark forest. Afraid to leave grandmother, and suddenly, for the first time, afraid to leave his sister alone. But he could not stay. He knew that Doctor Miller had never been called to the house before, and if Grandmother asked for him, it must be serious. 

He put on his coat and grabbed the lantern. Before he left he bent down to kiss Grandmother on the cheek. For the first time, he also felt compelled to kiss his sister. 

She looked up at him with tear-filled eyes. “Be careful, Jimmy.”

As he left she ran after him with the teddy bear. “Take him with you. Grandmother said so.”

The night was dark and still. It had snowed heavily for a whole day, and walking in deep snow was difficult and slow. The lantern cast long, eerie shadows. The cold air was still, the silence broken only by Jim’s steps on the icy-crusted snow. In daytime it would have been a twenty-minute walk, but now, in the dark, the village seemed to be forever far.

Holding the swinging lantern in front of him Jim felt scared and lonely. Everything had happened so fast. One minute they were eating Christmas pudding, the next he was fighting with his sister over that stupid bear. It was all his fault if Grandmother was lying injured and he was walking alone at night in the dark forest.

In his fear and frustration he had forgotten he was clutching the bear. And then, in a fit of anger, he threw it in the snow. “I don’t want you. It’s all your fault.”

He walked away, but now he felt even more lonely. The road to the village was easy to follow in daytime. But now, with only the lantern breaking the dark, he was confused. Had he taken a wrong turn? It all looked the same, the fresh snow had covered all the tracks.

Suddenly his feet were caught by a branch covered in snow. He stumbled and fell face down. He tried to lift himself, but a sharp pain shot through his leg. He could not stand. The lantern had fallen away, and now he lay on the snow in complete darkness.

Panic came over him. He started to cry out, “Help! Help! Somebody help me!”, tears rolling down his cheeks as his voice broke the silent night.

At the Miller’s the mood was festive. Old Doctor Miller had a large family, and they had all come for Christmas. The house was full of children of all ages, and they filled the room with shrieks of excitement while opening the presents piled under the Christmas tree. Dinner had been a sumptuous affair. Everybody was in a good mood.

Suddenly, during a rare moment of silence, a strange little knock was heard. At first no one paid attention, it was so faint. But after a while Mrs. Miller, passing near the front door with a tray full of cookies, again heard a faint knock-knock.

Curious, she put the tray down and opened the door. No one was there. She was about to close the door when her eyes looked down at the snow. She could hardly believe what she saw. Clearly marked in the snow was a big arrow pointing to the forest. And most peculiar of all was a set of strange little footprints.

“John, come here,” she called to her husband.

“What is it, Mary?” Doctor Miller was not enthusiastic about any interruption. He had just settled into his favourite chair near the roaring fire.

“What do you make of this, dear?” asked Mrs. Miller when her husband arrived at the door.

Well, the arrow and the footprints were the last things on Earth he expected to see. 

“It looks like a signal.” 

They both walked out into the snow. As far as they could see, the little footprints were clearly marked right into the forest. And just before reaching the trees ahead there was another arrow in the snow.

“It looks like a dog’s footprint. Someone is trying to tell us something. Maybe they need help.”

Doctor Miller’s instincts overwhelmed all other feelings. He put on his heavy coat, lit a lantern, put his medicine bag on a wooden sled, and, to the great consternation of his wife, went oto investigate. He was not worried about going out at night. He had done it often on calls, and he was also very curious about those strange marks.

After the first two arrows there were only the little footprints on the snow. They led directly into the forest. He knew the area like the back of his hand. No danger of getting lost, even at night. But he wondered where he would be led. The trees were well apart, so pulling the sled was not difficult. But the walking was far from fast. His lantern kept shining on those little prints. After about ten minutes he stopped.

There, lying in a small clearing lay a small figure. At first, he did not understand what he was seeing. But coming closer he saw a little boy. This boy was lying not on snow, but on a soft bed of spruce branches. He seemed asleep. Covering him was a yellow teddy bear. He looked more closely.

It was Jim, one of the twins. He knew them well. He shook Jim gently, calling his name.

Jim opened his eyes. “Doctor Miller, it’s you! You must come to Grandmother, she fell, she’s hurt!”

Jim tried to stand up. As he did the bear fell into the snow. Jim cried out from the pain in his leg.

Doctor Miller diagnosed a twisted ankle. “Lucky I brought the sled, young man,” he said as he placed Jim on it. “Don’t forget your teddy bear.”

For the first time Jim looked at the bear. He was bewildered. All he could remember was throwing him away, and then hurting his leg. And why was he lying on those branches. Well, he could think about that later.

“Where is your little dog, Jim? He surely saved you. Clever of him to make those arrows. I wonder how he did it? Very clever.”

“I don’t have a dog, Dr. Miller,” said Jim.

Dr. Miller shook his head.

When they arrived at the house, the grandmother was lying in her bed. Penny was sitting by her side, sobbing gently. She jumped up as soon as she heard the door open. Grandmother opened her eyes and smiled at the doctor.

“Doctor Miller, sorry to make you come out on Christmas Eve, but I took a fall.”

“Don’t worry, and don’t talk, dear. Let me look at your head.”

Penny had put a small towel around her grandmother’s head wound. There was a deep cut that needed some stitches, and a large bump had appeared.

“Well, it looks worse than it is. But you must rest for a few days, and keep your head still. You will be good as new in a week.”

After tending to the grandmother Doctor Miller bandaged Jim’s ankle. “Keep off your feet for a while.”

He did not expect any payment for his services, and wished them all a merry Christmas. He was about to leave, but then he turned around and asked the grandmother if they did have a little dog.

“No, never had a dog, Doctor.”

He shook his head and left. He had not dreamed up those marks in the snow. And what about the arrow? He was going to look at them more closely. And then there was Mrs. Miller. She had seen them first. He retraced his steps back to where he had found the boy. His own steps were clear and deeply marked, along with the track of the sled. When he reached the spot, he put the lantern on the snow, but, hard as he looked he could not see any small prints.

Confused and slightly bewildered he started to trek back to the house. In the snow in front of him appeared only his footprints and the long marks of the sled. No small prints, no arrows.

He arrived home quite agitated. “Mary, come out,” he called to his wife. “Look here. Where are the small prints and the arrow?”
“I don’t know, dear. Did you step on them? I don’t see them any more.”

Well, Doctor Miller knew better than to start an argument. Shrugging his shoulders, he entered the house and told his family about the boy and the grandmother.

He never mentioned those strange footprints in the snow again. Maybe he had really stepped on them, or just maybe strange things do happen on Christmas.

Back in the little house in the forest the grandmother had asked Jim to hand her the golden teddy bear. As she hugged him, suddenly she knew what had happened. It was as if the little bear had spoken to her.

Penny and Jim were sitting beside the fireplace. Penny had worried so much about her brother that for the first time she knew just how precious he was to her. And Jim felt the same. They sat cracking walnuts and playing an old worn-out board game. They were kind to each other, and their giggles and laughter were a balm on the grandmother’s heart. She called them to come and play with the beautiful bear, but both said as one, “No, Grandmother, you keep him for now. He looks so happy in your arms.” It was the first unselfish thought they had spoken, and tears of joy swelled in the old woman’s eyes.

A week went by without fights or complaints. Jim was back to walking normally, and the grandmother too was up from her bed. Doctor Miller came once to check on them, and asked one more time if they did not have a dog.

“No,” said the grandmother with a smile, “we have only this yellow teddy bear.”

As the Christmas holidays came to an end, Penny and Jim played with the bear, together, being careful to take turns. But most of the time teddy sat royally on the grandmother’s bed.

And then one day, he was gone. They searched everywhere, but it was as if he had vanished into thin air. After a few days of looking, they had to give up. Penny cried a little, and Jim was sad. But the grandmother knew in her heart that the beautiful yellow teddy had fulfilled his mission, and perhaps now was once again lying somewhere, waiting to be found.

“Oh, I would love to find him.” The shy voice of the little girl broke the silence.

The other children were surprisingly quiet. The story left them thinking. Some had recognized themselves in Penny or Jim. Some too often bickered with their brothers or sisters. And sharing was hard when there was so little to go around. But they all loved the story, and the warm feeling of love that it had left in their hearts.

The old man leaned back on his chair, looking at all the little faces. He knew they were waiting for another story. He twisted the pipe in his hands. It was late, and he was tired, but he did not want to disappoint the children on this special night. So he closed his eyes and collected his thoughts.

Cyril was pensive, too. He had followed this story with the greatest interest together with the children around him. He too had learned something tonight. And he was ready for another story.

To be continued…