Mrs. Claus

“Ho! Ho! Ho!” and “Hee! Hee! Hee!”

Santa couldn't find his Viking’s jersey

The one for a boy named, Tommy LeRoy

Who thought it was better than a brand new toy.

He knew who to ask, when he was stumped;

His beautiful wife was such a trump!

Mrs. Claus was always jovial like he

And graced his presence with cookies and glee.

Yes, the two were certainly quite a pair

Living on cookies and delightful sweets to share.

They weren't too fond of venison, you know,

‘Cause Rudolph and the others would take that as a blow.

Mrs. Claus met Santa on his very first ride,

Trying out his new sleigh when it crashed into the side

Of a tree and a snow bank, causing Mrs. Claus to fall

Head over heels, looking like a snow ball.

Santa jumped quickly to save this young thing,

Thinking she was beautiful enough to sing:

“Oh, what a delight to my eyes you appear!

Will you marry me and become my Sweetheart, you dear?”

Mrs. Claus was shaken and quite a bit surprised.

Wiping snow from her face, she peered through her eyes.    

With surprise and delight and some mischief and fun,

She nodded to him and they became one.

A team of love to share with others, far and near,

On Christmas Day and every day, throughout the year.

If you travel up north, you will certainly find

Two of the most delightful people, of any kind.

Precious Linda, c. 2013

Note: This was written at my Practice Writing Group, with a randomly chosen prompt of “Mrs. Claus” for 10 minutes.

The Rooster Crowed

The check bounced and we didn’t have no money for Bobby’s shoes. His toes were plumb stick’n out of the flapping soles. We tried using duct tape but that wore out, too. Bobby just couldn’t go barefoot no more with snow on the ground. His gramma made him wool socks… a pair to wear inside the shoes and a larger pair to wear outside the shoes to hold them on for just a little bit longer.

All I could do was run my hands through my hair, what little was left of it.  Ma said that’s why I was going bald early… thirty-three years old and hardly any hair and just a shopkeeper’s clerk job that don’t pay enough to feed a family of rats. Yeah, I know. I need to cover that hole in the side of the steps. Ma and Bobby are tired of chasing rats and mice in the house and we can’t even afford to keep a cat to do the exterminating job.

What time is it? 3 a.m.? Dang, I can’t sleep with all these things to worry about. The old Ford is rusting. We can’t even pay for gas anymore. Might as well sell it, Ma says.

We don’t have money for coal or gas. I’m sure glad my brother, George, helped cut wood last weekend. At least, we can stay warm by staying near the wood burning stove. Ah, I think I’ll just tip-toe back to bed on this darn-awful cold floor and see if I can get some shut-eye.

Hmmm… roll this way. Roll that way. Put on another blanket. Okay. Finally, maybe I can warm up and sleep.

“Cock-a-doodle-doo!” The rooster crowed.

Dang! What did we get that old rooster for anyway? Can’t he tell time?

Precious Linda, c. 2012

Note: This was written in my Practice Writing Group, with the randomly chosen phrase, “the rooster crowed” for 10 minutes.

  

Missing the Bus

My alarm didn’t go off. I later saw the cat had chewed through the electrical cord and, to my surprise, a fur-shaped outline was splattered against the wall and carpet. Oh well, I’m glad my cat has nine lives… one down and eight to go. I’ll tell ya about the other one, if you ask me sometime. If it weren’t for the cat jumping on my bed and licking my toes… yeah, they were hanging out of the covers…  I probably wouldn’t have awakened for another hour or so.

It had been such a long night, with my mother calling to say she’d slipped and fallen at the grocery store and broke her hip and was in the emergency room and could I please stop home to bring her a toothbrush and a comb for her hair… the one with ruby jewels on it from her grandkid. Oh, well! Then, there were all the forms to sign to admit her and say, if her insurance didn’t pay, then I would. Oh! It’s sure good I still have a job. Oh! I better get going!

I raced through the shower, almost without the water hitting my body, grabbed an apple and was out the door. Don’t worry; I put clothes on, first. My socks were mismatched, but it didn’t matter, since they wouldn’t show. I found one in the drawer of socks and one in the dirty clothes hamper. Oh well.

Oh! That looks like my bus! Did I miss it? I’ll drive to try to catch it at the next stop! Oh, this light is red for so long! Shall I run the red light? What’s this, the radio announcer said? “It’s a great weekend and it will be a high of 50 degrees today?”

What day is this? Saturday?

Oh, no! I could have slept!

Oh! I might as well go visit Mom. She won’t know what day it is either.

Precious Linda, c. 2012

  

Note: This was written in my Practice Writing Group, with a randomly chosen phrase, “missing the bus” for 10 minutes.