Miracles and Magic: Three Tales of Christmas

By L.E. Richards

Christmas is just not Christmas without the gifts of miracles and magic. In this trio of holiday tales, a mysterious stranger connects three families and illustrates how to find the joy and meaning not only just in Christmas, but also in everyday life.

To say that fourteen-year-old Billy is angry is an understatement. Orphaned two years earlier, he is exiled to a group home where he wonders if he will ever again find the happiness of a familys love. In Wooden Angels, with the help of an old man, Billy is about to discover the gifts he never knew he had.

In The Christmas Wish, after another fight with his father, teenager J.J. decides to run away from his lifeand his futureduring a Christmas Eve snowstorm. He soon realizes, with the help of a new friend, that anything is possible.

Father Tim is struggling with his faith and the fact that his first parish will soon be demolished. Just when he thinks all hope is dashed, he meets a wise man who encourages him to always be willing to take a Leap of Faith.

Miracles and Magic shares the poignant journeys of three lost souls as they rely on a strangers gentle guidance and kind actions to find themselves and the significance behind Christmas.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Oct 4, 2012
• ISBN: 9781469732237

L.E. Richards

L. E. Richard has been telling stories of Christmas for over twenty years while playing Santa Claus for Toys for Tots, schools, and families. Now a retired correctional officer, he lives in Lewistown, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Tammy, and son.

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Three Tales of Christmas

Copyright © 2012

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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ISBN: 978-1-4697-3222-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4697-3224-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4697-3223-7 (e)

iUniverse rev. date: 9/21/2012

Contents

Wooden Angels

The Christmas Wish

Leap of Faith

This book is dedicated to all those who still believe in the miracles and magic of the Christmas season.

Most of all it’s dedicated to Tammy, my beloved wife; Seth, who had to put up with an aspiring writer working tirelessly on his first work; and Shane, who may not have always been in my presence but has always been in my heart!

I’d also like to give a very special thanks to Rose for reading over this story and giving me her valuable input and advice. And I’d like to thank the teachers and women at the Children’s Center who read my work and helped to encourage me to get this book into print.

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1

To say that Billy Preston was an angry fourteen-year-old was quite the understatement. Billy had lost both his parents within a year of each other when he was barely twelve years old. Having no close relatives who were willing to take on a preteen boy, he had been exiled to the care of the county and a group home that housed other boys and girls whom no one seemed to want. Now he not only had the normal rebellious streak that all kids that age have, but Billy also had all the pent-up anger that went along with his current situation. Billy was of average size, standing about five foot five with wavy, medium-length brown hair and brown eyes. He had the normal list of transgressions, such as petty theft, fighting, skipping school, and occasionally running away; all these things made him quite well-known to some within the law enforcement community, including the security at the mall where Billy liked to hang out with his friends.

It was the day after Thanksgiving. Billy had taken one of his normal walks to the mall from the group home and was making his way around the concourse. He felt free from all his troubles when he walked around the mall, almost like he had remembered how things used to be for him. Looking at the Christmas decorations gave him a flood of different emotions. This season also gave him a terrible sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach more than any other time of the year, because he knew he was all alone in the world. That thought always seemed to keep him angry inside—a feeling deep in his stomach like a volcano waiting to erupt. He hated feeling like that but had no idea how to combat it.

As Billy walked the mall, he saw so many happy families. He thought about how they were probably all buying gifts for each other and anticipating opening the neatly wrapped boxes encasing all their Christmas wishes. After the hustle and bustle that is Christmas morning, the families would sit down to a dinner of mashed potatoes, candied yams (he hated yams), corn, stuffing, and the long-anticipated Christmas turkey. Billy began to think about how just a few short years before all this would have brought him so many happy feelings. He remembered all the happy times he had spent with his mom and dad.

As he walked along, Billy noticed some of his friends about three quarters of the way down the concourse walking in his direction. He could make out Zach wearing the leather jacket he had stolen from some poor kid at school. Zach was much taller than Billy with dark, unkempt hair, and he was almost at the age to shave. He was very much the leader of the group, and he never passed up the opportunity to prove it. Beside Zach were Kenny and Brad, and bringing up the rear was Keith. Keith was that kid who always wanted to belong but never quite fit in with the rest of the group.

Billy was about to yell out to them when something inside told him not to. He wasn’t quite sure why, but for some reason, he just didn’t want the trouble that he was sure would ensue if he hung around with them today. Billy must have been entranced in his thoughts, because he never noticed Newley, the mall cop, walking in his general direction. Billy and Newley had more than a few run-ins in the past.

Hey, kid! Billy heard him call out. Come here, you little hoodlum.

Billy was shaken out of his trance when he heard those words. He looked over and saw that Officer Newley had pulled out the only weapon he had on his duty belt, his flashlight, and was starting to jog straight toward him. Billy looked around and took off like his feet were on fire. Dodging in and out of the holiday shoppers, he nearly knocked the packages out of several people’s hands. Billy was doing everything he could to elude the officer. He knew full well that if he were to be caught, Newley would call the group home to come and pick him up. Newley would probably tell them he had committed some new offense, which he hadn’t, but that was the last thing Billy needed today.

2

Farther down the concourse of the mall, Mike Reynolds was setting up the holiday kiosk that he and his wife of eight years, Anna, had run for the past several years. Every year they set up the largest kiosk in the mall; it was several rooms in length and was always brightly decorated for the Christmas season. Mike was setting up some miniature woodworking tools, as well as some blank wood blocks. There were wooden Santas, nutcrackers, angels, and cartoon characters. On the lower shelves were wooden candle holders and snowmen and wooden replicas of gingerbread houses, all intricately hand-worked and painted. Mike made his living operating a small saw mill on their farm with several other men who worked for him year-round, but his love was making wooden Christmas tree ornaments and keepsakes. Every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas he and Anna made the trek to the mall to sell his handmade collectables. Mike and Anna were truly high school sweethearts, having met in the ninth grade and never been apart since. After school, the next logical steps were marriage and children. Marriage came easily; however, the children were more difficult. Mike and Anna tried everything, but to their dismay, nothing had worked.

This year the hustle and bustle of the holidays seemed to take their toll on Anna. Mike thought she seemed a little more tired the harder they worked to get the kiosk ready for what they had hoped would be their best Christmas. Mike and Anna were hoping that this season would bring with it more money, because they’d had a slower year at the saw mill.

Billy thought he had evaded Officer Newley’s hawk-like eye and began to slow down and catch his breath. As he approached the Reynoldses’ kiosk, he noticed all the beautifully hand-carved items sitting on the counter. Looking at all the intricate carvings brought back deep memories of times with his father. Billy had loved to make things with his hands and work with small power tools like the ones the man in the kiosk was setting up.

Billy