Tying up Loose Ends

By Linda Anne Monica Schneider

About the Book
In this sixth short story collection, Linda Anne Monica Schneider combines a few favorites from her earlier books with new fantasy and science fiction pieces, interspersed with some religious and spiritual reflection essays. As the title implies, in this compilation she has attempted to resolve plots and characters from other earlier stories.

She answers questions such as:
What happened to Snow White’s stepmother after the princess found and married her prince?
What is it like to land on and explore an unknown planet?
Did Luna Star settle down as a sea captain’s wife after her people went home to their far away planet, and did they adopt a child?
What was it like on the first Easter?
How do we prepare for the real “end times?”

If you really want to know, please read this book!

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Feb 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781665516532

Linda Anne Monica Schneider

Linda Anne Monica Schneider, one of the natives, was born in Washington, D.C. and is a lifelong resident of Arlington, Virginia. Here she tells the story of a middle-class American girl descended from Italian and German immigrants who grew up and found her law vocation during the 50’s through 70’s and who happens to be blind and hard of hearing. After graduating from Trinity College (part of Trinity University, Michigan Avenue, Washington, D.C.) with a B.A. in English literature in 1974, she received her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1977. She worked at the SEC as an attorney until she retired in September, 2014. She has used a series of wonderful guide dogs as traveling companions. MS Schneider lives in either a one or two-dog household depending on whether she has a retired guide dog. Like the two discouraged, disillusioned pilgrims who fled from Jerusalem after the death and still disbelieved resurrection of Jesus, she is still in the lifelong process of finding the Lord. This updated edition tells the rest of her story and supersedes the earlier version published nine years ago in 2012. Her present working Seeing Eye dog is a black Labrador retriever/golden retriever cross, named Ives, pictured on the back cover.

Book preview

2021 Linda Anne Monica Schneider. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse  02/24/2021

ISBN: 978-1-6655-1654-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-1652-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-1653-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021902841

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

LINDA ANNE MONICA SCHNEIDER

TYING UP

LOOSE

ENDS

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Dedication

For Mama and Nana!

They aren’t here to tell stories anymore, so

now I have to be the storyteller!

Author’s Introductory Note

I compiled this collection from a few of my past stories and some new ones. I wanted to address some of the themes and ideas from my earlier stories in my five previous collections. I included some of the past stories to allow new readers to enjoy them, and to give old readers an opportunity to refresh their recollection of characters and events in reviewing later stories or simply to enjoy them again. I hope that my readers will find pleasure and diversion from this group.

As with my previous short story books, this collection combines serious reflective pieces having religious themes with fantasy and science fiction tales, but I hope I have given my readers some ideas for serious reflection. Most of the stories assume a more normal life before or after COVID19, except that one story is set during the pandemic and another reflection compares the pandemic with the flight into Egypt of the Holy Family.

I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Ruben and Judy Gechter with formatting and font issues with the manuscript resulting in this book. I also gratefully acknowledge the invaluable help of Ruben Gechter and Marty Suydam with computer issues dealing with the difficulties accessing the PDF galley. Andy and Kim Ferraro were very helpful in taking the picture that formed the bases for the front cover. I also want to thank Marilyn Fluharty for her help in getting together necessary changes to the first galley proof. As before, any errors that remain after all the help of my friends and proofreaders are all mine.

Linda Anne Monica Schneider

February 17, 2021

Table of Contents

Dedication

Author’s Introductory Note

The Special Magic Christmas Mouse

Mary, Full of Grace and Vessel of Hope

The Children of God Should Rejoice at Easter!

The Collapse of the Rock Exchange

A Disaster Waiting to Happen

Coming Full Circle

The Short, Sweet Season

Memories of a Very Special Guardian Angel

The Adventures of the Gingerbread Lady

Once You Have Found Him, Hold on for Dear Life

Author’s Note

The Arrangement

Friendly Advice

A Double Life

A Momentous Proposal

A Final Farewell

That Was Some Crazy, Wonderful, Incredible Day!

I’m not for Sale Anymore!

Uncle Bert’s Space Odyssey

Prologue: Surprise return of the Lost Traveler

An Honor and Pleasure to Serve in a Special Mission

Mishaps, Discoveries, and Surprises

Trials and Temptations

The Only Human on the Planet

Fellow Explorers Are Family

A time for Healing

My Time Away

Epilogue

Decision to Return and Stay

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

I Promised my wife

How Self-denial, Almsgiving, and Prayer Are Related to the Three Temptations of Jesus

Wanted: Dead or Alive!

Blown Off Course: How Pioneers Are Made!

Confession of a Really Old, Old Troll

Mary Began the Christmas Story, but It’s up to Us to Keep It Going!

The Snow White Stories

Snow White and the House of Seven

The Sons of Snow White

A Second Chance to Get It Right!

Exodus or End Times?

Le Catastrophe

My Unique, Wonderful Mom

The Early Years

Love and Loss

Reporting Home

Summary and Overview

Background

First Impressions

Complications

Resolution

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

How I Became Your Mother

Robbins Ahoy!

When the Last Mouse Died—or Did he?

Your Happiness Lies Right under Your Eyes

How About a Fairy Grandfather?

Unexpected Turns of Events

A Surprising Welcome

The Best-Laid Schemes

Will You Say, I do?

One Day at a Time

I’m Holding Tight by God’s Grace and the Tips of My Fingers!

Nana’s Little Beady Bear

The Flight into Egypt and COVID19

Bedtime Stories for Teddy

Author’s Note

The Grand Wizard’s Garden

The Boomerang Brothers

How Teddy Got His Name

Mikki Ran Their Legs Off

Rascal’s New Year’s Eve Escapade

Why We Celebrate Christmas, from a Dog’s Point of View

Those Crazy, Starry-eyed Wise Men!

All about Brownie

Bernie, the Bear who put in His Claim at City Hall

The Doctor Still Was in the House!

The Three Little Pigs According to Nana

What Does It Mean to Carry One’s Cross and Follow Jesus?

Jesus and His Diverse Friends Bring the Kingdom of God to Earth!!

About the Author

The Special Magic Christmas Mouse

Linda A. M. Schneider

December 16-18, 2020

Author’s Note

A few years ago, I came across a cute hand-crafted, stuffed fabric mouse dressed in long flowing skirts and holding a basket of flowers, with a long realistic tail hanging behind. Her picture is included as part of the cover of this book. I bought it and still enjoy it, but for some reason, I considered her to be a Christmas mouse. I thought she deserved to have a story told about her, but I had to modify the details of the mouse in the story a little bit.

For two other stories in which Santa’s elves, Hot Rod and Eustace, are characters, please see The Santa Claus Mix-up and A High-tech Solution to a low-tech Problem, found in Flights of Fancy and Food for Thought, Linda Anne Monica Schneider, Author House, Bloomington, IN.

The Taylor girls, Diane, Sally, and Pattie, wrote only one letter to Santa Claus that year. They all agreed on the gift they wanted, a special pet mouse. Six-year-old Pattie wanted a soft, cuddly little pet, and she still enjoyed fanciful children’s stories about mice, especially because she had no idea how unrealistic they were. She was sure that the little mouse would get along fine with their Springer spaniel, Dana, and they had no pet cat. Seven-year-old Sally agreed with Pattie that mice were quite cute, and she especially liked their little bright beady eyes. She had some vague idea of teaching their special mouse to do tricks. Nine-year-old Diane backed up her younger sisters in wanting a mouse, but she didn’t put her real reasons in the letter to Santa, because she didn’t want to burst their fantasy bubble. She only said that she was sure that they would love their cute new mouse and that they would be good to it. Her real motive was that, in the fourth grade at school, she was becoming very interested in science and the behavior of animals, and she wanted to see if she could generate a nice homework science report by observing their new pet mouse. She mentioned this idea privately on the side to her parents, in the hopes of persuading them not to veto this request with Santa. Although Diane still believed in Santa Claus, she was beginning to be old enough to realize that Santa generally didn’t bring gifts of which their parents didn’t approve.

Mama, Papa, and Grandma found out about the letter to Santa, when they found it in its envelope on the hall table, waiting to be mailed. Exercising their parental rights, they read it. Despite the merits of Diane’s argument about a science project, they certainly did not approve, and they quietly attached a P.S. to the letter saying so before stamping and sealing it and mailing it. They trusted that it would end up in a dead-letter office, or that they could intercept any well-meaning human Santa’s helper who might try to provide a live mouse to the children.

Grandma summarized the parental consensus succinctly. Mice ain’t cute! she said stoutly. They make a lot of mess and spread disease.

Mama and Papa agreed. Even if we keep it in a cage, we can’t count on the kids to clean it, once the novelty wears off! Mama said.

Even if Diane takes care of it and cleans out the cage for the school project, what will happen to it, once she’s done? Papa wanted to know. Meanwhile, the pesky critter is bound to get out somehow.

When the parents heard about the gift that Mama’s sister, Susie, planned to give the girls, they were happy and relieved. It might satisfy them this year, because they are still young enough to believe in magic and make-believe, Grandma said.

It won’t be what they want, but it will have to do! Mama agreed.

Fortunately, as things turned out, the letter didn’t go either to the dead-letter office or to one of Santa’s year-round deputy human helpers. It was intercepted by Hot Rod, Santa’s techno-wizard elf, and it ended up in the Saint’s in-box at the North Pole.

Eustace, the manager of Santa’s elves, convened a group to discuss the matter, but they couldn’t come to an agreement. They finally had to talk to Santa himself.

We can’t figure out what to do about this one, Hot Rod said. The P.S. is plain as day that the parents don’t want a caged pet mouse in the house.

Maybe you will just have to write a letter, saying politely that you can’t give what the parents don’t want, Sandra, one of the gift-choosing elves, commented.

I could try to engineer some mechanical mouse that would be very realistic, Hot Rod offered. However, I don’t think that’s what they really want. They have been playing with that sort of thing since they were tiny tots. I think they want something alive.

Santa frowned. Well, I understand they want something alive, or very special, but I agree that we can’t give them a real mouse against the parents’ wishes. Besides, I sense that isn’t what they really want.

How about a magic mouse? Sandra asked. That is better than a mechanical one, and they still are young enough to relate to something like that. In another year or so, it will be too late, especially for Diane.

That might work, Santa agreed. I have an idea. I found out that their aunt Susie bought a beautiful hand-crafted stuffed mouse, wearing a nice fancy dress and holding a basket of flowers, at the Methodist church bazaar. It has nice little articulated paws and a long, realistic tail. She plans to give it to the girls for Christmas, especially now that she found out about this Santa letter.

But how can you do anything magical with something like that? Eustace wanted to know.

I think I need to talk to Maxie, Santa answered. I have an idea!

Although most people don’t know it, Santa has other helpers besides the elves and his human deputies. Some of them are animals. A family of mice lived in a deep, snug burrow near Santa’s workshop. They enjoyed the heat that escaped from Santa’s premises and warmed their burrow, and they were protected from predators, like wolves and snowy owls. They also feasted on tidbits and leftovers from Santa Claus and the elves. Most of the mouse youngsters grew up and moved out to the wild, forfeiting this protection and easy living, because the burrow only had a limited amount of space. However, some of the precocious mice had tiny nimble toes that functioned like miniature hands and could do things that even elves could not. These became Santa’s helpers in making some intricate, detailed toys, especially tiny electronic circuits. One of these mouse helpers was a large gray mouse that was almost big enough to be a midget rat! Her name was Maxie. She had especially dexterous paws and a quick wit. She also had the unusual magic ability to talk in a small, human voice, and to use people words. Santa asked Maxie if she would be willing to hide inside the mouse that Aunt Susie would give the children, to help it function like a special magic mouse.

I only need you to do this for a year, Santa told her. After that, they will be too big to believe in magic. I’ll find a way to get you fed and keep the secret from the parents. Besides, I happen to know that the stuffed mouse is a miniature hand puppet, but the cavity and hollow front paws are too small for people to manipulate. It should work fine for you. You can make it move and do all kinds of fantastic things, when the parents aren’t around, of course! If you talk through the stuffed mouse’s mouth, the girls will think the mouse is a magic talking mouse, with no electronic mechanism! It will give them Christmas memories of their childhood that they will pass in stories to their children and grandchildren!

Maxie liked the challenge to her creativity and ingenuity. I’ll have fun doing this! she said. Only, please make sure that you find a way to retrieve me when the second Christmas rolls around!

I’ll come and get you when I make my Epiphany rounds that year, Santa promised her.

Santa asked Sandra to go with him when he visited the Taylor house, to help him insert Maxie.

Aunt Susie will mail the mouse to the house in a wrapped parcel, Sandra said. When it arrives, we can carefully open a corner of the package to allow Santa to insert Maxie inside the stuffed mouse when he makes his rounds on Christmas Eve. I need to talk to the family dog, Dana, to tell her not to give the game away!

Eustace laughed. I wouldn’t count on a dog to suppress her nose if she smells a live mouse! he commented.

Three days before Christmas, the mail lady delivered a package from Susan Harcourt addressed to My Three Favorite Nieces: Diane, Sally, and Pattie, to the Taylor residence. Mama was relieved to see her sister’s promised gift, and she was especially happy that it arrived on time. When the parents at nighttime removed the brown outside mailer in which the gift was sent to get the gift ready to put it under the tree, they found an oddly shaped parcel wrapped in pretty green wrapping paper and tied with a fancy red bow. The tag on the inner package was addressed to the girls the same way as the mailing wrapper, with the addition that the gift was from Santa and Aunt Susie, with love.

The girls were excited to see Aunt Susie’s package, and they were curious about what it might contain. Aunt Susie lived a long way off in Fargo, Wisconsin, but she faithfully sent unique gifts to the girls for many years. Sometimes, she sent each niece an individual item; it was usually a piece of jewelry or a book, but sometimes she sent all three girls together one special present. Last year, her gift was a very sophisticated interactive mechanical doll, named Elsie, that walked and talked and answered questions addressed to it, sometimes with comical results. Diane thought that it would be hard for Aunt Susie to outdo last year’s gift, but she kept her opinion to herself. The girls agreed that, whatever it was, it probably wasn’t edible, because Dana showed no inclination to sniff or paw the package. As the oldest of the sisters, Diane knew that Aunt Susie probably was one of Santa’s human deputy helpers, which explained why the present came from their aunt and Santa. If the whole truth be told, Grandma, the parents, and the aunt all were Santa human deputy helpers, which left Santa free to concentrate on any special requests the girls had made to him to which their parents didn’t object.

On Christmas Eve, after the parents had added their last-minute surprises to the pile under the tree and filled the three stockings with goodies and everyone in the house was fast asleep, Santa, Sandra, and Maxie stealthily crept into the house through the large window over the kitchen sink, careful not to disturb Mama’s potted plants that she kept in the window. The house didn’t have a fireplace, which left Santa no chimney to use. Under the Christmas tree in the family room, they found Aunt Susie’s present. Fortunately, the gift wasn’t in a box under the wrapping paper. Carefully, they opened one end of the package, and Maxie managed to insert herself into the cavity in the stuffed mouse. They added the little letter they had made to the stuffed mouse’s chest and the tag they made for the hem of the skirt, to let the girls know how to play with and care for their special, magical mouse! Santa and Sandra managed to rewrap the gift, but they had to leave one of the corners slightly open, to allow air to get in so that Maxie could breathe. Dana had been snoozing near the Christmas tree when they arrived, dreaming about the goodies that she thought were in a couple of the parcels, some of which were intended for her. The dog woke up while they were rewrapping the stuffed mouse, and she immediately smelled the presence of a real, live mouse inside it. Sandra urgently spoke in low dog tones to her, explaining that this mouse and the stuffed mouse, in which it would live, were very special, and Dana must not bother them or let the people know a live mouse was there. Dana agreed, but, as Sandra and Eustace had predicted, her consent was very half-hearted. Sandra whispered urgently to Maxie that she must be very careful and cautious to keep out of Dana’s way as much as possible! Santa and the elf knew that, from time to time, Maxie would have to leave the safety of the cavity inside the stuffed mouse, despite their attempts to provide for most of her needs while she was inside.

On Christmas morning, the excited girls woke early, but they knew they had to eat a pleasant breakfast with the family and go to church, before they could open any of the tempting presents. As they glanced at the packages on their way out to the dining room, they were disappointed not to see anything that looked as though it might be a mouse cage, but Diane whispered to her sisters to wait and see what Santa brought. She suspected that they wouldn’t find any live mouse, on account of her parent’s reaction to her school assignment suggestions. She did hope that Santa managed to grant their request somehow.

As Diane had thought, when they finally were back from church and free to open packages, they found no mouse cage. The stockings were full of the usual fruit, candy, knickknacks, and little tops and hand puzzles. Their aunts on Papa’s side from Boston Massachusetts had sent them warm knitted scarves, hats, and gloves; Mama gave them each a new talking Barbie doll, Grandma gave them new outfits for their other dolls, and Papa had new roller blade skates for all of them.

When they finally came to Aunt Susie’s oddly shaped package, the first thing they noticed was that one corner was open a little bit, and now Dana seemed more alert and interested in this gift than she had before. They thought that maybe the dog had torn the corner to see if she could get inside the package. Mama thought the same thing, and she gave Dana a stern scolding.

Inside the green paper, the girls found a beautiful, hand-crafted stuffed fabric mouse, with long, yellow skirts, holding a basket of brightly colored flowers between her articulated front paws. She had cute beady brown eyes, a little button mouse nose, little round mouse ears made out of felt, and a realistic tail hanging behind her. Her little mouth could be opened and closed with their fingers. The mouse had a faintly fragrant cedar odor. With this mouse, they found a sweet note from Aunt Susie. Their aunt told them she heard about their request for a special mouse from Santa, and she had found this handmade treasure at the Methodist church bazaar. She is a special, magic mouse for you! Aunt Susie concluded in her letter.

Pinned to the mouse’s chest was a little note from Santa Claus himself:

Dear Diane,

Sally, and Pattie. Here is a special, magic mouse for you. Her name is Maxie. Play with her at nighttime, and she will be your special pal!

Love,

Santa Claus

Pinned to the hem of the skirt, they found a little tag that said, Feed me through my mouth, and watch me devour your tasty treats!

The grownups laughingly concluded that it was all make-believe. Although they were initially very disappointed when they saw the stuffed fabric mouse, the girls were curious about the mysterious letter and note, which made them forget their disappointment. Of course, they tried giving this new mouse a sampling of tidbits from dinner. They and the adults were amazed to see them disappear into the little movable mouth once placed there. The girls even successfully gave Maxie water with an eye dropper. Grandma privately grumbled to Mama that the water and tidbits would probably dribble out and make a mess. Mama just laughed, and she said that Dana probably would clean up the leavings.

To protect Maxie from unwanted attention from Dana, the girls decided that Maxie would stay in Diane’s room on top of the high chest of drawers, next to her ballerina jewelry box. Diane cautioned her sisters that the idea of playing with their new mouse friend at night probably meant that the magic, whatever it was, wouldn’t work when grownups were around. The sisters could hardly wait to hear their favorite Christmas bedtime story about Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and to be tucked into bed that night. When the house was quiet, they gathered in Diane’s room, where they could play with the magic mouse. The younger girls’ room was between Grandma’s room and Diane’s, which made it easy for the younger sisters to creep over to Diane’s chamber when the house was quiet.

Maxie had been thinking all day of what she would do with the girls. She first got them used to the fact that (with her talking from inside the mouse and moving the mouth) their new mouse talked. She told them her name was Maxie, and that she was glad to be their special friend. She also demonstrated that, with her assistance, the mouse could move its front paws and wiggle her nose. If she moved around enough inside, the mouse even did a little dance and swayed her tail. The girls laughed, but they tried to be quiet to avoid waking or attracting the attention of the grownups. Maxie told the girls that her magic only worked when grownups weren’t around. The sisters went to sleep that night very satisfied with the way Santa had answered their request!

As the Christmas season drew to a close, Mama agreed to her daughters’ request that this special Christmas mouse should stay out until next year, to be put away after the following Christmas season. The flowers Maxie was holding weren’t poinsettias, and the mouse would be a cute year-round decoration. The grownups assumed that, by the following Christmas, the novelty of Aunt Susie’s gift would have worn off.

The adults were a little surprised that the girls remained very engaged with and interested in Maxie. They continued to feed her tidbits and droppers of water, but no mess appeared. The parents assumed that Dana was doing clean-up duty. She certainly seemed interested in the stuffed mouse for some reason. When the girls went to Boston to visit the aunts the following summer, they insisted on taking Maxie with them.

Unknown to their parents, they all spent much pleasant time, together or alone, in Diane’s room with their magic mouse friend. With the two younger girls, Maxie could be innocent and silly; she did little tricks for them, to the special delight of Sally, and she played guessing games and word games with them. One night, when Pattie was alone with her, she stuck her real head out through the cloth mouth a little, so Pattie could pat her soft mouse fur and marvel at how cute she really was.

With Diane, Maxie was a little more cautious and careful, because she sensed that the older daughter was puzzled about how this magic really worked. Diane enjoyed Maxie’s antics and games, but she kept wondering how in the world the stuffed mouse could do these things! She was growing up—she would be ten years old in the fall—and she was beginning to no longer believe in pure magic that had no explanation. From watching TV and videogames, she knew that many special effects had a perfectly reasonable explanation. Despite all her careful examinations, she could find no electronic mechanism in that beautiful, unique cloth stuffed mouse! Also, Diane was puzzled that Dana continued to be fascinated and interested in Maxie, too. She and her sisters had to discourage the dog, by scolding her sternly, from jumping up on the high chest to get to Maxie.

For her part, the real mouse, Maxie, also had to be wary of Dana. Unknown to the sisters, at nighttime or when the girls were away in school and Dana was outside, the real mouse often crept quietly down to the kitchen to relieve herself in the flowerpots underneath the potted plants in the kitchen. The girls were keeping her well-fed. She resisted the temptation to scrounge for crumbs in the kitchen and hurried back upstairs to her stuffed mouse shell. She was determined not to make any mess or otherwise betray her presence to the adults, but she began to think that she would have to let Diane know about her secret.

From what she heard of the sisters’ conversation, Maxie learned that Diane was really interested in information about real, live mice, and that she wanted to do a school report about the lives of mice in the wild, and not just the ones that lived in cages as pets. As fall came that October, Maxie decided that it was time to tell Diane the truth. She wanted to help her friend write a good paper about mice. Besides, she would need Diane’s help to avoid being packed away with the stuffed mouse and the other Christmas things the following Epiphany.

A couple of weeks before Halloween, Diane walked into her room to see a huge gray mouse sitting beside the stuffed Maxie on her chest of drawers. As she stared, the live mouse opened the ballerina box and wound it up.

I’m your real mouse friend, Diane, Maxie piped. I’ve been living inside the stuffed mouse all this time. It was Santa’s idea to give you girls the live and magic mouse you wanted, despite your parents’ objections. I’ve enjoyed being your pal, but now I need your help!

Perhaps Diane didn’t believe in magic as such anymore, but now she really believed in Santa Claus and his ingenuity. It all finally made sense to her. Now she knew that it was Santa and not Dana who opened the corner of Aunt Susie’s package to allow Maxie to breathe. She understood, too, that the live mouse must not be packed away next January.

I’d like to help you write a good paper about real mice, Maxie continued. But please help me not to get sealed up in a box. I have to stay inside the stuffed mouse as much as possible on account of Dana.

Now Diane spent even more time with Maxie. She took a hurried picture of the real mouse next to a plant, to use in the school report, but then Maxie went back to being concealed in the stuffed mouse. Maxie told Diane all about how mice formed family groups in burrows and what they ate and how they lived. Diane was able to write a detailed report, based on her talks with Maxie and other information she found from Google and other online searches. As the Christmas season approached, Diane and Maxie made a plan to allow her to be retrieved by Santa Claus without being discovered by the grownups or Dana. In all these conversations, Diane had to take special care to be alone with her mouse pal, and she had to pretend to be innocent and naïve with her sisters. She didn’t want to spoil their innocent fun or their wonderful memories of their special magic mouse pal, and she didn’t think that she could trust them to keep the secret about the real mouse from their parents.

As Christmas approached, Grandma suggested that they should show off Maxie by putting her downstairs on top of the stereo in the family room. Aunt Susie was coming to visit for the holidays this year, and it would be good for her to see how much her nieces appreciated her special gift. That meant that the girls had to sneak downstairs after the house was quiet to play with their special mouse pal, but they didn’t see how they could object to the new arrangement.

Aunt Susie was delighted to see Maxie displayed in such a prominent place and to hear how much the girls loved her. For their part, they were a little sorry that they couldn’t tell their aunt the whole story, but Diane warned them privately that it would spoil everything if the grownups learned too much about their magic friend. Meanwhile, Diane had submitted a detailed report on mice in her fifth-grade science class, and she was given an A grade. Her parents, Grandma, and Aunt Susie were very proud that she managed to write such a nice, detailed report without a real mouse for a pet. Diane explained the picture of Maxie by saying that she chanced to see the mouse on her walk home from school and took a quick picture with her cell phone camera.

Dana still was fascinated and curious about the stuffed mouse. Aunt Susie said that it probably was on account of the cedar chips used to stuff the cloth mouse. Fortunately, once more presents arrived for Christmas, Dana was sufficiently distracted to pay less attention to the mouse sitting up on the stereo.

That year, Aunt Susie gave the girls a sophisticated electronic toy that was a waterless fishbowl. It had a tightly fitted cover, and when it was turned on, a fish swam around inside the clear bowl in something that looked like liquid. The fish answered questions about fish species in a clear, electronic voice if you asked them, and a bubbling sound accompanied his words. Diane began to think that she might like to research fish for her next report. Papa told her that he and Mama would get her a real fishbowl and a few fish after the holidays. If she took good care of them, they would buy for her a real fish tank and some tropical fish next year.

Grandma was old-fashioned, and she believed in keeping the Christmas tree and Christmas decorations up until after January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany. As the day approached, Mama started urging the girls to pack up some of the ornaments to be ready to store them in the crawl space when the tree came down. Diane and her sisters asked to keep Maxie out until the last box was packed, because they wanted to play with her on Epiphany evening.

That last night was particularly bittersweet. The girls whispered all their favorite secrets and endearments to Maxie, and she played her games and did her tricks for them.

As the younger girls prepared to go up to bed, Diane carefully placed the stuffed mouse Maxie in the last box and put it under the tree. She left the lid untapped and partly open.

Don’t worry! Santa will tape up the box, and your parents will never know! Maxie whispered. I really enjoyed being with you girls!

As Diane turned to go upstairs, she noticed Dana nosing around the box. She took her firmly by the collar and made her come upstairs to her room. I need to cuddle you, Dana, because I will miss Maxie! she told the reluctant dog.

The morning of Epiphany, Dana saw that the box was all taped shut. Santa had come for Little Christmas and brought a new bread—making machine for Grandma. Her arthritis was making it harder for her to knead dough for the wonderful loaves she loved to make. Santa also brought an empty fishbowl for Diane to use when her parents bought her the new fish. Under the fishbowl package, Diane found a note.

Dear Diane, Santa wrote. I’m glad you enjoyed Maxie so much. I hope you and your sisters have many pleasant memories of your special magic mouse!

They certainly did, especially for the first year or two. As the years passed, the intricate stuffed fabric mouse was brought out with the Christmas decorations each season. The first time, the younger girls wondered in passing why she no longer talked or played with them, but they soon were distracted by other things, and their memories of that magic year receded from their minds. They gradually began to think that it all had been just make believe, as their parents said. Diane, of course, knew the truth, and her memories remained vivid of that wonderful year. However, it was a secret that she knew she had to share only with the real live mouse, Maxie, and the real Santa Claus and his elves!

Mary, Full of Grace and Vessel of Hope

Linda A. M. Schneider

November 23-24, 2016

This Christmas, we again celebrate the birth of our risen savior, Jesus Christ, our Lord and King! We also take the occasion to honor his mother, Mary, the Mother of God and our mother, too. The birth of the little Baby King is our focus, but this celebration also very much belongs to His Mother, as well as her husband, Joseph. They each offer us examples of surrender to God’s plan, trust in His Providence, and hope.

We call Mary the Immaculate Conception, because, from the moment she came into being as a human being, she was protected and cherished by God and prepared for the wonderful work He would ask her freely to undertake. As she grew and developed and matured into a lovely young woman, He invited her to a glorious relationship with Him, one in which He spoke to her heart and she freely prayed and interacted with Him. The freedom from original sin of which the doctrine speaks meant that she was given special graces to withstand the temptations and selfish tendencies that plague human beings, and she also had the kind of deep, profound, faith-based relationship with God to allow her to recognize the legitimacy of His call when He invited her to be the mother of His Son, the Word made flesh!

I have heard and read some people and scholars opine that Mary was a child virgin, very innocent and naïve, and not aware of what she was being asked to do. I don’t find that idea logical. The Son of God, as a human being, was influenced, guided, and nurtured by the two parents entrusted with his care on earth: Mary, his Mother, and her husband, Joseph. He needed the formation and influence of two wonderful human beings to grow and develop into the dynamic, strong, and fearless Man he became. As fully human, He required a perceptive, courageous Mother, who was receptive to all the influence and promptings of the Holy Spirit.

Most of us, if addressed by somebody purporting to be an angel, might be frightened, in holy awe, and somewhat cautious. We know that the Devil, our human frailties, and mental illness are influences that might cause us to think that a false experience or vision is real and legitimate. The early church cautioned believers to test everything, retain what was good, and avoid even the appearance of evil. Because of the divine protection God gave her and the relationship Mary developed with God during her childhood, youth, and young womanhood, she was prepared to recognize the validity of the call that the Angel Gabriel brought to her from God. In her heart, she recognized this angelic presence as coming from God, and that He was asking something incredible and awesome of her. He was giving her a free decision to make. The choice would be hers.

This relationship between Mary and God is illustrated by the dialogue she had with Gabriel. The exchange contrasts with the reaction of Zechariah when an angel told him that he would be the father of John, despite his wife, Elizabeth’s, apparent inability to conceive. Although they clearly were husband and wife, Zechariah asks how this could be, doubting the power of God to go through and beyond the natural to bring about his plan. For that reason, Zechariah was rendered unable to speak, until the birth and naming of his son. As a priest, he should have been attuned to God’s possible interaction with His people and His ability to influence processes and events beyond normal human possibilities.

On the other hand, Mary knew that without having a relationship with a man, which the angel seemed to imply would not happen, she could not possibly conceive naturally. Her question about how this could happen, since she did not know a man, was motivated by a prayerful, humble attempt to understand what seemed beyond human possibility.

Because of Mary’s lifelong interaction with the Holy Spirit, Gabriel’s answer made sense: this same loving God and His

Spirit would interact with her, to allow her to be the Mother of God’s Son, whom they were to name Jesus. The choice was hers to freely make. Although God sometimes intervenes emphatically in human affairs, such as when he knocked Saul (to later be Paul) to the ground and spoke directly to him, He does not force us to accept His Will.

Despite her awareness of the possible perilous consequences for her, Mary’s answer was yes. Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done to me as you say. As someone paraphrased it, If God wants me to be the mother of His Son, it’s all right with me! She knew God’s power, omnipotence, and love, and she trusted them completely.

Joseph, her betrothed and later her husband, also was asked to make a similar leap of faith and hope. Like Mary, he knew that in human terms conception normally required relations between men and women, and he had none with her. He also knew the apparent innocence and purity of his betrothed, but now she was with child, and he couldn’t put the two things together. He didn’t want her hurt, but if someone else secretly was in her life, he didn’t see how he could take her as his wife.

When the angel spoke to Joseph, he also recognized that this was a divine messenger; he finally had the piece that made the puzzle fit together, God’s direct action as described by Mary. He also responded in hope and trust, and he took Mary as his wife and raised Jesus as his son.

Both Mary and Joseph are supreme examples for us of hope. As St. Paul said, if one sees what one hopes for, it isn’t hope. Despite the words of the angel, Mary, full of grace, and her receptive spouse, Joseph, had to trust that the parts they knew were part of a great, unseen design by a loving God who wanted to save His people, Israel, and the entire world. When they each said yes, they couldn’t see how it would all resolve in the end, but they trusted completely in the loving, omnipotent God they encountered in their prayers. Their hope further was tested by the foreboding remarks of Simeon when he encountered the young Jesus in the temple after His birth. They didn’t know what the dark prophecies meant, but they surely cast a shadow over their joy at the birth of this beautiful Baby. The forebodings seemed justified when they had to flee by night to Egypt to escape the menace of Herod’s attempts to kill Jesus! Despite their escape and eventual quiet return to Nazareth, the sorrow and danger would culminate in Jesus’s death on the cross, followed by His glorious resurrection and Ascension to His Father with the subsequent coming of the Holy Spirit! Through these great mysteries and redemption actions by Jesus, all human beings were invited, through faith in Jesus and acceptance of Him, to share the freedom from the domination of sin and its tendencies in their lives, as well as to experience the protections and fortifications of God’s grace in union with Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit.

At Christmas time, in the midst of all the celebrations, we are called to a similar trust in God and hope. We need this call especially when things seem chaotic and upset, as in the aftermath of this present unusual and divisive election and leadership change. As Mary and Joseph did, we need to recognize that human beings are unpredictable and fallible, but God and His love are constant and unshakable. His plans will not be thwarted, despite the contrariness, discord, and sinful actions of human beings. In the end, Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and His kingdom will prevail and come!

Merry Christmas, and a Blessed New Year of hope and trust in the Lord!

The Children of God Should Rejoice at Easter!

Linda A. M. Schneider

April 23, 2017

In the gospels, Jesus tells his disciples that they need to become like little children to enter the Kingdom of God. I have found this saying a little puzzling, because in other places in the New Testament, St. Paul cautions the recipients of his letters to grow up spiritually by becoming new people in Jesus Christ and to put away worldly concerns. He compares it to becoming a man and not behaving like a little child anymore. These statements seem paradoxical, but closer analysis reveals that they are consistent with followers of Jesus maturing as members of His Mystical Body in union with Him in the Holy Spirit.

At first glance, it seems strange to be told that we should become like little children to enter the Kingdom of God. How many times have we heard someone say, or been told, Act your age! or When are you going to grow up? To understand the meaning of Jesus’s statement, we have to look more closely at the relationship of a child with a loving parent. Although even adults and teenagers retain some of these childlike qualities toward their parents, they are especially present in little children.

Youngsters, certainly by the time they are old enough to walk and talk, have a great deal of innocent intelligence, but they lack maturity, knowledge of how life goes overall, and experience. The happenings and events they have, though they may seem trivial to wise adults, are very real for them. Time stretches out before them, so that in their world tomorrow never comes, and the postponements of contemplated present joys and outings are devastating. The pains and disappointments they have are very intense and real. For example, they don’t know why they must endure the painful injections given as vaccinations against diseases, and sickness and troubles seem overwhelming, bewildering, and painful to them. The little disappointments about postponed outings or rainy days feel catastrophic to them. The conflicts and snubs with siblings or schoolmates seem to be genuine causes of heartbreak and sorrow.

Yet, for children of loving, caring parents, these difficulties are mitigated by the comforting love of the father and mother, who reassure their disappointed, unhappy, or suffering children that, The sun will come out tomorrow, and we will go to the beach then. Or The shot will keep you from getting something worse! or as Papa used to tell me to comfort me when I cried, The father takes care of his kid! Despite their tears and temper tantrums, little children ultimately find security and comfort in the reassurances of their parents.

In one of his letters, St. John cautions his readers that we are God’s children now. What we shall later be has not yet been revealed, but when it is, we will be like Him, and we shall see Him as He is. Meanwhile, we spend our lives, with the help of God’s grace, trying to grow up spiritually, as St. Paul and Jesus taught, like little children under the guidance of their parents.

On a human level, of course, we have to grow up, too. We find out about the sequence of days, weeks, and seasons; we learn about weather and vaccinations, how things work in life, and that we must assume responsibility for our actions. We discover that it isn’t mature or grown-up to throw temper tantrums or act childish at disappointments of this world, but if we are to be God’s children and enter the Kingdom, we still have to preserve toward the Father God the same attributes that the child exhibits toward a loving parent.

Even though we know how things work on the surface as grownup adults, on a deeper level, the world still often can be a dark, dangerous, sorrowful, and perplexing place. Despite the best efforts of many wonderful people, innocent people suffer, children go to bed hungry, and violence, aggression, war, and tyranny still persist in our world. Based solely on our natural human reason and intellect, we find it hard to understand how such a state of affairs is reconcilable with the existence of a loving God.

Jesus’s disciples, apostles, friends, and mother experienced this sorrow and perplexity, too. The Son of God, the Author of Life, hung dying on a cross, the engine of execution of the tyrannical Romans. Many of the establishment leaders in their community had rejected Him.

That day, even all of the trees cried, but only the Lord heard them! None of them, of whatever species, ever wanted to be an instrument of torture and death for anyone, especially not their Lord and maker! All of creation seemed turned on its head, perverted, and violated! How could this possibly be, that the Son of God, Jesus, God-Man, died? Nobody understood then what John later would record in his gospel: that He freely laid down his life, with the intention of taking it up again.

The few faithful remnants in those agonizing days and hours before Easter, especially His mother, Mary, were asked to behave like the little children already discussed, the little children of a loving God. They were asked to trust that the sunshine of joy would come out again, and that the Father really did take care of His Son! When Jesus rose on Easter, their trust and love were ratified, vindicated, and affirmed.

With the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, all those who accept the Lord are invited to be God’s children, and members of His mystical Body, and to remember the Easter victory when the world seems at its worst.

It isn’t easy to keep acting like God’s little children and Easter people. When things are going relatively well, the Easter bells ring joyous and clear in our hearts. However, when a loved one leaves us behind and departs for the Great Beyond without us, or when upheaval and change afflict the world and our personal lives, or when sickness and hardship invade our inner room of tranquility, it’s hard to remember Easter. We have to keep reminding ourselves and each other that God does love His children, as He proved when Jesus, too, suffered, died, rose from the dead, and ascended to the Father. We have to trust that He will take care of His kids, even if we, like the little tots we used to be, don’t quite understand how it can be.

I’m having a very hard time celebrating Easter this year. My Seeing Eye dog, my squire and my prince, Teddy, is having physical problems and possibly a loss of eyesight. The blind leading the blind do not do very well. He has been almost everything I wanted in a guide, and I find it heartbreaking to contemplate the possible imminent end of our working partnership, even though I know I must do what is good for both of us and plan to keep him with me in retirement. On a larger level, I’m like the little five-year-old me, the little girl who cried when I couldn’t go to the beach because the weather was too cold. In later times, of course, I would have my good beach days, but I didn’t know it then.

The only solution is complete trust, however painful. With God’s grace, I need to remind myself of the four good dogs I had before Teddy, and to trust that some good dog is out there for me at the proper time. I have to try to let the Father God wipe away my tears and comfort me, but it still doesn’t stop me from crying and mourning right now.

On a larger level, the situation with the environment, the climate, and world conflicts calls for the same kind of love, trust, and reliance on God. In other words, we have to be FROGS: forever relying on God.

Despite all the trouble, and maybe even because of it, we still need to rejoice and exalt at Easter time! Jesus triumphed over the ultimate ignominy, degradation, suffering and death on Easter. If we, with God’s grace and help, act like Easter people, the children of the Father that we are, we will share in that triumph, too.

The Collapse of the Rock Exchange

Linda A. M. Schneider

June 1, 2017

NY ROCK EXCHANGE COLLAPSES

Resulting Avalanche Partially Buries Times square

Dateline June 1, 2064.

Irving Cosimando

Worldwide Wireless

At 2 P.M. this afternoon, Standard Earth Time, the New York Rock Exchange physically collapsed. The weight of all the cascading traded rocks caused an avalanche that partially buried Times Square. Trading immediately halted in the other rock exchanges worldwide, lest a similar disaster should happen anywhere else. Fortunately, the ponderous weight of all that trading caused the event to happen slowly enough that most of the traders had time to exit the building before the weight of their trading speculation brought it down. Early reports say that three people were killed, and fifty others injured, four of them critically. Traders and bystanders helped with the rescues, as it was impossible for ambulances and other vehicles to physically get to the scene.

We needed a dozen mountain-terrain vehicles, if we had them, a police spokesman said in frustration. But whoever expected to need them in downtown New York?

Avery Perez, the head of the Exchange, was not immediately available for comment. Her deputy, Samuel Jones III, promised that they would both hold a press conference tomorrow morning, at 9 A.M. Standard Earth Time. He declined to say whether trading would be able to resume there or elsewhere in the world by the usual opening time of 10 A.M. We need some time to try to clear away this mess, he admitted. The weight of all that trading and speculation was just more than the market could bear. It also will take some time to establish who owns what, despite the digital markings. It’s all just a haphazard pile of random rocks in there.

When asked by the Associated Press reporter whether the transition to script trading would be accelerated by today’s disaster, Mr. Jones shrugged.

I’d be surprised if it didn’t, he answered.

A Disaster Waiting to Happen

Today’s catastrophe began in the late 2020’s, when the economy finally rebounded in earnest after the Great Recession in 2008 and the freefall of the economy during the COVID19 pandemic of 2020-21.

Despite aggressive efforts by the U.S. Federal Reserve and other government agencies throughout the world to keep inflation in check by raising interest rates, inflation skyrocketed. The problem was aggravated by the Bailey Twins succeeding finally in doing what the Koch’s had failed to do—corner the gold and silver markets—, and investors no longer had their precious metal inflation security blankets. Gradually, nations came to the conclusion that they were better having their currency in tangible assets whose values could be definitely fixed. Following the lead of those speculating in diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds and other gems considered precious, investors began to put their faith in stockpiled rocks. After all, science had figured out how to create rubies and diamonds in the lab making them less precious and unique, so why shouldn’t people trade granite, quartz, limestone, and sandstone, with corresponding hierarchical values? Investors were so cautious after the collapse of currencies based on gold and silver that they persisted in holding their assets in tangible rocks. The trading associations that developed constructed huge buildings to accommodate the trading. While regular consumers still used digital payments and credit cards in daily shopping, eventually those transactions had to be measured out in corresponding rocks, which increased the resulting trading intensity. Ironically employment reached full capacity, because labor was kept busy hauling all those valuable rocks around and constructing and reinforcing the buildings to house the exchanges!

Coming Full Circle

The resulting rock hierarchy became more and more top-heavy. Of course, the diehards who believed in their standby precious gems, quietly maintained their low-volume, valued wealth in safes and safe-deposit boxes. Fort Knox still stockpiled what gold they had saved from the Baileys. Everyone else assigned values to other rocks. The granite slabs represented the highest denominations of these, followed by the jade not suitable for jewelry, but the holdings of these traders were especially dense and heavy. Marble, quartz, sandstone, and limestone holdings were greater in volume on account of their lesser values, but still couldn’t quite match the granite traders. It was the attempt of these others to buy up some newly discovered granite deposits in Antarctica that finally brought down the whole trading market.

When the deposit was first discovered, wise foresighted people started saying that we couldn’t escape the use of currency in some form, and we would have to go back to a kind of script to represent the holdings in all of those rocks. Their voices were faint and unheeded at first, because, after all, what would people do with the resulting rock surpluses if we went back to script? The script people argued strenuously that the rocks should be used to fill in the coastlands that had been eroded during the warm times and resulting sea level rises. It would be fitting to remedy the erosion of climate change with all those rocks, they argued. After today’s collapse, their point of view is likely to gain more acceptance and favor. Unless, of course, human beings still can’t live without their rocks, whatever the consequences!

The Short, Sweet Season

Linda A. M. Schneider

October 24, 2009

Revisited February 16, 2021

Author’s Note

Four times during my 58 years, at seventeen-year intervals, the event depicted here, the coming of the seventeen-year cicadas,¹ has occurred. The first time was in 1953, when I was between one and two years of age, and I have no recollection of it.

The second time was in 1970, when I was getting ready to graduate from high school. My father read me an article from the newspaper that described the fascinating life cycle of these insects. He later caught one of the creatures in the