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Fiction Short Story

by  Charles Langley

The Christmas Spirit Tree

When I bought my acre of contentment in Randolph County, North Carolina, and built on it, I was separated from Jim Garn, my nearest neighbor, by a patch of hard-rock land on which only a scraggly, sparse lone pine tree grew. At its very top was a silver, plastic star. A single red Christmas ornament graced a lower limb. When Jim came over to welcome me, I commented on the tree.

"Christmas is long gone," I told him. "Why don't you take the ornaments off your Christmas tree?"

"It isn't a Christmas tree," he answered. "It's a Christmas spirit tree. Christmas is just one day a year. The spirit of Christmas should last all year long."

Weirdo, I thought. I wonder what other far-out theories he has. But year-long Christmas spirit wasn't a theory to him. It was a way of life. When I fell at work and was laid-up for three weeks, I regularly found gifts on my doorstep. Fresh vegetables. Fruit. A can of blackberries. A green tomato pie. I knew they were from him because anyone else would have had to use my long driveway and would have been seen. When I was back on my feet, I broached the subject with Jim.

"Why didn't you wait when you brought the gifts so I could thank you?"

"I was only the deliveryman," he said. "You should thank Him who made the gifts possible."

Over time I heard of other acts of kindness on his part. Always anonymous. Never waiting to be thanked.

One day the tax assessor came to his door. The door was ajar. Religious music came from a radio within. He knocked, but got no answer. Pushing the door open, he saw Garn, sitting lifeless in his rocking chair.

 "What a horrible way to die," someone said. "Alone and deserted."

 I didn't answer. But in the quiet of my home I bowed my head.

"Lord, take his soul and be gentle," I prayed. "He was one of the good ones. You and I know that the good ones are never alone and deserted."


About the Author
Since returning to writing four years ago after a fifty-nine year hiatus, Charles Langley has written over one hundred and ten short stories, poems, or articles for print magazines, e-zines, or books.

Two years ago Gannett Newspapers gave full page, nationwide coverage to his time as a cub reporter at the1935 trial of Bruno Richard Hauptmann for the kidnap/murder of the infant son of Charles Lindbergh.