The Christmas Bus Read Online Free PDF Page B

surgery.”
    “No problem,” huffed Helen, clearly out of breath. “That replacement hip,” gasp gasp , “is as good as new.”
    “But I might need one now,” said Olive just as breathlessly. It seemed that she too was trying to recover from climbing the two flights of stairs. “Or maybe I should focus on my knees first. They’ve been giving me trouble lately.”
    Edith opened the door to the attic and turned on the light. “I’ll warn you that it’s very dusty up here,” she said as she led them over to the corner where the cardboard boxes of costumes were stored.
    “All six of these?” exclaimed Olive when she saw the clearly marked boxes. “For one little nativity play?”
    “That means more trips,” said Helen with a frown. “You didn’t warn me that I was signing up for hard labor today, Olive.”
    Olive went over and picked up a box. “Well, at least they’re not terribly heavy.” Without commenting, Helen followed her lead. Edith, deciding not to waste a trip down the stairs, picked up a box herself, the largest one as it turned out, and it was a bit on the heavy side.
    By the time they were all downstairs, both Helen and Olive looked thoroughly winded, but they somehow managed to get out the door and were slowly making their way over to the church when Charles poked his head out of his study. “What’s going on?”
    Edith explained about the costume boxes, and before the two women had a chance to return, Charles had retrieved the other three from the attic and was already carrying two of the boxes across the street. Edith smiled as she watched him. Maybe this would give Helen and Olive something to think about. Maybe witnessing Charles’s ability to carry the boxes without being the least bit out of breath, since, regardless of the weather, he regularly walked two miles every morning, would show those ladies that he wasn’t exactly over the hill yet.
    “Those two,” he said when he came back into the house. “I’ll be surprised if the pageant doesn’t turn into a complete fiasco.”
    “Really?” Edith looked at him with concern. “Do you think they’re going to make a mess of it?”
    He laughed. “Oh, probably not. After all, as Olive assured me, she does have her little notebook, her attack plan . . . that should keep the affair somewhat on target. But the way those two were arguing just now, about who was boss and who was going to do what, well, I just hope they don’t set too bad of an example for the children.”
    “I do miss Judy,” said Edith.
    “We all do.”
    “And I know this sounds terrible, but sometimes it’s difficult to believe that Judy and Olive are actually related.”
    He laughed again. “Hopefully, Judy won’t be too disappointed when they get here and see what’s become of her pageant.”
    “Maybe she’ll be able to save the day.”
    Just then the doorbell rang again.
    “This place is like Grand Central Station today,” observed Charles. “I hope I’ll be able to get my sermon finished.”
    “Don’t worry,” she assured him. “It’s probably just Olive and Helen again. Anyway, whatever it is, I’ll take care of it. You get back to your work, dear.”
    But it wasn’t Olive or Helen. Instead, Edith found a short and rather squat woman standing at her door. The woman’s hair was gray and fluffy, and she appeared to be quite elderly. At least eighty or ninety, Edith suspected.
    “Can I help you?” she asked the woman, who didn’t look one bit happy to be there.
    “I suppose you can. My friend just dropped me off here.” She looked over her shoulder and scowled. “You got any room in your inn?”
    Edith blinked. “Someone dropped you off ? Right here? And you need a room?”
    “That’s what I said, isn’t it? You got a room or not?” The old woman shifted her shabby-looking overnight bag to the other hand and sighed in clear exasperation. “You’re not deaf, are you?”
    “No, of course not.” Edith opened the door wider.