The Happiest Season Read Online Free PDF Page A

whistle.  “This siding needs to be replaced.”
    Maggie sighed, wondering what she should do.  Should she
submit a claim to her homeowner’s insurance, or was the owner of the wayward
camel responsible for repairing the damage?
    It was as if John read her thoughts.  “This isn’t your
responsibility,” he said.  “The camel’s owner, or even the folks at the church,
need to make this right.”
    Maggie wrung her hands nervously, unsure what to do.  But
John was right.  The camel had ruined her siding and someone needed to assure
it was fixed.
    “You weren’t kidding about the camel, were you?” Gloria murmured.
    “ No! ” Maggie cried for the umpteenth time, and then
seemed to register that she hadn’t introduced her new best friend to John. 
“Oh, Gloria, this is John Dutch, John, Gloria.  Gloria and I work together at
the Employment Security Office downtown.”
    John extended a hand in greeting. 
    “It’s nice to meet you,” Gloria said, accepting his
proffered hand. 
    “Do you have pictures for me?” Rickey asked, coming up
beside John and tugging on his jacket.
    John smiled his way.  “I do.  I printed out several for
you.”  He passed them to the eager five-year-old.
    Gloria appeared just as eager to see the photos, since she
hurried over to see them too. 
    “Look, Gloria,” Rickey said eagerly, “this is the camel we
found in our backyard.  Isn’t he awesome?”
    She winced.  “Well…”
    John took a step closer to Maggie, who was presently examining
the damage and seeming uncertain as to how to proceed.  She turned to him and
shook her head.  “I … uh … wow.”  She aimed a finger at a particularly damaged
section of the siding.  “It looks pretty bad,” she sighed.
    He nodded in agreement.  “It definitely needs to be
repaired.”  He checked his watch, but then appeared to remember something of
import.  “Is your husband working?” he asked.
    She abruptly turned toward him, surprised by the question,
but realized he’d apparently seen the wedding band she still wore on her
finger.  Her right hand immediately went to her ring finger.  She began
nervously twisting the ring, unaware she was doing it.  She opened her mouth,
to respond to his question, when Rickey spoke up first.
    “My daddy died,” he said, his face solemn. 
    John’s face fell and his eyes filled with regret.  “I’m
sorry, I…”
    Maggie waved off the apology.  Referencing her husband was
reasonable, in light of the ring still on her finger.  She did feel awful for
the look of anguish on his face.
    “Well, what are we going to do about this siding?” Gloria
said brusquely, in an obvious attempt to change the subject.  “Frankly, that
camel can’t get away with creating this kind of damage… ”
    “I agree,” John said, and checked his watch again.  He met
Maggie’s eyes.  “I’m going to call the station.  Offhand, I don’t recall the
name of the guy who owns the camel, but they’ll be able to pull my report and
get a hold of it for me.”
    “Oh, okay.  That’s great.”
    He went into the house, and Maggie followed a moment later. 
She found him sitting on the couch in her family room, engaged in conversation
with someone.  “Somebody needs to fix the siding of this house,” he said
firmly, and then paused, listening.  “Okay,” he said crisply, “I’ll run it by
the homeowner.”
    He clicked off his cell phone, and turned toward her.  “I
ended up speaking to the owner of the camel, but he’s insisting he’s not liable
for the damage—or at least not entirely—because he says it’s not his fault the
camel managed to escape the field adjoining the church.  He says he’s a member
of the church and that he’s going to speak to the pastor and church deacons, in
order to determine who’s responsible.”
    Maggie weighed the information with a downturn of her
mouth.  “I guess I’ll just wait and see what happens then.  Did he mention when
he