http://auburnpub.com/ The latest news from the auburnpub.com website! Newsys Template Engine Christmas Story http://backend.userland.com/rss 60 newsys-1306391492 http://auburnpub.com/articles/2009/11/27/christmas_story/christmasstory1.txt In those days, Doc Winsor owned the only trampoline outside of Iowa. What they then called the Rebound Tumbler. His own daughter Nellie became a gymnastic wonder, but her best friend Mabel Hazelton was the real draw. Mabel was small for 11, short-legged and bony, but she could propel herself to mind-boggling heights. “No fair,” they teased, “you eat Mexican jumping beans!” On a campaign tour, before he ever became president, Franklin Roosevelt swung by Doc's neighborhood, awash with children. Trying to gain their attention, he joked about which they'd rather see: the planet Pluto, which had just been discovered, or the newly built Empire State Building. And to his great shock, they shouted back, “wouldn't he rather see Mabel fly?” Fri, 5 Dec 2008 10:52:44 -0500 newsys-1306391494 http://auburnpub.com/articles/2009/11/27/christmas_story/christmasstory2.txt Daimy Hunt plugged away long after everyone else had left the shop, an old workshed that had once been a fine boathouse. Noting the time, he lay down his work and swept up. Out of habit he crept up on the finicky boiler and checked the sight gauges. Satisfied that it would slog through another night, he locked the double carriage doors and let himself out through the postern on the dock. Daimy stepped out onto the river, still amazed that it had frozen so thick, so early. The moon was high and the river smooth. Three days of strong winds had swept it clean. This was the widest part of the river, perhaps 200 yards across. And in the distance - toward the center, at a line about even with Ketchin's Hollow - Daimy spotted a figure pulling a heavy sled. Fri, 5 Dec 2008 10:54:17 -0500 newsys-1332415263 http://auburnpub.com/articles/2009/11/27/christmas_story/christmasstory3.txt Daimy switched off the flashlight. “You see how silly your old Mabel has become, Danny? I forgot to turn on the light! Now I sit in the dark. When I set out - to climb the stairs, that is - the light was perfectly lovely. Shouldn't I have known better: how long it was going to take? Of course I should! But I forgot to turn on the light. Look at your old Mabel now. Would you pull it, please?” Mon, 15 Dec 2008 09:54:20 -0500 newsys-1344464139 http://auburnpub.com/articles/2009/11/27/christmas_story/christmasstory4.txt In the hours between midnight and 2 a.m., 11-year-old Mariquita Perez sold only two items: one to a woman shift worker who felt sorry for her, and another to an unsolvable man, but who nonetheless gave good advice. “Little one, nobody but a drunk's gonna buy those things on a corner like this. Go where customers are flush. The Regent-Imperial! Not a man in that hotel will pass you by. These are gentlemen's gems.” And he cuddled the fancy lighter he had just purchased. Mon, 22 Dec 2008 09:42:28 -0500 newsys-1353296555 http://auburnpub.com/articles/2009/11/27/christmas_story/christmasstory5.txt Lucia entered the house through the back door, unlocked, just as Daimy said. The kitchen clock read 8:59. She walked lightly up the stairs. "Hello?" she said, projecting a harmless presence before her. In the front room she found Mabel Hazelton on the floor, curled up inside a huge slant of sunlight streaming in through the window, a heavy afghan pulled round her. "I hope it's all right to have come in. I'm Lucia. A friend of yours sent meŠto be sure you're OK." Mabel looked up, partly baffled, "Why, bless your heart, dear." Lucia shifted the sleeping child in her arm and helped Mabel up with the other. "So many visitors lately. My, who's the little one?" Fri, 26 Dec 2008 12:49:50 -0500