The Christmas Bus (4 page)

“What a great idea,” said Polly, who had missed Charles’s midweek sermon the night before. Edith explained where the inspiration came from, and Polly said she wished she could be around to watch what happened.

“I’ll tell you all about it when you get back,” said Edith.

“So have you had any bites yet?”

“Not yet,” said Edith in her optimistic way. “But it hasn’t even been twenty-four hours since Jared changed my website. I’m sure they will come.”

“Yes, of course,” said Polly, but Edith thought she heard a tinge of doubt in her friend’s voice.

“And if they don’t,” said Edith, “well, I’ll just do like the good Lord says. I’ll go out to the streets and invite strangers to come in.”

“Really?” Polly sounded a bit shocked now.

“Well, I don’t know for sure, Polly. I can’t imagine there would be many strangers roaming the streets of Christmas Valley right at Christmastime.” She laughed. “But you just never know!”

4

On Friday morning the phone rang, and it turned out to be a woman named Carmen Fields from Redding, California. She had just found the Shepherd’s Inn website.

“Do you still have rooms available?” she asked hopefully.

“Yes, we do,” said Edith, not wanting to admit that
all
the rooms were currently available.

“Well, my husband and I decided that we’d like to do something different for Christmas this year,” she said. “And it seems that everyone else in our family has plans.” She cleared her throat. “Plans that don’t include us.”

“Well, we would love to
include
you with us,” said Edith happily. Then she took down the pertinent information and booked the room. “And there’s a nice website for the town,” she informed Carmen. “It tells a bit about us and some of the activities that happen around here at Christmastime.”

“Sounds perfect,” said Carmen. “We plan to drive up, take our time, and spend a night somewhere along the way. So I guess we’ll see you on Monday then.”

Edith smiled to herself as she hung up the phone. It was starting to happen.
A real beginning!
And, remembering her wise husband’s suggestion on Wednesday night, Edith took a few moments to ask God, once again, to send just the right people to their home. She also thanked him for choosing Carmen and Jim Fields and even asked his blessing on their travels as they made their way up here by car.

By noon on Saturday, Edith had booked two more rooms. One was for a single man named Albert Benson. Judging by his voice, he was older and, Edith guessed, sad. Although she had no reason why. No matter, they would do whatever possible to cheer him up during his stay. The next booking was done online. A couple from Spokane by the name of Lauren and Michael Thomas, just the two of them. No children yet. Oh, well, Edith assured herself, God was in control of the guest list, and it wasn’t for her to question.

But later in the afternoon she received a call from a woman named Leslie. “I have a child,” she began tentatively, “a five year old daughter. . . . I hope that’s okay.”

“That’s wonderful!” said Edith. “I was just hoping that someone would have children. It just feels more like Christmas with little ones around.”

“Her name is Megan, and she’s still having a hard time adjusting to the fact that her daddy left us more than a year ago. . . .”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. The guy was a total jerk. The only good thing he ever did for me was Megan. But for some reason she still thinks he’s the greatest and doesn’t understand why he can’t come spend Christmas with us. Anyway, I needed someplace to go . . . to get away from here, you know what I mean?”

“Well, you and Megan are more than welcome to make yourselves at home here,” said Edith.

“Great. I’m taking the whole week off, so I plan to drive over on Tuesday. Is that okay?”

“No problem.”

And so it was that all but one room was booked. Edith was busier than ever now, but it was just the way she liked it. Naturally, she’d sent her Christmas cards weeks ago and had, just last week, finished wrapping and shipping her children’s Christmas presents, but she still had plenty to do to make her guests feel completely welcome and at home here. She was just carrying a load of clean towels upstairs when she heard the doorbell ring. Setting the basket on a chair, she turned and hurried back down. Too early for guests to be arriving, thank goodness. She opened the door to see Olive Peters standing there.

“I tried to call, but your line was busy,” she explained. “I came to collect the costumes. We’re going to do a fitting this afternoon.”

Feeling more generous than the last time they’d talked, Edith offered to help her carry the boxes over to the church.

“Oh, I don’t want to bother you,” said Olive, impatiently looking at her watch. “And Helen promised to help me, but as usual, she’s late.”

“Why don’t I give you a hand?”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ve got your hands full. Aren’t you busy getting ready for all those kids of yours to arrive?”

So Edith explained how things were going to be different this year.

“You’ve got to be kidding!” exclaimed Olive. “You and Charles must’ve lost your minds.”

Edith blinked. “Why—what do you mean?”

“Inviting a bunch of perfect strangers into your home during Christmas?”

“Well, I do run a bed and breakfast,” said Edith. “We’re accustomed to having strangers as guests—”

“But for Christmas, Edith?” Olive firmly shook her head. “It just sounds a little odd. Christmas is a time for friends and family. If you and Charles were going to be alone during the holidays, you should’ve told us. We would’ve gladly invited you over to our home. You shouldn’t be stuck here with a bunch of strangers.”

Edith forced what she hoped was a believable smile. “But that’s just it, Olive, we
want
to do this. Don’t you remember Charles’s midweek sermon about being hospitable? We wanted to open our home to people who don’t have a place to go during this time. We thought it would be fun.”

Olive pressed her lips together and studied Edith for a long moment. “Well, all I can say is that you two have a very strange idea of what constitutes
fun
. And I certainly hope that this whole crazy plan doesn’t backfire and blow up in your face.”

Just then Helen drove up, and Edith was relieved that she was now off the hook for helping Olive with the costumes. She led the two women up the two flights of stairs, then turned around in concern to Helen. “Oh, my, I hope this doesn’t hurt your hip,” she said. “I forgot all about your 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. “Please, come in.”

“Well, that’s better.” The woman shoved the overnight bag toward Edith as if she were a bellboy.

Without questioning this, Edith took the bag and led the woman over to the long oak table that she used as a registration area, setting the bag down on the chair beside it. She wasn’t quite sure what to say now.

“Come on,” said the old woman impatiently. “Cat got your tongue?”

“No . . .” Edith studied the woman. Something about her reminded Edith of Ulysses, a bulldog that had belonged to her grandfather when she was a little girl. Maybe it was the square, flat face, or the loose jowls, or perhaps it was something in those intense, slightly beady eyes. But Edith had never quite trusted that dog.

“Well, then . . . what’s the problem?”

Still, Edith didn’t like to judge people on appearances. “I’m sorry, but people usually call ahead first, to get reservations, and I’m just caught a little off—”

“Look, if you’re booked up just tell me, and I’ll get out of your hair.”

“No,” Edith said quickly. Perhaps a bit too quickly. “We do actually have an available room.”

“Fine,” snapped the woman. “I’ll take it.”

“Right,” said Edith, still trying to grasp what was going on. She hated to be rude, but she really wanted to know why this woman had decided to come here of all places. It wasn’t as if they were exactly on the beaten path. Just the same, she slid the information form toward the woman. “You’ll just need to fill this out for me.”

“You mind if I sit down?” demanded the woman. “My feet are killing me.”

“No, not at all,” said Edith, removing the bag from the chair and offering the woman a seat. “I’m curious as to how you heard about us.”

“My friend knew where you were located. It was his idea to drop me here. I s’pect he didn’t want me around during the holidays.” She made a disgusted sigh. “Nice friend, huh?”

Just then the doorbell rang again. “Excuse me,” said Edith as she went to get it.

It was Olive, and her face looked a bit stricken. “I need your help, Edith. Helen slipped on a wet spot on the floor in the kitchen, and she can’t get up.”

“Oh, my goodness,” said Edith. “Is she badly hurt?”

“I don’t think so. She told me not to call 911. But I’m not strong enough to get her up by myself. As you know, Helen is a rather bulky gal.”

Edith looked back at the old woman. “If you’ll excuse me for just a few minutes, I need to—”

“I heard the whole stupid thing,” snapped the woman without even turning to see them. “I’ll be perfectly fine on my own. It’s not as if I’m not used to it, for Pete’s sake.”

Olive’s brows lifted curiously at this.

“I’ll be right back,” called Edith as she headed for the door. “Come on, Olive.”

“Who is
that
?” demanded Olive as soon as the door was shut behind them.

“I’m not exactly sure,” said Edith. “Well, she’s a guest, of course, but I didn’t get her name yet.”

“There you go,” said Olive as if making a point. “Letting a perfect stranger into your house, you don’t even know her name, on top of that she’s ruder than all get-out. . . . The next thing you know she’ll be making off with the family silver.”

Edith laughed. “We don’t have much silver, Olive. And I seriously doubt that she could carry much with her. She looks like she’s about a hundred years old. Someone just dumped her here, poor thing.”

“
Dumped
her?”

“Well, dropped her. She said it was a friend.”

“Some friend.”

“That’s what she said too.”

They were in the church now, and the sounds of moaning made Edith hasten her pace. There in the small church kitchen, just like Olive had said, was Helen Johnson lying flat as a pancake with arms and legs sprawled out like a beached starfish.