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I swipeon "The first Noel the angels did say was to certain poor shepherds in fields where they lay" I sing louder and louder, banishing the hosts of Christs hoithnext to the sofa, their snouts pointing up like wolves "Whooooo! Whoooo!" I ith the the on end "O, co so loud, I don’t hear the sound of a car whining up the hill I don’t hear the footfalls in the snowy path to the house I don’t hear the first soft knock on the door

13

Visitor

I’ht" when the beagles start growling and run for the door Sooes hot andjohns with one leg rolled up above my knee, my camisole, and Nora’s old red silk kimono On ine ould make a social call on Christer you read about and I ive him dinner or it will be bad luck all next year Realistically, I know it must be about some woman in labor

"Who’s there?" I wrapunderwear down over hts"

The vet? Possibly he’s passing this way after tending a sick horse, but the intersection with Raccoon Lick and Wild Rose is a halfon the porch with a bottle of booze swinging in his hand, totally illegal

"Where’d you get that?" I ask, indicating the glass container with a nod "You could get arrested for violating Prohibition" He’s wearing a dark brown trench coat with his brown felt hat pulled low on his head and already s he steps out of his rubber boots and walks in "The les do too!" He s white teeth ("All the better to eat you with, little Red Riding Hood," co a sick call on Christmas Eve?"

"No, just lonely," he says without e round the room

"What about your wife?"

"My wife?"

"The lady at thein your kitchen"

"Nah, no wife She’s ht want sonores my question "I like your Christmas tree Reminds me of when I was a kid We made those colored paper chains in my one-room schoolhouse in upper New York State Got colder than hell up there Sometimes forty below Coldest I’ve seen, since I ?"

I look down atjohns Not a pretty sight

"What happened?" he asks again

"Cut it on soated"I can get around All I need to do is get to the barn and back"

"Can I look?"

I feel like saying "Do you have to?" On the other hand, he is al a free house call