December 24

6 C overcast. Rain during the night.
Day before Christmas -
 The stockings may be hung with care
But people are still scurrying here and there.
Presents are hidden until tonight
For finding tomorrow at dawns early light.
And later tomorrow after four at least
We'll sit together, oh what a feast!
But what of those who may be alone
It's never too late to pick up the phone.
It's never too late to give a greeting
And perhaps create a moment however fleeting.

Chapter 9

Spring arrived, actually I think it arrived two or three times. Looking back now that was actually good because the short cold snaps slowed the runoff and help dry things out a bit.

One Monday morning when I went to work I was greeted by a herd of about ten goats sleeping on the wooden side walk that led to the office door. I put the run on them then started the clean-up.The accumulation of pellets all over the twenty feet of walk wasn’t so bad. But the group included one very adult Billy! I don’t know how many of you reading this have ever encountered the smell of an older Billy; that is one thing but their urine is something else all together. I swept the walk then carried pails of water to swish it off, the result was the not so diluted urine running down the cracks and lying under the walk, the area wreaked for days and even into late spring it could still be smelled whenever it rained.

One happy coincidence occurred that spring. I had to go into the CN telephone office to straighten out an invoice error and the clerk that handled that business was a very attractive red head woman of about my age. We discussed the bill, reconciled the problem then having noticed my name, she said “I used to know a John Little when I was a girl at Pender Harbour.”

I couldn’t believe it, she and I had gone to elementary school together. She was the girl in my story “First Kiss”!

She was married to an RCMP officer and my wife and I visited with her and her husband a few times. Small world as the saying goes.

One day just before my summer help arrived, I went to work in the morning but forgot to take my packed lunch. I was heading up the highway so decided I better go back and get it.

I drove up the hill to our street and turned on to it, our house was about half way down the block. I could see the kids already out playing in the yard but as I got closer I spotted something else.

Across and on the edge of the street a large black bear was standing, his attention was focused on them and his head was weaving from side to side. I accelerated then wheeled into the driveway, I jumped out of the truck leaving Skookum in the cab. I ran in the back door and grabbed my Lee Enfield and the full clip from it’s hidey hole. I had the clip in and a shell in the breech by the time I got back out the door. I ran to the fence; the bear was moving slowly across the road, I dropped to one knee, rested the barrel on the fence and shot him just behind the front shoulder. He dropped, pawed at the ground for a second or two then he was dead.

The kids weren’t even afraid, but they were curious, my wife came out when she heard the shot and just stared then ran to the kids. The dog was going bananas in the cab of the truck. I don’t think sixty seconds had passed from the time I saw the bear until he was dead.

When I examined him, I found he had one rheumy eye, several of his teeth were broken and he was very gaunt. I had no doubt then or now what his intentions had been.

Sometimes it’s a good thing to forget your lunch!