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Abandoned - Railway - part 2 - Holiday Hometown - Story 51

Started by Abandoned, November 20, 2019, 08:40:34 AM

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Abandoned

Chapter 31

  It took sometime to unload the freight car of personal belongings and get the two families settled in upstairs.  Grandma and Grandpa kept the children busy.   Grandpa had new little ears to tell his stories to.  The winter had been a bad one, colder and snowier than we could remember.  It was Spring before we had enough time to take our dear friends, Mauriel and Kreeman, on a tour around town to see how it had changed in the years they were away.  It was just the 6 of us again, Cleon, his 2 brothers, our 2 friends, and me.  Kreeman was the youngest so only vaguely remembered what the areas around Grandpa's forester station and greenhouse were like back then.  The brothers of course remembered their Grandma and Grandpa's old homestead better than the rest of us. Cleon's older brother, Hilarion, had done an excellent job seeing to the repairs and maintenance of the town's oldest buildings.

  The small homestead settlement had certainly grown and changed since we were children here.  For a few farm fields and oat patches, Hometown has grown into a farming town that can fill train cars with foods, textiles, coats, and tools, and take those goods north, south, east, and west. We make special treats for the Holidays like hot chocolate, gingerbread cookies, and sugar plum candy.  We make toys and fill Santa's sleighs and we have a beautiful chapel in which to pray.

  Mauriel and Kreeman were happy to be home.  We all were.

Abandoned

Chapter 32


  While taking our friends on tour of Hometown, Cleon and I thought we saw something in the trees near the turnaround and reindeer pasture.  We went to investigate and to our amazement we discovered the same creature we thought we saw the day we all gathered around the town Christmas tree singing.  What we didn't expect to see was children bringing him toys and treats to eat.  The children said the Grinch was their friend.  He's picked them up when they've fallen into the snow and dusted them off.  He's stepped in and stopped snowball fights when they've gotten too rough, and he's stopped them from playing on the railway tracks.  It has been many years since we first saw this creature and no harm has come to the children, he seems harmless.  We would have to talk to the other parents about it but we had a feeling this strange friendship between creature and children would continue.

  Also on tour, Chann told us that Grandpa had him plant an orchard tree farm of the small evergreen trees that everyone liked to decorate for Christmas.  Grandpa wanted everyone who wanted a tree to have a tree.  The trees were doing well and more small decorated trees were popping up around town, even by the shacks across the tracks had a Christmas tree this year.

  Grandpa had another surprise, this one for Grandma.  He had been spending time in the chapel reading the Holy Book.  He came across a Christmas story he really liked and he carved a wooden sign showing a scene from that story.  Grandma really liked that sign that Grandpa and Chann put up in front of the chapel.  We all did.  Grandpa had another surprise in store but we would have to wait until Christmas Eve.

  The final surprise of year 32 came in winter.  There was no snow.  The signs in autumn indicated it would be a bad winter, but it was just the opposite.  The elves even had Rudolph hitched up to one of Santa's sleighs, but there was no snow, not a flake.  The winter temperatures hovered in the mid 30s to mid 40F degrees.  The first early spring day was 51F degrees. It was hard to believe it was so close to Christmas.

Abandoned

Chapter 33


  The surprises didn't end when the year ended.  In spring, the work train that went north to lay tracks returned.  The families of the workers rushed to the station as soon as they heard the whistle blowing when the train emerged from the tunnel.  It was not long after, that the supply train that went west returned also.  It came to a halt on the tracks across from the freight station and the worker's families also rushed to greet them.  To everyone's amazement the 3rd work train returned also and those workers were warmly greeted by family and friends too.  Hilarion and Parthe's son, Raleighon, was one of the workers that went south on that train.  The freight train from the west pulled up to the new Rooms station so the small work train could park behind it.  This would be the best Christmas ever with all the families together in Hometown for the Holidays.

  Those families would have some tough decisions to make after Christmas.  Those trains would be going even farther away then before, small towns and work camps were springing up along the railway routes as the tracks were being laid.  Would the families choose to stay here or would they go with their loved ones.  The trains would leave with supplies and extra map scrolls.  But until then everyone would have a happy holiday in Hometown.  Greeting and good wishes rang out all over town, and of course,  we wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year too, weary traveler.

  We now had the dairy workplace making cheese instead of butter.  A workplace butcher was making sausages for a Christmas Eve buffet at the old boarding house for our 6 families and Grandma and Grandpa, and you too, weary traveler.  Buffets would be set up at the 3 station rooming houses for the train workers and their families.  We made sure that every pantry in town was full.

  And then winter was upon us again and it began to snow.  The sleighs were filled with toys and ready and waiting for Santa to pick up and deliver to good little boys and girls.  Our families were all together in Hometown's old boarding house with Grandma and Grandpa for Christmas Eve.


Abandoned

Note:  For this last chapter the following map and mods were used:

Map @ 35509911   One River, Small, Fair, disasters Off, Palm Tree Hard Start

Mods:  RK Minimized Status, Override Map, New Flora Edit, Palm Tree Start, A8 Moroccan Misc., Moroccan Housing, Abandoned Places, Kid Forest Trader, Kid Workplace Village,  Jinxie Festival Park, Kid Animal Pen, Kid Animal Shed, Nativity Chapel (update), Tiny Quarry.


Chapter 34


  Christmas Eve day dawned sunny and bright but snow clouds gathered on the horizon and were moving this way.  There was plenty to do inside the old boarding house this day.  Preparations for the Christmas Eve buffet were underway in the old kitchen.  Sausages were being cooked and sliced along with a variety of cheeses.  Plates were filled with breads and rolls and platters with meats and vegetables.  Plum cakes were sliced and placed on trays with gingerbread cookies and sugar plum candies.  The men were arranging the tables and chairs and setting up the big Christmas tree in the common room.  The school children made decorations and we all helped them trim the tree.  Kettles of hot chocolate and mulled wine were already heating on the hearth of the big fireplace near Grandma and Grandpa's rocking chairs.  The floor was covered with hides and wool blankets to snuggle in while Grandpa told one of his stories and the children dozed off waiting for Santa.  We insisted that both Grandma and Grandpa take naps that afternoon.  Snow was softly falling as the day drew to an end.  The meal was eaten before our Hometown holiday hearth and we realized that home is where the heart is and our hearts were all here at home. 

  We took a plate of food outside to the Grinch who was watching through one of the windows.  He was too large to come inside but he was one of the family now too.   After the dishes were cleared away we all gathered again before the hearth to hear one of Grandpa's stories. The children were dressed in night clothes and wrapped in blankets, and we had our cups that were filled with warm beverages from the kettles on the hearth. 

  Grandpa had a surprise for us, he had a new story to tell us.  He read it in the Holy Book in the Nativity chapel.  It was the story of the first Christmas.  He said:  A very long time ago and very far away a young couple went to  a little town named Bethlehem. No, it is not on our map scroll, but there is an Oh Little Town.  As always, Grandpa patiently answered the children's questions.  The man's name was Joseph and the woman's name was Mary.  He walked and she rode on a little donkey most of the way because she was going to have a baby.  When they got to Bethlehem there was no room at the boarding house so they stayed out back in the animal shed.  Mary had a baby boy and she wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in the manger.  They named him Jesus, he was the Christ Child and yes, Christmas is his birthday.  A birthday party?  Well now, I suppose the Grandma in the boarding house probably brought them food and cake.  And an angel appeared to some shepherds who were watching the sheep.  The angel said fear not, and brought them tidings of great joy that a savior of all people was born, so the shepherds went to Bethlehem too.  And a very bright star appeared in the east foretelling the birth of a baby King. Three very wise men followed that star.  They walked but they had camels to carry their birthday gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  The baby was the first Christmas present to us all.

  When a sleepy little voice asked why the wise men didn't just take the Railway train, we knew it was time these little ones were all tucked up in their beds to get some sleep.  They will have a very merry day here in Hometown when they wake on Christmas Day.

Good night, weary traveler, and Merry Christmas.


The End

kid1293


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A list of the locations of all the songs hidden in the story and the Grinches in the picture in the challenge that began back in Chapter 10 can be found in the Holiday Hometown Challenge thread:

http://worldofbanished.com/index.php?topic=3546.0