The Spirit of Christmas

John and Bath, short for Bathsheba Adams, were quite a pair. Nothing ever got them down, except maybe an occasional cold. Even then she would take hers out into the cold winter day of the back parking lot of the slum tenement building. Where, there, she would nudge three of the fifteen cats trying to climb her double tattered blue jeans, out of the way, in order to stand and offer her cold up to God, seeing that it was all she had to offer Him and really she would be grateful, as well as giving up her only possession. She often asked God why He didn’t seem inclined to come and keep them company, because she believed in Him heart, body and soul and talked to him constantly because John just got tired of listening. She and John loved each other and no other. She hadn’t worked steadily in Lord knows when. John on the other hand got hurt on the job just before he was vested in company rights and the pitiful settlement he received was long gone. He was left as barely good company for Bath, telling her over and over to just wait ‘til “he gets back on his feet” literally. But that is not an option any longer, so Bath feels the need to keep him company. They really only had what you might call one vice. That being because you might say they were wasting good money for no good reason. They religiously bought two, one dollar lottery tickets every day that passed. Well, there it was, the day before Christmas and Bath didn’t have money but for one ticket. Well, she hotfooted down through Chinatown because there were still barbers there who would buy hair and she wanted to give John a special lottery ticket for Christmas. The deal done she was cold as the mischief and begging God not to let her sinus get worse as she headed through the light rain for those lottery tickets. John, meanwhile was hobbling down to get his ticket. She always insisted that he walk to the corner himself so if he won he would feel like he had bought the ticket. The rascal stopped and sold his crutch. Can you belive, for $1 he sold his crutch. Well, to cut to the chase, some friends carried him home after he bought the ticket. Beth came in and after a bowl of soup, they had a prayer and wished each other merry Christmas and exchanged the two tickets which were the gifts. Well, my story ends here. I'm not going to tell you one or both won the lottery. But in the spirit of Christmas I will say they lived quite long, and they were very happy while they lived.