Christmas Stories 2 , livre ebook

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd - PF Farraday

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84 pages

English

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Christmas Stories 2 is another collection of ten short magical stories that focus on the parts of Christmas we all love and will take you to a place where time stands still. Each story has been thoughtfully hand-picked from a range of ideas with each tale carefully woven word by word to make Christmas Stories 2 a masterpiece.

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Short story

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Publié par	Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
Date de parution	31 janvier 2022
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781398405899
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0175€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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C hristmas S tories 2
PF Farraday
Austin Macauley Publishers
2022-01-31
Christmas Stories 2 About the Author Dedication Copyright Information © The Town That Cancelled Christmas All’s Quiet on Christmas Road A Magnificent Gift 12 Days of Christmas The Broken Angel Take Care of the Pennies The Strange Occurrence of Kristjian Andreit The Christmas Wish The Queen’s Interrupted Speech An Amazing New Year’s Resolution (Part 3) Author’s Final Note
About the Author
Born in Lincoln, England, PF Farraday is a master storyteller.
Described as the ‘gift of Christmas’, the author has been writing and crafting wonderful magical tales and short stories for over thirty years.
Dedication
This book was written for my beloved partner, Caroline.
I want to say thank you for being by my side for all these years. I will always love you, my ghost of Christmas present.
Copyright Information ©
PF Farraday 2022
The right of PF Farraday to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and, Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781398419766 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781398405899 (ePub e-book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published 2022
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd ®
1 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5AA
It’s been a difficult year with many troubles and fears. With many people’s lives affected by the world’s troubles, flights stopped, people working from home and many having to endure hardship and difficult times. As we watched the world unfold and spin off its axis all year and December has finally come around again, it seems the world has slowly grind to a gentle halt and peace and a sense of calm restored.
Christmas is the one time of year that for a few magical days we can all forget our worries and enjoy ourselves, and nobody or nothing can dampen. Children play in the snow, old shopkeepers dress displays with trees and tinsel, and couples walk arm in arm through the town square. Christmas Stories 2 is another fine collection of ten short magical stories that will take you to a place in time where time stands still. Each story has been thoughtfully hand-picked from a range of ideas with each tale carefully woven word by word to make Christmas Stories 2 a masterpiece.
The Town That Cancelled Christmas
A
long long time ago, somewhere in a remote town nestled deep in the Scottish Highlands, a small, balding, rounding man sat back in his big throne-like chair and rubbed his clean-shaven chin deep in thought. As his eyes scoured the great hall at the one hundred and twenty-three townsfolk who sat quietly in the stalls before him, he was unsure whether or not to sign the majestically crested gold leaf document that lay neatly on the desk before him.
The mayor tapped his thick fingers on the desk while he pondered for a moment. In the great hall many of the men of the town were mainly farmers, butchers, laborers, and shopkeepers and they all sat with arms folded and mumbling amongst themselves as they awaited the long and slowly debated decision from the leader and his council. The whole town seemed edgy and the mayor knew that even though not everyone would be opposed to the new law the majority mainly the men with the demanding physical jobs in the town most definitely would be. As for the remainder of the townsfolk present, a handful of women and children probably would not care one way or another and were simply there as they had been ordered to be, by the council.
The small yet powerful leader sat back in his chair and pondered on the proposal for a few moments. As the man responsible for the people’s welfare, he had to put his own feelings and emotions aside and do what he thought was best for the town. Thus, with no more time to think it over, he leaned forward over his desk, and in a low voice posed a final question to the six members of the township’s council.
‘Are you sure this is absolutely necessary?’ he asked.
The wise old men of the council all dressed in their wigs and long black gowns sat close together and whispered conspiratorially to each other. Within a few moments the nods of agreement came back, and they were unanimous. The long-standing mayor leaned back in his chair and paused for thought once again looking out onto the people of his town. After a few minutes the little chubby man sighed, picked up his township’s embossed seal, dipped it in ink, and with a swift movement of his arm slammed it on to the paper leaving a circular print of authority below the six signatures. He then placed it to one side. The mayor’s assistant got up from her seat and put on her half-moon spectacles, picked up the piece of paper and began to read carefully.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, citizens of the town of Angusley. And so, it is decreed. On this, 22 nd December, 1891 by order of the town’s council and the honourable mayor that because of the ills and woes that have been brought upon this town and because of the criminal and violent behaviour that derives from it, that from the stroke of midnight tonight the people of this great town of Angusley, in this great country that is Scotland, from this moment on it will be forbidden to consume whisky of any kind or type be it in a tavern. In your homes or manors, in public or for that matter anywhere else within this town’s parameters. Whisky is strictly forbidden.’
The eloquently spoken Scottish woman paused for a breath and waited as the town people stood to their feet throwing their arms in the air, and shouting insults in protest at the newly passed law.
‘Furthermore,’ she added, trying to raise her voice above the kerfuffle.
‘I say furthermore…’ she banged her small wooden hammer a few times on the desk in a bid to restore order in the noisy town hall.
The crowd did not settle down but she continued anyway as it was her job.
’Furthermore, the council will impose the harshest and strictest of penalties on those offenders who do not abide by the great council’s ruling of prohibition. That is should anyone and let me repeat, anyone, is caught with whisky of any kind in their possession or be deemed to be drinking alcohol like this anywhere in this town then sir or madam you will be made an example of. Finally and duly, the most important rules of the decree will be written and posted up on the door outside the town hall later today for you to see.
‘That,’ she added calmly, as she took her spectacles down from her nose and looked around the room solemnly, ‘That…is the law!’
As the council, the assistant to the mayor, and the mayor himself stood from their grand table and left the room the whole of the town’s people was in a state of objection and disdain regarding the decree. The local tavern owner was the first to stand to his feet again and shaking his fist high in the air in protest.
’What am I supposed to do eh? The tavern’s me livelihood? ’’ he demanded.
Others followed in displaying their anger and annoyance at the new law including the town’s shopkeepers. But their voices of reason fell on deaf ears. The council had spoken. And as with many of the council’s decrees before, the citizens had to abide by the laws of the land. Everyone was unhappy, but little did anyone in the great hall know, the unhappiest person of all with the new ruling... was the mayor himself.
~*~*~
Sometime later and after the crowd had dispersed and the people of Angusley went back to their daily duties of running their shops, the post office, their market stalls, farms, and businesses, there seemed to be a common discontentment with the ruling. After all, it was three days before Christmas and just over a week before New Year’s Eve and the biggest celebrations of the year for the hard-working people of the town were upon them. Every year the townsfolk would spend a few days decorating the streets and buildings with flags and flowers in preparation for Christmas and readying themselves to see the New Year in. Then on New Year’s Eve as had been the tradition for many years nearly all the townspeople would gather outside the town hall underneath the grand wrought iron clock to celebrate the coming of a new year. Singing Auld Langsyne and dancing to bagpipe music, telling stories of the year gone by and telling of their hopes and dreams of the year to come. But above all, they would be drinking whisky and being merry. It truly was the one time of the year that the whole of the town got together as a big family and celebrated their lives. What would they do this Christmas? How on earth would they celebrate seeing in the New Year?
~*~*~
That afternoon as the disgruntled people of the small remote town went about their day, whispers began to quickly spread from lip to ear. As they passed each other in the street and in the shops they made visits to each other’s houses and a veil of silent secrecy descended on the town in response to the new constrictions forced upon them. As the day went on anticipation grew in the town and later that afternoon the new laws were posted outside the great town hall.
It was around five o’clock on that bitterly cold December’s afternoon that the first person noticed the new bill had been posted on the doors outside the great town hall.