| Mingling with children enjoying a Christmas display in a city department store, a middle-aged man recalls pleasant memories of candy, pies & cookies, the school pageant, the decorated tree with wrapped presents underneath, and the anticipation of finding what Santa would leave on a Christmas morning when he was a child in a 1930's farming community of the American West. Just in time, snow had finally come, seemingly obligatory for Santa's arrival, and adding sparkling magic to the miracle of the holiday. But like a bitter wind, images from a somewhat later Christmas creep into his mind despite his attempts to block them, memories about the cruelty he and his friends had shown the daughter of an immigrant German family. No matter how deep the snows may be, they cannot cover the regret he feels even decades later. |
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