I rubbed a layer of ice off the window to look out. There was a group of carolers on the front step of the lodging house.
Skittery hung over my shoulder, looking out. "I bet they're freezing," he said, teeth chattering.
I looked up at him and nodded. "We should go out singing."
Immediately, he shook his head. "No - hey, wait a minute. We could make money. See how Klop is tippin' them?"
I grinned at Skittery. "Brilliant. Let's get bundled up and ask some of the others to come along, shall we?"
We gathered Monkey, Twiggy, Cheater, and Crazy. Throwing on as many layers as we owned, we stepped out the door and into the snow. The road was covered in ice, which made walking a slow and cautious task.
"What songs should we sing?" Twiggy asked.
"Joy to the World," Skittery said.
"Away in a Manger," I added.
Soon, we had a handful of songs to choose from, and we began making our rounds. The first door we came to was the door of a grocery. We stood there in front of the door, not sure what to do.
"Who's gonna knock?" Cheater asked.
Crazy answered, "Ya ain't s'posed ta knock! Jus' start singin'."
We began the first lines of "Joy to the World" when we heard muffled laughter behind us. Stopping, we turned around to a crowd who had smiles on their faces.
"Hey, what's the deal?" Cheater asked.
One man came up to us. "Bless you, poor children. The grocery is closed for the holidays."
The lot of us felt very embarassed, indeed. We were all at a loss for words until the man dug a handful of change out of his pocket and handed it to Monkey. "God bless you children," he smiled, tipping his hat.
Several other people from the small crowd stepped forward with money. After they were all gone we had several dollars to our names. We just stood there, in awe. Cheater was the first to speak.
"Boy. People sure are generous durin' th' holidays!"
We burst out laughing at him. After a moment, Skittery got our attention. "Hey!"
"What, Skit?" I asked him, holding onto his arm.
"See how we got more money from makin' ourselves look stupid? We should sing in front 'a more closed shops."
Brilliant. We all grinned wickedly at each other and set out to find another shop.
After several hours of this, we were soaked to the bone, freezing, hungry, and feeling very, very rich. In all we had collected near ten dollars in change and had split it among the six of us. We entered the lodging house happily and made a beeline for the fire.
Kloppman came over and added more kindling to the fire. "Where you kids been?"
Monkey answered, "We went out caroling."
"Oh, really? Make any money?"
We all nodded, silly grins plastered on our faces. "We should do that every year," Skittery said.
I laughed and rested my head on his shoulder. He leaned down and kissed me. Closing my eyes, I drifted off to sleep in no time.
I awoke in my bunk the next morning, wearing my still- damp clothes from the night before. It was freezing, and I pulled my blanket up high around my chin. I lay there for goodness-knows-how-long, wondering what I would get for Skittery. After all, it was Christmas day.
Maybe I'll just give him a shirt...he needs one. I propped my hands behind my head, nodding to myself that I would get Skit a shirt.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!"
Kloppman's early-morning yell scared the living daylights out of me, and I jumped so high from my bunk that I banged my head on the boards above me. "Oww..." I groaned, rubbing my head and throwing the blanket aside.
Kloppman just laughed at me. "Did I scare ya, Hannah?"
I rolled my eyes, grinning. "Not in the least."
He laughed and continued to shake and yell the other girls to conciousness. One by one, they dragged themselves out of bed for one reason: it was Christmas. On any other day they would have given Kloppman a fit trying to get them up. But Christmas only comes once a year, and that alone was their motivation. We would sell the Christmas papes and then...well, I had no idea what we would do after that.
Several minutes later, the group of us dragged ourselves downstairs. The guys were already awake and waiting for us to get downstairs so that we could get our selling over with.
Skit took my hand. "Mornin' Hannah," he grinned.
I smiled up at him. "Good morning."
We all headed outside to the nuns' cart for breakfast, and then to the distribution center. I bought only twenty papes, since I still had my money from the night before. It took several hours for us to sell all our papers, and then, when we were all done, we met back at the lodging house.
"What are we doing now?" I asked Skittery.
"We get an hour ta buy presents if we have th' money. Then we're all goin' over ta Irving Hall for Christmas dinner," he answered.
"Really? That sounds nice," I grinned.
During that hour, I made my way to a small general store that was just a few blocks down from the lodging house. I found a shirt for Skittery and bought it, afterwards hiding it sneakily under my coat. It was a plaid flannel shirt that appeared to be very warm, and I knew that it was something he needed.
Making my way back to the lodging house, I sang Christmas carols under my breath. I entered through the front door and headed quickly upstairs so that I could find something to put the shirt in. After placing it in a small burlap bag, I headed back downstairs to meet Skit for the walk to Irving Hall.
He was waiting for me by the door. We linked arms and started out the door. After a moment, I began singing again, and Skit joined me.
Finally, we reached Irving Hall. Once we got inside, Miss Larkson met us and led us to the front of the auditorium, where a large table with food from end to end was set up. There was a large turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce...just the sight made our mouths water. I hadn't seen a dinner like that in years. We made a line behind the table, but before we began serving ourselves, Kloppman said Grace.
Once we had our food, we found seats out in the auditorium, being careful not to spill anything for fear that Medda wouldn't let us eat there next year. We all ate in silence, being very hungry, and it was a while before everyone was satisfied.
Medda stood up at the front. "I have stockings for all of you. Your names are on them, and they are right over there."
She pointed to her left, where a table was set up with stockings stacked up. Those of us who were older waited for the younger kids to get theirs, and then we headed over.
Inside my stocking was an apple, an orange, a small hairbrush, and a few peppermint sticks. I grinned and showed it to Skit. He had all the same, except instead of a brush he had a small, inexpensive pocketwatch.
"Does Medda do this every year?" I asked him.
He nodded. "Yeah. She's real good ta us."
At that moment, Medda stood at the front of the room and got our attention. "If you have presents for one another, you may exchange those now."
I grinned and pulled the burlap bag from under my seat, handing it to Skittery. He grinned at me, opened it, and pulled out the shirt. "Thanks, Hannah. You knew I needed this!"
He gave me a hug and kissed my cheek. Then, he fished around in his pocket for a moment and pulled out a small box, handing it to me.
I opened it, and inside was a coin hanging from a chain. Upon closer inspection, I found that it was a coin from England.
"I, ah, I always kept money from countries I visited when I used ta sail. Since you're from England...anyway, turn it over."
I did so, and found that the back of the coin had been rubbed off. There was a scrawled engraving that I presumed to be in Skit's handwriting that said, "I Love You Forever, Hannah". I put the necklace on, smiling from ear to ear. Kissing Skittery quickly, I asked him, "Really?"
He smiled, taking my hand and recalling a song that he had once sung to me. "A rose'll grow on Greenland's ice before I've changed my mind."