Show na vt S a y id LEALON MARTIN Is ASSUREDLY mamma said amules jules gremillon Gr eillon this tree ches mos pretty he surveyed with pride the glittering spruce with shiny toys piled beneath yes papa marie agreed it was nice that mr bonjour keep the tree good for you this long perhaps mary ann she will now believe again the old sadness came to jules gremillon Gr eillon poor marie it was not well that a cajun couple should be childless yet god had so willed it and their habit of calling each other mamma and papa begun years ago in hope had long since been dropped jules eyes dimmed as he remembered how the child had come to them early in december just before they were ready to leave for the usual three months of muskrat trapping mary ann was five chubby yellow haired daughter of his cousin from the hill country north she was an allen alien to this lower coast land of marsh and water but there oh had been no closer kin no one else to take her after the highway crash in which both parents had been killed gremillon Gr eillon came back to the present now papa all is ready marie was saying it is but to wait quietly until she wakens in her bed snuggled in the blankets against the chill of the february dawn mary ann could dimly hear the voices in the next room in the other room the oak in the fireplace crackled merrily warmth and cheer filled the place but the two sitting there waiting quie quietly tl y but anxiously scarcely realized this or that the bells and holly the red and green paper and the glimmering tree made the room a different world a childs fairyland would this make the little one feel better jules wondered it had been a mistake taking her down to the marshes with them yet once there they could hardly leave until the season was done it was the furs that brought their livin living 9 made them not wealthy but well off able to take care of a child they had tried to explain to her that trapper folk postponed the holiday until they returned to the little communities clustered here and there on solid land north of the rat coti country and santa claus wont even come mary ann had asked wide eyed more than anything jules remembered ere an and regretted tte t that at moment in in their little marsh hut he h had ad look looked ed helplessly at marie but no my sweet marie had tried to explain he will come later back in Timba lier but the child had burst into tears and she had never understood gremillon Gr eillon was sure that it was this that had become the barrier between mary ann and them somehow they could not break through it she does not have the faith in us mamma he had said to marie perhaps later she wiil will marie marie had said hopefully mary ann stirred and rubbed her eyes it must be getting up time funny that mrs gremillon Gr eillon called her she always did mary ann wriggled out of bed padded to the the door opened it oh I 1 cried mary ann catching her breath then in sheer ecstasy ohl oh it be true yet there it wast wasl A really truly christmas tree an all bright and beautiful A big red stocking hanging by the fireplace and toys piled up under the green branches and the most beautiful doul coill the room was all cozy mary anns eyes sparkled santa claus had come after all as mr and mrs Greil gremillon Gr eillon jon had said as she believed there they were smiling at her oh mamma papa she cried running in santa claus clans really did come after all just as you said he be would he mamma and papa gremillon Gr eillon looked at each other smiling gently yes gleaming yes my sweet mamma said tenderly released by western newspaper New paper union |