I saw three ships come sailing in,
On Christmas day, on Christmas day,
I saw three ships come sailing in,
On Christmas Day in the morning.
And what was in those ships all three?
On Christmas day, on Christmas day,
And what was in those ships all three?
On Christmas Day in the morning.
Jenny, a plain but spunky girl, was belting this out on key but not particularly well. She faltered for a moment but seemed to be about to battle on. However, a coughing fit possessed her slender body, dragging her tortured performance to a halt.
The audience clapped with an air of reserved politeness. At the side of the stage, Brian sat staring down at a small table covered in papers. As the applause faded, he looked up.
“Hmm. Very nice Jenny. It makes me proud to call you my niece. You picked a good song too…I Saw Three Ships…hm, it reminds me of all the sails we have at the store these days.” Brian took a moment to chuckle at his pun, no one bothered to join him.
Meanwhile, Adrienne and Larry entered the room with two small children in tow. They loitered at the back and surveyed the crowd.
“We’re late,” Adrienne observed.
“Don’t worry.” Larry pointed to a nearby row of seats. “There’s still room back here.”
“Well, anyway, moving right along.” Brian adjusted his glasses as he squinted at the list before him. “Up next, we have, let’s see here…Adrienne!”
“What? Me?” Panic filled Adrienne’s face. “But I’m not ready.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take your place!” Larry proclaimed.
“You? Ha. Ya don’t know how ta sing.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll just think positive.”
“What? Ya got touched in the head?”
Larry turned his gaze to the two children at his feet. “You two stay with Adrienne until it’s time.”
“Adrienne, come up and take your spot please!” Brian’s harsh voice boomed through the cavernous room.
“Ahem. Pardon me. Adrienne isn’t quite ready yet. I’ll take her place!” Larry said as he strode toward the stage.
“Hold it right there son.” Brian stepped into Larry’s path. “You can’t just waltz up here and…”
“I wasn’t waltzing, I was doing the two-step.”
“I don’t care what you were doing.” Brian crossed his arms over his ample chest. “The important question is, did you pay your entry fees?”
“Here.” Larry rummaged through the pockets of his well-worn pants until he finally came up with what he was looking for. “Two dollars.” He slapped the money in question into the greedy palm of the man before him. “One for me, one for Adrienne, count it.”
“Well, it’s all there.” Brian licked his lips as he counted the mess of loose change. “Alright, go ahead.”
Larry didn’t need any more encouragement, he bounded up the steps of the stage and then turned to face the crowd.
“Hello everybody.” He blinked as a sudden rush of nervousness plucked at his resolve.
“Go on,” Brian prompted from his seat in the front row.
“Hello everybody.”
“Yes, yes, we’ve heard that part. Sing your song, please.”
“Okay,” Larry took a deep breath and then began to warble out an off-key rendition of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. He was starting to pick up speed heading into the chorus but then he was cut off.
“Thank you, thank you, that’s more than enough. Ahem.” Brian searched his brain for a moment. “That song made me think of all the tape we have on sale at the store, buy two for the price of three.”
“I prefer red tape myself,” Larry chirped.
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing holds things up like red tape.”
“Humpf. I think we’ve heard enough from you. You can sit down now.” Brian glared at Larry who seemed to be frozen in his position on the stage. “Go on back to your seat. Go on. Ahem. Are you ready Adrienne?”
“Yeah. I think so.” Adrienne twisted the end of one of her pigtails nervously between her fingers.
“Good. Then let’s hear your song. Quickly now. We’re running out of time.” Brian plopped his husky form back onto his hard wooden seat and waited.
“Remember. Think positive.” Larry whispered as Adrienne brushed past him on her way to the stage.
“That sure worked for you, didn’t it?” Adrienne mounted the steps to the platform. As the sight of the crowd filled her eyes a tremor shivered through her. “Ahem. Hello everybody.”
“Now don’t you start,” Brian grumbled. “Just sing your song, please.”
“Alright. Here it goes.” Adrienne took a breath and then began to sing a beautiful version of, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.
It came upon the midnight clear,
that glorious song of old,
from angels bending near the earth
to touch their harps of gold:
‘To all the earth goodwill and peace,
from heaven’s all gracious King!’
The world in solemn stillness lay
to hear the angels sing.
Still, through the cloven skies, they come
with peaceful wings unfurled,
and still their heavenly music floats
o’er all the weary world;
above its sad and lowly plains
they bend on hovering wing,
and ever o’er its babel sounds
the blessed angels sing.
But with the woes of sin and strife,
the world has suffered long;
beneath the angel, strain have rolled
two thousand years of wrong,
but we, through din of war, hear not
the love song which they bring.
Oh hush the noise, Oh still the strife
and hear the angels sing.
And ye, beneath life’s crushing load,
whose forms are bending low,
who toil along the climbing way
with painful steps and slow,
look now! for glad and golden hours
come swiftly on the wing.
Oh rest beside the weary road
and hear the angels sing.
For lo! the days are hastening on,
by prophets seen of old,
when with the ever-circling years
shall come the time foretold,
when peace shall over all the earth
God’s promised splendors fling,
and all the world take up the song,
which now the angels sing.
“Um. Yes. Thank you, Adrienne.” Brian paused, searching the darkened corners of his brain for something sarcastic. “It reminds me of…I don’t really know what it reminds me of.”
“You could say it reminds you of the real reason for Christmas,” Larry responded.
“I thought I told you to be quiet. Ahem. Anyway, that concludes our program for today. I’ll need a moment to deliberate! With so many excellent singers it will be hard to choose a winner.” Brian grinned like a salesman about to celebrate the sale of a used Model T Ford. “Don’t run off now, I’ll be right back.”
As the audience began to discuss possible winners, Larry moved toward his beloved. “Good work Adrienne.”
“Somehow I knew you’d like it.”
“That was an amazing performance.” Jamie grew reflective as he continued. “I just wish your mother and father could’ve been here to see it.”
“I wish they could be too,” Adrienne said quietly. On that note, the two took a moment to reflect on joyful Christmases of years past.
“What did you think of my song?” Larry’s optimistic tone broke through the moment of melancholy.
“Your song?” Jamie let out a belly laugh. “Well. I’ll put it this way, there’s a limit to positive thinking and I think you reached it.”
“Oh. I don’t know bout that. I was pretty impressed.” Adrienne smiled in Larry’s direction. A blush of red spread over his face as he met her gaze.
“With that?” Jamie looked confused.
“Yeah. Takin my place ta give me time ta get ready was pretty gentlemanly.” As if to underscore this point she gave Larry a hug.
“See what positive thinking does?” Larry said as he winked at Jamie. Jamie was about to intervene in this public display of affection but was distracted by the sound of heavy boots clumping on wood.
Behind them, big Brian had walked onto the makeshift stage. “Silence.” The noise of the crowd began to fall as they turned their attention toward him. “Silence please. I’ve made my decision. But, before I go on, I’d just like to take a moment to remind you again of the fine selection of Christmas gifts that we have in stock.”
“Do you have stockings to put your stock in?” Larry shot back.
“Never mind. Ahem. Now for the moment, we’ve all been waiting for. Ahem. It was a hard choice, but I think the winner should be obvious to everyone.”
“That’s good news for you,” Jamie said with a smile.
“I sure hope so,” Adrienne replied.
“The winner is…” Brian shuffled through his papers as if looking for something.
“Here we go,” Larry said with anticipation.
“Jenny Driedger for the song, I Saw Three Ships.”
“What?” Larry shouted and then looked sheepish as everyone turned their gaze toward him.
“Jenny Driedger, come up here and claim your twenty-five dollars.”
“Jenny? How could she win this? She didn’t even finish her song!” Adrienne looked hurt.
“I tried to warn you about Brian Driedger’s crooked contests.” Jamie reminded.
“And we mustn’t forget the second-place prize. Come up here Adrienne…we have something special for you too.”
“Don’t give up, it’s not over yet.” Larry encouraged.
“We’ll see about that,” Adrienne grumbled as she mounted the steps to the stage.
“Here you go.” Brian grinned as he extended a small brown bag toward her.
“What is this?”
“It’s a bag of the best peanuts in town. I’m sure you’ll enjoy them this Christmas.”
“Thanks a lot,” Adrienne said dully as she took the gift.
“Don’t mention it! Now, how about another round of applause for all our contestants’ ladies and gentlemen.” A wave of applause rose from the audience. “Thank you. And don’t forget to do all your Christmas shopping at Brian’s Hardware.”
“Huh.” Adrienne studied the brown bag in her hands. “All that work and what do I hafta show fer it?”
“Peanuts,” Larry observed.
“Well, at least we have something to feed the squirrels,” Jamie said as she took the bag from her tenant.
“The squirrels will eat better than we do this Christmas,” Adrienne said, the picture of someone whose dreams had just been dashed.
“I hate to say it but you’re probably right.”
“Isn’t there someone else you can call?” Larry prompted.
“Who? I’ve already called everybody I could think of. Nobody can pay their bill.”
“Well, don’t give up. Just keep thinking positive.”
“Larry.” Jamie paused, struggling to contain her feelings. “I know you mean well, but right now we’ve got to face reality, we just won’t have much of a Christmas dinner this year.” The group looked grim as they reflected on this happy thought. After a moment, Jamie snapped from his reverie and headed toward the door. “There’s no need to stand around here. Parties over. Let’s go home.”
“No problem mom.”
“And don’t call me mom!” On that sour note, they made their way through a milling crowd into the chill of a winter night.
