Roscoe and the Christmas Gift
Gloria Fifield Helmer
Copyright 2011, Gloria Helmer
Published by Davlin Press, Smashwords Edition
Roscoe and the Christmas Gift
As I looked out the window, I felt like I was in a little house inside a well shaken snow globe. The wind driven snow swirled and danced, as it blanketed the outside world in its thick, icy quilt of white. We'd already been kept indoors for a couple of days by this true nor'easter that was still piling up the snow in deep drifts. It was almost Christmas. We kids were getting antsy, we wanted to be out having fun in the snow on our vacation from school. Mom considered it dangerous to be out in it, so we waited impatiently. We weren't the only ones getting fidgety. Our old cat Roscoe would get up from his rug, walk to the door then look up at us as if to ask why we were all still indoors. Once we opened the door for him, but the blast of cold air that came in changed his mind, quick, fast and in a hurry.
Dad shoveled a pathway from the house to the barn so that we could care for the animals, but we only went there when we had to. Even Dad didn't go down the workshop he set up there much, except for a short time once in a while. It was simply too cold. He was working on something there for Mother, but because of the storm, he decided finishing it would have to wait.
I think Mother was more frustrated than anyone, with all of us underfoot and in the way. She desperately wanted to be busy making some of her gifts for us, but with all of us right here watching, that wasn't going to happen. Eventually, Dad took pity on her and told us boys to dress warm and follow him down to the barn just to get us out of her hair.
For some unknown reason, Roscoe decided to follow us. He trotted along behind in our footsteps, as if he didn't want to touch the snow with his feet. Silly Roscoe. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks, meowed, asking to be picked up. It dawned on him, if one of us carried him, his feet wouldn't get cold. Maybe he wasn't so silly after all.
With a chuckle, Dad reached down and picked him up. This was a bit unusual, because Dad seldom paid much attention to him. More often it would be Mom that could be found spending time either holding him, or just sitting with him beside her engrossed in conversation.
Once we were inside the barn and the door shut, it wasn't nearly as cold as it was on the walk over from the house. Roscoe jumped down and disappeared up in the haymow without so much as a glance behind at the one that carried him. Dad just smiled, gave us some chores to keep us busy, and went to his workshop.
We were playing more than working when I happened to notice that Roscoe was just sitting in front of Lil' Bit, our Jersey cow. He just sat staring at her until she mooed loudly and stomped her foot at him. I guess she didn't like being stared at. There was something in the way he smiled at her and twitched his whiskers that kind of looked like he'd actually been talking to her. I mean, you hear stories about that sort of stuff happening, but they were just stories ... weren't they? I began to wonder.
Later that day, after we all were back in the house, I asked Dad if he thought animals could talk to each other. Dad just kind of smiled, and scratched his head a little. "Well now son, I'm not rightly sure 'bout that. There's times when I think they might." He sat down in his chair and started to light his pipe. It was a few moments before he continued, "My grandpa told me about this one special time that he was sure they could."
"What time was that, Dad? Was it back in the days of the dinosaurs?" I was certain it would have to be something like that, because animals didn't do that nowadays, or did they?
"Well, no son, it wasn't quite that far back." By now, there were a few more of us kids all clustered around Dad, hoping there was a story of some kind in the making. We weren't to be disappointed either. Dad got a real serious look on his face and began, "Well, the way my grandpa told it, on the night of the first Christmas, Joseph and Mary were searching for a place to stay. Mary was about to give birth to the baby Jesus, and there didn't seem to be anyplace left in the whole town of Bethlehem for them to stay.
"It really wasn't so surprising, seein' as the Roman Emperor, Augustus, had decreed that everyone had to return to the city or town of their birth in order to register to pay taxes. Joseph's family was from Bethlehem, so that's where they had to go. Trouble was, there was a lot of others traveling because of that decree and all the inns were full up. Now that was really bad news for the young couple, because you see, Mary was already in labor and needed a place to lie down. Eventually, one innkeeper felt sorry for them and told them they could take shelter in his stable with all the animals. Well now, Joseph thanked him and took poor Mary there. He started making a bed for her using some of the hay that was stored there." Dad paused to re-light his pipe that had gone out while he was talking.
My little brother, Ethan was getting impatient so he asked, "But Dad, we already know that Christmas story. What's that got to do with animals talking?"
Dad took a full draw on his pipe, then continued, "Well, nothing ... and everything. Yes, we all know how Jesus was born that night, and how the wise men came with their gifts, as well as the shepherds in the fields coming to marvel at him. You learned all that in Sunday school, I 'spect. But what you don't know, is what happened when they all left."
Dad had all of our attention now as he continued with his story. "You see, it was a very cold night out, otherwise, Jesus' parents would never have thought of sleeping in an old stable with a lot of dirty animals, especially not with a newly born little baby to take care of. Fortunately for them, this was no ordinary baby. He was only a baby, but he was God's son, so he knew things like this. He knew his parents were frightened for him, but he also knew the animals they were sharing this room with wished them no harm and wanted to help make it a warm, safe place for them. So, he thought about it ... and thought about it. Eventually, he decided to let the animals tell them how they felt.
First, he gave the donkey Mary had ridden on the chance to speak. Imagine the surprise His parents felt when they heard the donkey say, 'Don't worry, Mary. We know you're tired from that long trip here and mostly from just having the baby you're holding in your arms. It was a long trip for both of us, but I knew you were in pain so I tried hard to be gentle as I walked. I hope I was gentle enough.' Well, as you can imagine, they were shocked to hear a voice coming from a donkey, no less.
Next, Jesus allowed an ox to speak. 'I know well what it is to toil hard and lie exhausted at the end of a long day. You can rest safe here with us. I'll be very careful where I step so I won't accidentally hurt someone.' Now, that time they weren't quite so shocked, so Mary found the courage to speak up and thank both animals for their kindness.
Now it was the cow's turn to speak. 'Since it has been such a long day for you all, and I know how tired and hungry you must be, please, feel free to refresh yourselves with some of my milk.' They were amazed at how kind all the animals were kind to them as each animal in turn, came to them, expressing good wishes and offering to help in any way they could to make them comfortable and warm.
Mary and Joseph thanked each of the animals in turn, and prepared to sleep peacefully among these new friends, that was how they now thought of the animals that surrounded them. They even made a gift of one of their feed mangers for Mary to make a soft bed for Jesus to sleep in. Licked clean and filled with new clean hay, it was a perfect place for the baby to sleep. The animals all took turns staying close to Jesus, lending him the warmth of their bodies. Nearing dawn, and lying exhausted in Joseph's arms on her bed of hay, Mary said a prayer of thanks to God and fell asleep."
Dad finished the last draw on his pipe. Ethan, always the impatient one, questioned him again. "But Dad, what's all that got to do with animals bein' able to talk nowadays?"
Dad just chuckled, "Well son, Jesus was so grateful for all the loving concern those animals showed for Him and His parents, that he decided to give all animals the gift of speech. Knowing that it could cause real problems between them and the people they were subject to, Jesus also decided that His gift of speech would only be on one special night, the night of his birth, and then, only for an hour at the stroke of midnight. This way, His gift would not be misused. So Danny, in answer to your original question, yes animals can talk to each other but only at the stroke of midnight, Christmas Eve."
I reached over to pet Roscoe, since he followed us into the house and came to lay beside me while I was listening to Dad's story. He purred contentedly and looked up at me with an expression on his face that was hard to decipher. I had a feeling though, that there would be at least one of us that would be trying to stay awake on Christmas Eve to see if Roscoe got the special gift. I don't know about the others, but I wanted to find out what this rascal of a cat had to say for himself.