Silent night, holy night
All is calm and all is bright
Round yon virgin, mother and child
Holy infant, so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace, ooh
Sleep, sleep in heaven, heavenly peace
The sound of the carol singers drifted through the fir trees and over the railway sidings - endless black lines etched in the snow. To the long neat row of houses, their windows closed against the cold.
Mrs Smith heard the sound and went to the door and opened it wide. She remembered her childhood - those magical nights in the snow when her father
had still been alive - the three of them on the sledge. The stars above in a great arc across the sky.
Suddenly a dog started barking. More dogs joined in and drowned out the carol singers
"I suppose dogs will be dogs!" she reflected
The wind was blowing from the East so it was cold but it meant the air was fresher than usual - the smoke from the giant chimney went in the other direction. She had been brought up in an industrial area so smoke and fog were not new to her and were the inevitable price of progress.
She thought back to her childhood and the excitement of opening presents under the Christmas tree. Not that she had received much in the way of presents, times were hard back then. But her parents were kind and loving people and that more than made up for the fact that many of the presents were distinctly utilitarian - a dish cloth maybe or a cup carefully wrapped to look interesting!
Now things were much better and the snow added that extra helping of excitement. She could see her daughter Trudy walking across the snow and when she saw her mother she broke into a run - her long fair hair glinting in the moonlight.
They embraced and Trudy jumped up and down in excitement
"They let us go ten minutes early because it's Christmas!"
she said "and we had got all the paperwork up to date - even though we did 20,000 units yesterday - a record number"
"Oh, well done"
"And we have got a tree in the office. Mr Brown was not keen but his boss overuled him and now every department has a tree. We decorated it in our lunch break and it looks great"
"Come in and have your tea dear" said Mrs Smith and helped her daughter off with her coat.
She brushed off the snow which quickly melted on the stone floor. The boiler was in the basement and that meant that the stone flags were
warm to the touch and kept the whole house very comfortable, even when the temperature outside fell below zero.
They sat down at the small table and tucked in. Trudy sat there grinning
"I've kept the best news until last, mum. I won the competition for the new slogan!"
"Oh my God" said her mother "that's amazing"
"Yes, I could not believe it and the blacksmith made it up and it is actually in place so when you drive in there it is. Amazing or what?"
"Oh" said her mum "what was it you came up with? My memory is failing - must be old age"
"Come on mum - you remember, surely?
ARBEIT MACHT FREI"
Right above the camp entrance.
Bob Cory
Modified on 11/08/2023 at 13:17:10 by ℗ Bob Cory