George got up and poured a cup of coffee. The front door of the office flew open. In burst a young man with a gun. "Give me all...
George got up and poured a cup of coffee.
The front door of the office flew open. In burst a young man
with a gun. "Give me all your cash! Do it now!" the young man yelled.
His hand was shaking and George could tell that he had never done anything like
this before.
"That's the guy that shot me!" exclaimed the
officer.
"Son, why are you doing this?" asked George,
"You need to put the cannon away. Somebody else might get hurt." The
young man was confused. "Shut up old man, or I'll shoot you, too. Now give
me the cash!"
The cop was reaching for his gun. "Put that thing
away," George said to the cop, "we got one too many in here
now."
He turned his attention to the young man. "Son, If you need money, well then, here. It ain't much but it's all I
got. Now put that pea shooter away."
George pulled $150 out of his pocket and handed it to the
young man, reaching for the barrel of the gun at the same time. The young man
released his grip on the gun, fell to his knees and began to cry. "I'm not
very good at this am I? All I wanted was to buy something for my wife and
son," he went on. "I've lost my job, my rent is due, my car got
repossessed last week."
George handed the gun to the cop. "Son, we all get in a
bit of squeeze now and then. The road gets hard sometimes, but we make it
through the best we can."
He got the young man to his feet, and sat him down on a
chair across from the cop. "Sometimes we do stupid things." George
handed the young man a cup of coffee. "Bein' stupid is one of the things
that makes us human. Comin' in here with a gun ain't the answer. Now sit there
and get warm and we'll sort this thing out."
The young man had stopped crying. He looked over to the cop.
"Sorry I shot you. It just went off. I'm sorry officer." "Shut
up and drink your coffee” the cop said. George could hear the sounds of sirens
outside. A police car and an ambulance skidded to a halt. Two cops came through
the door, guns drawn. "Chuck! You ok?" one of the cops asked the
wounded officer. “Not bad for a guy who took a bullet. How did you find
me?"
"GPS locator in the car. Best thing since sliced bread.
Who did this?" the other cop asked as he approached the young man.
Chuck answered him, "I don't know. The guy ran off into
the dark. Just dropped his gun and ran."
George and the young man both looked puzzled at each other.
"That guy work here?" the wounded cop continued.
"Yep," George said, "just hired him this morning. Boy lost his
job."
"Well, looks like you got one doozy of a break there.
That ought to solve some of your problems."
George went into the back room and came out with a box. He
pulled out a ring box. "Here you go, something for the little woman. I
don't think Martha would mind. She said it would come in handy some day."
The young man looked inside to see the biggest diamond ring
he ever saw. "I can't take this," said the young man. "It means
something to you."
"And now it means something to you," replied
George. "I got my memories. That's all I need."
George reached into the box again. An airplane, a car and a
truck appeared next. They were toys that the oil company had left for him to
sell. "Here's something for that little man of yours."
The young man began to cry again as he handed back the $150
that the old man had handed him earlier.
"And what are you supposed to buy Christmas dinner
with? You keep that too," George said. "Now get home to your
family."
The young man turned with tears streaming down his face.
"I'll be here in the morning for work, if that job offer is still
good."
"Nope. I'm closed Christmas day," George said.
"See ya the day after."
George turned around to find that the stranger had returned.
"Where'd you come from? I thought you left?"
"I have been here. I have always been here," said
the stranger. "You say you don't celebrate Christmas. Why?"
"Well, after my wife passed away, I just couldn't see
what all the bother was. Puttin' up a tree and all seemed a waste of a good
pine tree. Bakin' cookies like I used to with Martha just wasn't the same by
myself and besides I was gettin' a little chubby."
The stranger put his hand on George's shoulder. "But
you do celebrate the holiday, George. You gave me food and drink and warmed me
when I was cold and hungry. The woman with child will bear a son and he will
become a great doctor.
The policeman you helped will go on to save 19 people from
being killed by terrorists. The young man who tried to rob you will make you a
rich man and not take any for himself. "That is the spirit of the season
and you keep it as good as any man."
George was taken aback by all this stranger had said.
"And how do you know all this?" asked the old man.
"Trust me, George. I have the inside track on this sort
of thing. And when your days are done you will be with Martha again."
The stranger moved toward the door. "If you will excuse
me, George, I have to go now. I have to go home where there is a big
celebration planned."
George watched as the old leather jacket and the torn pants
that the stranger was wearing turned into a white robe. A golden light began to
fill the room.
George fell to his knees and replied, "Happy Birthday
Jesus."