by Chas Johnson
As the train made its journey around the track, crossing gates raised and lowered, and lights would flash on and off, people would move about at the station house. It was all very magical. Jimmy forbad anyone from operating his train, a decree that Jimmy’s younger brother protested and Jimmy’s father overruled, “If the train is there then everyone who wants to operate it can do so.” Jimmy stiffened while his younger brother took control, but to everyone’s surprise Jimmy did not make a fuss, but simply stepped back and stood there looking at his train as it sped around under the decorated tree, and he assured himself that this was the most beautiful Christmas Tree that the family had ever had, as it was the perfect tree to show off his beautiful train set.
Chapter 33
Farther south, in Paducah Kentucky, Jamison’s Christmas morning was not as special. In fact it was downright awful. Rebecca had learned, it was nice to have relatives in position of import, of Jamison’s indiscretion and how he had been terminated from his job in Pennsylvania, and not that he had quit as he had told her when he called to ask if he could come see her on Christmas morning. The real truth was that she had been seeing other men, some very exciting, and Jamison was already starting to lose her interest, so a child in Pennsylvania that he would be paying child support to for years and his lies about his job, well those were simply not forgivable. What other indiscretions could she be expected to encounter from this man in the future? So when he arrived at the house, she met him at the door and told him that she had decided to break up with him before he could produce the half carat diamond ring he had spent all of his savings on.
The door was slammed on his face and Jamison was crushed. He saw his whole life crumble. All that he could think was, ‘How?’ How could she be so cold? How did she find out about the job? How did she find out about the baby and the child support order, it wasn’t even official yet and he had a lawyer working on fighting it?
He tugged at his coat the winter closed in on him quickly. There had been a snowstorm a few days before and the remains although mostly shoveled away were still all about. The morning temperature was just a little above twenty degree Fahrenheit, which was of no consequence during his walk over to the Ballard’s house. But now it was cutting him to his core. He shivered until he cried and the tears fell down his face. Twenty six years old and he was a failure and had little prospects that suggest that he could turn his life around. ‘If I were half a man,’ he thought, ‘I’d go back and knock on Rebecca’s door and when she answered I’d throw this big old diamond ring in her face and let her know what she was losing.’
But he didn’t. He simply walked on home and told his parents that he had broken up with Rebecca, as she was no longer the woman that he had once thought that she was, and he went back to bed where he stayed for two days.
Jamison did get his life back together. He took an assistant manager’s job at a new restaurant that was gaining in popularity called Kentucky Fried Chicken. He sold the ring, he was able to return it to the Jeweler for about sixty percent of what he had paid for it, and he used some of that money to buy stock in his new company. That stock had gone up in value over thirty times what Jamison had paid for it in the next three years. He was able to make his very small child support payments. Later, he met a woman and they married, but he never told her about his child in Pennsylvania, a child that he never saw or had any contact with. As he advanced in the company, he ultimately becoming the distribution manager in 1974- KFC had their own trucks so he was never able to play one trucking company salesman against another to get the perks that he had seen so many others receive-but it was a good stable job and he stayed with it for nineteen years.
Jamison died of a heart attack in the spring of 1993, two months later a redheaded girl with an infant in her arms, knocked on the door of Jamison’s house and when his widow answered the girl asked for Jamison. In the ensuing conversation it was revealed to the lady that the girl was Jamison’s daughter and that she was now married and had a daughter of her own and she wondered if he might be interested in seeing his granddaughter.
Epilogue
The train under the tree at the Johnson house ran for another six years. Jimmy went into the Marine Corps when he was nineteen and left the train behind. One day shortly after he left for boot-camp the family was away and a small fire broke out in part of their attic. Neighbors noticed the smoke coming from the house and were able to call the fire department who quickly responded saving the house but the contents of the attic, at least the part where the family stored their Christmas decorations, was a total loss. Insurance claims were filled and paid, and the train was listed amongst the loss, but no train was ever purchased to replace the lost one. It simply was of no interest to anyone in the family.
The memory of the night that they discovered that Jimmy had won the train and the visitor who failed to even consider a reward for a service of finding and returning his wallet was all that anyone including Jimmy, needed.
THE END
If you enjoyed this read you may find reading The Hunt For Gettysburg Gold as well. Thank you for reading my work.
Chas Johnson
