Chapter XIII. From the Heart

SCRIBBLERS

C2004 By Gracie Prior

CHAPTER XIII. FROM THE HEART

The Scribblers in Havenword sat wrapped in blankets to keep warm. Each one had a little Christmas present in front of him. Mary was excited because she knew Terry was buying for her and she hoped for jewelry. They were only allowed to spend fifty cents on the gift, still a lot could be found with good searching. Mary's gift was for Jimmy. She bought him a poster of a knight to put in his room that she had found in a bookstore. She smiled because her present was the biggest. The gift in front of Terry was small, maybe something pretty for me, she thought.

"How are we going to do this?" Jimmy asked. "We don't all want to go at once, do we?"

"Let's roll the dice; the high man goes first. Then we'll roll again, and again."

"Good idea, Mary," Butch got up and rummaged in a Yahtze game on the shelf and got a dice. "I'll go first, then we'll go in a circle."

Butch got the highest number, so Jimmy handed him his gift. It was wrapped in tissue paper. Butch unwrapped it and found a hand-carved dog. "It didn't cost fifty cents, but I made it myself. You like it?"

Butch fingered the wood and looked it over. "This is very good, Jimmy. I didn't know you could carve."

"My grandpa showed me how. I've been working on it since I got your name."

The next roll of the dice was for Terry. Butch handed him a long package. It was a bow and arrows. "Wow," Terry said. "I've always wanted to try this. We can use it in our plays, too."

Jimmy was next so Mary handed him the large package. Her mom had it wrapped and it looked very nice. As Jimmy was pulling the papers off, he could see right away the knight's armor and sword. He finished unwrapping and held it up. "For my room. Thank you, Fair Damsel. It will go great next to my castle pictures."

Mary was pleased that Jimmy liked her gift. Terry handed her the gift he bought as if it were special. She opened it and saw...Authors, Authors cards. She was so disappointed she didn't know what to say. Finally she said cheerfully, "Terry, how nice. Louisa Mae Alcott is in here and Dickens and all my favorites. Thank you."

"You're welcome. I knew you loved to read. We can play this in here. Some day I hope to read all the books on those cards. Just to say I did it," he said smiling.

Mary took the cards and held them close. She was touched that Terry had put so much thought into his gift. The present didn't shout, "you're special" the way she wanted it to, but it quietly said, "I notice who you are."

(Next time: a fun winter tale for the Scribblers. See you then, Nancy)

(My thanks to all of you who helped me get these lovely paragraphs in here. The big spaces came when I tried to put in my picture, oops, but I'm happy with the results.