I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK:

[READ: December 24, 2023] “The Burglar’s Christmas”

This year my wife ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar.  This is my sixth time reading the Calendar–it’s a holiday tradition!  Here’s what H&O says about the calendar this year.

The 2023 Short Story Advent Calendar is a deluxe box set of individual short stories from some of the best writers in North America and beyond.  Now in its ninth year, the SSAC is back to once again bring readers a deluxe, peppermint-fresh collection of 25 short stories from some of the best writers in North America and beyond.

The author of this story was Willa Cather.  Each day has an online component with the author with a brief interview.

It’s December 24. Willa Cather, author of O Pioneers! and My Antonia, died in 1947. “The Burglar’s Christmas” first appeared, under a pseudonym, in Home Monthly in 1896.

Yesterday was grifters, today it’s burglars.

In this story, two men are standing on the street.  They are hungry (haven’t eaten in some 30 hours).  They are getting desperate. One of the men says he is going for a free lunch, but the other one decides to stay in the area to test his lunch. After all, it is his birthday.

A woman walks by with packages and drops one.  He imagines he can score on her.  But he helps her with the package and she thanks him and walks away.  He chastises himself for his lack of nerve.

Then he looks at the house across the street.  There is a party going on and the door has been left open by the doorman.  He sneaks in.

In his backstory we learn that he was loved at home but felt the need to wander.  He has no idea where his family is and they have lost track of him.

It does come as some surprise when he is rifling through a drawer and a woman walks in and it turns out to be his mother.  How will she react to seeing her son like this?  And how will he react to seeing her?