The CBB :: View topic - A Christmas Miracle.......

#1: A Christmas Miracle....... Author: CBB Secret Santa,

Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 7:39 pm

It was two days before Christmas, and Emily's Secret Santa was feeling very sheepish. She had been trying to write a Christmas drabble for Emily for three weeks now, but the plot bunnies kept running away and hiding. She had tried everything she could think to catch one of the little beggars, but they kept escaping from even the most ingenious trap imaginable. But finally she had managed to catch one very small bunny.......

It was the night before Christmas, but nothing could have been further from the thoughts of the occupants of a certain house in the town of Taverton, on the border of Devon and Cornwall. Sixteen year old Madge Bettany and her twin brother, Dick, were keeping an anxious vigil at the bedside of their baby sister, four year old Josephine. The three had been orphaned when their parents died in a cholera epidemic in India, nearly four years earlier. Josephine had been a frail baby, but had made rapid strides when they had come to live in Taverton with their Guardian. However, three weeks before, the small girl had caught a cold. Despite Madge's best efforts it had progressed to pneumonia, and now the doctor had confessed that he held out little hope for the child's recovery. Madge had wept in her brother's arms on hearing the doctor's verdict, and now she felt that there were no tears left. Her tearless gaze was fixed on the tiny form in the small white bed, and her ears straining to hear the laboured breaths wracking the slight form.
Eventually exhaustion claimed Madge, and her eyes closed, and she slept against the shoulder of her brother, who was snoring gently. As she slept, Madge began to dream.....

.....Madge awoke with a start. Her eyes snapped open, and she looked round startled to see what had woken her. The romm was filled with a glow of white light. There was Dick, next to her, still snoring gently. And there, in the bed across the room lay little Josephine (or Joey, as she was known). And, standing beside the bed were two familiar, but impossible figures. A low cry broke from Madge's throat, for there, bending over her sister, were her beloved parents. Her mother was gently stroking Joey's black hair away from her little white face, and as she watched, turned to her father, and Madge was sure she heard a whisper of "Oh David, isn't she beautiful?" The tall, fair man smiled sadly at his wife, and nodded.
Madge could control herself no longer. Tears began to slip down her cheeks, and a sobbing cry broke from her throat. "Mummy, Daddy, is it really you?"
The pair turned, and their faces lit up, at the sight of their elder daughter.
They crossed the room, and Madge felt two pairs of arms embrace her, and two pairs of lips kiss her. Then they each embraced the still sleeping Dick, before returning to the bedside of their younger daughter. As Madge watched, tears rolling down her cheeks, they each bent and kissed the child, and then the light vanished and they were gone.

The twins were woken by the sound of the church bells striking midnight. Madge looked round in confusion.
"Are you OK, old thing?" Asked Dick gruffly.
"I don't know.." Replied his twin, uncertainly.
Both youngsters froze as a third voice spoke...
"Why are the bells ringing Madgie?" It said in childish tones. "Why are they ringing Dick?"
They turned in disbelief, and were rewarded by the sight of Joey sitting up in bed, holding her arms out to them.
In her joy, Madge flew across the room, catching the child in her arms, and Dick was not far behind her. Joey was confused by all the fuss, and tugged gently on her sister's long curly pigtail.
"Why bells Madgie?" She asked again.
Madge laughed merrily, "Because it's Christmas Day, Joey-Baba! And you are well again."

The doctor was astounded by Joey's recovery and declared that it was nothing short of a miracle. Madge never told anyone except her brother about the 'dream' she had had that night, but she knew that her parents had been there, and that somehow they had saved their baby's life.........

#2: Author: Catherine_B, Location: Oxford, UK

Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 8:06 pm

Oh, Secret Santa, that's beautiful. I have shivers all down my spine! Kiss

#3: Author: patmac, Location: Yorkshire England

Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 8:09 pm

So sweet! Warm and Fuzzy!

#4: Author: Lyanne, Location: Ipswich, England

Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 8:52 pm

I thought they'd come to take her with them. Sad

#5: Author: nikkie,

Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 9:28 pm

Lyanne wrote:

I thought they'd come to take her with them. Sad

So did I , this is a much nicer story, Thank you Santa

#6: Author: Dawn, Location: Leeds, West Yorks

Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 9:44 pm

Thats lovely santa - I'm all goosebumpy

#7: Author: Lesley, Location: Rochester, Kent

Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 9:59 pm

Thank you Santa - worth waiting for.

#8: Author: Pat, Location: Doncaster

Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 10:26 pm

That was lovely Santa. Thank you.

#9: Author: Carolyn P, Location: Lancaster, England

Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 10:48 pm

This was lovely Santa, very simple, but sweet and goosebumpy.

#10: Author: Miriam, Location: Jerusalem, Israel

Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 11:28 pm

It reminds me of the scene in one of Madges plays - The Bells Of Xmas, only there the bells cured the sick child by themselves. Having the paretns come in adds a personal touch.

Very nice. Smile

#11: Author: Marianne, Location: Lancaster

Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2004 12:00 am

aww, lovely!

#12: Author: Kirsty, Location: Melbourne, Australia

Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2004 12:30 am

It;'s a lovely story, well worth the little bunny you managed to catch.

As Miriam said, very much like the play Madge wrote later (based on her own experiences?)

#13: Author: Susan, Location: Carlisle

Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2004 12:41 am

Very lovely story Santa. Yet anither one that made me cry.

Is very impressed by the standard of all these Christmas Drabbles!

#14: Author: Ruth B, Location: Oxford, UK

Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2004 12:35 pm

Is there a conspiracy on the board to keep me in floods of tears all day??

That was lovely Santa

#15: Author: Emily, Location: Land of White Coats and Stethoscopes.

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 10:56 pm

Oooh lovely! Thank you Santa, have only just seen this due to rubbishness of slow home internet- but I'm glad because it was a lovely Christmas present Very Happy

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