Is there a place like this...the rest of the story

We wish you a Merry Christmas, We wish you a Merry Christmas…
The snow fell as they walked alone into the night

Snow, snow everywhere it fell in big flakes, big ones hung in the air
drifting ever so slowly to the ground. The snow was piled high on the
sidewalk and roads were covered, it piled up and made cruncking noises
as the Little Brown Eyes walked with her mother stopping under a
street light, standing there watching the flakes fall. It was silent
and peaceful. The little girl wondered where they were going.


Somehow Florida seemed so far away, he was from far off. His hair was
jet black, his skin fair and he was Cherokee, his name was Ketcher. He
never knew his real father, his mother had raised him and she had done
a good job of taking care of him. He had grown up, joined the service
and had moved to North Dakota, to the high country. His wife had been
Sioux, they had two little girls. She didn't want to be married to him
anymore so she moved away to St. Paul taking the girls with her. After
six months alone and a broken heart he had left Bismark and moved to
this small town in the mountains in the Southwest. He worked with
computers but there were no jobs he could find so he took the first
one there was. It was operating snow plow.


When he applied for the job, they asked him, Are you some kind of
Indian? Cherokee, he said. They just laughed and said, Sure, my mother
was an Indian Princess, too. He had always heard that when he told
people he was Cherokee, there were so many out there, that when a real
one came along, no one believed him.


The old orange snow plow was warm and the snow was thick as he headed
down the street after having worked eight hours uptown clearing the
roads, he was headed back to the road shed ready to call it a night.


In the dim light on the corner he saw them, they were Indian, Navajo
it looked like, this place was near their country. He remembered a
time when a llttle boy stood like them many years ago in the snow.
They looked wet and cold with no place to go.


They saw him, the orange glow of the snow plow coming out of the heavy
snow. It stopped in front of them.


Little Brown Eyes, she looked up as the passenger opened up and she
heard a voice, a friendly one that said, You guys look like you need a
ride. It ain't much but it's warm, there isn't any place open right
now so jump in.


Her mother looked at him suspiciously, she had been stopped by men who
drove by and said to her, Want a ride, she knew they wanted more than
a ride, so she always just walked away.


In Navajo, he said, "Oshde' Ko' Sida, Ahyo deskaaza' HAY! (Come on in,
have a seat it is too cold outside} He was learning some Navajo from
Ashie, a Navajo he worked with. "Where can I take you, this is too
slow to go anywhere if you want to jump out anywhere you can, it is
just a ride. It's ugly but it's warm." He threw his beaded wallet down
to her, he said, "If you are worried about me, you can hold this, so
now I have to trust you give it back." They got in.


As they rode on down the road, he told them he couldn't sing Christmas
carols too good, but he tried. He turned down the road and went to his
sister's house, she had grown children and an empty house.


They felt ashamed for the way they looked but Ketcher didn't seem to
mind, his sister opened the door and told them to come in. She took
them upstairs. As they went into the living room, Little Brown Eyes
saw the Christmas tree, this man Ketcher had Smiling Eyes, they were
the friendliest eyes she had ever seen, they seemed to twinkle on
their own.


She asked if she could look at the tree, it was all lit up, all
colored lights, with icicles and a few presents under the tree. Her
mother was quiet, when Ketcher's sister said, I have room for you, you
can stay with me. I take care of old people during the day and I need
help you would be doing me a favor if you could stay and help me out.
The little girls mother went upstairs and they stayed for a while.


The little girl's name is Kelly and well her last name is Ketcher, she
found Christmas presents with her name on them under the tree. Her
mother is Diane and she and Ketcher, well let's just say, they found
each other that night on a street corner. A chance meeting that made
all the difference in the world. The three of them are now four and it
is Christmas once again, and Little Brown Eyes found a place to call
home.


Now you have to wonder, did it happen this way. Sometimes when little
girls ask "Is there a place like this? You can say, "Yes there is a
place just like that where some dreams do come true."


Rustywire