Catching a glimpse of a legendary all-white reindeer is supposed to bring good luck.
Not for Georgia Greene.
As Georgia makes her way home for Christmas, a white reindeer dashes across the road in front of her, causing her to crash her car into a...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Georgia
Georgia wasn't much for conversation on the way back. She was too focussed on her car, strung up behind the tow truck, fretting over whether it would be alright and wondering if it'd be in good enough condition that she could finally make it to her sister's place. As she worried, all she could do was sit and watch it through the side mirror, swaying slightly from side to side behind the truck as they drove back to the farm. Felix seemed to notice that she was distracted and left her to her thoughts. He had once attempted to turn on the radio to fill the silence, but all the available stations were playing cheesy Christmas music, so he just turned it off, for which Georgia was grateful.
As they reached the farm, Georgia noticed a lot had changed in the few hours they'd been gone. The first thing they saw was a bright red sign at the foot of the Nissen farm driveway. It stood on legs that were painted red and white so that they looked like candy canes. The face of the sign simply read: NISSEN CHRISTMAS TREE FARM IS OPEN.
And it was. Sue had been busy. The snow had been cleared from between the rows of trees, and the remaining trees had been brushed off to show off their size and shape. A selection of pre-cut trees, already bound and ready to go, were leaned against the house's long porch. Cars and trucks of every colour and model were parked along one side of the driveway, and families milled about the property. Children ran ahead to find the best tree while their parents laughed and nursed steaming drinks from the same red cups that Sue had given them this morning.
Sue herself was standing on the porch, talking with a family that was tying up their selected tree. She waved as she saw the tow truck drive past the house.
Felix gave a short wave back and drove on, beyond the house and the row of cars, through the open gate and across the wide flat yard that led to the bright red barn behind the house. The doors were already open, waiting for them, and Felix drove right in.
The barn was beautiful, the exact kind of building that the word 'barn' conjured in Georgia's mind—big and red and rustic. The floor was dirt, pounded flat by decades of feet, hooves, and machines. Piles of tools and machinery and—what appeared to be—plain ol' junk were scattered throughout. Surprisingly, it didn't feel messy, more like organized chaos.
"Alright," Felix said after he put the truck into park. "Now we can get your car down and take a look at her. Once we're sure she's all good, we can give her a boost. Ma's gotta have cables around here somewhere." He hopped out and set about getting her car unhooked from the back of the tow truck.
Georgia hopped out, too, though there wasn't anything she could do to help. Felix was busy with the lift controls, so she left him to it, instead going to explore the barn and its contents. There had to be decades worth of stuff in here, maybe even a century's worth. There were plenty of old rusted tools and gadgets from the time before tractors and trucks came along to replace them. Against one wall was a row of cross-country skis—made out of actual wood—with their peaked tips painted to look like elven hats. At the back was even an old tractor that had to be at least twice her age. The place was filled to the brim with the history of the Nissen family.
