The Christmas Ornament

Chapter 2 - A Visit With Santa

           North Winds Orphanage was established in the mid-nineteen sixties. Built on eight acres in 1933, it was originally a dorm building for Northern Michigan University (NMU). When NMU expanded their curriculum and degree programs in the early 1960's, the student enrollment increased ten fold almost overnight. The state of Michigan built several new  and much larger dormitories for students and converted this old dorm building into North Winds Orphanage.

          North Winds is a 2 story building with 32 double occupancy rooms, Several office spaces, a large commercial kitchen and cafeteria area, a large gymnasium, a library upgraded with a dozen computer stations for online instruction, an infirmary, and a tennis court in the backyard.

          Although the building structure is still sound, there are a lot maintenance aspects of the property that have have fallen into disrepair.

The gymnasium floor needs to be resurfaced as well as the cafeteria floor that has numerous cracked and chipped tiles. The tennis court has no net andthe court surface needs refinishing.

          On the second floor where the dorm rooms are located, almost all wall surfaces are in desperate need of painting. In fact, the only part of the building that seems to get any attention is the entrance foyer where visitors arrive, a meeting room for staff and prospective adopting parents and, of course, Mrs. Pembroke's office. The only reason Holly could think of for the lack of proper maintenance was that the states allocated budget for North Winds was not enough to cover all the maintenance work needed.

          Holly was woken up the next morning by Penny tugging on her arm. It was Saturday and she was hoping to sleep in.

"Holly, Holly...wake up. It's after 8 AM and you need to get up NOW!" Penny pleaded with urgency.

"Penny...it's Saturday. I want to sleep in!" Holly mumbled in a sleepy voice and pulled the pillow over her head.

"Holly, Mr.Harris is looking for you. He said you were supposed to go into town with him and he said he wanted to leave at 9 AM." Penny said still tugging on her arm.

          Holly's eyes flew wide open. She jumped out of bed, grabbed some clothes, toiletry bag and her hair dryer and ran down the hall to one of the shower/bathrooms located on the 2nd floor. Thirty minutes later at 8:45 AM she emerged showered, her hair dried, and dressed in jeans, a dark blue sweater and ankle high boots. After dropping off her PJ's and bathroom paraphernalia back in her room, she grabbed a jacket and scarf and dashed downstairs to the cafeteria, scarfed down a bowl of cereal and was heading out the front door of the orphanage precisely at 9 AM.

Waiting next to his long bed panel van parked in the orphanages circular driveway stood Stan.

"Hey, Holly!"Stan said with a beaming smile as he waved her over to the van.

"Hi, Mr.Harris!" replied Holly with a large smile of her own.

The brisk cold air turned Holly's cheeks rosy red as she scurried over to the van.

"The van's all warmed up and ready to go." Stan cheerfully said as her opened the passenger door for her. "And please, call me Stan." he continued as Holly climbed into the van.

Once they had gotten underway and left the orphanages property Holly spoke up. "So,where are we going?"

Stan remained silent for a minute before answering. "We're heading to the town of Christmas."

Holly's reaction was immediate. Her body became rigid and fear and panic consumed her. "NO...NO, I can't go there...not there! Please Stan,don't take me to THAT place!"