Read Online 12 Days At Silver Bells House by Jennie Jones - Free Book Online Page A

of raspberry-ripple please.’ Pile it up. Bring it on.
    â€˜Oh, good choice.’ Mrs Tam got her metal ice cream scoop out of a little bucket and lifted the lid on the freezer.
    Kate inhaled the cold and welcomed the momentary freeze on her skin.
    â€˜People are like children, you know, when they choose their flavours.’ Mrs Tam piled the ice cream into a waffle-wafer cone. ‘I’m trying a new recipe actually. Strawberry-marshmallow. There you go.’ She patted the top with the back of the ice cream scoop. ‘I’ve got the strawberry, of course, but I’m having trouble blending the marshmallow flavour in.’
    Kate licked the top scoop. ‘I wish you luck with it, Mrs Tam. Sounds delicious and this is, honest to God, the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted. Anywhere. In the whole world.’
    â€˜Thank you, dear. Oh! Excuse me a moment.’
    Kate followed Mrs Tam outside as a lone car pulled up for petrol. While Mrs Tam dealt with the petrol pump — personal service, the country was full of such delights — Kate took a good look down Main Street. So quiet. The poor little town didn’t have much.
    She nodded down the street towards the pioneer cemetery when Mrs Tam came to stand next to her. ‘Where’s the Christmas tree?’ Kate felt sure they’d put the tree up there. Best place for it. It could be viewed from both entrances to town — or exits, depending on which way you’d entered.
    Mrs Tam tutted. ‘There’s a bit of a to-do this year due to the newly formed town committee. Mr Penman, our grocer, has a condition.’
    â€˜For the committee?’ Kate asked.
    â€˜Oh no, dear. Waterworks.’
    â€˜Plumbing problem in the shop?’
    â€˜He can’t pee.’
    Gee whiz, thanks for the explanation . ‘Poor man,’ Kate murmured. ‘Was he supposed to chop the tree down and haul it into town?’
    â€˜Not at his age. Jamie’s doing that. As soon as the feud’s been settled.’
    â€˜What feud?’
    â€˜Mr Penman always plays Santa when we hand out the Christmas presents to the locals. But due to his condition, he can’t sit for too long.’ Mrs Tam patted the bun on top of her head. A big, black pie of a bun. ‘Can’t stand for too long, either, come to think of it.’
    â€˜Shouldn’t he see a doctor?’
    â€˜Already has. Nothing they can do but let nature take its course.’
    Kate didn’t want to imagine how. It would totally ruin the flavour of raspberry ripple in her mouth. ‘So what’s the feud about?’ Sammy was forever giving her snippets of information about Swallow’s Fall and its passions, its glories and its gossip mill.
    â€˜Ted Tillman,’ Mrs Tam said. ‘He runs the stock feeders’ and he’s our committee chairman. He wants to play Santa in Mr Penman’s stead. But that means the costume will have to be let out quite considerably and Mrs Penman refuses to give it to Mrs Tillman.’
    Kate stood under the shade of the petrol station’s veranda and studied Main Street as Mrs Tam spoke. The claret ash trees lining the street were countrified gorgeous. Glossy green foliage glinting in the sunlight. They’d look beautiful at night, covered in sparkly white lights nestling against the darkened leaves, looking like cheeky, bright-eyed elves in a forest. If you liked that sort of thing.
    â€˜The families aren’t talking,’ Mrs Tam continued. ‘Which means we haven’t got the decorations up yet. What a to-do. Never known the like of it before.’
    Kate didn’t mind there being no decorations. She wasn’t doing Christmas this year but it was a shame for the townspeople, not seeing Main Street draped in tinsel.
    â€˜I need to do some shopping,’ she said, looking across the street. ‘Does Mr Penman sell pretzels?’ She wouldn’t be able to carry much more on the