Editor's Note: The Iowa City Press-Citizen has run a short story every Christmas since 2011. Tom Gingerich of Kalona, whose work was selected by a panel of readers, has penned those stories since 2014. Since 2018, Iowa City artist Hani Elkadi has created original artwork to accompany them.
Snowflakes were in the wind and signs of Christmas were everywhere. However, this year would be very different from the few others she had known.
Her name was Cleola and she was five years old- but her Irish-German family and all her childhood friends called her Coly. She had long auburn hair and freckles and was her father Newell's favorite. He loved all his children, but she held a special place in his heart. She was his youngest, and along with his wife Maggie, and Coly's two brothers and four sisters their family was bonded by love.
Each night he would come trudging through the doorway and she would run into his welcoming arms. It was a routine they seldom failed to follow.
They lived on Main Street of a small Iowa town in a turn-of-century, two-story, red brick building so commonly found in settlements across the Midwest. Newell Grady had purchased it years before when he and Maggie had moved from the east, establishing living quarters on the upper floors and raising their family there- renting out the lower level to several businesses.
Her siblings knew how he felt about his youngest daughter, but they were older and understood. Everyone loved the little girl and the adoration she continually expressed for their father.
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Newell's ambitious nature had always served him well. So, the locals weren't surprised that the livestock-buying station he created had become successful. He'd realized its potential and had built it adjacent to the depot on the rail line that served the town. It was a spurline that ran 70 miles through 12 small communities, providing much-needed goods and services for the early 1900s settlements and enabled the Grady's to ship their livestock directly to Chicago markets by connecting to the main Rock Island line.
From the age of three, Coly had spent many happy hours at the stockyard office and at the nearby depot to be near her father whenever her mother had errands to run or places to go. She loved it when the train came through on its usual twice daily run, and would run excitedly outside when hearing its approach. The engineer always blasted the whistle as they neared the crossings just east and west of town. Coly would be waiting outside the office door when the train pulled in waving at Otto Corrick, the smiling engineer. It was clearly the highlight of Otto's day each time the little girl was there.
Then the unthinkable- on a warm day in late June, Newell, a heart attack in his early 50s, leaving Maggie to manage alone with the help of her two adult children to finish raising the family. Understandably, his death was hard for all of them but was devastating for Coly. She kept expecting her father to come home each night like he always had before. But after several weeks, even her five-year-old self realized that he was gone. Accepting that reality, however, would take time- lots of time. The family gathered around her and attempted to fill the void, but they could sense the emptiness that she felt constantly and were at a loss as to what they should do.
Thankfully, the oldest son, Liam, had partnered with his father and knew the business well, so there was no disruption in the family income. Newell or Liam had always accompanied their livestock shipments to Chicago and sometimes took along the younger children. Coly had joined her father for the first time in early May and had talked about it excitedly for weeks upon her return. She had loved the entire rail experience with her whole heart and soul.
Even at her young age, she had ridden the train many times before with the family on shorter trips to the nearby city at the junction of the spur as did most of the residents. Consequently, she had gotten to know the station's agent, Emil Walker, who lived on the second floor of the depot. Emil and her father were best friends and had spent many happy hours swapping stories and ideas at the depot and the stockyard office. He had even joined the family for meals at the flat on many occasions being a bachelor without a family of his own. They were roughly the same age and shared basic philosophies and interests as well as railroad business dealings.
The depot had become Coly's favorite place since her father's passing. She'd seen how much he'd enjoyed his friendship with Emil. So, throughout the summer and fall, she'd walked the two blocks to the station from the flat often to spend time with him- to listen to his stories of her father and their friendship that he readily shared with her, feeling it might help her cope. He always emphasized her father's generous nature- how he'd help out the less fortunate in town when they needed it, even donating beef to the Native Americans from time to time when encamped nearby along the river. At one point, Emil attempted to address her father's passing by comparing it to a journey that we all must take. Likening it to a final train ride toward a wonderful place where one day she would be with him again. He had hoped it would help her to understand and move on. They'd sit in his office as he worked, or in the lobby, the little electric fan droning on in the summer heat. And later, huddled around the imposing pot-bellied stove in the fall and winter worshiping its warmth.
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Newell and Maggie were members of a Catholic congregation in a neighboring settlement across the river nestled in the hills three miles distant, there being no Catholic church in their town. The small community was the first settlement in the area, had built an impressive, steepled church, was thriving, and would have continued to do so if the railroad had decided to manage the hills and run through their community. Instead, however, it chose to follow the level river valley and bypass the settlement, giving rise to all of the other towns that now sprang up along the spur in the lowlands.
Each Sunday and on church Holy Days, they drove the three miles to attend Mass no matter what the weather. They felt it was a commitment they needed to make for their children and never wavered in their resolve to do so. And out of all the Holy Days, Christmas was by far the family's favorite. They literally drove "over the river and through the woods" to attend church year-round. It was always the holiday that brought everyone together. The camaraderie and good will that permeated the season was cherished by the Gradys and both communities. The decorations, the food, the get-togethers, the gift-giving, all of it made for experiences that would never be forgotten each year.
Coly had learned the story of the baby in the manger and the Magi and the reason for it all and could feel the difference that the season brought with it even at the innocent age of five. But as the colored fall erupted and nights had turned cooler she seemed lost without her father there to usher in the season like he always had before. Emil had seen how much time Newell had spent with the little one leading up to the holiday each year and knew how hard it would be for her without him. Christmas and its story were always a healing balm to be experienced by families down through the ages. But what to do if one of the major family players was no longer around? So, Emil decided straight away that he would be there for her growing up, knowing that's what his friend would want.
He knew that this was to be a special Christmas. Newell had come to him just before his death. He'd laid out an idea he'd had, sharing it with Emil, knowing he would agree. He and Newell had planned it- worked out the details with the authorities. There was to be a special train, a festive addition to the always magical Christmas Eve. A grandly decorated engine, several cars, and caboose that would travel the 70-mile line stopping briefly in each of the twelve towns along the way. A troupe of musicians would be on board playing Christmas favorites at each of the stopovers. Small, cloth, draw-stringed bags of candy would be given to the children. Emil arranged to have flyers printed and posted all around town advertising the event, giving credit to Newell for the planning. The Gradys posted the flyers on Thanksgiving afternoon. The anticipation began to grow immediately, and Emil made sure that little Coly knew the special train had been her father's idea.
During the following weeks leading up to the big event there were the usual seasonal get-togethers throughout the town and the Grady family was well represented at many. Most of their friends were immigrants like themselves, and their celebrations reflected the traditions of their homelands. Maggie and the children had gone all out with decorating the flat as was their usual custom, but Newell's absence was felt during every step. Emil was always in attendance at the gatherings, and the conversations invariably included a mention of the special train. The tentative schedule for the train's arrival was posted at the depot and at several businesses around town a week ahead of time.
The day finally arrived, Christmas Eve. A light snow was expected, and an open house was held at the depot amid decorations that the Gradys helped to organize. Maggie had provided cookies and hot apple cider and most of the community would be there off and on throughout the day. The entire family knew what a friend Emil had been to Newell and greatly appreciated that he shared their feelings of loss. And Maggie keenly realized what a special relationship had developed between Coly and Emil and how much he was helping her through the ordeal.
The timetable for the train's arrival suggested late morning, so most of the community was in attendance then, gathered in and around the depot awaiting the train's appearance. Coly and her siblings were well aware that the excitement clearly evident in the townspeople was their father's doing. None of them really knew what to expect when suddenly there were two long blasts, a short, and then another long blast from a train whistle as it approached the crossing a mile to the east. Maggie picked up Coly and held her close, the rest of the family huddled around her. Another long blast then as the engine grew nearer.
Then it appeared through a dusting of snowflakes- the Christmas Train all aglitter, draped with evergreen garlands, streamers, banners, and tinsel with colored lanterns hanging in all the windows. Roaring and huffing and bellowing it came, rumbling the earth beneath their feet. Coly fidgeted in her mother's arms clapping her hands in delight, and Maggie put her down next to Emil as the train drew closer. Emil watched the little one's expression, especially her eyes.
He saw her father there, and in that moment as the train gasped a final breath and rolled to a standstill to the applause of the townsfolk, and the strains of Silent Night wafted into the chill morning air from the musicians in one of the cars, he felt Coly's hand grasp his and knew this Christmas and her father and its memories was a Christmas gift that would stay with them forever.