Book Excerpt: Holiday story from ‘A Red Howell Fit’

Editor’s note

Authors Beth Smith Aycock and Jorga Riggenbach share an excerpt from their recently published book, “A Red Howell Fit.” Aycock has been a rancher in Southern Arizona since the 1930s. Riggenbach is a Tucson author who writes about the history and people of the Southwest.

If you’re an author and have an excerpt you’d like to share with our readers, e-mail Editor James Bennett at jbennett@gvnews.com.

Chapter 42: A Light from the Windows, 1931

Red’s bah-humbug philosophy of Christmas was in sharp contrast to the way Nell and the children felt about the Holidays. They loved everything about Christmas and to them it was undisputedly the best time of the year.

In addition to the homemade gifts she lovingly created, Nell saved up enough cash to order a few gifts from the Sears Roebuck Catalog.

December was the month when the house smelled of fruitcake, cookies, jam and jelly. The jelly jars sparkled like exotic jewels and Nell carefully decorated them to give to her neighbors and relatives.

Nell put the church and school Christmas plays and programs together for the community. She reviewed the speeches and songs and figured out how to make it all work.

Everyone in Weed and the surrounding area loved her. The last day of school, when the Christmas Holiday began, marked a time of frantic activity. When she drove up to Weed in whatever car Red wasn’t using, she’d pick up children along her route for play practice

This year, it started to snow early on the day school let out. By the time the children were dismissed, the snow was axle-deep to the school bus. Getting the children home would be difficult.

Nell had ridden in on the school bus that day for the last practice before the big play on Christmas Eve.

She had given the children directions and a time to be at the school house to change into their costumes. Other parents had been there on the last day of school to decorate the big fir tree. It was customary, in little settlements like Weed, to have a Community Christmas tree which everyone shared.

If an ol’ boy was trying to get up his nerve to court a girl, he’d put a gift on the tree for her.

The made it home but the snow didn’t stop. The day after school let out there were two feet of snow on level ground with drifts up to four feet deep.

Nell was worried. Only two days until Christmas Eve and it kept snowing and snowing. How in the world could she get to Weed? Even if there was a thaw, the muddy dirt roads would still be impassable. One thing she knew - she and her kids would get there somehow.

On the morning of Christmas Eve, Nell asked, “Lewis, would you please drive up the road and try it to see if we can make it tonight for the program?”

“Woman, what are you asking me to do?” He looked as if a Red Howell fit was brewing. “You know darn well that nobody could make it up that road. You’re not leaving this house. You’ll get our kids stuck in a snow bank and freeze ‘em to death. I don’t want to hear another word about it.”

About noon, the snow hadn’t stopped and was getting deeper each hour.

“Bill,” she asked her middle son, “would you get Lloyd to help you fill the wagon with that loose hay in the north barn.” Lloyd Sweatt was the only one of Red’s cowboys who hadn’t gone home for Christmas. He was from Texas and it was too far to go for a week’s vacation and he was probably broke anyway.

“Hitch up the mules” Nell commanded. “I’ll be warming bricks and getting all the quilts I can spare. We’re going to Weed.”

It was scary how Nell’s green eyes snapped when she was angry. Bill put on his heavy clothes and headed for the barn to find Lloyd.

Red was taking this all in. The woman was crazy. Here she had a nice house, a roaring fire, a big Christmas tree in the corner loaded down with gifts and she was hightailing it off in a snowstorm to help a bunch of little kids sing “Jingle Bells.”

“Well,” he mused, “she’ll be back when she sees how cold it is out there.”Nell didn’t back out.

Slowly, they made their way through the deep snow. They picked up children and the parents who wanted to see the program. They bucked snow drifts all the way up the Agua Chiquita to Weed. It was slow going.

Other people had done the same thing that Nell had. They hitched up their wagons or rode through the drifts on horseback to attend the biggest celebration of the year.

The children’s Christmas performance turned out well. The kids all knew their parts. The whole community joined in when Miss Close, the music teacher, played the beloved old carols on the piano.

When they left Weed, the night was beautiful. While they were in the school house doing the program, the snow had stopped. The moon and stars came out and they looked close and bright. All the way down the Agua Chiquita, Nell’s passengers sang, laughed and enjoyed themselves.

It was about midnight when Nell and the children arrived home. She was surprised when she saw their house. Every window seemed to have lamp burning in it.

“Oh, thank goodness,” Nell said. “Maybe Lewis left a big log in the fireplace and we can get warm.” It was icy cold.

They unharnessed the mules, fed them in their stalls and headed for the house.

Sure enough, the house was toasty warm. The big kitchen wood stove was radiating heat and there was a roaring fire in the big fireplace as well.

Nell almost fainted. Red had the dining table set with cups and saucers and there was a big pot of cocoa on the stove. He was sitting in front of the fire place but she didn’t see him. The beautiful pinon Christmas tree was glowing. Red had lit all of the tiny, wax candles in their clip-on holders. It was the start of the most beautiful Christmas she had ever known. In that moment, her heart was filled with love for Red. Maybe he was finally housebroke.