You can watch and listen to me read three excerpts from the Christmas Village on Youtube!
Check them out; they're fun!
Reading one: Jamie sees the village for the very first time
Reading two: The Christmas Village comes to life
Reading three: Jamie worries that he won't get home to his family in time for Christmas
Melissa Ann Goodwin
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Excerpt from The Christmas Village
Here's another little tease from The Christmas Village...when the village comes to life....
Suddenly Jamie
heard whispers. He froze, listening hard. There they were again! His heart beat
faster. Was there someone else in the room?
He heard laughter
– a girl’s laughter. The hair on the back of his neck prickled. His eyes
searched the room, but he saw no one. More laughter, this time a boy’s. Jamie
pulled the quilt aside and placed his stocking feet on the worn Oriental rug. Maybe Grandma and Grandpa’s house has ghosts.
The sounds seemed
to come from the direction of the Christmas village . Jamie tiptoed
toward the table, his way lit only by the twinkling lights from the Christmas
tree. He studied the scene laid out before him, with its tiny cottages nestled
in the snow. Something seemed different, but he couldn’t quite put his finger
on what it was. Then he heard the voices again, much louder this time.
“Christopher! If
you do that again, I’ll … I’ll … I’ll!”
“You’ll what? Tell
on me? Tattletale, tattletale, Kelly is
a tattletale!”
Jamie’s jaw
dropped and his eyes bulged. He knelt down and brought his face level with the
top of the table. The girl skater sat on the ice, her tiny red and white
striped legs and white skates protruding beneath her tangled red skirt. The boy
skated around her, skidded to a stop and extended a hand. The girl grabbed it
and pulled herself to her feet. She brushed bits of snow and ice off her skirt.
Shaking a white-gloved finger at the boy, she scolded, “I’ll get even with you,
Christopher Franklin Pennysworth, if it’s the last thing I do!”
The boy laughed
and skated away. “You’ll have to catch me first!” He took two smooth strides
and launched into an impressive double axle that carried him halfway across the
pond.
Kelly leaned in
and sped after him, her arms swinging from side to side with the aggressiveness
of an angry hockey player. Christopher paused to let her catch up. Then, when
she was just inches away, he peeled off again. She chased him, huffing and
puffing and grabbing at his jacket, never quite able to catch up.
Jamie realized
that he was holding his breath. It occurred to him that if he reached out, he
could pick up the pocket-sized Kelly and Christopher with his fingers, dangling
them like King Kong did in the movies. But he didn’t dare, because something
told him not to cross the invisible boundary that separated his world from
theirs. So Jamie stayed perfectly still, barely even breathing, afraid that if
he moved or made a sound, he would break what seemed to be a spell that had
made the village of Canterbury magically come to life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)