Miracle on I-40 (15 page)

In fact, a stranger thing did happen three weeks later, when upon searching Anna’s suitcase, trying to find some lost clothes, Lacey came upon not only a pair of pink Tuesday panties, but a folded piece of construction paper. On the paper was a childish drawing of a puppy in a basket. The puppy looked just like Skippy, a tan hound dog with a long tail and a flopped-over ear.

Lacey showed the paper to Anna and all of them at the supper table that night, and complimented her on the drawing. “But, honey, why did you put it in the suitcase? It deserves to be on the refrigerator.”

“Because I wanted to keep it on our trip,” Anna answered.

This puzzling answer led to more questions, and the surprising discovery that Anna had drawn the picture of the puppy on Christmas Eve, after their rescue by Santa Claus, to whom she had described what sort of puppy she wanted, and who had told her to draw a picture of the puppy she wanted with the crayons and paper he had given her as gifts that night.

It was Jon who put in, “She did draw it. I remember her doin’ it.” He looked at Cooper and Lacey with round eyes.

They never told Anna who had brought the puppy, and eventually they rather forgot about Cooper finding him, but the tale became firmly, and perhaps truthfully Lacey thought, that Santa had brought him.

Eventually Anna grew up and the belief in Santa faded, as it does with adults who tend to believe only what they see.

However, every time she saw a store-front Santa Claus, something would stir in her heart. And deep down, she knew the very true truth is that what exists in the heart is the most real thing of all.

For Mama, who taught me to read

Miracle on I-40
Copyright © 2012 by Curtiss Ann Matlock

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author.*

*This also pertains to uploading to free download sites, which is considered piracy and does not recognize the labor of authors or their livelihood from their work. Please discourage piracy and purchase works (other than those listed by the author or publisher as Free Books). Thank you.

Publishing history: 2005, hardback published by Mira Books.