sHe stormed back and forth, as his eight silent companions looked on with growing curiosity, they had never seen him behave this way, both confused and saddened with a slight sense of panic thrown in for good measure, a large red bag lay empty along side of the now deserted Crows Crossing Road, gift wrapped packages were strewn throughout the grassy field as though picked up by a tornado and gently placed in position through some miracle of nature. The large robust man in the red suit had all but given up on his search when he’d resorted to using his cell phone to call his workshop back home.



He continued to pace as he waited for the call to be put through, and when a small meek and squeaky voice on the other end finally answered.
“We have a problem.”
The small voice answers back.
“Problem? What Problem S?”
“The gift, the special Gift. The doll that we made its gone! I have been looking for it for the last hour and its not here! Oh that Poor little Girl! She will be so heartbroken. Look and see if it fell from the sleigh on the loading Platform Jacob I’ll hold.”
The doll in question had been intended for a young leukemia patient name Mary Margaret Bailey at Felding Children’s hospital in Cantorville, she’d wanted the doll to keep her company for over eight months now, but no one not even S himself could find one, so he decided to have the very best workers at his shop make it for her special, but now it was lost. Here was Christmas Eve and Not even he could seemingly deliver on his promise. And as he sat dejected in his sleigh For the first time in thirty five years on this part of Crows Crossing, it began to softly snow.



He sat there for it seemed the longest time, for the first time maybe in his long life unsure of what to do, until he heard the faint ruffling of feathers coming from the front of the sleigh. And as he turned to look at the Crow that sat perched by his reins, a strange sense of amazement slowly came over him. He slowly extended a gloved hand towards the Crow as its feathers seemed to raise against the snow.
“Well.” he chuckled. “Hello there little fellow! Are we lost?”
The Crow cocked its head and looked at him, and then to the seat at his side, and when he looked down there in the very seat that had been empty not more than five minutes ago, There sat the missing doll.
“Well I’ll be!! You Know what little fellow?” he smiled looking at the Crow.
“This just might be a Merry Christmas after all!”
The snow stopped and the skies cleared for a time. And he quickly picked up his gifts and returned them to the sack and mounted up and continued on his way, and the crow sat silently watching as the most familiar Christmas image of them all slowly passed in front of the full moon and disappeared.. Just a little Christmas spirit, here on Crows Crossing Road.

Scratch. © 2006

He always knew where he could escape to whenever his stepfather would
become impatient with him or just get drunk and start to smack him around.
Whenever his mother wasn’t around it seemed as though thirteen year old Ben would end up taking the brunt of his abuse. So on those days he would come to find his peace and sanctuary here at Crows Crossing Road. He would come to sit with them, and often speak to them of his personal life, and it would always get him through until the next time, they were the only friends that he knew.
“You guys always know don’t you?”
Seven would circle. Two would land near him .
“Man if I ever have kids I ain’t never gonna hit them for no reason, I’m gonna listen as well as talk, you know guys? I screw up a lot but it isn’t always my fault, he doesn’t have to hit Mom or me.”
He sat by the edge of the trees and watched the sun light radiate off of the green grass in the field in front of him, two take flight, seven circle until one lands right next to him this time, it is close enough to touch, the Crow leans forward and cocks its head to the right and studies Benjamin Connelly. Suddenly as he looks into the eyes of this amazing bird he knows what it feels like to fly, he knows what it feels like to be free, free from pain, free from love free from his life of misery. As they exchange looks he slowly reaches out and the Crow allows the boy to touch it before taking flight. He watched for a time before leaving for home, somehow coming here always makes him feel better, for it isn’t always about the ghosts from the past and death, sometimes its about life. Here on Crows Crossing Road.