Christmas Eve, New Orleans
Maureen and I roamed the French Quarter of New Orleans and got lost. It was okay. It’s not that big and our hotel takes up an entire block. I think we wanted to get lost. The whole place was fun and alive. It was part carnival and part adult fairy tale. People were drinking, music was blasting and a crazy amount of lights dazzled our eyes. Finally, I asked a hot dog vendor where our hotel was. He said, “Stay safe”. That was it. Just stay safe. I guess this lady heard us asking and yelled from across the street, “Whatcha lookin’ fer?!” I waved, sighed, and walked on. Just as we were walking away a lady with wings playing the trumpet on a bicycle rode past us. A family standing on the corner hurried to take a picture of her.
Elves on the Dark Streets of New Orleans
We ended up in a quiet place without bars. Ahead of us on the other side of the street, I could make out a small dark figure all bunched up and scurrying along. All of a sudden, it hopped over to our side. Very strange-looking thing. What was it? Oh no, it was an elf! This elf caught sight of Maureen and stopped to talk. The elf thought Maureen was a boy. I asked this sprite where they were going. It glanced up at me with such an amazed and stunned expression on its pale face. “I’m very busy. I can’t stand here and talk anymore.” Then a crease deepened between its eyes. The elf frowned at Maureen and said, “If I were you, little lady, I would think about getting to bed soon. Very soon.” And then it was gone, flying down the dark street and around the corner.
Souvenir
Maureen picked something up off the ground. It was a dark green leather bell about the size of a walnut. “That’s an odd bell”, I said. “It came from the elf! She dropped it.” Maureen’s eyes were wild. “But why leather? You can’t hear a leather bell,” I said. “A secret mission,” she said in a whisper. “That elf had secret Christmas business and didn’t want to be heard.” “Yeah, maybe. But she came over to talk to us,” I said. We both thought about this. Then Maureen said, “The elf told me to go to bed soon. That’s why she talked to us.” That is probably why an elf on a secret mission would risk getting found out: to tell a child to go to bed early on Christmas Eve. The whole thing made sense.
Christmas Spirit
We walked until we reached Jackson Square. Just as we found ourselves at the entrance of the St. Louis Cathedral the doors opened and bells started to ring. Wow…what timing. People came pouring out all around us. They shook hands with the priests wearing long, white robes. One of the priests held a large, gold cross. Everyone looked beautiful in their best clothes and they seemed happy and excited. The feeling was contagious. I wasn’t a part of their group but I delighted in seeing them and was thankful that they were there and we had the good fortune to stand there with them for just a few minutes.
It was getting late. My superior sense of direction kicked in and soon I spied the back of a blonde woman in a full-length mink coat smoking a cigarette. It’s hard to quit. She was standing beside a man in a camel-hair coat. She had a French braid pinned up at the back. Pretty. I knew we were close. Yes, they were standing outside our hotel.
We went to Tony Moran’s for dinner.
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