December
It was at the
church of St Pierre where the Christingle service was being held which would be
well attended as usual as there would be children and families there from all
across the island.
The Christingle
Service had become ingrained in Anglican worship though it had its origins in
Eastern Europe, and the Christingle Service is a Service of candle lights,
where very many years ago people gathered in the street, sang carols and
collected gifts to help the less fortunate in the community.
It is a
beautiful candle lit service of hymns, carols, recitations and bible readings,
but Christingle goes beyond a candlelight service, and it tells a story.
A story is told
with the symbolic use of an orange representing the world.
A red ribbon is tied around the orange to symbolize the blood of Jesus shed for
his people and toothpicks decorated with dried fruits and sweets are placed at
the four corners of the orange representing all the people of the world.
A lighted candle in the center of the orange represents the gift of the light
of Christ to the world.
The Christingle
lights are made by the children in Sunday school, and then they carry them
proudly in procession into the church where they are lit for the service.
Because the
symbol of the service began life in the Sunday School classes the leaders also
attend to watch their charges and from St Joan of Arc’s were Sam Dennison,
Robert Horne, Catherine Emmans, and Shannon Duel.
Catherine
Emmans thought of herself as a plump girl but in reality, she was just a couple
of dress sizes bigger than her best friend.
In every other
respect she thought she was ok, with her luscious Auburn hair and an abundance
of freckle and she was a tall girl, but that hadn’t been enough for her to get
her anywhere with Sam Dennison, and she was convinced he didn’t even know she
existed, but she had been in love with Sam since she was 12 years old and she
was now 18.
Sam Dennison
and Robert Horne were cousins and had black hair and wild gypsy eyes and were
also 18-year-old and good-looking boys, and were very popular with the girls,
but the sort of girls who kept throwing themselves at them were not the type of
girl they were looking for.
Shannon Duel
was 17 years old, and she was pretty, tall and slender girl with long dark hair
and she was on the outside at least ultra-confident and ultra-popular with the
boys who she kept dancing on strings, but they were not the right boys.
She was always
immaculately turned out, painted, perfumed and powdered and ready to impress
Mr. Right.
But apparently,
he was never looking her way, whoever he might be.
But for all her
big talk and bravado she was fast approaching 18 and hadn’t even been kissed.
Because she was
pretty and because she knew she was pretty, Shannon always talked big when it
came to the opposite sex, and her friends bought into it.
But it was all
bravado, if one of the men she flirted with actually came on to her, she would
have run a mile.
Outside she was
sexy and confident but inside she was a shy and dowdy little mouse.
Shannon was
convinced she was never going to be kissed and especially not before she
reached her 18th birthday.
She could quite
easily get a kiss in time if she acted like a tart, but she wasn’t a tart and
she wanted her first kiss to be romantic, not desperate.
Meanwhile
Catherine was still dreaming of a romantic affair with her prince charming Sam
Dennison but was resigned to the fact it would never happen.
The two friends
finally confided in each other during December.
“You fancy one
of them?” Shannon probed “Which one?”
“Sam” she
reluctantly replied.
“How long have
you fancied him?” Shannon quizzed.
“Since I was
12” she replied.
“Why didn’t you
tell me?” she asked.
“Because
nothing will ever come of it” Catherine said definitively.
But Shannon was
very persuasive, and they made a plan, so on the afternoon of the Christingle
service the girls did each other’s makeup, so they could each snag themselves a
dark-haired Gypsy eyed boyfriend.
“Wow” Shannon
said, “I look really hot.”
“Not bad, eh?”
Catherine said admiring herself in the mirror.
“I look about
20” Shannon said, “Don’t you think?”
“21 maybe”
Catherine added.
“Shall we go to
the pub with them then” she suggested.
Catherine
thought about it for a moment and said.
“I don’t know”
she said, “I look rubbish.”
“You can borrow
something of mine” Shannon said, and Catherine reluctantly agreed so half an
hour later they were laughing and joking and on their way to St Pierre’s.
At the same
time Shannon and Catherine were doing their makeup Sam and his Cousin Robert
were just leaving home themselves for the same destination.
The Christingle
service was lovely, and the huge congregation thoroughly enjoyed it but for the
girls it caused a problem for them as they lost track of the boys, but
unbeknown to them they had also decided to go to the pub, fortunately they also
chose the Sword and Shield.
Shannon hadn’t
been to a pub before and although she looked old enough to be in there after
the makeover, she had no ID, so she went and found a table and Catherine bought
the drinks.
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