The Ragged Angel
“What is it?”
“It’s an angel for the top of the tree! My family’s tradition.”
“That is not an angel. That is a monstrosity.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“Look at it! The wings are bare wire. And that face! There’s no eyes; only that creepy, crooked smile… I think it’s watching me.”
“You literally just said he has no eyes.”
“It’s still creepy!”
“Look, my little brother made him years ago. He was only five when he did it; that’s why he looks so—”
“Terrifying?”
“Ragged. Come on! This is my first Christmas away from home and, like I said, it’s a tradition. It’ll be weird if Henry’s not up on the tree. Please can we put him on top?”
“Henry? You named him?”
“Of course we did. He was a big part of our Christmases. You are currently looking at my childhood.”
“Henry the fallen angel.”
“He’s not fallen! He’s just seen better days.”
“Looks like he’s seen the inside of your old dog’s mouth.”
“You know what? You always do this! Why can’t you accept that this is important to me? It’s Christmas and this is a connection to my family, full of happy memories and—”
“Alright, alright, fine! Calm down, sweetie, I’m sorry. If this really means that much to you then I suppose I can put up with… Henry looking down at me.”
“Watching over you.”
“Watching over us.”
Stephanie Rose is a marine biologist by day and a writer by night.
Most notably, she writes science articles for children through Ask You, Ask Me magazine.
You can find her at http://stephroseblog.wordpress.com/.
