We’re in that weird week between Christmas and New year, between two festivals, yet life just goes on. As a child I thought I’d fallen out of time somehow, that I was in a nowhere place, off the edge of the world … scary … one of those weird ideas that children have …
CHRISTMAS TEA 
aunts uncles cousins
grouped Christmas-wise
round a fruit-cake
that wore a wide red frill
the aunts’ mouths
gaped shining teeth
within their jollity of lips
laughter blossomed with black-jack
which I couldn’t understand
I sat on two cushions
matchsticks beside
cards in front
still too young to know
gossip-jokes clattered
until goodbyes came
and we walked four
long cold miles home
in the dark
Christmas left behind
Those Blue Shoes for ages 7-11 … Weston’s … skill in juggling time past with time present … the plot unfolds with fast-paced action, mystery, suspense and even a ghost. Joan Givner
1960willowtree 