A Rusty and Janie Christmas Mystery: (A fictionalized
story inspired by some actual events.)
A Short Story
By
Rosemary
(*The author registered the original version of this story
at the U. S. Copyright Office in 2023 in,
“The Adventures of Rusty and Janie,” Chapter 1.)
The large jewelry box was heavy. The drawers were
overflowing of what represented the remnants
of their mother’s life.
As her young adult twin daughters looked through the
precious valuables, one particular item caught Rusty’s
attention.
She gently removed the old-fashioned looking golden charm
bracelet from the interior to show her sibling.
It was comprised of interesting charms that seemed to fit
a particular holiday which included the North Pole, and several
snowflakes' charms with small sparkling white diamonds set
into each one.
They also found it interesting that some of the charms represented
Santa Claus, his sleigh, and reindeer in both a regular sized version,
as well as in a tiny rendition which gave the illusion that the
make-believe beings were traveling far above.
They found this to be somewhat puzzling.
“Hey Janie, look what I found! Rusty exclaimed.
“Wow, it looks like one of those dated pieces of jewelry when these
types of bracelets were more substantial looking.
They were more luxurious because a lot of women wore
large pendants on their bracelets. I remember seeing one of the members
at Mom’s women’s club wearing something like that when we were kids.”
Janie recalled.
“Look, it is obviously a Christmas bracelet,” Rusty stated as she
admired it further.
“Yeah, except I do not understand why there are three leprechauns
charms on it. Why are they on this bracelet?” Janie wondered aloud.
“I know what you mean, everything else on it has something to
do with Christmastime. These look like those charms they used
to sell in the Irish specialty stores,” Janie assessed.
“I would like to know more about this item. I think I will make
some of my own inquires,” Rusty decided.
“That’s a good idea, obviously this bracelet was something that either
Mom or Grandma treasured that it was kept in this jewelry box, and
remained so well preserved. I remember seeing Mother wearing it over
the holidays when we were younger,” Janie remembered.
“Me too. However, I always thought that this was simply an inexpensive
piece of fun jewelry. I never realized it was real gold,” Rusty admitted.
“These three charms must have some sort of special meaning that they
were added to it. I noticed that each one has its own individual physical
appearance and expression,” Janie observed astutely.
“Tomorrow I will call mother’s cousin Lindsey. She and Mom were
somewhat close. She also knows a lot about jewelry. Perhaps she will
be able to provide us with some information,” Janie advised.
The next day, the younger woman phoned their extended relative.
“Hello,” the older lady answered cheerfully.
“Hi Lindsey, this is Janie how are you,” the younger female asked
politely.
“Oh, hi honey, how are you and your sister getting along since losing
your parents?” she inquired sympathetically.
“We are both doing okay, thank you for asking” Janie answered
graciously, but with sadness.
“I understand, what can I do for you,” Lindsey asked.
“We found an older charm bracelet in our mom’s jewelry box, and it
seems that three of the charms are leprechauns and would like to know if
you can tell us anything about them,” Janie respectfully requested.
“Yes, as I recall, during the 1950's or 60's they were probably those
charms which were sold back then. They were adorable, but could
only be found at smaller Irish shops or boutiques. They clearly were
separate from the other holiday jewelry which were more mainstream,
and carried in all of the department stores during that era. I believe
they still sell the conventional types of seasonal pieces by most of the
merchants in the area, although many of the charms and pendants
in the past were of a much higher quality. I remember that the
place your dad bought the leprechaun charms from closed years
ago,” she recalled.
“I did not realize that the store is no longer in business. We are simply
curious as to why these three charms are on a Christmas bracelet,”
Janie reiterated.
“Well, I heard that they are supposed to bring good luck, perhaps your
mother wanted them on it for that reason,” she suggested.
“Maybe, but I have a feeling there is more to it than that because
have also noticed that all three of them were grouped together,
instead of being spread out and placed in different areas on the
links,” Rusty mentioned.
“We were wondering if our mom ever wore it in your presence, or
discussed the meaning behind this with you?” Janie inquired prudently.
“No, I remember seeing her wear it at a few parties, but it was never
a topic-of-discussion,” Lindsey recalled honestly.
"Okay, I just thought I would ask. Anyway, let's keep in touch,” Janie
stated invitingly.
“Absolutely, I’ll call you in a month or so,” Lindsey replied before
she hung up.
When Janie pressed the receiver down, she looked at Rusty with
disappointment and stated, “nothing.”
“It was worth a try,” Rusty commented.
“Later, let’s open the file cabinet in the basement where Mom
kept her important documents. Perhaps we will find something useful,”
Janie recommended.
After looking in all of the folders within the four large file drawers,
there was not even a hint of anything which could have been considered
beneficial in their quest to find an answer to their question.
Then suddenly, Rusty noticed a smaller piece of paper which had
yellowed over the years, hidden behind one of the folders.
“Janie, look at this, I found some information that seems interesting.
I came across an old sales receipt from an Irish shop during the 1950s.
It appears that Dad purchased all three pendants at the same time,
a month or so before Christmas. This was unusual, because to my
understanding, most people collect these types of keepsakes one
at a time. Ordinarily, they do not purchase them all at once,” Rusty assumed.
“By the way, all of this detective work has made me hungry, let’s
get some lunch,” Janie suggested, as they both headed upstairs towards
the kitchen.
As the weeks passed, they were trying to get ready to embrace the
upcoming holiday.
Although their parents had been deceased for a while; this would be
their first Christmas without both of them.
Neither sister was dating anybody seriously at that time, and they
certainly, did not feel like entertaining guests, or visiting anyone,
like they had done over the years.
For these reasons, under the circumstances, they decided to enjoy
a quiet and casual holiday at home that year.
On Christmas Eve, the deep golden charms dangled from Rusty’s
arm.
They decorated the table with a plastic decorative cloth, along with
matching paper plates and cups, for their informal dinner on the wooden
table inside the family room, which was positioned near the large
television set.
Rusty also placed a miniature green artificial tree she had adorned with
an array of colorful ribbons. She created it when she was younger, and
decided to display it as the table’s centerpiece.
Since the weather in their area was usually unpredictable that time of year,
they were mindful to stock-up on all of the needed groceries, along with
other essential supplies.
Although the siblings had bought some stocking stuffers along with
a few gifts for each other, they had decided to keep everything simpler that
year, and refrain from exhibiting all of the decorations their family had
enjoyed in the past. Missing was the large Christmas tree which was
usually located by the patio windows in the family room.
They each displayed some of their favorite Xmas keepsakes on
a smaller wooden shelf that their beloved older sister, Irene, with
whom they lost years before, had made when she was much younger.
They positioned it on the long counter and graced with their seasonal
possessions.
They also included on the spacious surface, a mid-size pink tabletop
tree with soft pink lights, and a beautiful doll angel placed on top of it.
It was decorated with tiny shiny gold-colored ornaments, and
had sparkly gilded ribbons flowing from all of the sturdy
vinyl branches.
They stacked their colorfully decorated packages on the same flat
exterior which displayed their soft pinkish tinted tree, alongside the
little shelf which revealed their mementos.
The sisters also came across some other wrapped gifts their mother
had bought for them, shortly before she died.
“Let’s add these packages from Mom to include them with all of
this other stuff, but let’s not open her presents until later tonight,”
Rusty suggested thoughtfully.
“I can see she did some of her Christmas shopping much earlier as
she did every year,” Janie commented softly.
“Rusty, while we are enjoying our dinner, let’s watch that local television
special with those old segments from that children’s circus show we
used to watch when we were kids. They are also going to re-air those
old time short, animated holiday films from the 1950’s every hour
tonight,” Janie mentioned.
“Okay, turn it on. We were lucky that we lived right across the street
from the grammar school during our childhood, so we could come home
each day during lunchtime and watch that great circus program,” Rusty
thankfully acknowledged, as they began to enjoy their meal.
They found the reruns of their favorite kiddie show to be very enjoyable,
since it brought back pleasant recollections from their youth.
After they finished their dinner of salad, soup, and cold sandwiches,
Rusty came up with an idea.
“Janie, why don’t we open the cake that the grocery store uptown
delivered a little while ago, so we can enjoy it while we continue
watching television.
“Okay, it should be defrosted by now,” Janie assessed, as they started
to tear open the brown paper which covered the large white square box.
When they tore away the outer covering, they could view the top of
what was inside through the soft plastic window provided on the
traditional holiday decorated cardboard carton.
It was a two-tiered vanilla cake with a luxurious covering of white
buttercream frosting all over it.
The top surface and sides were bedecked with red and green icings
artistically applied on it.
Across the top was a small vintage-looking plastic rendition of Santa
on his sleigh along with his reindeer.
There were also miniature green plastic evergreen trees near the front
edge of the cake, which were slightly covered with the same frosting, that
further created the illusion of snow. Tiny candy canes were strategically
placed on the margins of the entire cake.
“Wow, this is terrific and sort of has a 1950’s look, doesn’t it?” Janie asked
rhetorically.
“I was just thinking the same thing. It sort of looks like the cake from one
of those old photos of Mom and Dad’s earlier Christmas gatherings,” Rusty
commented.
“Absolutely, I feel it is meant for us to save the decorations from it,” Janie
answered in a sentimental tone.
“What do you mean?” Rusty asked.
“Rusty, this was not the dessert that I ordered. The one I selected was the
usual round cake we buy from them every year. In fact, I do not even
remember seeing this item in their bakery catalog,” Janie explained.
“Well, you know this is a small town and everyone at the store knows
us, perhaps they made a special one for us,” Rusty reasoned.
“I don’t know. The one we ordered was much smaller and a lot less
elaborate. It only cost around ten dollars. This cake looks custom-made
and is clearly worth at least twice as much money. Because of their policy
of not accepting returns for bakery goods, I think that after the holiday
we should call the store to make certain that they delivered the correct
one to us,” Janie advised.
“Our last name and address are written on the receipt attached,” Rusty
answered, as she showed it to her sister.
“I know, but let’s phone them later this week just to make sure. If there
was an error, we can pay them the difference in the price, since we
wouldn’t be allowed to return it anyway,” Janie explained.
“That’s fine with me, as long as we can keep it. I do not care what anyone
will ever say to me, I believe that this was meant to happen because Mom
and Dad wanted us to have this particular one. Especially since the overall
appearance of it seems to be from the same era as Mother’s bracelet,” Rusty
observed.
“You know, I would like to take these decorations off, and place them
separately on one of these plates and position it alongside the centerpiece,
since they all seem to match,” Janie decided.
“That is a good idea. I’m glad we have them, so we can display these
items for future Christmases,” Rusty expressed sentimentally.
“By the way, oddly enough, I just noticed that the paper plates and napkins
we ordered sort of matches everything; I wonder if this was also a mere
coincidence?” Janie questioned.
“I don’t know, they said that these were the only Christmas disposable
tableware items they had left in stock, so I told them to just add this
stuff to our delivery,” Rusty replied, as she then decided to change
the topic of conversation.
“On a separate note, why don’t we make some of that instant peppermint
coffee I bought, so we can have it with the dessert. I also bought some cute
holiday tumblers as stocking stuffers. Why don’t we unwrap and wash
these, in order to enjoy them with this treat. The drinks will be just like
the ones they sell in that place uptown. In the meantime, I will start
to cut the cake,” Rusty stated.
“Okay, but for me it will be some of that tea we have,” Janie announced,
as she walked swiftly into the kitchen to prepare the kettle.
Suddenly, she heard her sibling’s voice.
“Janie, come here, I think I have discovered something!" Rusty exclaimed.
“What are you talking about,” Janie asked annoyingly as she quickly sprinted
into the family room.
“That older animated holiday film from the fifties with those three little puppets
may be an important factor. If you look at the events in the program, and the
charms on the bracelet, it all makes sense,” Rusty described, as she removed
it from her wrist and carefully laid it down on the closest flat surface.
“If you follow the charms on the links, they completely coincide with the entire
short tale. The three golden leprechauns that Dad bought for Mom, were positioned
this way because they just happened to physically resemble those three characters
in the film,” Rusty explained.
“You are right the resemblances may have been unintentional when they
were created, but they do share a huge physical likeness to them,"
Janie pointed out.
“In fact, all of the charms basically duplicate the progression-of-events within
the entire film short, even at the beginning of the film the North Pole sign looks
exactly like the one on the bracelet. Also, the part when Santa and his reindeer
become smaller in sight as they travel far above at the end of the tale, is exactly
the way it is positioned on the bracelet,” Rusty stated perceptively.
“You are right, even these snowflake charms placed throughout the bracelet
seem to resemble the ones tumbling down in the film,” Janie noticed.
“Now I remember, how every year when they re-aired it on television during
the holiday season, Mom would stop whatever she was doing just to watch it.
As I recall, she usually had a certain gaze in her eyes whenever she viewed it,”
Rusty recalled profoundly.
“It probably brought back happy or sentimental memories,” Janie assumed.
“Yes, and the best thing is that we can enjoy wearing this heirloom every year
during the holiday season, now that we know that it was so special to Mom.
I guess since they are both gone now, we will never fully understand why it
meant so much to her, or to them both, and what course of events occurred
surrounding it,” Rusty thoughtfully concluded.
“Maybe we will someday,” Janie stated optimistically, as she placed the two
hot drinks alongside the portions of the special culinary treat, as they both
happily, continued to view the holiday presentations of yesteryear.
Author’s note:
This fictionalized story, which was inspired by some actual events,
is dedicated in loving memory of the author’s parents, grandmother,
and big sister, (named Irene for the story).
It is also in tribute to the old children's TV program “Bozo’s Circus,”
and especially, everyone who was affiliated with the 1950s animated short film,
“Hardrock—Coco, and Joe,” including television station WGN (channel 9)
in Chicago, Illinois for airing it every year.
