The Christmas Kittens. A Winter Tale in 3 Parts
Part 3
They were seated at breakfast and Jinsue, though she did not call him by any name, confidently addressed her grandfather. Kineth made an exaggerated quizzical gesture with his face, which he followed up with a smile, “I didn’t realize you were having guests last night, Jinsue! Christmas supper is at five tonight, the caterer is coming at three, and we aren’t otherwise expecting anyone. You can invite your seagoblin, we could still use a little help with the meal.”
***
Rieb Damps’ exterior holiday lights emitted a hazy glow that was visible from the north-south, tree lined, two lane road that led to the heavy gates of the Damps. Most of the tree branches were bare in the wintry fog. The tree line was at about the height of a three story building and every few hundred feet there was a street lamp, illuminating the cold, dry afternoon. A short ride south on the same curved road led to town, and a bit further along led to the town’s oldest cemetery. Shepherds, vintners, merchants and war heroes had been laid to rest there long ago, not far from the town founders. A weathered plaque adjacent to a family crypt announced Maryanne and Kineth’s forefathers as the town’s founders and earliest residents.
Bebe and Richard Novena, youthful newlyweds, had been caroling the town with their traveling improvisational dancing troupe for the last couple of days. This afternoon they had splintered off from the group to carol the cemetery, which they understood to be historic.
Visiting the cemetery had been part of why they had joined the dancing troupe on this journey, away from their modest home a couple of hours north of the town by rail, however, Bebe and Richard had not able to persuade the others to carol the cemetery, and the majority of the troupe would be attending a small party at a chowder restaurant back at the town.
“Bebe, look at this inscription, it says it’s the oldest cemetery from this era to survive and still be in private hands… they keep it open a few hours a week as a courtesy, it’s not part of the town or anything. Sensational! Let’s go carol their house, Bebe, as a way to say thanks. I know where it is.”
Although at first Bebe had been concerned that Richard was wading into the wrong about invading the privacy of those spending the holidays at Rieb Damps, she also felt like she would like to try and get a look at the Damps, and thus she allowed herself to be persuaded by her more adventurous, and usually impeccably careful husband. Bebe thought of the other carolers, their agenda apparently set in stone in a manner she had felt was completely antithetical to an improvisational troupe, and decided to follow her husband’s lead. “Let’s do it!” she laughed, as she poured him and her a cup of cider and toasted their recent nuptials in the serene memorial park.
Over at the Damps, Kineth had left the gates open to accommodate the soon to arrive caterer and also, it was his custom to do so on Christmas, as well as a couple of other times a year.
The caterer had retained an assistant to help with the meal at Rieb Damps, and, as the assistant had been driving the caterer’s pick up truck as it had turned onto the road that led to the Damps, the caterer had been looking out the passenger side window, and that’s why she was able to see Bebe and Richard caroling at the front entrance of the Damps. Their costumes were first rate and their voices were melodic, powerful and beautiful, however, the caterer had wondered if they could even hear it inside the home, so, after some reflection, she made up her mind to tell Kineth about it.
“There’s carolers, Sir, at the front entrance, they look like a nice sort, I think I’ve seen her on the television before, they’re just caroling the road at the entrance to the Damps, sir, can you even hear them from here?”
Following some additional conversation, the caterer had dispatched her assistant back to the north-south road to invite the carolers in for Christmas Supper.
“Did you hear that, Jinsue? I see your Seagoblin and raise you Christmas Carolers!”
In the great room, Jinsue giggled. Next to the ornamented, glistening blue fir, she held in her arms her new kitten and made her big announcement. “The kitten’s a he and his name is “Slim Shady”.”
Maryanne had wanted to share with Kineth an anecdote about her history with Lev, over supper, and upon learning they’d be sharing Christmas supper with the complete strangers the caterer had encountered, decided to not wait until supper to share her story.
“... so there we were, at this renaissance faire that his work sponsored, in complete costume, and I was telling him all about being a leisure researcher, and about how people go on vacations for experiences, because it’s what they remember even years later, when suddenly this guy dressed as a horse, collapsed! And Lev sprang into action, and he saved his life. Because I spent some time with him after that, I realized he could be really pompous about certain things, however, when he saved that guy’s life, he was so nonchalant, so humble; that’s the person I want to remember, always. Maybe I should have given him a second chance… and then it was too late… Lev died from the plague before they were even sure what it was…”
Jinsue, dressed for Christmas, had been listening dreamily as her mother told Grandfather about Daddy. That’s the most Maryanne had ever said about him in front of Jinsue. She clutched Slim Shady and threw herself on the sofa just as the caterer’s assistant announced the arrival of Bebe and Richard Novena.
Since their costumes were intended to be worn outdoors, they were quite heavy, and Maryanne asked the carolers if they wanted to change before dinner. Bebe looked at her husband in astonishment and appreciative admiration. Bebe would never have had the nerve to drive up to a strangers house and sing, at their doorstep, practically. And now, here they were, being feted by the town’s most elite family; the reason they were all here. Bebe thought of her counterparts at a chowder restaurant and felt quite satisfied, almost smug.
Richard played the piano for them after they had changed, and the Novenas continued to sing, right until they all sat down for Christmas supper, which proceeded much more smoothly than Maryanne could have ever anticipated. Kineth had a gift for entertaining people and putting them at ease, and this skill he had, which he did not show to everyone, was fully observable as Richard excitedly shared about their recent wedding, and the places the improvisational troupe planned to visit in the coming year. Richard kept thinking about how many times, in so many different places, he had attended an opera or an exhibition at a cultural institution and read the same simple phrase, “Brought to you by Kineth Riebling Enterprises” and Richard felt so awed and happy that his wife had agreed to his plan.
They had all finished their supper, however, their plates were still in front of them, when Kineth suggested they walk over to the plum blossom patch before dessert.
“Perhaps you could indulge us on our walk by sharing the story of how you met Richard, Bebe.”
They walked.
“Well, that’s so funny that you asked! I was working a traveling renaissance faire a few years ago, and Richard was there too, dressed as a horse. I was trying to find the right person to introduce me to Richard because I already knew who he was and thought he was really handsome and funny and talented, however we didn’t have any suitable friends in common. I wasn’t in costume; I had been helping backstage with the music and lost track of him that day. A few days later it got around that Richard had collapsed and almost died at the faire. He’d had his life saved by a doctor attending the faire on a first date with his girlfriend! Well, I called and introduced myself to the doctor, a Dr. Gizmo Leandro Tigre. We had a friend in common who had also been there that day helping me with the sound. We made plans to go to dinner, so he could properly introduce me to Richard, about a month later. I tried to get the doctor to invite his girlfriend, however he was quite circumspect about that, very private; we couldn’t even get him to tell us her name, and she was in costume that day, so we didn’t really have any idea what she looked like… so that’s it, we all had dinner, and he went back to his life and we began ours, and it all went so quickly… When everything started becoming quite monstrous with the plague we were overseas, visiting family, and decided to stay there for a while. It wasn’t until we started planning our wedding last year that we learned that the doctor had died! Last month we dedicated our small wedding ceremony to him. The friend we’d had in common wasn’t there either, the plague claimed him too… I’ll show you the program with the dedication, I have one in my handbag.”
Jinsue walked, clutching Slim Shady; she leaned against Kineth, who had grown quite silent in his tuxedo. Maryanne was looking at her father, searchingly, when they arrived at the plum blossom patch, adjacent to the abandoned beachfront theme park.
Suddenly, overhead, a glow began to descend, a whirling funnel cloud of a wind, tinged in smoky light; a seagoblin howl. Misty, it began to encircle the group. The whirling apparition emitted a terrifying crashing howling sound and an already spooked Jinsue screamed.
“The seagoblin, it’s back!”
The hairs on Slim Shady’s neck stood and the tiny kitten leaped away from Jinsue as the apparition overhead grew brighter and louder.
Now lagging several feet behind the Rieblings, the carolers stood terrified; they held each other in stunned silence. The excitement they’d recently happily exuded was replaced by terror, and regret. Why had they come here? Had some evil thing possessed them in that cemetery earlier, would they ever leave Rieb Damps? No one knew where they were except the caterer!
It thundered, and then there was lightning. The sky was ghastly- completely illuminated in mordant hues of green, and choking smoke and the piercing sounds of a screaming wind that had to be more than weather. The giant lion’s head of the abandoned roller coaster at the theme park seemed to mock them in the terrifying moment.
Kineth stood up, completely straight, he placed his arms protectively around his daughter and his screaming granddaughter, and as he looked up, the violent sounds took on a slower, more melodic rhythm.
Another apparition appeared in the sky, glossier, and the wind calmed. The glossy apparition seemed to take shape as it completely surrounded what Jinsue perceived to be a giant seagoblin in the skies above Rieb Damps. It exuded an indigo light and swallowed the screaming sounds of thunder and choking smoke.
The carolers began to relax. Instinctively, they began to sing. The skies calmed overhead. Maryanne thought she saw the silhouette of a giant purple cat in the sky as the winds calmed and quieted. They were completely enveloped in this light and it was tinged with a bit of warmth and whatever it was, it pushed the seagoblin back out to the New England coast.
Jinsue was completely calm now. Her gaze went from the suddenly serene skies above her, to the apparently undisturbed plum blossom patch. At the foot of the patch was Slim Shady and very close next to him another tiny kitten, seemingly from the same litter, overlooked by the gardener, white. The kittens were untroubled.
Kineth picked them both up, he looked around to see that everybody was okay. They all started walking back towards the manse.
Back in the dining room, each in their own way recalibrating after such seemingly inexplicable events, they prepared for dessert. After a pensive dessert, throughout which Maryanne said almost nothing, the Novenas pleasantly and quietly departed.
***
Thoughtfully closing the front door after the Novenas, Maryanne tells Kineth that she and Jinsue will stay and they will name the second kitten after Lev.
***
A couple of hours later, Bebe and Richard Novena repose at the lounge of their hotel, they are reflectively playing the piano and trying to make sense of the events of dinner when members of their traveling improvisational dancing troupe arrive back from their party at the chowder restaurant.
The End
🙀 "The Christmas Kittens. A Winter Tale in 3 Parts" is fiction. Part 1 October 28th 2025 🙀
🙀 "The Christmas Kittens. A Winter Tale in 3 Parts" is fiction. Part 2 November 28th 2025 🙀
