Page 1 of The Mountain that Saved Christmas

1

RUTHIE

I finish reading George's letter out loud before placing it down on the wooden table in front of me and peering around at my dearest friends.

A few years ago, we hung out our shingle as hobby private investigators. The four of us–Dottie, Aggie, Frankie, and myself–work together to solve all the little mysteries a small mountain town in Alaska may have.

We've known each other our whole lives and to this day, we still live side by side on the same road. We're affectionately known around Spring Haven as the Sunday School Sallys so it makes sense that we'd call ourselves Sunday School Sally Investigations. We even run it out of the back of my granddaughter Starchild's new-age boutique called Happy Auras on the main street through town.

Our biggest case so far has been when baked goods kept disappearing from people's kitchens. We solved that one lickety-split and now all our sweets are safe from the cross-eyed,one-legged banking bandit duck called Duck Norris from Bull Mountain Ranch.

But that pales in comparison to a whole town missing out on Christmas!

“I don't think I need to tell you that this cannot stand. I'm not goin' to let that cute little mountain town spend another holiday season not celebratin' my favorite time of year. If we could perform the miracle of the Holly Jolly Christmas Cup, there's nothin' stoppin' us doin' it again for Rainbow Springs,” I announce.

“Ruthie, are you sure about this? You hardly know this man,” Dottie states, her light blue eyes soft as they meet mine.

Aggie's gaze narrows. “What I want to know is how you ever got this letter. How long have you and him been talkin'? Since when do you keep secrets from us.”

“And how come this is the first we're hearin' about it,” Frankie finishes.

“OK. One question at a time, ladies,” I reply. I take a seat and cradle the travel mug of hot peppermint cocoa in my hands. “Who wants to go first?”

“I think we all want to know who this George Rainbow fellow is. I mean, who calls themselves George Rainbow anyway?” Aggie begins.

“His name isactuallyGeorge Rainbow,” I state. “I didn't believe him to begin with either because I'd never met a person in my entire seventy-five-year-old life with the family name of Rainbow. But he sent me a copy of his driver's license to prove it.”

“OK. So how did you meet Mr. Rainbow?” Frankie asks next.

I take a sip of my cocoa and smile, anticipating the reaction I'm going to get to my next revelation. “On the internet.”

Aggie gasps, Frankie stares, and Dottie's eyes jump wide before she bursts into a fit of giggles. “Ruthie! That'sscandalous!” she replies.

A snort escapes me and I shake my head, knowing where their thoughts are heading. “It's nothin' likethat, ladies. We're simply pen pals. He was lonely and looking for a friend to connect with and y'all know I'm a sucker for a good tagline.”

“What was his?” Aggie asks, tilting her head.

“A gnome with a gnomery and a gnome fence–what are the odds?”

Frankie holds up her hand. “You're tellin’ me he's agnome?” she says, her voice jumping a few octaves.

I roll my eyes. “Notliterallya gnome. He just looks like one, and he has a gnomery as a part of his gas, convenience, post office, and hardware store.”

They all stare at me, their mouths agape and flapping in the wind, their eyes a mixture of wonder, confusion, and a smidge of curiosity.

“OK… so your 'pen pal',” Dottie says, throwing air quotes, “is a man called George Rainbow, and he owns an 'everythin' you need is here' store in a far away, smaller-than-here, Alaskan mountain town?”

I nod. “Yep. That about sums it up.”

“And he just happens to look like a real-life gnome and has written you a letter about missin' out on Christmas because there's no one wantin' to celebrate? Am I gettin' this right?”

“Well,yeah… But it's more than that. I told him all about the Holly Jolly Christmas Cup last year and how wonderful it was to have our entire town transformed into a winter wonderland that Santa himself would be proud of. He just wishes he could have that for himself and his town,” I explain.

“Where dowecome into this?” Aggie pipes up.

“Let me guess, we're goin' to give George Rainbow and Rainbow Springs the best Christmas the town has ever seen,” Frankie exclaims, looking at me as she bounces in her seat–well as much as an elderly woman with leopard-print dyed hair can do. “Am I right?”

There's no wiping the smile off my face nor the happy tears gathering in my eyes. “We are. We're gonna need some help though.”

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