Notice: Undefined index: HTTP_REFERER in /home/stparch/public_html/headmid_temp_main.php on line 4394
Newspaper Archive of
Barnstable Patriot
Barnstable, Massachusetts
HOME Browse Search List Of All Titles New! Global Image Search
Free Search  Subscribe  Sign In
December 26, 2014     Barnstable Patriot
PAGE 12     (12 of 27 available)        PREVIOUS     NEXT      Jumbo Image    Save To Scrapbook    Set Notifiers    PDF    JPG
© Publisher. All rights reserved.     Upgrade to access Premium Tools
 
PAGE 12     (12 of 27 available)        PREVIOUS     NEXT      Jumbo Image    Save To Scrapbook    Set Notifiers    PDF    JPG
December 26, 2014
 
Newspaper Archive of Barnstable Patriot produced by SmallTownPapers, Inc.
Website © 2025. All content copyrighted. Copyright Information
Terms Of Use | Privacy Policy | Request Content Removal | About / FAQ | Get Acrobat Reader




A Barnstable Christmas By Heather Pastore It was just 10days until Christmas.Youcould feel it coming in the air.Christmas in Barn- stable was special because it seemed that if you paid atten- tion you could hear the waves lapping at the shore all round and the cold air off the Atlan- tic Ocean didn't seem quite so cold.The people who lived in Barnstable a long time ago used to call it"the Christmas Wind,"but most people nowa- days don't know that. Every- one was counting the days. Everyone except Police Chief Jim Bobbin,that is.There was trouble in the town of Barn- stable, and he needed to get to the bottom of it. Asthe Chief walked down the narrow path between his office and the newTownHall, the air felt crisp as a Decem- ber night should, and the stars twinkledjust like they were supposed to at this special time of year.They glistened like the many small objects that had been reported missing overthe past few days.Towns- people had been complaining that someone had taken their rings, watches,barrettes ... and even Christmas lights and the shinylittle gold eagle over the Courthouse door.The hood ornament of Mr. Carlton's antique car was gone, too. It all started when Nellie Perkins hung her laundry on the clothes line early in the morning.Although it was win- ter, she loved the fresh smell, even if the clothes and sheets were sometimes frozen and stiff.When she returned to see • i - howthe laundrywas doing, all of it was on the ground.She couldn't understand why,until she noticed that all her shiny new clothes pins had disap- peared. Nellie got somad she ran over to Mrs. Rimple's house, nearly knocking over the Santa and Rudolph decora- tions that were on the lawn. "Nellie, Nellie, stop!"Mrs. Rimple shouted."Slow down! Youmight hurt yourself.What- ever is the matter?" "My clothes pins are miss- ing.Did you see anybodytake them? Oh,where could they be?"she said sadly. "I didn't see anybody in your yard,"said Mrs.Rimple. Nellie answered,"I need to knowwho took myclothes pins. Someone stole them! Who would steal clothes pins? It must be those bad children from across the road." Mrs. Rimple scratched her head until her hair looked like an old bird's nest. "I don't think so,"she said. "Why would children need clothes pins?"She scratched her head some more."Well,I'll be,"said Mrs. Rimple."I put up some silver Christmas stars on the front porch yesterday,and nowthey're gone.Oh my!" ••• Nellie decided to call her friend Jenny Blume and tell . her about all the miss- ing things. "Well,"Jennysaid. "There is more to this than meets the eye.My cousin Sally swears that she only took off her gold ring for a moment to washher windows-you know howshe loves clean windows-so people could see her Christ- mas tree and when she was finished,the ring was gone.It had to be someone very fast with a good disguise.Maybe F ¦ it was ... I don't really know anyonewho would be stealingthings.What a mys- tery." "Do youthink it might have been those new kids from across the road?"Nellie asked. "I don't know,but I'm going to find out.Their name is Hooligan.What kind of a name is Hooligan, anyway?" Jenny replied "I believe the name is Houlihan,"said Nellie. "Although, I think Hoo- ligan might suit them better.Did Sally report the missing ring?" "She certainly did.The Chief is on his wayto her house right now. " ••• Sally Blume put on her best dress before the Chief arrived. She always wanted to make a good impression. "Yousee, Chief, right here on this table; that's where I placed the ring,my beautiful shinyring.My father had that ringmade for my 16th birthday,and I placed it right there on that table, right where those awful children could see it, I suppose,although how they managed to sneak up here and get it so quickly, I don't know.It's almost asif they flewin and took it." The Chief interrupted her: "We've never had trouble with the Houlihans before. Did you seethem at all? ' i "Well, no,"she replied."But you can't always see them. They are very,very sneaky. And they are always on their bicyclesand they set off fire- crackers on the 4th of July and they make a racket on those little boards with wheels!" "Do you mean skateboards?" asked the Chief. "I don't know what you call then,but they make a lot of ..." "OK,OK, Sally.I'U check it out,"said the Chief. ••• On his wayback to the police station,he drove past the Houlihans'house and thought he sawsomeone run- ning through the backyard carrying something,but he couldn't be sure. He thought it might have been Billy,a good-looking boywho had been adopted bythe Houlihan family.Theyloved himjust the same as their other children. When the Chief returned to the office, the phone rang. He answered it. "Hello, Chiefs office, Chief Bobbin speaking. ...Yes, Mr. Mayor. ...A council meeting tonight? ...Yes.*... OK. . . .I'll be there."He looked at all the complaints on his desk and sighed.Maybethe Mayor can help, the Chief thought.And he forgot all about Billy Houlihan. ••• Just then,Anita Harley,his newest police officer,came into the room."Hi, Boss.Looks like we're in for a bit of snow.I lovethe snow,don't you? Hope it doesn't mess up the meeting tonight." "Well, I guess.But how did you know about the meeting?" the Chief asked with a puzzled look on his face. "Areyou kidding? Every- body knows about it. I'm surprised you didn't know." "I'm the one investigating all these missingthings and the last one to know what's going on,"he shouted."Geez!" He looked out the win- dow,and snowwas falling.It was that special Barnstable snow that rides the wind off the chilly ocean.Everything looked like it had white cake icing on it. Only better. "I hope it lets up for the meetingtonight,"he said. "I'm dreaming of aWhite Christmas,"sangAnita. "Oh,brother,"said the Chief to himself. ••• The stars wereout again that night.The snowhad stopped but there were three inches at least on everything. It was goingto be a Barnstable White Christmas. The Chief gathered all his reports together and went over toTownHall. It was buzzing with activity.Everyonewho ever thought that something they ownedhad been stolen wasthere.Why even Mr.Dippy who could neverremember Continued on next page rJ : r—- . . . : j ¦.: I