The Secret Room
by: Esther Adams
It was a cold December day in
Virginia and Sammie were dressed in their warmest clothes and were playing a noisy game of "hide and seek." The baking bread filled the rooms with a delicious smell that made their mouths water just thinking about the wonderful treat they would soon have.
Ginny was eleven years old and had been persuaded to play with her annoying younger sister so that Momma could finish her baking. Sammie raced up the stairs that her mother called the "wooden hill" and looked for a place to hide so that Ginny would never find her! She considered crawling under the bed, but no; her sister would look there first! Perhaps under the warm feather blanket that topped the big bed that Sammie and Ginny shared at night. No...she would look there too. Sammie could hear her sister's voice counting loudly from the stairs," one, two, three, four and all the way up to the number ten and then shouting that she was "coming! ready or not!" The sound of her steps were getting closer... Sammie opened the closet door and crawled behind the clothes that were hanging there. Pulling the door shut and holding her breath while Ginny quickly searched the bedroom. When she left the room to search elsewhere Sammie breathed a sigh of relief. She could hear her sister running down the stairs and declaring to Momma that she was not playing with Sammie anymore!
She sat there disappointed that the game was over. After a while she opened the door into the bedroom so that some light from the bedroom shone into the small closet and then she could see what was in her hiding place. On the back wall a large piece of card board leaned against the roof rafters. Sammie peeked behind it and saw something that made here eyes wide with wonder! A large doll buggy with two beautiful baby dolls dressed in fancy clothes and holding tiny pocketbooks. She picked up the closest doll and hugged it close, and wonder of wonder, the doll opened her beautiful eyes! Rocking her back and forth Sammie cuddled the baby doll for a long time. Afterwards she wrapped the baby dolls in their blankets and placed them back into the buggy.
Wondering if she should tell Momma and Ginny of her discovery, she left the little room and carefully shut the door. Going slowly down the "wooden hill" and into the kitchen where Ginny was eating a slice of freshly baked bread. Sammie was bursting with excitement and could not keep her secret longer. "Momma" she said, " I have found something wonderful upstairs in a secret room at the back of the closet. There are two baby dolls and a beautiful baby-buggy!"
Momma turned to Sammie with her hands on her hips, "Sammie! Have you been snooping where you have no business?" The little girl looked up at her mother and said, "its true, come up and see!"
Sammie took her Mother's hand and pulled her to the door that lead to the "wooden hill". Up they climbed into the cool air of the bedrooms that were at the top of the stairs. Sammie looked back at her Mother who was following her with a small smile on her face. Going into the bedroom that was shared by the sisters, Sammie hurried across the room and threw open the closet door. She pushed the clothes aside, and slid the large piece of cardboard away from the little space where secret treasures were hidden.
"See, Momma? What are these baby dolls doing here?" "They are very beautiful," said Momma, "but we had better leave them just as you found them!" She led Sammie back into the bedroom and pulled the small girl in front of her. "You know, Sammie, that Christmas is only a few weeks away and I think perhaps that Santa is going to have so many gifts to carry that perhaps they will not all fit in for one trip. So...he has made an early delivery so they will not all fall out when he makes his trip on Christmas Eve to all the good boy's and girl's homes."
Her older sister had stepped beside her Mother and said, " Momma is right Sammie, I think that Santa was just keeping them in a safe place until Christmas Eve and he makes the big trip to everybody's house, come downstairs and let’s have some bread and jam, I'll fix it for you".
Sammie listened and gave this idea some hard thought. Perhaps Momma was right, and she had found her Christmas presents before Santa had meant her to have them. " I hope your right Momma", said Sammie. Momma gave Sammie a big hug and a kiss on the top of her head. They went downstairs to the kitchen and soon Sammie was busy eating a slice of freshly baked bread with strawberry jam on it.
On Christmas morning Sammie was the first in the house to wake up and rush down the "wooden hill" and hurry to the parlor where the Christmas tree had magically appeared in the night. It sparkled with lights and tinsel and smelled of fresh cut pine. Best of all it was surrounded by beautiful packages and yes, there was a doll buggy with its two baby-dolls dressed in brand new dresses and holding their tiny pocketbooks.
It was Sammie's favorite Christmas for a long, long, time!!