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“Absolutely,” she said with a smile, refilling Gabe’s cup. “How about the prince? Could he use a cookie?”
One glance at Star and I started to laugh. “Looks like that’s an affirmative.”
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a crisp, round cookie. “A new recipe. Crazy for Carrot Cake—”
Before she could finish her sentence, Star snatched the cookie and chomped it down, crumbs flying everywhere. Once our laughter died down and the crumbs had been licked up, Sandra motioned at the kitchen. “Let me know when you’re ready to order.”
“Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll hear the gang arrive,” I assured her with a wink.
When she was gone, Gabe lowered his coffee to the table. “What did you want to talk about with the madrigals?”
“Not the madrigals so much as your input on my idea. I don’t know anything about singing, though.”
He smiled wider this time. “Hazel calls you the Ebenezer Scrooge of Christmas carols.”
“In my defense, she plays them all day long starting in October!”
“Oh, she’s one of those who enjoys it when the stores start playing Christmas carols in September.”
I pointed at him and rolled my eyes. “It’s not that I don’t like them, but they have a time and a place. When Hazel sings them around New Beginnings, she’s always goofy and off-key, but at the tree lighting, I realized she does that on purpose.”
“How so?”
“When the madrigals were singing during the tree lighting, she was singing along. She has a beautiful voice and it surprised me, but it also got me thinking about how much she would love a real old-fashioned caroling event.”
“Like door to door through town?”
“Yes!” I exclaimed with excitement. “I was thinking we could have groups go to different neighborhoods to sing and then all come together to carol through the new family apartments before finishing at New Beginnings for treats and drinks. It would be something fun for the community members who like to sing, and to bring joy to those who maybe can’t get out as easily as others to attend concerts or the park event.”
“I love this idea,” he said, grabbing a small notebook from his pocket and flipping it open to make some notes. “Let me talk to my madrigals kids and take a poll of who would be available. As long as I can have one of my kids in each group, we wouldn’t need to practice ahead of time. They could start each song for the group to keep them on key. Anyone signing up to carol would know the songs, so there’s no need for sheet music either.” He tapped his pen on the paper. “I wonder if we could coordinate this through the cookie walk.”
“The one Heather organizes?” I asked and he nodded.
“They’re moving it to the Bells Pass Community Center this year rather than the park. The park poses challenges for many when it comes to mobility and age. Last year’s cookie walk was so cold and there was so much snow everyone suffered. We’re going to have the same problem this year. At least at the community center, everyone is welcome and there’s enough room to spread out. That said, they decided to have a piano player playing during the event rather than caroling.”
“This sounds like the perfect tie in then,” I agreed. “We could spread the promotion work out and even have a sign-up form where people could request carolers go to specific homes that may have shut-ins or the elderly.”
“I like it,” he said with a nod. “Let me talk to Heather tonight and see what she thinks. Then I’ll get a head count on my kids. The cookie walk is scheduled for December tenth, which gives us plenty of time to organize it once we have a list of ready and willing carolers.”
“What date would work best, do you think?” I asked, pulling out my phone to open my calendar.
“There’s only one date, Irving. Christmas Eve.”
“That’s Hazel’s birthday.”
“Do you think she’d care if you made plans for her?”
“Care if I make plans for her to go caroling on Christmas Eve? No, I don’t think she’d care!” I started laughing and shaking my head. “It would be the best birthday ever.”
“Then let’s do it!”
“Give me a ring after you talk to Heather and the kids. We’ll go from there. I would plan to hang back at New Beginnings and prepare while everyone is out since—” I motioned at my wheels.
“Understood,” he said, tucking the book in his pocket. “As an EMT, I can’t disagree with that decision. The weather will not be your friend.” He lifted his cup to his lips and set it back down.
I noticed he didn’t take a drink. He lifted it and set it back down several times as though he thought he was drinking it. We sat in silence, and as soon as I realized something was weighing on his mind, I waited him out.
“Is everything okay with you and Heather?” I asked, leaning in so no one else heard me. The diner was relatively empty at this time of night, but all the same.
