ONE MAGIC NIGHT
by
Jim McGregor

“Bolt the door, Mother, it is late and all the rooms are full.” He turned to blow out the candle on the window ledge when he saw two figures approaching. The woman was riding a donkey and in the soft light of the bright star it looked like Martha, his daughter.

“Wait,” he said to his wife. “There’s someone coming down the trail, a man and a young woman.”

He tried to contain his excitement as he opened the door and held the candle high.

“Good evening Innkeeper, are we in time for a room?”

The Innkeeper moved past him and felt his heart skip as he lifted the candle to the young girl’s face. At first he was certain it was his daughter, she had forgotten his harsh words and had returned to forgive him. Then she smiled from the folds of her cloak. Suddenly she looked more like his mother or even his grandmother, but it was not his daughter. She lowered her head as she recognized the look of disappointment on his face.

The Innkeeper turned back to the man and shook his head.

“Everyone is here to be taxed, we have no room for you, move on.”

“But sir, we have traveled far and my wife is pregnant, due anytime. She needs to rest.

“Not my problem,” the Innkeeper replied, closing the door.

Just before the latch caught, the pale light from that strange star moved across the young girl’s face. She pulled the hood back from her head and smiled at him again.

“Sir, if I may,” she whispered, “She is well, she is happy but lonely, and most of all she has food and shelter, you need not worry about her.” She pulled her hood back up against the cool night air.

The Innkeeper’s wife began to sob quietly and sank into the chair by the fire. The Innkeeper’s shoulder’s sagged; he steadied himself against the door post, then looked up at the young man.

“You go around back to the barn, the manger is clean and dry, and I’ll bring out some bread and a flask in a bit.”

The young girl smiled and nodded to him, and as her husband led the donkey away, the light in the sky grew brighter.