Kissmas Time
by Dee Stewart
Part I
"...This assignment isn't hard even for you..."
Mr. Proctor tapped his Waterman pen to the rhythm of the Lou Rawl's musical version of "The Little Drummer Boy," which crooned on the small vintage radio that sat upon the windowsill behind his desk.
My back straightened when my brain realized that the man had slighted me yet another insult in the short time we had been sitting in his office.
"Thank you, sir" was the best snappy comeback my greenie-self could come up with."Um... So exactly what do you need me to do?"
Proctor reached for his glasses on his desk, and I took that chance to search for anything in his office that might give me a better edge with the man.
For a workhorse-office-grouch the man was a Christmas collecting maven. Proctor's office looked like a Thomas Kinkade painting had exploded inside it. Burgundy settee, , green and gold accented and rugs. A toy train set running underneath his desk, miniature snow roofed homes intermingling with the radio, his end tables and his collectible magazines.Two four inch cone shaped ferns flanked the east and west corners. He claimed the room calmed his spirit after a long day of advertisement standoffs with sponsors he despised, compliance crackdowns with the newspaper's legal team, and his current headache--me, the new Religion & Society columnist, who happens to be his reluctant step-daughter.
According to my fiance, James, my column was a dinosaur waiting for extinction . He's a CNN/SI staff reporter, so he knows his stuff. Sports coverage is the new hot ticket for women journalists he often preached.
Besides religous reporting was an oxymoron.Christians can't be objective.
Unfortunately, I agreed.
But as I observed the gold specks in Proctor's eyes sparkle in sync with Lou Rawls and his Waterman's cadence my spirit told me that my notion of Christian journalism would end before the song was over...And maybe my engagement, too.
Keep checking in for Part Two on Tuesday or subscribe to Christian Fiction's newsfeed in the sidebar.
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