Last Tree on the Lot

Last Tree on the Lot

It was the last tree on the lot. Jerry was closing up. Traffic had slowed to almost nothing. Just one car had gone by in the last half hour. Jerry’s pick-up was the only one parked on the street. Street lights blinked stop and go. A dog barked once in the distance. A clear night, Jerry could see stars sparkling and twinkling in the blackened, moon-lit cold.

Jerry turned out the string of lights circling the lot, then the neon sign at the front. He was about to get in his pick-up and drive home to his quiet apartment. Something stopped him. He had to straighten up that last tree. He couldn’t leave it just lying there, in the icy puddle of snow and water. Dirty water that would freeze over in the night, crusting it with snow. ‘Ah, its just a tree. Leave it and get out of the cold.’ Talking out loud, even quietly, in the cold night, the words hung in the air. Jerry looked around to see if anyone was there. Only a well furred tabby was padding across the quiet street. It didn’t even look up.

‘I’ll just straighten it up.’ Jerry picked up the small, misshapen tree, trimmed the trunk at the base and put it in the vacated tree stand that looked just as lonely.

‘Can’t leave ‘em just like that.’ From the back of his truck, Jerry pulled out an old trunk. After digging around in it he pulled out a string of lights, a garland, a few Christmas balls and an old star. ‘I spent this much time getting the old tree off that dirty snowbank, decoratin’ it won’t take much longer. Home’ll still be there waitin’ for me.’ Jerry had pulled his gloves off so he could set to work and make it quick. He rubbed his hands together, blew on them to warm them a bit. When he was done decorating, he stood back to look at his handy work. ‘Guess that’s good enough’. He plugged the lights into the socket for his neon sign. Stepped back again. ‘Yep.’ 

He put the trunk in the pick-up, tipped his cap to the last tree on the lot. In the back of his mind, all along, he had a hope. ‘Joe and Mary should be by here on their rounds pretty quick, and then Liam and after that those other three guys - can’t remember their names. Hope I’ve given them a little bit of Christmas on these cold ol’ streets. That’s the best I can do for ‘em’. He patted the pile of blankets under the tree.

Jerry climbed in his pick-up. ‘Come on, Bessy, I know you’re cold. There ya’go.’ Jerry let his old friend warm up a bit, turned on his headlights and set out for home.

“Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before! 

What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. 

What if Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!”

~ Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Author's note: Edited February 02, 2024