Keeping Holiday Read online

  Keeping Holiday

  Keeping Holiday

  Starr Meade

  CROSSWAY BOOKS

  WHEATON , ILLINOIS

  Keeping Holiday

  Copyright © 2008 Starr Meade

  Published by Crossway Books

  a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers

  1300 Crescent Street

  Wheaton, Illinois 60187

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a claretrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law.

  Design and typesetting by Lakeside Design Plus

  Cover design and illustrations by Justin Gerard, Portland Studios

  First printing 2008

  Printed in the United States of America

  Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-0142-5

  PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-0436-5

  Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-0437-2

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Meade, Starr, 1956–

  Keeping Holiday / Starr Meade.

  p. cm.

  Summary: Each year Dylan’s family visits Holiday, and this time his determination to bring home the feelings and experiences of that special place leads Dylan and his cousin Clare on a journey through such places as the Forest of Life and Winterland as they seek the Founder and the true Holiday.

  ISBN 978-1-4335-0142-5 (tpb)

  [1. Faith—Fiction. 2. Voyages and travels—Fiction. 3. Christian life—Fiction. 4. Allegories.] I. Title.

  PZ7.M483Kee 2008

  [Fic]—dc22

  2008010449

  VP 15 14 13 12 09 08

  9 7 5 2 1

  Contents

  1. Holiday Vacation

  2. Finding Where to Start

  3. No Way Out

  4. The Forest of Life

  5. Places of Evil

  6. Mistletoe and Nightmares

  7. Lost in the Dark

  8. The Candlemaker

  9. The Bell Choir

  10. Winter Wasteland

  11. Winterland Manufacturing

  12. A Gift for the Founder

  13. Found!

  Holiday Vacation

  The car, already barely moving, came to a complete stop. Dylan looked out his window at the car in the next lane, then at the car on the other side. Neither of them moved either. “Guess we’ll be sitting here for a while,” Dad said, but he wasn’t complaining.

  “It’s just like last year and the year before that,” Mom said, and she wasn’t complaining either.

  No one ever complained about the traffic jams going into Holiday. Everyone knew they would occur, but no one seemed to mind. Traffic jams anywhere else caused tempers to boil like overheated radiators, but motorists stuck in traffic on the way into Holiday whistled and smiled at one another, waiting patiently for their turn to go.

  Dad rolled down his window and stuck his nose out. Closing his eyes, he breathed deeply and smiled. “Ah,” he said, “those wonderful Holiday smells. I’ve been looking forward to this vacation all year.”

  Everyone looked forward to going to Holiday, at least everyone Dylan knew. The town drew the same devoted visitors year after year. People never grew tired of it. For months in advance, they would busy themselves with elaborate preparations, planning to get the very most out of this year’s stay in Holiday. For several weeks now, Dylan’s neighbors had all been greeting each other with, “Are you all ready for your trip?” or “Do you have much left to do before you go to Holiday?”

  Mom turned to Dylan, winked, and smiled. “Wonder what souvenirs you’ll find this year?” she said.

  “Whatever they are, I’m sure they’ll be fine,” Dylan answered.

  “Well, that’s a switch,” Dylan’s father said. “I remember when it seemed like the only part of the vacation you cared about was the gift shop!”

  “That’s because I was little,” Dylan replied. “When you’re little, you don’t appreciate all the other stuff.”

  “Like . . . ?” Dad prodded.

  “Like the food,” Dylan said. “And how pretty everything is. And how much fun it is to be with everybody—playing games and singing and laughing. Why can’t it be like that at home?”

  “Are you sure it can’t be?” Mom asked.

  “Well, it isn’t, anyway,” Dylan answered. “And I don’t see why it isn’t. You can eat the same food with the same people and try to do everything just the way it’s done in Holiday, but it’s never the same.”

  “I suppose that big pile of last year’s souvenirs I saw in the garage marked ‘give away’ is part of what you mean,” Dad said. He chuckled. “And after all the time it took for you to choose those. Good grief ! I thought we’d have to spend our entire vacation in that store!”

  Dylan felt a touch of embarrassment, but he bravely admitted, “Well, yeah, that’s what I mean. The souvenirs always seem so wonderful in the gift shop. But once you get them home, they just become more stuff to sit on the shelf.”

  “You’re not tired of going to Holiday, are you?” Dad asked.

  “No,” Dylan said. “But I think there’s more to it than souvenirs. More to it than food and pretty things and people, too. Because none of those things are ever the same at home. There’s something to the town of Holiday that makes things different, better than they are anywhere else. I just don’t know what is.”

  Mom glanced at Dad and said, “Our little boy’s growing up.”

  Dylan scowled to himself and thought, What’s that supposed to mean? But the thought flew from his mind as a space finally cleared for their car and it inched ahead, through the city gate into Holiday. Dylan sat up, stirred by that same old Holiday excitement, and watched out the window to see what had changed since last year.

  “Ah, those wonderful Holiday smells,” Dad said again, taking a deep breath. Dylan copied him, and breathed in a great cloud of sharp pine fragrance. Full pine trees and tall, dark green firs lined both sides of the road. They’re like old friends, Dylan thought to himself, welcoming us back. The car moved slowly on, and Dylan caught new fragrances mingling with the scent of pines. He smelled sweet spicy smells and scents of woodland herbs and, over and underneath it all, the pungent odor of wild green plants growing.

  As the car inched through the crowded streets, other fra-grances floated in the window: meats roasting, breads baking, sweets simmering.

  “Oh, look at how pretty it is!” Mom exclaimed. “I didn’t think it could possibly be better than last year, but I do believe it is.”

  Though the streets were full, they were spotlessly clean. Houses wore fresh coats of bright paint, their doors and windows cheerily accented to match. Open shops beckoned. Each store window tried to outdo the last with its inviting display of the wonders to be found inside. Ropes of lights, strung back and forth across the street, twinkled with promises of magic. Glittering decorations climbed up or hung down from every available space.

  Visitors thronged the sidewalks and stores. Some wandered into shops, coming back out again with additions to their already huge piles of packages. Others sat with their friends at the many little tables in café windows and on sidewalks, tables loaded with roasted meats, breads, fruits and nuts, and sugary cakes. From somewhere nearby came strains of fiddle music. When Dylan thrust his head out the car window to hear better, a warm glow from an upstairs window caught his eye. Happy dancers whirled in and out of view in the window. A little farther on, a group of happy vacationers walked by on the sidewalk, arm-in-arm and singing at the top of their lungs.

  Dad turned the car into a parking lot and pulled into a space. Carryin
g their bags, Dylan’s parents headed toward the entrance underneath the sign that read, “Welcome to Your Holiday Home Away from Home.” Dylan looked at the sign for a moment and thought, Holiday feels more like home than home does. Then he picked up his bag and followed his parents.

  Dylan swallowed his mouthful of cinnamon bread and washed it down with a gulp of milk. “Why don’t we ever have this for breakfast at home? Can’t you buy it there?” he asked.

  “I could probably order it at the bakery,” his mother answered.

  Dylan considered. “But I’ll bet it wouldn’t be the same,” he said. “Why is that? Why are things we do at home never quite as good as when we do the same things in Holiday?”

  Dylan’s parents glanced at each other, with the expression that usually made Dylan say, “What?” But just now he was too intent on his question. “Yesterday, for example. That party was so much fun!”

  Mom nodded and Dad said, “Wasn’t that great?”

  “But what did we do?” Dylan continued. “Nothing we couldn’t do at home. We played games, we sang songs, we ate. We hardly ever play games at home and when we do, they’re boring. And no one ever sings. Plus, all the people at the party are people we could get together with back at home. But we never do. And if we did, I’ll bet we wouldn’t really get along very well. Why does Holiday make everything we do so different?” A sudden idea occurred to Dylan, causing him to set down his milk glass so hard that some of the milk splashed out. “Hey! Have you ever thought of moving to Holiday to live?”

  “Holiday’s a vacation town,” Dad replied. He poured himself another cup of coffee. “Everyone’s here on vacation. There’d be no job for me if we lived here.”

  Mom passed Dad the sugar and said to Dylan, “You’ll just have to look for a way that you can keep Holiday, even when we go home.” She glanced at her watch. “Done with your breakfast, Dylan? Better run off and get ready. We need to leave for church in five minutes.”

  At the church, a middle-aged man, already sitting in the pew Dylan’s family selected, smiled at them. “Hi, there,” he said, nodding cheerfully. “My name’s Mr. Smith,” and he shook hands with Dylan and his parents. Mr. Smith’s chubby face beamed as he said, “I just love going to church in Holiday, don’t you? I never go at home, but I wouldn’t dream of skipping church in Holiday.” The music began then, cutting off the pleasant little man’s comments. He didn’t seem to mind. He opened his songbook with a flourish and nodded his balding head to the beat. He sang loudly, and though he took an occasional peek at the page through his glasses, he seemed to have these particular songs memorized.

  Dylan sang too, but he looked around as he sang. The old stone building was full. This was odd enough, since Dylan was used to seeing churches at home half empty. But even more than that, almost everyone in the church was singing with enthusiasm. Not many people sang at home. Dylan himself would prefer not to sing in church, but his parents always insisted. In fact, the comments of his neighbor in the pew made complete sense to Dylan. Like him, Dylan would probably skip church at home too, if his parents did not require him to go. And yet, just as the pleasant-faced man had said, he wouldn’t dream of missing church in Holiday. He even felt perfectly content to sing. Dylan puzzled over what the difference could be. Church in Holiday was just more. More what? Dylan asked himself. More full somehow. There seemed to be more behind it all. Church here was more joyful too and, at the same time, more serious. Dylan shook his head to clear it of all these busy thoughts and turned his attention to the candles being lit up front.

  When the service ended, the man in the pew gave a deep sigh. Then he stood up. “Well, that’s done till next vacation. It was lovely, wasn’t it? Nice sitting by you,” he said to Dylan’s family and walked away.

  “Is it okay if I walk back?” Dylan asked his mom. The little Holiday church sat on the very end of the street, with the forest coming right up against it. Dylan wanted to take his time, walking back down the street to their hotel, savoring the Holiday sights and sounds one last time.

  “I don’t see why not,” she answered. “Just don’t be late for lunch. You wouldn’t want to miss our last big Holiday get-together. You know we go home tomorrow.”

  Dylan made a face. “Don’t remind me,” he said. Slipping out a side door in the church to avoid the crowd, Dylan found himself in a quiet little garden he had never seen before. The winding brick path led to a gate in the little fence. Even from a distance, Dylan could see something bright red leaning against the fence, as though it had been propped up there on purpose. As he drew nearer however, he saw that it was only a piece of paper with some lettering on it—an advertisement for something. He bent to pick it up, then stared at it, startled. It read:

  “Would you like to KEEP Holiday?”

  That was what Dylan’s mom had said at breakfast: “You’ll just have to look for a way that you can keep Holiday, even when we go home.” He had wondered what she meant when she had said it, but then they had hurried off to church, and he had forgotten about it. Besides, Mom was always saying things like that, things that made you wonder what in the world she was talking about. Dylan read the rest of the flyer. It contained only these few words: “Pass through the church garden gate for more.” The path that led from the gate was immediately swallowed up by the thick woods that came right up to the garden fence.

  Dylan felt that he must at least start down the path, to see if he could find out what the red paper meant. He would hurry, just for five minutes, then make it up by running back to the hotel.

  As it turned out, it took Dylan only three minutes of winding through trees and around corners to learn what he needed to know. The road emerged from a particularly thick stand of trees into a clearing, then turned abruptly to avoid going over the edge of a precipice. Dylan stepped out to the edge and looked down into a valley. Nestled in this valley was a town. Dylan had never seen a town like this one before. Every building had its own unique and beautiful appearance, as though a school of architects had held a contest here to see who could design the most wonderful building. The whole town was surrounded by a high wall, which glistened in the sunlight with bright gleams of first one color, then another. The city was not so far below that Dylan could not hear sounds floating up from it. He held his breath to listen and caught traces of music unlike any he had ever heard, so beautiful that he immediately decided he had never really heard music until that moment. Every now and then, a fragrance wafted up to him from below as well, a fragrance so delicious that he closed his eyes and breathed in as deeply as he could.

  “What is this?” he whispered to himself, looking around for some clue to the astonishing city. Then he saw the signs. “VISTA POINT,” the small one by the side of the path read. The second line of the same sign said, “City of Holiday.” Another sign stretched from tree to tree over the top of the path, which continued along the edge of the precipice, evidently to a way down into the valley. This sign said, “Entrance to Holiday straight ahead.”

  If that’s Holiday down there, Dylan thought, where have we been all this time? He stepped under the sign and turned around to see what it said on the other side. To his amazement, he read the words, “Holiday Visitors’ Center” and saw an arrow pointing back the way he had come. He looked back down into the valley at what was, evidently, the real Holiday. The streets of this town held sights and sounds and smells that made the old Holiday, the one Dylan had always loved, seem like just a little model of something. Visitors’ center? Dylan thought. We’ve spent every vacation of my life in Holiday and we’ve never gotten past the Visitors’ Center? Well, it was time to remedy that now!

  Intent on seeing the “more” promised by the flyer, Dylan hurried off down the path. From somewhere very close, a motor whirred. A long wooden barricade slammed down in front of Dylan. Only then did he notice the little guard booth with the man inside. “Sorry,” the man said to Dylan, “authorized personnel only.”

  “Well, then what does this mean?” Dyla
n asked him, polite but insistent. He held up the flyer. “It seems to be an advertisement of some kind, and it tells people that they can see more of Holiday. Why does it say that if people can’t really go down there and get in?”

  The guard examined the bright red flyer. A minute went by in silence. Then the guard said, “It doesn’t say if they want to see more; it just says ‘for more.’”

  Dylan did not see how that made any difference. “Okay, but still,” he said, “how can that be if people can’t get in?”

  The guard examined the flyer for another silent minute. “And,” he pointed out, “it doesn’t say ‘if you want to see more of Holiday’; it asks if you want to ‘keep Holiday.’”

  Dylan sighed. “But the point is,” he said, “that it tells people to go through the church garden gate, but you’re saying they can’t get into Holiday.”

  “I’m not saying people can’t get into Holiday,” the guard protested. “I’m saying only authorized people can get in. I don’t make the rules,” he added, “I just help keep them.”

  “Well, then, how are people authorized to get in?” Dylan asked. “Can I get authorized? I’d really like to see more—I mean, I’d really like more,” he corrected himself. “And I’ve been wondering how to keep Holiday. Who authorizes people to go in?”

  “The Founder does,” the guard answered helpfully. “And I can’t think of any reason why he wouldn’t authorize you, when he’s authorized so many others.”

  “Okay,” Dylan said, encouraged. “Where do I find the Founder?”

  “Oh, you can’t find the Founder; he finds you,” the guard replied. “He’s not just the Founder; he’s the finder too!” He chuckled. “That rhymed!” Then he grew serious. “But until he finds you, I’ll have to ask you to go back the way you came. You can’t go in.”

  Dylan’s shoulders slumped with disappointment. He turned away from the barricade and looked back down over the edge, at streets that glittered with the promise of wonders he had never known. He closed his eyes to better smell the scents that the breeze carried up. They were scents that could go to your head and make you forget everything, yet they were delicate enough to make you long for more. As he stood there, eyes closed, breathing in the wonderful fragrances, the music swelled from below so he could hear every note distinctly. It played just for him; he was sure of it. He must go where it called—but instead, he had to turn away and head back to his family’s lodging, the little hotel that was only a part of the Visitors’ Center.