The Santa Train & Other Stories of the Season

John Hepsebah Lawless, in "The Santa Train", wants to build a free hospital in the Smoky Mountains for people suffering from tuberculosis. It's 1936, the depth of the Depression, and he needs money to do it. The people who can supply the money first want a favor. They want Lawless, a circuit-riding preacher, to take Christmas – everything from hams to quilts – to the needy people of the mountains on the first Santa Train, set to depart on Christmas Eve day on The Little River Railroad. In "Holly and Mistletoe", a recently divorced state trooper with four dollars in his pocket discovers he can still make Christmas something special. And in "Bump and The Stranger", a garageman finds he's far from alone on Christmas Eve. First there a stranger who walks into Bump Asher's gas station, then a young couple trying to get to the hospital in a broken-down car, next a deputy who's shot in Bump's driveway, followed by the man who shot the deputy who now wants to rob Bump. Three stories for the season, stories that will both surprise you and warm your heart.