An extract from

Blue, The Next Tale of Joey Bananas

The steeple clock was ringing out 2am as Joey and Buttons slipped out into the deep snow. Everywhere was quiet and darkly shadowed with a soft stillness as they crunched and trudged to the church’s lych gate. More flakes softly swirled rendering them both almost invisible.

Joey put down the large bundle of props he had made recently and crept behind the hedge to find everything he and Mr Tom had been working on secretly in the old outbuilding. A large tarpaulin hid what was underneath and even though Mr Tom had only put it in place a few hours earlier, it was heavy with snow. Joey brushed as much off as he could and then started pulling at the tarpaulin, Buttons got hold of the bottom corner and between them they tugged hard and managed to reveal the structures Joey had made from wood and chicken wire.

"Come on, Buttons, got to be quick the way this snow is coming down." Buttons hauled the tarpaulin across the snow and Joey quickly put the structures in position. The lychgate had a high roof and was made up of stone walls and timber and made a natural frame for the scene Joey was about to shape. Joey quickly placed the mare and her foal towards the back of the roofed gate with the buck and the doe at the other side. A hay bale was centre, draped in a blanket and behind it sat the structure of Blue, with Buttons beside her. Two sheep were at the front and a fox across from them. Quickly Joey covered all these large structures with snow, patting it down to make the snow smooth and compacted. Buttons helped by digging snow piles in his direction for him to use and cleared the ground at the front of the gate.

Once the structures were finished he added three small lumps of snow on the sheep and the fox. The two on the sheep he shaped deftly into Crumble and Boots. Crumble was sat up tall wearing a tiny crown, a box in her paws, clearly taking her job very seriously. Boots was leaning slightly forward clearly struggling to keep hold of his wonky crown with one paw and the other precariously holding his box so it didn’t fall, and his floppy ears hanging over his eyes, and, sitting facing backwards on the fox, was Bandit, crown around his neck and box on the floor, one paw stretched out to it his whole body long and lean, stretched downwards while the fox he was astride held a paw over his eyes embarrassed by his behaviour.

Laid on her back , on the blanket covering the hay bale, four paws in the air was Crumpet with her familiar smile gazing up at everyone and loving the attention. Blue leant over her, one paw fixing the blanket covering her, and the Button's statue looked on proudly. Joey fashioned a star from the snow on the roof and finally, curled around the baby Crumpet, he sculpted Kitten Caboodle, her body acting as a pillow and her long tail curled protectively around the ‘baby’ in the blanket.

Joey’s fingers were freezing even with his gloves on but to finish the expressions on the animals faces, he removed them and assuredly sculpted with his fingers. The two horses looked on in wonder, eyes wide. The deer were majestic, gazing be-splendidly in the direction of the family tableaux. The sheep looked bewildered, with the smallest one chewing on a misplaced piece of straw, and the fox looked aloof and uninterested, paw over one eye.

Joey placed lanterns with LED candles around the scene giving a warm, magical glow. Then Joey and Buttons folded the tarpaulin and gently stepped away. They retraced their steps in the snow, although their original footsteps were almost covered again. They were both cold and wet and Joey bent down, picked up Buttons, and held him close with his jacket around him trying to warm him up. They reached the Green and looked back at their handiwork just as the church bells pealed four times. The whole lychgate was a beacon of warmth and love and the figures within glowed and sparkled in the candle light. Slowly, the snow swirled in graceful pirouettes as the clouds parted and the full moon cast a silvery beam to the picture. Joey and Buttons looked lovingly at the glimmering, translucent images and held their breath for a moment. It was as if each statue was lit from within. The stars looked down.

Joey dropped his head to nuzzle Buttons and got a soft lick in return, “Merry Christmas Buttons”, he whispered tenderly into his soft, warm, and snow sprinkled fur, and they headed home in gentle silence as Christmas Eve prepared for early dawn. Unnoticed by them, a star fell from the sky and glittered across the heavens. Its stardust made a soft curtain of light as it fell to the ground and glowed briefly with warmth. The spiralling snow caressed the ice world of Joey's sculptures and they flickered within from a love born anew.

All went unseen by the two caretakers of joy stepping quietly home to dry clothes and a warm fire. A stillness, a fragment of calm, a moment, when there was peace on earth.