Chesterfield Chilliness Sorts Things Out

Chesterfield Chilliness was a very elegant snowman. "Not too fat, just nicely rounded", he would say. It would never do to be too fat ! He was most particular in what he wore too - no battered felt hat or jumble sale scarf for him - Oh no ; his top hat was tall and shiny and looked so slippery that no robin ever dared to sit upon it. Around his neck he wore a brightly patterned silk cravat which looked as new as the day it was bought and instead of the usual stone buttons he had beautiful pieces of shiny glass.
He had arrived in the village with the first snowfall of winter. No one saw him come and no one would admit to building him. Yet there he was, standing proudly under the old pear tree at the bottom of Rose's garden. Rose was the owner of the flower shop in the centre of the village and she said she was much too busy trimming plants and watering flowers to have time to build snowmen. Then someone suggested it could have been Ben Dixon the village postman. He was a jolly man who had a smile and a joke for everyone on his rounds. But Ben said, "It certainly wasn't me, kids – I’m too busy delivering Christmas cards. All I want to do when I finish work is put my feet up and have a nice cup of tea!”
So Chesterfield remained a mystery. So was his name. Rose knew as soon as she saw him what he was called but couldn't for the life of her think how she knew. "Perhaps I only dreamed it? " she said in a puzzled voice next morning as she stood gazing at the snowman, sparkling now in the winter sunshine.
"That's usually what happens", said a matter-of-fact voice. "It's the easiest way to introduce myself, I find."
Rose was now convinced she must be dreaming but a few cold droplets of snow melting from the branches of the pear tree and trickling down inside her collar made her realise this was no dream - she really was having a conversation with a snowman. Still not quite believing it, Rose hurried off to open her shop. Just then, several of the village children came peeping round the corner of the lane behind Rose's garden.
"Come closer, my dears", Chesterfield called, and chuckled as he heard the gasps of astonishment from the children who really couldn't believe their ears.
"The snowman's talking", whispered Amy in a scared little voice and clutched her brother Tom's arm.
"Yeah, right - that'll be Ben, hiding behind the garden wall", scoffed Tom's friend Jack, "You know he loves jokes."
"It can't be Ben", said Maisie, "I just saw him taking some post to our house”
They all stared harder at the snowman and Amy looked as though she was about to cry. Suddenly Chesterfield winked, first with one eye and then with the other. Amy giggled and Chesterfield smiled - a great big happy sunshiny smile. The children just couldn't help smiling too and were soon all leaning over Rose's garden wall chatting happily to the amazing snowman, "But why have you come to our village ?" Chesterfield looked mysterious. "I can't tell you that", he said, "but you'll find out soon enough." More than that he wouldn't say.
During the next few days the lane behind Rose's cottage was a busy place as word of the talking snowman spread and no-one could resist coming to see if what their children had told them was true. Her little flower shop became the busiest shop in the village as people came in to hear the latest news. The only problem was, there was no news to tell. For days the snowman had just stood there, a big grin on his round, white face and a twinkle in his coal black eyes, and not one word had he spoken.
By the end of the second week of silence, only the children came to visit Chesterfield. The grown-ups were beginning to feel very foolish for believing such nonsense. Rose said nothing. She was beginning to think she had imagined her conversation under the pear tree after all.

Then suddenly nice things began to happen in the village. Little things at first, then bigger and more important ones.
When Amy sorted out her toybox, to find something to take to the bric-a-brac stall at the school’s Christmas fair, she found the silver locket her grandmother had given her for her eighth birthday, which she thought she'd lost at the school picnic last summer.
Tom wanted to buy the little blue china cat in the village gift shop for his mother's Christmas present - he knew she would love it. He had saved his pocket money for weeks but he still needed another fifty pence - where could he get that from? Suddenly the wobbly tooth, which had been loose for what seemed like ages, fell out and the fifty pence he found under his pillow the following morning was exactly what he needed !
Jack's cat, Tansy, who had been missing for a week, suddenly reappeared at the back door with a tiny mewling kitten held gently in her mouth. She laid it at Jack’s feet, licked it, then went swiftly off again towards the woods. She was soon back with a second baby and this time when she turned to leave Jack ran behind her. She led him to a tumbledown hut and there, in a corner, on a pile of tattered sacks, two more little bundles of fur snuggled together for warmth. Soon the four little kittens were sleeping peacefully in a cardboard box and Tansy was trying to lap milk and purr at the same time.

The following day, Rose was arranging some chrysanthemums in the window of her little shop when she noticed a tall figure, with a huge duffle bag slung on his shoulder, striding down the High Street. He looked familiar - could it be? Yes, as he passed the shop he waved and smiled at her, and she saw with delight that it was Alan, Tom’s sailor dad. How happy that family was going to be this Christmas ! Only last week Tom’s Mum had told Rose that they weren't going to bother having a Christmas tree this year. It didn't seem worth it when Alan wouldn't be there to help decorate it. Rose couldn't guess what could have happened; he should have been somewhere between Singapore and New Zealand instead of here in the High Street. What she did know was, that before the day was out she would have sold another Christmas tree !
The best thing of all happened just two weeks before Christmas. When Maisie arrived home from school her Mum handed her an envelope with an Australian stamp.
“For me?” squeaked Maisie excitedly and began to tear it open.
“Careful !”, warned Mum. It’s probably a Christmas card from your Auntie Claire.”
But it was better than that. As Maisie pulled the card from the envelope something fluttered to the floor. She quickly picked it up. “What is it? She asked, puzzled. “Goodness! said Mum.”It’s an airline ticket! Let me see the card.”
She read it quickly, gasped, and grabbing Maisie’s hands spun her round and round.
“Auntie Claire is getting married and she wants you to be a bridesmaid! The ticket is for us all to go to Sydney in February”.
“A bridesmaid”, gasped Maisie. “Oh wow!” And she turned cartwheels all round the room.
The day after that, Rose glanced out of her bedroom window to where Chesterfield Chilliness stood under the old pear tree. She had become so accustomed to seeing him there that it was a few moments before she realised there was something different about him today. But what was it? His shiny hat was still in place, his cravat looked as neat as ever and his buttons just as shiny. His buttons - that was it, surely they were much nearer the ground than usual? She ran in to the hall and hurriedly pulled on her wellington boots and flung her coat round her shoulders. She went quickly to the end of the garden. She was right - the buttons had slipped right down Chesterfield's front and, now that she thought about it, he seemed a little thinner and the shiny hat was tilting just a little to the left. Chesterfield Chilliness was melting ! The snow around him was as hard as ever, icicles hung from the pear tree's branches and Rose's breath clouded in the cold air. There was no thaw, the weather forecasters were all predicting the snow would stay until Christmas at least, so how could the snowman be melting ?
Rose jumped - the snowman was speaking !
"Lucky Maisie!”
"I beg your pardon ?" gasped Rose.
"I said 'Lucky Maisie, flying off to the sunshine soon. Wouldn't suit me of course", he chuckled.
Rose stared. How did he know about Maisie’s lovely surprise? Chesterfield spoke again, his voice quieter than before. "I expect those little cats are glad of a warm fireside now", he said. "You should have one of them when it's old enough - it would be good company for you. More fun than a blue china one, anyway", he went on. "Still, that's what Tom's mum will want, she collects china animals, I believe."
Rose found her voice at last. "How do you know about all these things?" She was sure none of the children had been to tell the snowman. They'd given up waiting for him to talk again too.
"Ah", said Chesterfield, "aah... well, you see, it is my business to know about all these things."
"Your business?" said Rose, "I don't understand."
"No, well ,you couldn't possibly understand, my dear", said the snowman. "I just knew there were things here that needed sorting out a bit and I like sorting things out. Now everyone's happy and it's time I moved on. There's a few days left before Christmas - I can get a bit more sorting out done if I hurry!"
"You arranged it all ! “ marvelled Rose. “ I must tell everyone!”
Chesterfield's voice was very faint now.
"Of course", he whispered, "but I'm not sure if they'll believe you. Maybe the children will".

For a while, whenever snow fell, Rose couldn’t resist a peep at the pear tree, but Chesterfield Chilliness never came again.