{"id":328,"date":"2014-11-24T14:46:59","date_gmt":"2014-11-24T14:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.byrdspilmandewey.com\/?page_id=328"},"modified":"2014-12-21T14:15:35","modified_gmt":"2014-12-21T14:15:35","slug":"christmas-at-ben-trovato-fan-fiction","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.byrdspilmandewey.com\/?page_id=328","title":{"rendered":"Christmas at Ben Trovato – Fan Fiction"},"content":{"rendered":"

This\u00a0fictional short story presents the characters of Judith and Julius Sunshine, Byrd Spilman Dewey\u2019s characters that were stand-ins for herself and husband Fred. It is a little glimpse of life along Lake Worth more than a century ago.\u00a0The story\u00a0takes place at the Dewey\u2019s\u00a0lakefront home, Ben Trovato in West Palm Beach. The Rapallo Condominium now\u00a0occupies the homestead. Ben Trovato means \u201cwell invented\u201d in Italian, and I hope you find this little story \u201cwell invented\u201d as well.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Christmas 1897 at Ben Trovato<\/strong><\/p>\n

Preparations were well underway for the Christmas holidays on The Blessed Isle. The two stockings, that of Judith and Julius, were carefully hung on the hearth in the parlor of their lovely lakefront home, Ben<\/i> Trovato<\/i>. \"cropped-Ben_Trovato_18961.jpg\"<\/a>Judith was busy preparing Julius\u2019s favorite sweets. She had to keep a careful watch on the oven to make sure the temperature was just right, and a watchful eye on their cats, Kitty Winks and Catty Meow, as they were eying the butter meant for the cookies.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou kits will soon get your little treat,\u201d said Judith. \u201cBut you\u2019ll have to wait till I\u2019m finished.\u201d As Judith put the last of the cookies in the oven, the kits eagerly awaited as Judith placed a large dab of butter on a dainty plate. Two very happy kits licked away at their prize.<\/p>\n

Christmas was always different in Florida than it was up north. This year it was especially warm, and everything was a shimmering green. Julius had found a perfectly shaped spruce pine in the woods behind the Blessed Isle, and cut it to display in the parlor. This much amused the \u201ccattle,\u201d which is how Julius always referred to the cats. Kitty Winks found it silly to bring a tree in the house when so many were all around the house. When the ornaments began to adorn the tree, the kits were certain they were carefully placed toys just for them!<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Tree<\/p><\/div>\n

As Christmas Eve approached, Julius had a real dilemma \u2013 how to get Judith out of the house for a few hours so her Christmas surprise could be delivered. He spoke with their nearby neighbor, the old German professor. \u201cMaybe you could come over and say that your wife needs some help with\u00a0baking\u201d, said Julius. \u201cThen I could get everything set up and it will be a big surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Julius was not the only one planning. Judith also had a Christmas surprise, something she had been working on for weeks. Julius was very proud of his naphtha launch, the Calamity Jane<\/i>, so Judith thought it fitting that he should have a fine cap and coat \u2013 a commodore\u2019s coat!<\/p>\n

\"Fred<\/a>

Julius in his naphtha launch<\/p><\/div>\n

She worked on it on the days he was away on business over on the island. Soon it was finished and carefully wrapped under the tree.<\/p>\n

On Christmas Eve morn, the old German professor appeared just as planned. \u201cOh Mrs. Sunshine, do you have a few moments?\u201d said the professor. \u201cMy wife is having some trouble in the kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat sort of trouble?\u201d said Judith. \u201cI am not entirely sure, except that she was crying that she is such a hopeless housewife.\u201d Looking very downtrodden, Judith was not happy about being out of the house on Christmas Eve; she had much to do herself to prepare for Christmas Day.<\/p>\n

Hurriedly she took off her apron and put on her bonnet and followed the professor over to his place a few minutes walk to the south. There sat the professor\u2019s wife with a kitchen full of ingredients. Judith sighed at the lack of cooking skills of the young wife, but soon things were progressing in the kitchen.<\/p>\n

After about an hour, suddenly Kitty Winks appeared, meowing in great distress. Judith heard her cries, and went out on the piazza to see what could be wrong. As Kitty Winks saw Judith, she cried even louder and ran towards Ben<\/i> Trovato<\/i>. Judith knew something was wrong at home. She rushed back in to say she must check on things at home. As she dashed through the woods, she could see the house \u2013 and strange figures on the upstairs porch! Julius was over on the island, so she was certain it was not him.<\/p>\n

What to do! She thought how clever\u00a0the cats were to alert her to this most serious situation. She went back to the professor\u2019s house and told of the burglary underway. \u201cIf only Julius were here!\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course the professor knew who it was, but did not want to spoil the surprise. \u201cWe\u2019ll go over there and check things out.\u201d, said the professor.<\/p>\n

As they walked through the woods, just then Julius was arriving at the wharf. The professor quickly approached him and apprised him of the situation. Julius chuckled a bit. He walked quickly towards Judith and said \u201cDon\u2019t worry, we\u2019ll catch that burglar!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh please be careful Julius!\u201d cried Judith.<\/p>\n

After a few minutes, Julius called to Judith from the upper piazza \u201cI have the culprit up here \u2013 come up here and see.\u201d Judith thought this odd, but she proceeded up the stairs. As she rounded the corner, she saw it\u2026a beautiful new writing desk! \u201cOh Julius!\u201d she cried \u201cyou planned this whole thing!\u201d \u201cWell, not the part with the cats sending out the alarm!\u201d said Julius.<\/p>\n

Judith then scurried down stairs and took Julius\u2019s package \u2013\u201cYou can\u2019t guess what it is!\u201d Julius opened the package and beamed like a child \u201cOh its perfect \u2013 I\u2019ll put it on right away\u2013let\u2019s go for a ride!\u201d<\/p>\n

Julius put on the new coat and cap, and Judith and Julius motored happily along the moonlit waters of Lake Worth that Christmas Eve\u2026Judith dreaming about the new writing desk, and Julius happily attired in his new coat.<\/p>\n

\"Kitty<\/a>

Kitty Winks<\/p><\/div>\n

And at Ben<\/i> Trovato<\/i> sat two very relieved cats, comfortable under their spruce pine Christmas tree, contented in their Florida paradise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This\u00a0fictional short story presents the characters of Judith and Julius Sunshine, Byrd Spilman Dewey\u2019s characters that were stand-ins for herself and husband Fred. It is a little glimpse of life along Lake Worth more than a century ago.\u00a0The story\u00a0takes place at the Dewey\u2019s\u00a0lakefront home, Ben Trovato in West Palm Beach. \u2026 Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":79,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-328","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.byrdspilmandewey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.byrdspilmandewey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.byrdspilmandewey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.byrdspilmandewey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.byrdspilmandewey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.byrdspilmandewey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/328\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.byrdspilmandewey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/79"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.byrdspilmandewey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}