She's got clues. Somebody's going to get it.
Maggie is fourteen. That is old enough to be left in charge of a pile of younger cousins and a little sister on Christmas Eve, and old enough to not really like doing it. She is the kind of kid who takes a job seriously even when she would rather not have it. Somebody has to keep them off the stairs. Somebody has to think of something for them to do. Tonight that somebody is her.
She remembers her great-grandfather better than any of the little ones can, because she was the only one old enough to. His chair. The bowl of red and white pinwheel candies that turns up in every living room at Christmas and vanishes off the face of the earth in January. The way he would hold up one hand when he wanted the room quiet, and the way the room went quiet. And every Christmas Eve, one song. His song. The one that meant Christmas had officially begun.
The tradition of that song is so strong that she decides to make a game of it.
One clue at a time, for the little ones, partly to keep them busy but mostly to make sure that great-grandfather's tradition is never forgotten. The prize for guessing it is that you get to be the one who guessed it. The little ones consider this a fine prize. Jimmy has guessed "Frosty the Snowman." He will guess it again.
Maggie is a good singer and does not want you to know that. She is a better big sister than she lets on. She is at the age where dancing in front of people is out of the question, and this may be the one night that rule does not hold.
Every production of Christmas on the Dial is cast from its own community, so the face changes from town to town. Your program has tonight's cast.
Meet the others: Bing Marlow, Vivian Vale, Chester, The Kids, The Narrator, The Hi-Fi Five, WMRG.
