Ted Headman's Christmas

Chapter Eleven:
"...and Good Will Toward Men."

When Ted came to, he was on a stretcher, being carried by paramedics toward a waiting ambulance. In the background he could hear the sobbing and mumbled laughter of his mother, now hopelessly insane. He could also hear the plaintive cries of Mrs. Witherspoon as other paramedics attempted to revive the Deacon, who had suffered an attack of apoplexy when the tree smashed into the house.
Sheriff Weamer was busy talking to the neighbors, trying to make some sense out of the catastrophe. Ted thought he heard him say, "...of course, I always knew something like this would happen. Frankly, I expected worse."
Jacob Headman lay unseen in a snowbank, his clothes and hair still smoldering. He muttered a short prayer that if he did not survive his injuries, he hoped he was at least go to Hell, because Hell was surely where Ted was going, and he wasn’t through dealing with his son just yet.
After a moment, the sheriff’s deputies discovered Mr. Headman.
"Thank God you’re still alive, Jacob," said one.
"We thought you had been trapped in the house," said another.
Mr. Headman painfully lifted his head, and strained to speak.
"My son...is he..."
"Don’t worry, Jacob. He’s going to be alright. They’re just putting him in the ambulance now."
"WHAT?!" Can nothing destroy that unholy brat?!" shouted an enraged Mr. Headman.
With that, he struggled to his feet and ran limping through the snow, praying for a weapon. Then, as if a gift from above, he spotted his axe lying in the snow where he had dropped it. He snatched it up and ran screaming to the stretcher as it was being lifted into the ambulance.
Ted looked up just as his father was bringing the blade down on his skull. With a mixture of disgust and confusion in his eyes, Ted managed to mutter one last oath.
"God damn us. God damn us every one!"

finis.

If you enjoyed this story, you will surely thrill to these other works in the "Ted Headman" series:
Ted Headman's Easter
Ted Headman's Thanksgiving
Ted Headman's Pentacostal Adventure
Ted Headman Joins the Navy
Jonathan Livingston Seagull

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