Christmas tree COUNTDOWN

‘This is so kind of you,’ said Jennie to the man who was holding the gate open to the Christmas tree farm. ‘I thought for sure you’d be closed!’ ‘That’s OK,’ he said. ‘As long as you’re quick. I should have shut an hour ago.’

‘I have to be really quick for my own reasons,’ said Jennie, mentally cursing the holiday let that wouldn’t let her in before four o’clock. Now, at half-past five, she had very little time left to get everything ready.

She inspected the small pile of trees. ‘Which is the littlest?’ she asked the man. He had a beanie hat pulled down over his head against the cold and wore