The first carving appeared outside Ralph Barter’s cottage. He was putting out the recycling when he spotted it propped against his front gate – a wooden carving, about seven inches high, of a man wearing a fedora-style hat. Ralph had a fedora somewhere, lost at the back of a wardrobe, no doubt. He didn’t tend to make a big effort with his appearance any more. He and Valerie, his wife, didn’t socialise as much these days.
Ralph mentioned the carving to a few locals the next day as he pottered around the village. Some of those he told, including Beryl who ran the local mini supermarket, gave him a funny look, like she thought he might be making it up.
‘You say this little figure looked like you?’ she asked, as she bagged up his purchases. She was wearing a novelty Santa hat, although her face was as grim as ever. Ralph had almost forgotten that Christmas was just around the corner.
‘Well, as much as a seven-inch figure can look like somebody, yes. Actually, it looked more like me
