Edward Funk

Christmas Eve on Hwy 41 Edward Funk

It's Christmas Eve, 1955. A mother and son are home in an old Indiana farm house as a wicked blizzard kicks up. The father and older children are stranded by weather in New York. The mom's a city girl who had a satisfying career before marrying and moving to a rural community. She still has mixed feelings about her decision to do so. The son is in many ways what you'd expect of a ten-year-old. But he has a sensitivity that allows him to grasp very adult problems. They live on a major highway and it wouldn't be the first time stranded travelers come to their door. And so it happens. The first guests are a wealthy couple. Christmas Eve or not, they're on the road so that the husband can land an important business deal. They've been married twenty-two years and they're expecting a much longed-for first child in just a few weeks. The second arrivals are a runaway couple, much further down the social economic scale. He's nineteen; she's just sixteen. He really hasn't thought out their destination but he's in a hurry as he stole her stepfather's car for their flight. A distinguished looking older man is the next to knock on the door. He's a retired judge. Who would guess that he's absorbed in a personal crisis decades in the making?A thirty-year-old black man is the last to seek refuge. A life time of racial discrimination prompted him to stay in his car as long as possible. Can this odd collection of humanity help each other sort out very real life problems? Here's a hint: it' Christmas Eve.