Welcome to the conclusion of The Mark Steyn Club's first Christmas Tale for Our Time this holiday season. We're spending a few nights with Damon Runyon, famed for Guys & Dolls but with a few Yuletide yarns tucked away in the back of the oeuvre.
In tonight's concluding episode of this first Runyon tale, our three wise guys are in pursuit of some stashed loot and following a star in the sky:
I hear The Dutchman say the old barn is now only a short distance away, and by this time it is dark, and colder than a deputy sheriff's heart, and there is snow on the ground, although it is clear overhead, and I am wishing I am back in Mindy's restaurant wrapping myself around a nice T-bone steak, when I hear Blondy Swanson ask The Dutchman if he is sure he knows where he is going, as this seems to be an untraveled road, and The Dutchman states as follows: "Why," he says, "I know I am on the right road. I am following the big star you see up ahead of us, because I remember seeing this star always in front of me when I am going along the road before."
So we keep following the star, but it turns out that it is not a star at all, but a light shining from the window of a ramshackle old frame building pretty well off to one side of the road and on a rise of ground, and when The Dutchman sees this light, he is greatly nonplussed indeed...
And who wants to be nonplussed on Christmas Eve? To hear the conclusion of Three Wise Guys, please click here and log-in.
The opening episode can be found here - and you can check out all our Tales for Our Time in easy-to-access Netflix-style tile format here, including Christmas with Louisa May Alcott's Little Women.
One reason why we read stories from the past here at SteynOnline is because, as we should surely have learned this year, there won't be any past left by the time the vandals are through. And a society with no past has no future: It's not that difficult to grasp.
Tales for Our Time started as an experimental feature for Mark Steyn Club members, and, as you know, I said if it was a total stinkeroo, we'd eighty-six the thing and speak no more of it. But I'm thrilled to say it's proving very popular, and looks like it'll be around a while. If you're a Club member and you incline more to the stinkeroo view of it, give it your best in the Comments Section below.
We launched The Mark Steyn Club over three-and-a-half years ago, and I'm immensely heartened by all those SteynOnline supporters across the globe - from Fargo to Fiji, Vancouver to Vanuatu, Surrey to the Solomon Islands - who've signed up to be a part of it. If you've enjoyed our monthly Steyn Club radio serials and you're looking for a Yuletide present for someone special, I hope you'll consider our limited-time-only Christmas Gift Membership. And, aside from Tales for Our Time, The Mark Steyn Club does come with other benefits:
~Exclusive Steyn Store member pricing on over 40 books, mugs, T-shirts, and other products - plus this year's Santa Steyn Christmas specials;
~The opportunity to engage in live Clubland Q&A sessions with yours truly;
~Transcript and audio versions of The Mark Steyn Show, Mark's Mailbox, and our other video content;
~Our video series of classic poetry;
~Priority booking for the third Mark Steyn Club Cruise (following our first two sold-out cruises);
~Advance booking for my live appearances around the world, assuming such things are ever again legally permitted;
~Customized email alerts for new content in your areas of interest;
~and the chance to support our print, audio and video ventures as they wing their way around the planet.
To become a member of The Mark Steyn Club, please click here - or sign up a pal for that limited-time seasonal-offer Christmas Gift Membership. And do join us tomorrow for another Yuletide tale by Damon Runyon.