owners to continue to work on salary , paying them just enough to keep them where they were , because they had nowhere else to go . He told them that when the economy improved , he ’ d sell their business back to them , and people always believed him .
Never once , however , did he keep his promise . In the end he controlled a vast portion of the county ’ s economy , and he abused his clout in every way imaginable .
I ’ d like to tell you he eventually went to a terrible death , but he didn ’ t . He died at a ripe-old age while sleeping with his mistress on his yacht off the Cayman Islands . He ’ d outlived both his wives and his only son . Some end for a guy like that , huh ? Life , I ’ ve learned , is never fair . If people teach anything in school , that should be it .
But back to the story … . Hegbert , once he realized what a bastard my grandfather really was , quit working for him and went into the ministry , then came back to Beaufort and started ministering in the same church we attended . He spent his first few years perfecting his fire-and-brimstone act with monthly sermons on the evils of the greedy , and this left him scant time for anything else . He was forty-three before he ever got married ; he was fifty-five when his daughter , Jamie Sullivan , was born . His wife , a wispy little thing twenty years younger than he , went through six miscarriages before Jamie was born , and in the end she died in childbirth , making Hegbert a widower who had to raise a daughter on his own .
Hence , of course , the story behind the play .
People knew the story even before the play was first performed . It was one of those stories that made its rounds whenever Hegbert had to baptize a baby or attend a funeral . Everyone knew about it , and that ’ s why , I think , so many people got emotional whenever they saw the Christmas play . They knew it was based on something that happened in real life , which gave it special meaning .
Jamie Sullivan was a senior in high school , just like me , and she ’ d already been chosen to play the angel , not that anyone else even had a chance . This , of course , made the play extra special that year . It was going to be a big deal , maybe the biggest ever — at least in Miss Garber ’ s mind . She was the drama teacher , and she was already glowing about the possibilities the first time I met her in class .
Now , I hadn ’ t really planned on taking drama that year . I really hadn ’ t , but it was either that or chemistry II . The thing was , I thought it would be a blow-off class , especially when compared with my other option . No papers , no tests , no tables where I ’ d have to memorize protons and neutrons and combine elements in their proper formulas … what could possibly be better for a high school senior ? It seemed like a sure thing , and when I signed up for it , I thought I ’ d just be able to sleep through most every class , which , considering my late night peanut eating , was fairly important at the time .
On the first day of class I was one of the last to arrive , coming in just a few seconds before the bell rang , and I took a seat in the back of the room . Miss Garber had her back turned to the class , and she was busy writing her name in big cursive letters , as if we didn ’ t know who she was . Everyone knew her — it was impossible not to . She was big , at least six feet two , with flaming red hair and pale skin that showed her freckles well into