Description: How do you manage if your father who takes you to get a Christmas tree every year suddenly disappears?
Excerpt: When your father dies unexpectedly three weeks after the day in March you turn ten, you don’t think about next year’s Christmas tree. A massive emptiness dominates everything - a lot of shock, a fair bit of sorrow, a tinge of fear. Maybe you wonder who will go with you to the end-of-season father and son hockey-team banquet. Or perhaps you notice about the pickup beside the house no else drives. You might even think about how much you’ll miss those silent Saturday mornings when he reads and you play. Your mom sleeps in, her reward for making the house perfect for the weekend, as if it wasn’t fine already. You love her and all, but you know she’s a fuss-budget and that’s why your friends are never allowed in the house. You might even think about how you felt sorry for Jimmy Walker when his dad left. Only now it’s you who’ll get that pity, except more because at least Jimmy sees his dad every second weekend.
You don’t think about next year’s tree though. Not until the first week of November when Mr. Thompson at the corner puts up the snow fence around his yard like he does every year and you see the sign ‘Christmas Trees For Sale’ lying on the lawn waiting its turn. And then on your way home from school you notice Henry Wilson’s father through their open garage door sharpening his axe.