From West by Northwest.org Voices of Spencer Creek Norm's Notebook: Christmas in Lorane By Norm Maxwell Dec 20, 2005 We do Lorane Movie Night during the dark months at the old Grange Hall in Lorane.  The Lorane Film Society screens a different movie once a month on Saturday night.  December's selection was "The French Lieutenant's Woman."  I had never seen it before. There are always half a dozen kinds of popcorn and lots of cookies and fudge and so forth.  The 120-year old hall is heated with two wood stoves situated diagonally across the main room from each other.  Somebody comes around 1600 and starts the fires so everything is warm by show time. We always have door prize drawings before the lights go out.  You save your ticket stub and the MC calls the serial number from the other half.  The door prizes are usually locally made crafts or home made wine or gag gifts.  I won a ewer this time.  I even kept mum when my number was called but Sande narked me off.   Our neighbors downstream from us recently had their house burgled by punks undoubtedly looking for stuff to sell to buy meth.  The 15-year old daughter's prized digital video cam was part of the bag. She showed real talent for videography. Rich (the MC) heard about it and so he "volunteered" the daughter up to the stage to help him administer the door prizes.  Rich stirred the numbers and handed her the stubs  to call out.  Some poor sap got the giant spatula still in the wrapping that I got for Christmas a couple years ago.  A stain glass window, a bottle of mead, a good book, a massage certificate, a box of kindling and then there was only the mystery prize wrapped in paper left on the stage.   Rich read the number.  Nobody piped up.  The daughter finally looked at her ticket and was surprised to see she had won the mystery prize.  Removing the paper, she discovered an identical cam corder to the one stolen by punks.   Everybody got refills of popcorn and Christmas cookies, the lights went out and the movie started.  I swept up the dirt, smashed popcorn and ticket stubs after the show.         Copyright © 2005 by Norm Maxwell Norm Maxwell is the author of the novel in progress Banjo Lane and is a regular contributor to West By Northwest.org. Norm Maxwell received the 2004 Best of West By Northwest award for his article, The Fire of South Canyon: Remembering Storm King. Tens of thousands of readers have "voted" with their mouse by their selection of this story. Visit Norm Maxwell's other pieces about land use, firefighting and life in the country and more at West By Northwest.org. Norm's Notebook: A Day Doing Lines Norm's Notebook: Is There Life After Fire? Norm's Notebook: Dogpatch and the Developers Norm's Notebook: Norm's Notebook: Saving Fish Creek, One Dead Car at a Time Norm's Notebook: Norns and Nests Norm's Notebook: The Mystery Corner of Section 37 Norm's Notebook: Replanting with Cedar and Pine Norm's Notebook: A Winnebago, Motorhome That Is Norm's Notebook: Measure 37 Fallout Norm's Notebook: The Wayward Bus Norm's Notebook: New Bike and The Three Acre Wood Norm's Notebook: A Helicopter and a Hometown Norm's Notebook: A Different Kind of Pre-Emptive Strike Norm's Notebook: "Goodbye Dear, I'll be Home in a Year" Norm's Notebook: Dead Cars and the Six Million Dollar Manx (Editor's note–Norm's "Dead Cars" story inspired a feature story in the Register Guard, "Heaps of trouble in the woods.") A Homey Homage to the Homelite: The Stone Age of Powersawing Take Two: Jackson Road Norm's Notebook: Battling Broom Norm's Notebook: A Last Look from the Big Rabbit Norm's Notebook: From Forest to McMansion, How It Could Happen Here Norm's Notebook: A Few Acres, a Few Chickens–Who Is Living on the Land Now Remembering the 30 Mile Fire Old Men and Fire The Fire of South Canyon: Remembering Storm King Wee-wee for BB Norm's Notebook: The Story of the Spruce Tree, and Mosby Creek, a New Land Use Lot Adjustment Mentoring Military Style Three Dollar Hammer Remember Fire Road Home, Home on Fire Road and more. © Copyright 2000-2004 by West by Northwest.org