Jeannie took little comfort in the beautiful scene created as a full moon cast light across the fields on both sides of the road. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate such things. Even had she known it was the first full Christmas moon since 1977, Jeannie had other things on her mind, such as her son and daughter asleep in their child’s seats in back.

The health and safety of her young children were concerns for the very reason that Jeannie was in a position to observe the effects of a full moon on a winter’s night in rural McHenry County; they were driving home from grandma and grandpa’s when, suddenly, the car stopped running and the lights all went out.

Jeannie found that she had to fight the steering wheel to pull the car over to the shoulder. Not too concerned, she got out her cell phone and was about to call her father when she realized the phone’s battery was dead and remembered how the children used the phone a good part of that Christmas Eve to play games. Apparently, they had run the battery down.

Still in control of the situation, Jeannie opened the glove box and took out the cord to charge the phone’s battery. She plugged it into the cigarette lighter and into the phone. Nothing happened. Usually, even if the phone was off, a little light came on at the top of the phone and the screen showed a battery being filled. But not this time.

It dawned on Jeannie that the car’s battery must also have gone dead, which was why they were stranded on this barren road in the wee hours just before midnight. Now, Jeannie began to worry. Terrible thoughts went through her mind.

There were no cars to be seen ahead or behind. What if the first car that came along had the wrong sort of people – people who might take advantage of their situation? The weather wasn’t as cold as it might have been this time of year but, all the same, without the car’s heater, the children would soon wake up cold and afraid.

This last thought washed away the other concerns as Jeannie realized she would have to maintain her composure to reassure the children when they woke, as she was sure they would. It even occurred to her that she might take a look under the hood to see if a wire was loose or something.

Jeannie had seen her auto repair technician reach under the dashboard to pull a lever that opened the hood. In the dark inside the car, she felt under the dash and found the lever. She gave it a hard yank and her a popping sound from the front of the car. She could see in the moonlight that the hood was no longer secure and she got out of the car.

Jeannie walked to the front of the car, pulled the hood up slightly and felt inside for another lever to finally release the hood. At last, she found it and lifted the hood. It didn’t want to stay up and she quickly realized that, right in front of her, was a brace that pivoted up to hold the hood.

Even with the full moon, Jeannie couldn’t see much. She realized that even broad daylight wouldn’t have helped much. The simple truth was that she didn’t know much about what makes a car run.

Jeannie almost jumped out of her skin when, from along the shoulder of the car, a man suddenly stepped towards her asking, “What seems to be the problem?”

“Where did you come from?” Jeannie said in a wary tone.

“I’m sorry, I’ve startled you,” said the man. “I was out there,” he added while gesturing towards the field.

“Out there?” Jeannie asked with an increasingly anxious tone of voice.

“No, no,” said the man. “Beyond the field. It took me a few minutes to walk over.”

Jeannie, at last, took a good look at the man in the moonlight. He was short and heavy with a big, white beard. He was wearing a jacket with the fur-lined hood up. In the moonlight, Jeannie couldn’t quite make out the color of the jacket. She did, however, notice that he was smoking a pipe.

Feeling a little more at ease, Jeannie explained that the car had stopped running.

“Mind if I take a look?” said the man.

“Be my guest,” said Jeannie, as she leaned to her left and looked out into the field again in hopes of seeing the man’s ATV, or whatever he was driving.

The man had hardly stuck his head under the hood than he stood back up with something long, thin and black in his hand. “Your serpentine belt has broken.”

“Hmmm?” said Jeannie, as though she hadn’t heard what he said. Instead, she pointed out to the field and said, “How did you get out there?”

“Oh, you might say I live out that way,” he said.

“I ‘might say?’” she asked.

The man smiled and said, “Yes, you might say.” Then, he added, “You know, before I walked over, I kind of figured you might need a tow truck or something. They should be here soon.”

No sooner had he said that then Jeannie saw headlights coming down the road. “You’ve thought of everything,” Jeannie said as she made out the silhouette of a tow truck behind the lights.

The man chuckled a little ‘Ho, ho, ho’ and said, “Just thought you could use some help. But now, I have to get going. You have a Merry Christmas.”

Jeannie said, “You, too.” But, as she turned towards the man, she found he was already gone. She looked out in the field but, in spite of that full moon, she just couldn't see him anywhere.

As the tow truck driver hooked up the car, Jeannie could swear she heard bells jingling out across the field.