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Nick & Carter Holiday #23
Christmas Day, 1994
Monday, December 26, 1994
It's Boxing Day and Nick and Carter are flying on their customized 767, The Lumberjack 3, from Sydney to Pago Pago.
And, actually, when they get to their destination, it will be Sunday, the 25th of December—Christmas Day—again.
It's that whole International Date Line thing, doncha know.
Anyway, on this second Christmas Day of 1994, they're going to finally fulfill the dying wish of an old friend who once got them out of a big jam.
And, along the way, they'll make some new friends, uncover a hidden secret or two, and finally solve a thorny problem they've had for the last few years.
Join them, won't you, for all the fun of not just one Christmas Day, but two!
Welcome to a year of holidays with Nick Williams and Carter Jones!
This is the twenty-third in a series of short stories and novellas all centered around specific holidays.
Each story is a vignette that stands on its own and takes place from the 1920s to 2008.
This is a short story containing about 19,600 words.
It's Boxing Day and Nick and Carter are flying on their customized 767, The Lumberjack 3, from Sydney to Pago Pago.
And, actually, when they get to their destination, it will be Sunday, the 25th of December—Christmas Day—again.
It's that whole International Date Line thing, doncha know.
Anyway, on this second Christmas Day of 1994, they're going to finally fulfill the dying wish of an old friend who once got them out of a big jam.
And, along the way, they'll make some new friends, uncover a hidden secret or two, and finally solve a thorny problem they've had for the last few years.
Join them, won't you, for all the fun of not just one Christmas Day, but two!
Welcome to a year of holidays with Nick Williams and Carter Jones!
This is the twenty-third in a series of short stories and novellas all centered around specific holidays.
Each story is a vignette that stands on its own and takes place from the 1920s to 2008.
This is a short story containing about 19,600 words.
68 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 22, 2020
8 people are currently reading
5 people want to read
About the author
Frank W. Butterfield
123 books106 followersFrank W. Butterfield, not an assumed name, loves old movies, wise-cracking smart guys with hearts of gold, and writing for fun.
Although he worships San Francisco, he lives at the beach on another coast.
Born on a windy day in November of 1966, he was elected President of his high school Spanish Club in the spring of 1983.
After moving across these United States like a rapid-fire pinball, he currently makes his home in a hurricane-proof apartment with superior water pressure that was built in 1926.
While he hasn't met any dolphins personally, that invitation is always open.
Although he worships San Francisco, he lives at the beach on another coast.
Born on a windy day in November of 1966, he was elected President of his high school Spanish Club in the spring of 1983.
After moving across these United States like a rapid-fire pinball, he currently makes his home in a hurricane-proof apartment with superior water pressure that was built in 1926.
While he hasn't met any dolphins personally, that invitation is always open.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 24, 2020
Christmas Day, 1994 (Nick & Carter Holidays #23)
By Frank W. Butterfield
Published by the author, 2020
Five stars
Through the magic of the international date line, Nick Williams and Carter Jones get to celebrate Christmas twice in 1994, when they are, respectively, 72 and 74. Partly, they’re following their custom of spending Christmas in the southern hemisphere, where it is summer (thus warm). This has included a Pacific Rim hop on their private jet to inspect their various Hopkins hotels. It also affords them a return visit to Australia, nearly forty years after they literally had to flee arrest for being and open same-sex couple in a very hostile nation. Just as importantly for them, they’ve got a pilgrimage to Henry Harkaway’s “desert island” to fulfill a promise to deposit their long-dead friend’s ashes in the lagoon there.
What we also get is a clear-eyed reminder that all the people we’ve loved for so long are aging, and some of them are already gone, including Robert Evans, the cute kid who ended up managing WilliamsJones into the multinational corporation it is. Nick and Carter need to start to plan for succession. The flipside of that reminder is that the children who’ve skittered across the pages of Frank Butterfield’s books in the past are now themselves parents. There is a new generation ready, and this includes Cal Evans, Robert’s great-nephew.
This longer-than-usual story serves as a poignant finale for this wonderful year-long series, but also as a pivot into the future. Henry Harkaway’s island re-emerges as a place of significance for the future of WilliamsJones and its legacy.
Nick’s generous heart and willingness to help members of his tribe in trouble live on, as does the power of his dreams to foreshadow things yet to come. But the two handsome guys who spotted each other “across a crowded room” in San Francisco back in the 1940s are there, virtually unchanged, in each other’s hearts. And, I might say, in mine.
What a great Christmas gift.
By Frank W. Butterfield
Published by the author, 2020
Five stars
Through the magic of the international date line, Nick Williams and Carter Jones get to celebrate Christmas twice in 1994, when they are, respectively, 72 and 74. Partly, they’re following their custom of spending Christmas in the southern hemisphere, where it is summer (thus warm). This has included a Pacific Rim hop on their private jet to inspect their various Hopkins hotels. It also affords them a return visit to Australia, nearly forty years after they literally had to flee arrest for being and open same-sex couple in a very hostile nation. Just as importantly for them, they’ve got a pilgrimage to Henry Harkaway’s “desert island” to fulfill a promise to deposit their long-dead friend’s ashes in the lagoon there.
What we also get is a clear-eyed reminder that all the people we’ve loved for so long are aging, and some of them are already gone, including Robert Evans, the cute kid who ended up managing WilliamsJones into the multinational corporation it is. Nick and Carter need to start to plan for succession. The flipside of that reminder is that the children who’ve skittered across the pages of Frank Butterfield’s books in the past are now themselves parents. There is a new generation ready, and this includes Cal Evans, Robert’s great-nephew.
This longer-than-usual story serves as a poignant finale for this wonderful year-long series, but also as a pivot into the future. Henry Harkaway’s island re-emerges as a place of significance for the future of WilliamsJones and its legacy.
Nick’s generous heart and willingness to help members of his tribe in trouble live on, as does the power of his dreams to foreshadow things yet to come. But the two handsome guys who spotted each other “across a crowded room” in San Francisco back in the 1940s are there, virtually unchanged, in each other’s hearts. And, I might say, in mine.
What a great Christmas gift.
December 27, 2020
Sweet Christmas story, sweet follow up to an earlier novel, and of course, this island always makes me want to find a "Gros Michel" banana. I'll be sorry to see this series end - it's been a lot of fun this year.
December 26, 2022
Another holiday in the lives of Nick and Carter. Seeing the pair on Christmas, or rather two Christmases, is a pure delight. Emotionally charged due to personal nostalgia on the men's part as they prepare to say a final goodbye to an old acquaintance of yesteryear. Yet another snippet in the couples' journey making me want to get to know their entire journey even more. There is familiar names and new ones, through each we get to explore Nick and Carter's relationship even deeper. There is no doubt the pair love each other and have done so for decades. I love seeing them as mature adults reminding us that life, love, and learning never ends. One of these days I will go back and read about Nick and Carter's full journey but until then I continue to enjoy these beautiful holiday snippets.
January 2, 2021
A return to Henry's Island - to fulfill a deathbed wish. As with several of these (later-in-life) stories this is both tenderly sweet and a trifle foreboding. Along the way the two begin to solve a long-standing problem looming in the (near-ish) future.
I imagine most readers will be familiar with Nick and Carter so this really needs no further recommendation.
I imagine most readers will be familiar with Nick and Carter so this really needs no further recommendation.
January 3, 2021
Merry Christmas x2
Imagine getting to celebrate Christmas twice. With Nick and Carter it was fulfilled in only a way they could do it. And I got to celebrate with them. Niiiiice! This short story tells of Nick and Carter fulfilling Henry’s final wish by returning his ashes to Henry’s Island. As Nick and Carter are in their “elder” years (lol, read the book) my heart beats heavily as the last page reminds me once again of their mortality. I have truly fallen in love with these 2 amazing men.
Imagine getting to celebrate Christmas twice. With Nick and Carter it was fulfilled in only a way they could do it. And I got to celebrate with them. Niiiiice! This short story tells of Nick and Carter fulfilling Henry’s final wish by returning his ashes to Henry’s Island. As Nick and Carter are in their “elder” years (lol, read the book) my heart beats heavily as the last page reminds me once again of their mortality. I have truly fallen in love with these 2 amazing men.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews