Please Come Home for Christmas
by Don Fulton

It is 1968 and New Yorkers prepare for a happy Christmas season. For sisters Jane Owens and Pearl Johnson, the holidays are anything but joyous. Earlier in the year, Angie, Jane’s youngest daughter ran away with her boyfriend, Larry. Jane argues with her husband, Reverend Earl Owens, about letting Angie return home. Ella, Jane’s oldest daughter, leaves home because Larry was her boyfriend. Sam, Jane’s son, leaves and joins a Black militant group after a fight with his father. Pearl expects her husband, Bill, to retire from the military. She learns that the Vietnamese capture him. Finally, Jane and Pearl fight and stop speaking. Things aren’t right at the preacher’s house this year. It’s doubtful that anyone is coming home this Christmas