1Juniper

When Juniper Lane’s father died, one of the more thoughtless children in her class, a boy by the name of Rusty Johannes, commented that she was halfway to being an orphan. A remark that he’d felt certain would make eight-year-old Juniper cry in front of the other children on the playground. However, Juniper had fixed him with quite a piercing gaze and said, “I think you must be very unhappy to say that, Rusty. Is everything all right at home?”

Her father had often said, “Mean words are the fruit of a sad tree,” so Juniper couldn’t help wondering what sad thing was making Rusty so mean. After a few days’ surveillance, Juniper deduced that the main reason for Rusty’s meanness was that he didn’t seem to have any lunch most days. And so Juniper asked her mother for an extra sandwich in her own lunchbox, which she slipped to Rusty in the cloakroom before assembly every morning. This secret sandwich drastically improved Rusty’s mood and, because the sandwich was made with high-fiber bread, it improved his bathroom regularity too.

That little episode should tell you quite a lot about Juniper Lane and what a special person she was.

Before we get swept into Juniper’s adventures with Santa Claus, we should deal with the name Juniper Lane, which seems to refer to a place rather than a person. There’s a simple explanation for this. Juniper’s father, Briar Lane, had been the park-keeper for London’s Cedar Park and so, when Juniper was born on Christmas morning, it seemed only fitting that the Lanes should name their beautiful daughter for the Juniperus virginiana or red cedar Christmas trees after which the park was also named.

When the smitten parents brought baby Juniper back to their cottage in Cedar Mews on Boxing Day, after only a single night in the Portland Hospital’s maternity ward, it seemed as though all three would live happily ever after.

And they did.

Not exactly ever after.

But for a time.

Eight years and nine months to be exact.

Then Briar Lane died from an undiagnosed heart condition, and Juniper cried every night for over two years.

Let’s pick up the story from there.


Copyright © 2023 by Eoin Colfer