The old man looked down at the tourist brochure, “Keep Austin Weird,” sitting on

the information desk near the building entrance and just shook his head. If there
was anything weird about Austin he knew it was the building he worked in. If fact
the weirdest thing in all of Austin was that he was night watchman in a medieval
castle built long before even the state capital in the center of Austin. But even
that was just the beginning of it. For years it was a well known fact that the Old
Land Office building was haunted by Bill. Bill had worked in the building back in
the late 1800’s at his day job as a draftsman, but subsequent to that Bill became
world renown even to this day for his other trade.
Although Bill was a pretty famous guy, to the old man he was a friend of some
forty years. Years ago, when the old man was young, he had come to the
Daughter’s of the Confederacy who ran the place as a museum looking for a job,
and they had hired him as a night watchman. Now the state had taken over the
place and they called him a security guard, but the old man thought of himself
really as a man who watched over and protected the building he and Bill loved.
On the second floor there was an oil painting of a beautiful girl hanging on the
wall above her antique roll top desk which contained the girl’s amethyst ring in a
special display case. It was the magical heart of the building for the old man, and
his very special place. He would sit at the girl’s desk every night; look up at the
oil painting and dream of being with her. She was the most perfect woman ever
to him and nightly he was enchanted by the thought of her. The girl’s name was
Emily, and she had been one of the Daughters who had saved the building from
destruction countless years ago. She died from consumption at an early age, and
the old man always felt heartbroken when he thought about that - for he adored
and cherished her more than anything else in this world.
Now, a few days before Christmas, the old man’s world was coming to an end.
He had hit the mandatory retirement age and tonight would be the very last night
he would ever spend with his Emily. Juan, the security guard from across the
lawn at the Texas capital, was going to be taking over as full time guard at the
Old Land Office when the old man retired, instead of just filling in on the old
man’s days off.
As the old man was sitting at Emily’s desk holding Emily’s ring from the little
display case in his hand, he heard a familiar ghostly rustling behind him, “You
know I’m going to miss you when you are gone old man, “ the ghost of Bill said,
” and I know the building will miss you too. Did you know I actually wrote a story
about this place called ‘Bexar Script No. 2692’?1 I did that back in the day when I
was known as just William Porter, before I took the pen name of O. Henry. As I
recall, I paid quite a homage to this edifice.”
“I’ll miss you too Bill, and all of your stories you’ve shared, but I don’t know how I
will live without Emily.”
“I wrote a Christmas story once,’ The Gift of The Magi’ and if I had the power to
give you a gift this Christmas…”
Just then the old man heard Juan coming up the stairs. He usually came over
twice a night to visit with and check on the old man when he was working.
“Amigo, I see that you are sitting at your favorite exhibit. I thought I heard you
talking to somebody. The ghosts in this place, no?” Juan said with a smile, but
with a slightly troubled look on his face, his eyes darting around into the dark
corners.
“For me the favorite exhibit is the ‘curandero’ exhibit on the other side of the
room. The curandero are great healers in my culture. They can relieve not only
physical suffering but mental suffering also. The greatest curandara of all was
Teresita Urrea the Saint of Cabora, they have her Rosary over there in the case.”
Juan lowered his voice and said, “It is said that those who wear the rosary
around their neck and believe can be healed of their suffering and their wish can
come true. But of course there are many tales of miracles, and ghosts, and my
faith is not strong enough to support all of these fables.”
The old man just sat there staring at Juan and realized his concentration all these
years had been so fixated on Emily that he scarcely remembered the stories of
the other exhibits in the museum.
Juan suddenly felt he had made the old man feel uncomfortable and said, “Well,
Amigo, I’ve should be getting back to the Capital. I’ll be back later to see how you
are doing.” And in saying that hurried down the stairs.
The rest of the night Juan made his rounds of the capital building experiencing a
strange melancholy sadness mixed with joy and happiness that he could not
define. Every time he thought of his old friend the Watchman, the feelings
seemed to become so intense. Suddenly it came to Juan that something
extraordinarily weird had taken place in the Old Land Office building. Juan ran
across the lawn from the capital to check on his old friend.

1
Available in the “Rolling Stones” collection of O. Henry’s work at Gutenberg.org.
Juan found the old man laying there in front of the old desk, below the painting of
his beloved Emily. Juan could see that the old man had suddenly died there, and
was heartsick for his old Amigo. Just then Juan’s eyes became very wide at what
he saw. The old man was actually smiling, clutched in his hand was Emily’s ring,
and most amazing of all was the curandara’s Rosary around his neck!
It was then that Juan got the biggest shock of all. Sanding there next to the old
man was a ghost like figure, dressed in old-fashioned clothes that said, “Now
don’t be afraid Juan, you might have heard of me. Most people call me O. Henry,
but you can just call me Bill. And I’ve got another surprise for you!”
Bill pointed to the corner over by the window, and there were two more spirits.
Standing there was the lady in the picture above the desk, and in her arms was
the young watchman of years ago!
“It’s another ‘Gift of the Magi’ Juan!,” Bill said. “Perhaps you read my story? Did
you know the original Magi had the ability to read the stars, and manipulate the
fate that the stars foretold?”
“Well, you and I are going to have a lot of time to talk over things. I think that this
is the beginning of a great friendship!”
And so it was. As the years passed, Juan, Bill, Emily, and the Watchman
continued to celebrate in the joy of the building they all loved, and the weird and
wonderful Christmas gift they all shared.