by Tony Spencer
"That sucks."
"Yeah, big time. Anyway, I wanted to speak to you in the morning anyway."
"Well, I want to see you immediately. We have a plan to distribute the bottles at Christmas Fairs up and down the state and we are assembling teams to push out samples and sell as many bottles as we can. I need your help all day though with initial deliveries, resupply and collection of the exhausted teams in the evening. Can you come over now, Mickey, so Daddy and I can explain how we are going to do it?"
"Great, on my way. My Pop was asking why we were doing all this bottling and labelling as it's too late to get to market."
"It's never too late, Mickey, you just got to believe in the Magic of Christmas."
"Alright, I think you're crazy, but I'm coming straight over."
"That's good! See you in a few minutes. Hey! What did you want to say to me, anyway?"
"Only that I'm gonna accept your offer of the job at the post office."
"Oh, that's great, look forward to making an official announcement after Christmas."
"OK if Della helps out with the deliveries tomorrow? I'd arranged to go out with her tomorrow afternoon and evening."
There was a pause at the other end then Bella said, "I'm afraid she won't be able to come. The er ... method of delivery is a secret that we are prepared to let you into as Mummy and Daddy have known you for years and trust you, like they would a son. They've never met Della, so that's a non-starter. You'll have Christmas Day free, you could bring her over to have Christmas dinner with us. It should be a blast!"
"OK, Bella, in order to help my Pop out, even though she worked hard today, I'll make some excuse to Della in the morning. Happy?"
"Well, not totally happy, as I think you two make a lovely couple and I hope to see a lot more of the pair of you once we get this mulled wine business out of the way. Did you tell your Pop you were in love?"
"Get out of it, I'm not in love with Della! No way!" said Mickey just as he left the stairway into the reception area. He waved at the clerk and headed towards the exit.
"You so are, lover-boy!" Bella teased down the cell phone.
"Lover-girl yourself, Bella," chuckled Mickey. "I'm coming over to your place now and I'll blow Della off in the morning, like you insist, so long as it's Christmas dinner on you. Happy?"
"Of course! See you soon, you know Mummy and Daddy love you like a second son, and I love you like a brother, you know?"
"Yeah, I know, I love you too. See you in five minutes." He closed the cell phone and dropped it in his pocket and was already whistling a jolly carol by the time he disappeared through the door. Everything was so right in his world right now, if only he could persuade "Della" to stay, or at least keep in contact until she finished college, then, who knows?
Ella stood transfixed staring at the departing man. She had emerged from the elevator, just before Mickey had come through the door from the stairwell and strode across the foyer and out the door.
She tried to process the fragments of the conversation she had heard. Men, you just can't trust them. She had thought Mickey was different, but he was just like her Poppa, looking out for himself and getting all the free pussy he could get. He was talking to Bella, of course he was. He had said "Get out of it, I'm not in love with Della! No way!" Then Bella must've said something short like, "You're my lover-boy, Mickey," and he replied "Lover-girl yourself, Bella." Of course they were lovers, Mickey even told Ella they had dated, clearly disarming her in case anyone said they'd seen them going out together.
Then he followed up with "I'm coming over to your place now and I'll blow Della off in the morning, like you insist, so long as it's Christmas dinner on you. Happy?" He's seeing an old girlfriend at 2 o'clock in the morning, telling her he was blowing me off as she demanded and he's spending Christmas with her and asking if she's happy? Of course she is, she's got her man. And then he tells her he loves her and is going straight over there.
Ella was angry. If I had invited him in tonight, I know he wouldn't have turned me down. He would have got my cake and eaten Bella's, too. I bet he only came onto me as a spur for Bella. He's had his eye on screwing the boss for a while, she was only partly interested, so he introduced a rival and, guess what? The woman he wanted all along came through for him.
I was used, god-damnit! I was suckered in and fell for it, almost fell for him too. God, I even liked his old man, Pop, he was nice. I even liked Bella until now, I thought she was encouraging me to go for him. I guess she was just testing him, wondering how far he would go, and the fact that Mickey rang her told her he wasn't with me at all. She said damn! to herself and held back the tears while she spoke to the clerk.
***
Back in her room Ella read the message from "her loving brother" handed to her by the clerk and received the tip off from her Uncle Manny that Father Christmas was flying into the private airfield on the edge of St Nicholas City a day early.
She woke early in the morning and changed her flight, instead of flying back to Seattle on the 26th, she altered the ticket to the last flight out on the 24th via LAX to Pittsburgh.
"Hi Momma."
"Hello baby, you sound a bit down, you OK, Ella?"
"I'm coming home this evening Momma."
"Oh that's great baby, d'you want me to pick you up at the airport?"
"No Momma, I'll get a cab."
"It'll be real expensive, baby, let me come collect you, what flight you on?"
"No, it's alright, Momma, I've been working so I can afford it just this once."
"OK, but I think you sound ... unhappy. Have you got that flu that's doing the rounds?"
"No, Momma, I'll see you later, love you."
"Love you too, baby."
She packed her bag, checked out of the hotel and drove straight up to the airfield. Having already cased the length of the road to Lighthouse Point, she had decided to wait by the red Corvette and meet the target there. On the way she received a cell call from Mickey saying he had been called up to the regional office at the last minute and wouldn't be back until late. Ella was cool and calm and told him no problem, she would entertain herself during the day and wait for him in her room tonight. Mickey seemed relieved that she hadn't made a fuss and told her he would see her later. Not if she saw him first and got a bead on him, she thought, viciously holding back her tears.
From her earlier visit, Ella was aware that the car was stored in a hangar, covered by a brown sheet to keep the dust off. When she got to the airfield she drove around the side and parked behind a hoarding sign out of sight and used a set of wire cutters to get through the fence. She crept up to the hangar. The double sliding doors were slightly open. This was an unexpected opportunity to slip inside unnoticed, which she did, taking care because there must clearly be someone or perhaps more than one person around. It was easier than breaking in.
Sure enough, there was the old guy she'd seen earlier, lovingly polishing the gleaming red Corvette sports car. Ella edged silently around the perimeter of the hangar and hid behind some packing cases behind where some straw had been put down in some rigged up pen. The old man was absorbed in his polishing, smiling at his rewarding efforts, with a rather stupid expression on his wrinkle-riven face thought Ella, as he whistled an old dance tune through a sizeable gap in his protruding front incisors.
They both heard the sound of a car screeching to a halt outside the hanger, both looked up alarmed with Ella feeling more than a little guilty at the imminent arrival of a possibly unwanted witness to what either of the occupants were up to. Ella remained hidden behind the packing cases, while the old man made one or two steps towards the door, picking up a wicked looking pitch fork leaning against a pile of straw bales stacked up near the Corvette.
An old woman, dressed, Ella observed, in a green hospital uniform, pushed her way through the gap in the doors. She was wider than Ella and did have to widen the gap with a push which send a screeching noise echoing through the lofty hangar. As she pushe
d and entered, creating the screech, she added a reverberating screech of her own as she uttered the shout of,
"Stan ... Are you here honey?" as her eyes adjusted from the bright sunshine outside.
Now she was through the gap, Ella could see she was a rather short fat old woman with a dumb unintelligent look on her dull unremarkable face, which so seemed to match that of the old man, they could have been bookends. Ella lowered the weapon that had appeared out of nowhere gripped in both her hands and held away from her body, ready to fire. She had no conscious thought of how she had come to adopt the stance so automatically, but Ella had realised that there was no threat here. The old man relaxed his grip on his weapon of choice too, and tossed the pitch fork back onto the bales.
"Betty, wha' you doin' up here?"
"You left your lunch on the counter, Stan dear, so I brung 'em up for you." Ella noticed she held a package of presumably sandwiches in her hand. The woman called Betty had a distinctive Latino accent, probably Mexican.
"Well, thanks sugar, you better go, though, He is coming a day early and due to arrive any time now. Y'know how secretive he is, it might unsettle him to have people he don't know around. I usually make myself scarce too, except the reindeer are due to leave again after a short rest, so I will help load up the sleigh for him."
"OK, I'll get going, I'll pop your lunch down on this bale." They kissed each other on the cheek and then Betty walked towards the doors while Stan went back to continue polishing the car.
Reindeer? Sleigh? thought Ella. What's going on?
Just as Betty reached the double doors, there was another screech of tyres, swiftly followed by another and Betty called out to Stan, "There's a Post Office truck and a rusty old pick-up outside." Stan quit his polishing and joined her at the doors.
"Hi there, Bella," called out Stan, when he saw who had stepped out of the truck. The other man looked familiar to Stan, having seen him around the place, but didn't know who he was, but he sure looked a lot like Bella's brother, Father Christmas. The guy who stepped out of the pick-up was a much older stranger, a guy with a cleft chin. Stan didn't have a clue who he was.
Ella, from her hiding place, wondered what was Bella doing here? Did Bella know that Ella was there waiting to shoot her brother? And who actually was her brother? All this talk of reindeer and sleigh so close to Christmas was confusing her. Was the mark, Nicky Claus, playing Santa for some local festival?
Bella entered the hanger wreathed in smiles. "Nicky not here yet? He's running late. Any word from him Stan?"
"Nah, not lately. Had a call from him a couple or three hours ago saying he had changed his schedule and was coming down this morning, but nothin' since, I'm afraid I left my cell phone at home and cycled here so haven't had time to go back an' fetch it. Nicky said something about havin' to hitch up some trailers. Never heard of anythin' like that before."
"Unique situation this year Stan," smiled Bella, "Can I introduce you to Mickey Klass and his father Pop Klass, they are here to help with a special pre-Christmas run."
"Yeah, pleasure to meet ya both, this is my wife Betty, she works down the hospital. Mr Nicky said you was doing an extra run and needed the trailers. You need a hand loadin' up?"
"Thanks, Stan, appreciate it."
"Anything I can do to help?" piped up Betty, "I was gonna get off before Santa arrived, but you guys have blocked my car in."
Mention of Santa again, thought Ella from her observation post. Why were Mickey and Bella here? The last thing Ella needed was witnesses, especially when one of them was the man she was in love with, his other lover and his only living parent. This was supposed to be a simple out of the way hit and was not only getting complicated but it was conflicting her emotions, too.
"That's OK, Betty, so long as we are not keeping you from getting to work." Bella pointed at her uniform.
"No, just got off night shift and noticed Stan had left his lunch on the side. Don't have to go into work again until tonight and I can have my sleep later. This is so exciting, I've never met Father Christmas before."
Now Ella's head was spinning, Father Christmas? Am I losing my mind?
"That's all right, Betty, Stan's been our trusted helper for years, so no reason why you shouldn't be trusted with the secret too, so you must meet my brother Nicky when he flies in," beamed Bella. "Oh! I think I can hear someone coming, now."
They all turned and waited for a moment, then in through the door walked Mr and Mrs Claus. Nick looked around the room.
"Looks like we're almost all here, then, except ..." He looked disappointed.
"Hi, Mummy, Daddy." Bella walked over to greet her parents and kissed them both in turn. Her mother lovingly tucked Bella's arm in hers as they turned to the others.
"Hi, Mr and Mrs C," waved Mickey. From her hiding place in the shadows, Ella's heart missed a beat as her lover waved at the new arrivals and they both smiled back at him.
"Hi, boss," Stan put up a hand in greeting and at the same time propelled his wife a step or two ahead of him, "This is my wife Betty, she works down the hospital."
Nick beamed and closed the gap between them with a couple of strides and hugged the diminutive auxiliary nurse. "Delighted to meet you young lady at last. Think I've seen you around the town a few times but not been introduced. Your Stan's a treasure, don't know what we'd've done without his help over the years."
Mary added her hug, too and said, "We invite Stan to our Christmas dinner every year and he always declines, say you'll accept for both of you this year?"
"I'm working tonight, and sleeping all morning, so I was going to put the turkey on before going to work. There's jus' the two of us, so I could hold off for a day and come to you instead." Betty smiled gratefully and Mary beamed at her.
"That's settled, then, one o'clock not too early for you?" Mary asked.
"Perfect," answered Betty.
"Sir, I'd like to introduce you to my father," said Mickey, "Evan Klass, but everyone calls him 'Pop'!" Ella had already met Pop the previous day and was wondering why he was here, why both of them were here, in fact?
"Pleasure to meet you," boomed Nick. "I'm sure I can extend the invitation to include you both, Mary still cooks as though we have a tribe of elves to feed!"
Elves! Ella's incredulity was being stretched further at every moment.
"Of course, you must come and share our Christmas dinner, Pop, I know Mickey's coming already," insisted Mary with a welcoming smile.
Mickey and Pop looked at one another before Pop said, "I'd love to come, if I can bring the wine."
"Excellent," boomed Nick, "Bella told us about the wine and Nicky's agreement to help. Even the elves are all pitching in, I think they're aware they were taking a few liberties without Mary and I there and are volunteering to help out. Mind you, knowing those elves they may drink more than they sell!"
"Never mind, it'll be better than it all going to waste," Pop said with a grin at the thought of an unruly mob of elves high on his grape juice.
"I was hoping to spend the day with my girlfriend ..." began Mickey.
Ella almost squealed out loud, which would have given away her position, when Mickey mentioned a girlfriend. She might've guessed he had another girlfriend as well. I knew he was too good to be true, all men are just like my Poppa, she thought bitterly.
"Bring her along too, Mickey," chipped in Mary, "Bella thinks you must be serious about this girl."
Mickey looked distinctly embarrassed. You might just squirm, Mickey-boy, thought Ella, grimly.
"I've been a little side-tracked lately, but now that I've got that out of my system I think I am ready for the next step," Mickey said, shamefaced.
Ella almost screamed: so, I was just a distraction, huh! I bet you are ready for the next step, Buddy! Maybe I should put a cap in your ass, rather than Nicky.
Nick shook Mickey's hand, saying "About time, too, boy!" and Pop grabbed and hugged his son in a rare display of emotion, adding "I'm so glad to hear
that, son!"
Ella just felt completely sick to her stomach as she saw Mickey's handsome grin extend from ear to ear. A smile for someone else not for her, she felt he was laughing at her. Maybe she could shoot both Mickey and Nicky and explain it away to Uncle Manny as collateral damage?
It was Bella who reacted first and she moved towards the double doors. "He's here," she said, just as the jingle bells could be heard by everyone. They all moved to the doors and Stan and Nick started to push the doors fully open.
Then in came a sight that Ella thought she could never describe to anyone without risking being locked up and the key thrown away. Through the doors came more than a dozen reindeer, all harnessed with leather straps and decorated with tiny golden bells, leading to a highly-ornate red and gold sleigh driven by a young man in a green Santa suit lined with white fur. He sat upright and proud in the driving seat, and dragging another dozen or so sleighs behind, all different but predominately red and gold in color. The first amazing thing about the vehicle was that it appeared to glide across the ground where there was no snow, there was never snow in these parts. Not that that mattered because neither the sleighs nor the reindeer actually touched the ground until the whole entourage slewed around in the giant hangar so that they faced the door again. They stopped and only then did they drop an inch or so and settle on the concrete ground of the hangar. The second amazing thing was that the seat beside Santa, plus the two rows of seats behind him and all of the seats in the trailing sleighs were filled with ... what Ella could only imagine as being elves, little people, all dressed individually in very bright clothing. Despite the journey in an open-topped vehicle none of them appeared to be cold.
As soon as the elves entered the doorway they were jumping about and waving excitedly, calling to the people gathered around the door. Nick, Mary and Bella waved back furiously, their faces as alight with delight as the elves were. Once the vehicles alighted, the occupants decamped immediately like lemmings over cliffs and milled around the larger humans being introduced to those present who they hadn't met before. Ella noticed that Stan calmly unhitched the reindeer without comment and led them towards where Ella was hiding, behind the straw-strewn pen, while the green-clad Santa carried a crate of what must be food for them over to the pen as well.
