Merry Things - Chapter One

[lar_laughs]

Here it is! Chapter the First of the Christmas Story (for links to the other chapters, please see the bottom of this document), now called Merry Things until I can think of something else or this grows on me so that I can't get rid of it.

(A word of caution... while the author does try to use spell check on the document, this story is posted unbetaed. Read at your own risk!)

Chapter One: Malltastic!

Odd, Abbie thought to herself as she stared hard at the electric sliding glass door in front of her. The mall had never denied her entrance before tonight. Odder still that she could see her mom and dad walking into the murky interior but they hadn't noticed that she was still on the outside looking in. There was no one coming toward her wanting out and no one behind her wanting in. It was the 22nd of December and she was the only one at the main entrance to the largest mall in four county radius.

It wasn't her idea to be here tonight. Her parent's had decided that, at the age of 16, she'd finally been bad enough to punish. Of course, they were so out of practice with the whole concept that her punishment was that she had to come Christmas shopping with them for the last minute toys they needed to get for her little brothers and (they'd looked at each other strangely when they'd mentioned this part) her own Christmas present. She hadn't liked how they'd said present as if it was singular. No way had she been bad enough to warrant only one present this year. Sneaking out past a nonexistent curfew to go over to her friend's house to watch movies all night wasn't exactly cause for a prison sentence.

But she'd come along good-naturedly, hoping they'd spring for a peppermint mocha if she played along. She had some of her own shopping to do but had planned on doing it the day after Christmas when all the sales were going full force. She and Ivy, her best friend, had vowed that they wouldn't spend more than five dollars on each other this year. It was going to be close but she hoped she might find something spectacular on the close-out tables this year. Since they weren't counting shipping in the promised total, she should be able to ship it off to Florida in time for Epiphany.

"Hello?" she called out, jumping slightly on the mat that proclaimed that Falcon Summit Mall was Malltastic! in all its scuffed glory. "The doors won't let me in."

"You need a badge."

Abbie shivered slightly as she turned toward the man standing behind her. His voice was like fingernails sliding over a chalkboard, deep like most other males but with a whine that grated on the nerves. "Excuse me? A badge? I've never needed a badge before to get into the mall. No one else needed a badge."

He looked around them, even craning his neck slightly to see out into the parking lot where the street lamps were starting to flicker on. "I don't see anyone else trying to get in. Do you?" Since she had to admit that she didn't currently see anyone trying to get into the mall, she shook her head. "Well then, come with me to the sign in table and we'll get your badge. I certainly hope we spelled your name right. Check it over and let me know if all the information is correct. If it's not, we'll need to get it corrected as soon as possible. Wouldn't want anything to happen to you because your information isn't right."

"What could happen to me?" she screeched, reaching out her hand quickly for the laminated square that proudly proclaimed the one Abbie Howland was admitted entrance to The Hunt. All the information looked correct, she noticed as she read over it quickly, skimming over the parts that didn't seem to concern her. "And why do you need all this personal data? Is it really important to put on here that my favorite color is pale aqua or that my cat's name is Whiskers?"

"Could you not have come up with a better name?" he sighed impatiently, taking it back from her and punching a box that had once had the letter D in it. Now there was just a gaping hole. "You'll need to hang this from your neck at all times. Pick out a lanyard, please."

She looked over his selection, amazed at the gaudiness of some of the circular hangers. Some were festooned with large crystals that looked heavy. Others were just simple metals chains like the kind that her brothers uses to hang their fake military IDs around their necks when they were playing war with the other kids in the neighborhood. But one caught her eye almost right away and she found herself reaching for the simple leather braid after she gave the other lanyards a quick once over. The three strips were all a different color of brown and looked exactly like Ivy's hair had after they'd experimented with some hair dye that had been hidden deep in the bathroom cupboard at Abbie's house. She'd always had a sneaking suspicion that her mother colored her hair but that had been all the proof she'd needed.

"I'd like this one, please," Abbie said almost shyly as she held it out to show the man who was currently going over a clipboard as if he might miss something important.

He nodded absentmindedly and began handing her papers. "Fine, fine. Be sure to keep these all handy. Some of them you'll need right away and it might be in your best interesting to hide some of them. You never know when you'll run into a pickpocket or two. Here is your key to locker 761. Yes, slip it onto the lanyard like so and it will stay neatly out of sight until you need it. If you forget your number, it's on your badge. And here are some meal tickets. Don't spend them all in one place and keep them safe. These things are like gold in that place. Also, here is a map with all the restrooms clearly marked and a time schedule. There are certain things that only happen at certain times and you'll lose precious hours waiting if you don't make it to them in the right order. Also, here is your list of items and the tote you can keep them in as well as anything else you find along the way. Mind you, it's not bottomless so don't load it down or it's liable to break. Wouldn't want to scatter your findings all over the floor because of shoddy handiwork, now would you? And last but not least, the specific instructions on how The Hunt-"

His voice was beginning to make her head ache, with its two different tones clashing with each other, and she found her attention wandering as she fingered the growing stack of papers. "So I can go in now, right?" she asked, interrupting his seemingly useless list of directions. She was perfectly aware of her need to know where the restrooms were. What did he take her for? A three year old?

"Certainly, but you'll need to watch out for shysters."

That stopped her dead. "What? Shysters? Am I on camera here? Seriously, no one has used that word since the 1920s. Has the mall been overrun by the mob?" The man, who was getting more flustered by the moment, stood looking at her as if she'd taken away his cue cards or simply asked questions he was unable to answer. "Fine. I'll watch out for shysters. I'd suggest you go to the bookstore and get a dictionary and find a better word. You're nearly a hundred years out of date."

Behind her, she heard him mutter, "But that is their name. They are Shysters." And she could imagine that he capitalized the letter to make it a name of a group but it didn't matter. The door was sliding open and she could smell the warm and comforting smells being pumped into the large open spaces to make them seem much more homey and familiar.

The crowds were milling about, entirely uninterested in the shopping fever that normally overwhelmed a mall this close to Christmas. Store windows proclaimed their sales in using whatever tactic worked the best for their merchandise. Very few of the stores had a great number of customers but Abbie knew she needed to find her parents before they realized she'd been held up. Or, in their new state of mind, they might start imagining a hostile takeover and their bringing her to the mall was always her plan. This punishment might turn into something more prolonged and she wasn't about to miss anything interesting, like the New Years Dance at school. There was talk, from all the right sources, that Mitchell Koogen was asking if she had a date. While he wasn't much of a catch, having gone through half the other junior girls already this year, he was the first boy to actually notice her.

Setting her sights on the stores that her parents would want to get to first, she began the circuit of the first floor. For weeks, Zach had been demanding that he be allowed to go over and play at Jimmy's house. He was the only one in the neighborhood with a new CavortBase 3001, his parents obviously wanting to buy his affections early this year. She'd heard her own parents grumbling about the price and the rarity of the game this year but they'd been rather certain they could find one even though it was so close to the holidays.

After she walked by the same German Handmade Gifts store for the third time, she sat down on one of the hard wooden benches and took a deep breath. She hadn't seen her parents anywhere and, most distressing of all, she hadn't found a single toy store. The only sort of store she'd seen had been the kind that sold gaudy gifts or tiny knickknacks that her mother liked to call dust catchers. She'd stopped to gaze in wonder at a kelly green sweatshirt with a picture of the three Wisemen completely done in glitter. It hurt her eyes just to look at it and she wondered if they'd sold any this season. Somewhere, she was certain, there was a woman wearing that to a Bunko game at a friend's house and getting complimented on it by another lady in a pink sweatshirt with a painted Rudolph whose nose really lit up.

But no toy stores. It had been awhile since she'd been here but she was sure there had been a decent toy store on each shopping level. That gave her at least six options. Where was the level one toy store? She thought about walking to one of the large maps located at each of the exits... but she hadn't seen an exit in awhile, either.

"Need some help?" an elderly woman asked, her large bag banging on the bench as she sat down heavily, her sweatshirt catching the glare of the electric lights overhead. Candy canes done in sequins. Abbie had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from giggling.

"I don't think so. I'm waiting for my parents." It was a good excuse because really she shouldn't have been alone in this crowd at this time of night. It had taken her at least an hour of walking to get where she was now so that meant it was edging towards curfew. "They're looking for..." but she had no idea what they would be looking for in this place.

The lady began to laugh hysterically, forcing Abbie to move a little further away from her down the bench. "Oh, my little chickadee. There are no teams in The Hunt. Only single players. But it's a good cover story. You are a mite young to be playing by yourself."

"I'm sixteen," she replied defensively.

"Word of advice," the woman said as she leaned closer than Abbie would have liked. "Don't talk to strangers, even if they look as nice and kind as, well, me. Always ask to see someone's badge first off. Don't leave your papers sitting out in the open and, for goodness sake, hide your food coupons."

Abbie looked down to see that the bright blue slips of paper were peaking out of the stack of papers, one of them dangerously close to falling out. She grabbed them all up and tucked them in her coat pocket.

"Not there either. Can still fall out or be easily slipped from the seeming safety. In your shoe, if you'd like."

Eyeing the strange woman, Abbie toed off her right trainer and slipped them in the comforting warmth. When she put the shoe back on, she could barely tell they were there. As long as the blue didn't bleed onto her white sock, she was content to let them safely stay put. Surely she wouldn't need to eat anything else after the large dinner she'd eaten earlier.

"Good. Now, if you don't mind listening to me a bit longer, don't get carried away in the game. Remember you have an objective. Use the restrooms only when you have to. Hours can be lost in those places. And don't be fooled by-"

"You, there! What do you think you're doing sitting down?"

The old woman seemed to straighten up more than a woman of her age should be able to. "That is my cue to vanish once again. Good luck, chickadee. Remember. Ask for a badge. No matter who it is."

Abbie found herself sitting alone on the bench once again with a red faced Santa bearing down on her. He held a bell in one hand and a red sack in the other. She'd seen her share of the jolly old elf and this wasn't one of the better ones. This time of year, they let just about anyone dress up in a red suit and white beard. Especially this place. There seemed to be a lot of Santa's wandering about.

"I asked you what you were doing sitting down."

"Excuse me? Are you telling me I can't use this bench to relax on?" She shifted so that she could spring away and make a run for it if she needed to.

The Santa loomed over her, his breath smelling of peppermint and alcohol, as if he'd been nipping at the flask she could clearly see outlined in his pocket. He probably had candy canes in his other pocket. "That's exactly what I'm telling you. These benches are not to be used unless-"

"Can I see your badge, please?" she asked tartly, her hand out as if she assumed he would hand it over without a moment's hesitation. Strangely enough, it worked. "Okay, Fred Wattamaker. What gives you the right to tell me where I can sit?"

"This," he retorted, pointing to a tiny red star next to the name. If she looked very close, she could read the flowing script. Santa Consortium "Now you're going to have to come with me. There are stiff fines to be paid for breaking this particular rule."

Abbie nodded as if she completely understood. Without letting go of the badge, she stood up and faced the man. This close, she could see that the beard was real and that the ruddiness of the cheeks and the sparkling eyes probably had a lot to with the flask than coming from any good nature or mirth.

"No," she muttered so that he could hear her. She took a couple of steps backwards, still holding the badge and then used the tension in the lanyard to swing herself around the man and down the crowded hallway.

"Stop that girl," she could hear him yelling but she was already headed toward the one place she knew she could hide. Maybe, if she found herself with some free time after this stunt, she might just purchase a glittery sweatshirt of her own. But she drew the line at anything that might remind her of this Santa and his rudeness. Biblical figures, it would be.

***

The dim room smelled of cigars and wet dog as Martini opened the door and slunk through the opening as if he was afraid of being spotted entering the janitors closet. With a few practiced swipes of his hand, his disguise fell away and he was once again a small, lithe man in head to toe black. Better for skulking in shadows.

"Your bet, Mart," one of the men around a card table shouted around a drooping cigar that had long ago went out. "You made it back just in time."

Martini slid into the empty seat and picked up the cards that were lying face down on the table. He smiled as he realized that he was holding the worst hand on the table but they had been honor bound not to peek while he was away on business so that his bluff still held. "I bet twelve, gentlemen. Try to best that."

From the other room, for this janitors closet was unlike any janitors closet and boasted of three rooms completely furnished like a small apartment, save for any windows and outside entrances, a man called out, "Ralph, put me in for twelve and I'll raise him double that."

Ralph, the only man in the room that had on a janitor's outfit, stitched nametag and all, picked up the right amount of chips and added them to the pile before throwing his cards down on the table in disgust. "I don't know why I play with you. I've never won a hand yet. And besides that, my cigar won't stay lit tonight."

"That's because you refuse to pretend, like our friend here. I'm going to call you, too, Mart." The youngest man in the room, his hair cut in a short, military-styled buzz and his face still unlined, smiled over at Martini. "If Ralph never cheats, I say that you always do."

Because he was too deep into the betting to back out now, Martini kept a calm expression on his face as he counted out his chips. "All in. And Derek, I don't cheat. I just know how to use all of your tells to my advantage."

"Your turn, Jack," Ralph called out. "Want me to raise again?"

"No, call him. I don't think he has anything. Do you all want marshmallows in your cocoa?"

Each man called out in agreement and laid their cards down, Ralph turning over Jack's cards for him. Neither Martini nor Derek had anything of any value in their hand but Jack, the mysterious man making cocoa in the other room, had four pair.

"How do you do it?" Derek called out, his own face alive with wonder. "Every hand, you have good cards."

"Just for that," Martini murmured, settling back in his chair as a mug of steaming dark chocolate cocoa was placed in front of him, "I'm not going to tell you about the girl I discovered."

There was instant quiet in the room and all eyes were on Martini. Even the dog in the corner, snuffling as she licked at her velvety smooth coat quieted down.

"Do we have a contestant on our hands?" Jack asked, his dark mustache streaked with white foam from his drink until he put up a hand to wipe it away nonchalantly. "Will she make it up to the next level?"

Martini grinned. "I think so. I doubt she's read the instructions but she seems a bright girl. Found her lounging on a bench and left her just as one of the SC found her. That lot is getting lazy, even if it is the most important day of the year. You'd think they'd be on the lookout for ways they could work this crowd to their advantage."

"Keeping them a crowd is their best ploy." Derek rotated the warm mug around in his hands as he thought about the situation. "How long do we give her before going in a second time with help?"

They all looked at Jack for he was their leader. "The rules state-"

"Since when have we cared about the rules?" Ralph asked, his cigar forgotten on the ashtray in front of him. He didn't really smoke it anymore, just lit it from time to time and took a few puffs. It was as much for show as the dog that Derek carted around with him on rounds and the disguises that Martini cooked up. "If the girl needs our help, I saw we give it to her. No sense getting her trapped her until New Years. She's bound to have a family that would like her home for Christmas morning."

"The rules must apply today of all days. The Winter Solstice works its own magic. Anyone entering The Hunt on that day is special. Our help should only be marginal, at best. If she can't do it on her own, then she isn't the one we are hoping for."

They all looked down at the cocoa swirling in their own mugs, interesting not so much in the melting marshmallows as they were on their own thoughts.

"Agreed?" Jack asked at last. They all shook their head and gave their assent. "Then let's lift our mugs to The Hunt. And a successful season for us all."

****

Link to Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter Five, Chapter Six, Chapter Seven, Chapter Eight, Chapter Nine