The snow falls lightly to the ground in a small town called Hamlin. It was the eve of Christmas. Carolers filled the streets, wreaths hung on every door, candles in every window. Glistening icicles hung from the rooftops like a frame, and Fir trees were seen all covered up in lights and tinsel and handmade ornaments. Along every street, snowmen smiled to the passersby and children threw balls of white at each other, and upon everyone’s lips were the words, “Merry Christmas!” But in one small corner of the town, there is a place where few people go and where one small cat was sitting... waiting....
~*F*~
Alameda breathed in the cold Winter
air and watched as a white cloud exited from her mouth a second
later. Though her nose was red with cold, her hands were warm inside
Kon’s coat pockets- he had lent her the coat because her own had
gotten torn up in a previous struggle with a Santa-disguised
shop-lifter. Sitting on the wet snow, Alameda gazed at the scene
before her: Three tombstones with the same last names etched neatly
upon all of them- Folant Plight, Cassia Plight and Eri Plight. No
other words showed on the gray tablets. They seemed to be
insignificant people, long forgotten and cared about by no one. After
sitting and wondering for a while, Ally stood and picked up the three
flowers which had been laying beside her. Upon Eri Plight’s grave
she placed a purple Hyacinth and on Cassia Plight’s grave she
placed an Azalea. But at Folant Plight’s grave she hesitated. Then,
finally, she set down a white tulip.
From behind the tombstone, a little
kitten, white as the snow, appeared and meowed loudly. It leaped
through the snow, falling into it every time it landed, and Ally
became so entranced that all other thoughts fled from her mind and
she followed the kitten all the way down the street. It led her all
the way to a church which was no longer in use and pawed at the door.
Suddenly, from within the old structure, a voice drifted out in song.
Alameda opened the door and peaked in. Immediately, she was greeted
with a warm glow and saw on the stage, a little blond haired girl
singing O Come O Come Emmanuel. The kitten ran up to the little girl
who picked it up and held it in her arms, then smiled at Ally as she
slowly faded into the air the glow fading with her. Shocked, Alameda
ran up to the stage and looked around, but the girl was nowhere in
sight. A glimmer caught her eye, and she looked down to see a cross
on a chain and a note. Picking these up, Ally’s eyes widened. On
the back of the cross was carved, “Alameda Kathrine Plight.”
Quickly, she read the note. “A gift to my dearest sister. Merry
Christmas. -Eri” Tears filled her golden eyes. “Oh, Eri,” she
whispered and knelt down and cried aloud in that old broken church
until she fell asleep. A few hours later, Konrad found her and took
her back to the airship.
~*~
“Ally! Ally! Wake up!” Kon
whispered as he shook Ally.
“Hmm? What’s wrong?” Ally
grumbled.
“Quick! Put this on!”
“Huh?” Ally looked and saw Konrad
holding up a Mrs. Claus outfit. “Go away.”
“Come on! It’s for a mission,
we’ll get payed for it.”
“‘Paid,’ you say?” Alameda
asked, suddenly interested.
“Yes! And I’ll be Santa Claus,”
Konrad added.
“Never mind, I’m not doing it. Go
away.”
“But Ally, it’s for an orphanage.
See, the two who were going to do it got sick, so they need
replacements. They heard we were in town and called. Please!”
“Why can’t you do it by
yourself?”
“Because the kids never get to see
Mrs. Claus. Besides, I can’t sing.”
“It requires singing?”
“Yeah, you sing as I distribute
presents.”
“Why can’t Carumati be Mrs.
Claus?”
“Carumati’s too young and small.
Even some of the kids are taller than her.”
Ally sighed. “Fine. But you better
give me all the money so I can put it towards our debt and not spend
it on anything like you always do.”
“Okay, okay! Come on! It’s almost
midnight.”
Ally dressed up in the red, fluffy
dress and hat and candy cane socks and slippers. She met Kon outside
who was dressed as a young, thin Santa so that they didn’t have to
worry about pillows or wigs. They left without waking Ven and
Carumati and arrived at the orphanage just before midnight. Perched
against the side of the house, a ladder led the way to the roof. When
they arrived on top, they climbed down the chimney using a rope.
“Come on, Mrs. Claus, before the
kids wake up.” Kon said somewhat loudly. Ally could hear kids
shuffling in the darkness of the room, hiding in the shadows.
Suddenly, Ally found herself hanging in the air in a net trap.
“We caught one! We caught one!” a
little boy announced, jumping up from his hiding place.
“Ho, ho, ho, are you kids being
naughty?” Kon asked trying hard not to burst up laughing.
Ally glared at him and then said to
the kids, “Hey, you kids, what are you trying to do?”
“We’re holding you for ransom.
Santa, give us all your toys, or we wont let you have your wife
back.”
“Now, now kids, if you’re
naughty, you wont get any presents.”
“We’ll get lots of presents if
you do what we say.”
“Well, the problem is,” Ally
spoke, cutting herself free from the net, “that I’m not caught
anymore. Santa, I don’t think these kids really want any toys.
Let’s go on to the next house.” Ally took a step forward and
found she’d triggered yet another trap, and leaped out of the way
as a rope flew up in the air.
“Wow! Mrs. Claus was so cool! She
avoided our trap,” one little girl exclaimed. “Hey Mrs. Claus,
you wanna join us? Leave Santa and come with us!”
“Hmm.... You kids aren’t worthy.
Santa here can make better traps than you.”
“He can? Santa, teach us to make
traps!”
“Kids, really. Now where’s your
caretaker?” Kon asked.
“She’s in the closet.”
“We tied her up.”
“She wanted us to all wait in bed.”
“But we had to set our traps.”
“So we tied her up,” the kids
explained.
“Honestly, these kids don’t
deserve presents. Let’s go, Santa.” Ally grabbed Santa’s hand
and dragged him back to the fireplace.
A little kid grabbed Ally’s leg and
cried, “Nooo! We want presents! Give us presents!”
Ally gave her a threatening look and
said, “Look kid, you made a big mistake making me angry. If you
wanted presents, you should have just waited in your beds like good
kids.”
“I-I’m sorry.”
“Al- I mean, Mrs. Claus, you’re
scaring them,” Kon informed.
“Hmph. Serves them right. None of
these kids are getting presents. Unless....”
Suddenly, all the kids got quiet and
paid close attention, waiting to hear what they had to do to get
presents. “Unless?” one child dared to ask.
“Unless you all apologize to me and
Mr. Claus and get your caretaker out of the closet and apologize to
her too.”
“We’re sorry! We’re sorry! We
wont do it again,” the kids shouted as they ran to the closet to
get the caretaker out.
“Wow. You actually handled that
nicely.”
“Hmm, kids are easy to manipulate.
You just gotta know how.”
“Is that what you call it?”
“What else would I call it?”
“Mrs. Claus! We apologized to our
caretaker- do we get presents now?”
“Hmm.... I suppose I could give
them to you now, but I’m feeling hungry, and I might drop the
presents and break them all. Where are the milk and cookies?”
“I’ll go make some!” a girl
announced.
“I’ll help!”
“This is amazing,” said the
caretaker. “I’ve never seen these kids so eager to please
before.”
“Just a little touch of Christmas
magic from Mrs. Claus here,” Kon replied.
“I see. That is truly wonderful,”
the caretaker said.
“Here! Milk and cookies!” the
kids announced a while later, bringing in a plate of cookies and two
glasses of milk.
Ally gulped down the milk and ate a
few cookies. “Ah! I feel much better! Now, who’s ready for
presents?”
“Me! Me! Me!” they all shouted.
So for the next couple of hours, Ally
and Kon sang, gave out presents, played with the kids and when they
all settled down, the caretaker read to them of the birth of Christ
and how Christmas all began. When they arrived home, Kon handed
Alameda a twenty dollar bill and said, “This is our full payment,
as promised.”
Ally looked down at it and sighed.
“Normally, I would be angry that you took a job for twenty measly
dollars, but I feel I can’t get mad on a day like this. Merry
Christmas, Kon.” Ally handed him a box and then went back to bed.
Kon opened the gift. All it was, was a piece of paper that read, “A
certificate for one date with Alameda Plight. Usable once
only, no expiration.” Kon grinned and skipped back to his room,
excited about Christmas finally being here.
Merry Christmas!
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