A short ten minutes later, Elaine doodled her signature on the terrible customer survey before she locked it into a deep, dark drawer where it belonged. She leaned back on her swivel-chair and took in the scene. "Claudia, I'm afraid it's not all roses. We still need to come up with some sort of plan for the remainder of the Meet Santa events today. My experience tells me the first survey numbers were representative of the mood among our customers."

"Mmmm…"

"So… well… to sweeten the conversation, I'd like to invite you to a mug of Yuletea and a slice of our award-winning lemon sponge cake down in our Book Café on the second floor. I understand if you don't want to talk to me right now, but we have to."

Claudia looked at her friend for a few moments; then she broke out in a shrug. "Nah, we're cool, Elaine. We always were. I won't say it didn't punch me in the gut because it did, but… adapt and overcome, right?  Sponge cake… tell you what, if we could swap the spongy thing for a chocolate muffin, we'd have a deal."

"Tea and muffins sound good to me," Elaine said as she took her purse from another drawer and got up. Striding across the office floor, she opened the door and stepped aside to leave room for her red-clad guest.

Claudia soon donned the heavy, hot Santa coat. After arranging the sleeves so the cuffs were lined up just right, she put on the fake beard, the white gloves and finally the floppy-coned hat with the white bobble. "All done. Santa Claudia is in the house… too bad nobody gives a damn about her," she said before she came to a halt and cocked her head. "You know, I still can't fathom why your customers had a problem with a female Santa. Why is that so subversive?  I don't get it… I just don't get it. Oh, never mind. Let's get some muffins. My sweet tooth demands it."

*
*
CHAPTER 5

Four days later - December 20th.

The number of bouncing children, smiling parents and glowing grandparents who had lined up at Santa's Big Chair for the three PM Meet Santa event was even greater than for the day's first two meet-and-greets - at least forty, and probably closer to fifty, children and their entourages waited in line with more arriving by the minute.

The unruly throng grew even less restrained when Claudia MacCready stepped onto the scene in full costume: a pair of red slippers covered in plenty of sparkling rubies created a great contrast to her pale-green tights and the Christmas-red vest she wore over a pale-green, long-sleeved blouse. Her red gloves stood out in any crowd when she moved her arms in exaggerated patterns to fit with the Cheeky Elf's spirited antics - in short, she had transformed into one of Santa's official helpers.

To complete the transformation from her usual looks, her face had been given a thorough base-coating of white makeup. A pair of black, arching eyebrows had been drawn at different heights above her eyes to accentuate her slyness even further, and her cheeks were home to a pair of Christmas-red dots meant to represent Elfin dimples.

The pixie hat she wore was of a rigid-cone design that had been given a tweak halfway up to illustrate that she had quite simply become a wicked, little Elf - the cone had originally been straight all the way up, but Claudia had insisted on adding a little quirk.

She hopped, skipped and jumped along the line of excited children to keep them entertained while she waited for her cue. When it came in the shape of an Okay sign from Elaine Sutcliffe who waited in the wings, Claudia stopped her performance and spread her arms out wide. "Here's Santa!" she cried and soon hurried aside so she wouldn't ruin Santa Claus' important entrance.

Edmund Flanagan arrived at the Meet Santa set with a large bag of gifts over his shoulder. He made a big number out of putting down the supposedly heavy bag before he waved at all the children and let out a booming "Hello, my young friends!  It's so good to see you today!"

The resulting squeal from the children - and some of their parents - nearly brought down the house, and it even seemed to make the dark-blue canopy flutter though it was firmly attached to the wooden poles. Once Santa had made himself comfortable on the big chair, his little helper Claudia Elf guided the first of the hopefuls up to the Man In Red.

Unlike Claudia's attempts at being Santa, Edmund didn't need any foam padding to fill out the costume as the elderly, white-haired gentleman clocked in at 260 pounds - the bulk seemed to be centered around his mid-section and rather wide rear-end which was perfect for the character.

His natural beard was bushy and white so he didn't need any of the fakes that Claudia had prepared. He needed to use his own reading glasses that were equipped with thick lenses, but they were perched low on his nose in true Santa-style so they didn't stand out negatively.

The hefty costume and the high ambient temperature of the department store meant his complexion was never less than ruddy. To combat that, he had a handkerchief tucked away in the chair to mop up the glistening sheen of sweat that sprung forth at all too regular intervals.

After Edmund's first set of scheduled shows on Friday, he had made a heartfelt plea to have something to drink while he spoke with the children, so Elaine had donated an old-fashioned wooden tankard that she had found in Spencer & Woolcott's souvenir shop. Where the real Santa Claus would obviously have chugged down plenty of genuine Yule-ale, Edmund had to settle for uncarbonated mineral water - they had tried pouring cans of carbonated fizzy water into the tankard at first, but the resulting, and constant, need to burp had negated the Holiday magic they were aiming for.

---

Twenty-five minutes into the event, everything continued to run smoothly. Claudia played her part to perfection and kept the children happy and excited through silly antics and traditional Elf games like Pull My Finger. The usual little incidents like dropped bags of Christmas candy or someone accidentally stepping on someone else's toes had led to some wailing, gnashing of teeth and high-pitched screeching, but the cheeky Elf had calmed the waters through her presence and sheer exuberance.

Elaine Sutcliffe wore a smile that reached from ear to ear as she literally remained in the wings to watch over the proceedings. To keep with the Holiday theme, she wore an elegant set consisting of a scarlet pant suit over a brighter-red blouse. A brooch shaped like a few leaves of holly had been pinned to her lapel and she even wore a pair of gold earrings in a matching design.

A brown folder had been stuck under her arm; it contained the numbers from the customer satisfaction surveys held among those who had visited the day's two previous Meet Santa events. When Claudia stepped away from the line to take a sip of water, Elaine thrust her long arm in the air to signal the cheeky Elf that she needed to come over whenever she had a moment to spare.

Claudia continued her spiel with the excited kids for another couple of minutes before she beat a hasty exit on winged, ruby-red feet - in reality, she only ran the long way around the center section so she could join Elaine out of sight of the people waiting in line. "Hi… what's up?" she said as she reached under the upper hem of her costume to dab away some perspiration.

"The numbers are up, that's what. Literally!" Elaine said and excitedly took out a wad of pages from the folder. "The customer satisfaction survey ought to be printed on gold-leaf paper… look at those approval ratings from earlier today. Ninety percent of female customers and ninety-four percent of males are happy or very happy about Edmund's performance as Santa Claus. Nearly all said it was the icing on the cake after a fun day here and that they would definitely tell their friends about Spencer and Woolcott's."

"That's neat. Congratulations," Claudia said and swatted at Elaine's arm. "I guess you could be looking at a raise, huh?"

"Well, I wouldn't turn it down."

Chuckling, Claudia dabbed her neck again before she shoved the small handkerchief up her tight sleeve. "Just out of complete curiosity… an above ninety percent satisfaction rate is obviously fantastic, but what did the last few moan about?"

"Oh, the usual things," Elaine said and leafed through a couple of the replies. "Too much time spent on other people's kids and not enough on their own. One said Edmund was too old to play Santa and another said that his beard looked too fake."

"What?  It's his own damn beard!" Claudia said and let out a guffaw.

A smirk spread over Elaine's face as she stuffed the pages back into the folder. "Yeah, well… you know people. There's always something worth complaining about."

"Don't I know it… I'm still peeved over the fact they flat-out rejected a female Santa Claus the other day," Claudia said before she cocked her head to listen for the familiar noises that came from around the corner. "Oh, I better get back. Sounds like the line's getting a little unruly."

Elaine grinned at Santa's cheeky - and awesomely cute - helper. "We can't have that," she said and reached out to give Claudia's shoulder a supportive squeeze.

Bouncing back into action, Claudia slid up behind the line. Most of the kids were too pre-occupied with staring at Santa to notice her at first, but her antics soon caught their attention which prompted plenty of giggles and loud squeals.

-*-*-*-

In the excruciatingly hectic run-up to the Holidays, the Meet Santa events had been extended from forty-five minutes to an hour, and then finally to an hour and a half to give as many young'uns as possible a chance to meet the jolly fat man. The extended running time took a toll on even Claudia whose feet had grown sore trapped inside the red slippers, and she couldn't wait to sit down and liberate her twinkletoes.

With ten minutes to go until the proverbial curtains at the end of the five PM Meet Santa event, the line had thinned out sufficiently for Claudia to have a moment to herself. She used it to step aside and watch their Santa speak to a young boy. She furrowed her brow at the sight; the boy appeared shy and didn't stop fidgeting on the armrest the entire time he was there, but that was nothing new so it didn't cause her too much concern. What did concern her was the fact that Edmund's face had lost a fair amount of its usual ruddiness.

Though the old fellow had visibly grown tired several times over the course of the first three days he had worked at Spencer & Woolcott's, he had been able to manage his fatigue by taking power naps between the Meet Santa events.

The additional thirty minutes that had been tacked onto the end starting with the day's first event at eleven meant the fatigue and paleness arrived sooner and was far more pronounced than before. The signs told a clear tale of exhaustion, but he still had to perform for a full ninety minutes at the seven PM event.

The joyful Santa Claus-smile faded from Edmund's face the moment the young boy moved off the armrest and ran back to his parents. Although he took a long swig of the mineral water in the tankard and wiped his sweaty face and neck several times, it didn't seem to give his energy levels any kind of boost.

There were only three children left in the line for the five PM event after Claudia had spread out a ribbon of red silk between a pair of cones to prevent anyone else from joining in at the tail of the line. After the first of the remaining three had made herself comfortable on the armrest, Edmund got down to business and became Santa Claus once more.

---

Claudia experienced a strong pang of guilt whacking her over the head the moment she locked eyes with Edmund Flanagan at the conclusion of the Meet Santa event. The old boy seemed to have aged ten years in the past twenty minutes alone, and he just sat there with a thousand-mile stare in his dull eyes. "Damn, damn, damn!" she mumbled to herself as she hurriedly ran over to the big chair and attempted to help Edmund on his feet - unfortunately, he was too heavy for her slender frame so she was unable to do much for him.

Landing back on the seat with a bump, Edmund let out a long sigh. "Gosh… I'm not twenty anymore… not even forty. Would you please help me get the coat off?  I'm cooking like a lobster in here…"

"Sure… sure," Claudia said and began to strip the heavy coat off the elderly man's shoulders. Once he had been liberated, he let out a sigh of relief and whipped the familiar red Santa-hat off as well. His white hair lay flat on his head like he had wet-combed it, and not even several wipes with the handkerchief could mop up all the sweat that had accumulated where the furry rim had pressed against his head.

Claudia folded the precious coat and put it on the armrest. "I'm really sorry, Edmund… I should have ended it earlier. We should have come up with a fun excuse for Santa to leave-"

"Not when there were kids waiting to speak to Santa."

A dark chuckle escaped Claudia - she knew for a fact that her father would have said the exact same words. "I'm not strong enough to help you get up so I have to call for some assistance. Okay?  We'll have you backstage in five minutes."

"All right… thank you," Edmund said and offered Claudia a tired, but grateful, smile that soon faded. Looking down at his gloved hands and the familiar red pants, a dark shadow fell over his face and he shook his head in a slow, resigned fashion.

Claudia quickly took off her own, red gloves before she reached underneath her Elf-costume to retrieve her telephone from the suede neck purse. The correct number was soon found and selected: "Elaine… yeah, hi… listen, we have an urgent problem. I need someone strong here at Meet Santa to help Edmund. He needs to lie down P-D-Q. No, he's just really exhausted. Yeah. I didn't pay enough attention to him. I- yeah. Okay. Okay. Thanks."

The telephone was soon put away before she hurried back to Edmund. "Miss Sutcliffe will be here in two minutes with someone who can help you get back upstairs." Though Edmund smiled at her, it was clear by the distant look in his eyes that he was down for the count.

Claudia sighed and clenched her jaw hard - the unwanted drama had happened on her watch. Worse, it was all her doing. She should have known the seventy-year-old fellow wouldn't have the stamina to cope with the additional stress of a ninety-minute performance when even she, at just over half his age, couldn't wait to see the end of them.

Had she raised her concerns when they had been told at the nine-thirty meeting that the Meet Santa events were to be extended, the whole thing could have been avoided. They could easily have come up with a scenario where she could have entertained the children for ten or fifteen minutes halfway through the show while Edmund took a breather. She didn't and now her father's colleague - and friend - paid the price.

Growling angrily at herself, she rubbed her brow without considering she would get white makeup all over her fingers; when she noticed, she let out an even deeper growl and looked around for something to wipe off the greasy residue.

She had only just found a stack of napkins with Spencer & Woolcott's logo on them when Elaine Sutcliffe and a tall, beefy guy from the kitchen staff strode into the third floor's central square. Elaine came over to Claudia at once while the staffer attended to the visibly exhausted Santa.

"Is Edmund all right?" Elaine said for Claudia's ears only.

"No. It was too much for him. It's my fault," Claudia replied at a matching, low volume so none of the customers around them would notice that something had gone wrong with their beloved Santa Claus. "He needs to lie down at once before he drops. Can we use your couch?"

"Of course. Come," Elaine said and put a hand on Claudia's shoulder. Only then did she notice the mess across the Elf's brow. "Ah… you need to re-apply your makeup… it's all over the place."

"Dammit!  What else can go wrong today?" Claudia said and crumpled up one of the napkins that carried the traditional Spencer & Woolcott's logo. After throwing the wadded-up tissue into a public trash can, she strode over to help the kitchen staffer assist Edmund over to the private elevator.

-*-*-*-

Upstairs in Elaine's office, Edmund kicked off his heavy boots and swung his legs up on the couch - he insisted on keeping his red pants on while he was in the presence of ladies. The precious Santa coat had been folded up twice to act as his pillow, and Claudia had done so herself so the old chap would be comfortable.

Edmund let out a long sigh as he settled down. His reading glasses were soon put on the table next to him which gave him an odd, almost absent look in his short-sighted eyes. It only took a few minutes for his gray complexion to gain a few shades of ruddiness which seemed to be a sign he was on the road to recovery. Elaine had organized a can of Coke for him, and he cracked it open and took several long swigs of the sticky, sugary liquid through a drinking straw so he could remain on his back while he drank.

Elaine soon excused herself and left the office with her telephone glued to her ear. As the door closed behind her, Edmund sighed again and turned his head to locate Claudia. "I let everyone down. I'm sorry," he said in a gloomy voice.

"You let no one down. This was all my fault," Claudia said before she moved back to the couch. She folded her legs up underneath her and sat down on the carpet next to the couch so Edmund would know she was near in case his fatigue and exhaustion grew worse.

"Gosh, I didn't think I was so weak… I mean… I function really well in everyday life, but I guess it's not the same. I can mow the lawn without problems and I take my little sailboat out on the lake every weekend during the summer, but… goodness me, I was so naïve to think I could step back into… well, such a pressure cooker environment!  How in the world old Douglas can do it, I have no idea… my hat's definitely off to him. I shouldn't have accepted the job when you called me last Thursday," Edmund said as he ran the soaked handkerchief across his brow.

Claudia smiled and reached up to pat the elderly Santa's hand. "Perhaps you shouldn't, but I'm glad you did, Edmund. I remembered you from the old days where you and Dad often worked together. I just didn't stop to think that even Dad's an old boy now."

"Mmmm. I used to say it's not the years but the mileage. I'm not sure now… I think it may be the years after all," Edmund said and took a swig of the Coke through the long straw. "Oh, I was just too old and rusty for this kind of high-profile gig. At least I can brag about having worked at Spencer and Woolcott's. Maybe that'll earn me a few brownie points with the right people, ha ha."

"Maybe it will," Claudia said with a smile.

The elderly Santa chewed on his lips for a moment or two before he let out a chuckle. "You'll never guess where I last applied my trade as Santa Claus…"

"Where?"

Edmund's chuckled again as he reminisced about the stark contrast between the last people he had performed for and the excited children who had lined up to meet the department store Santa. "The Whispering Willows Retirement Home!  I felt like a young kid among all those old folks!  Gosh, that was a fun event… but as you may imagine, it was a somewhat sedate affair. The cheroot smoke was as thick as bugs on a bumper… I nearly had an asthma attack!"

"I'll bet," Claudia said with a grin; she looked at her father's old friend for a few moments before she grew serious: "I want you to be honest now, Edmund… the seven o'clock show is just around the corner. Can you manage it?"

Edmund fell silent and let his short-sighted eyes move up to the ceiling. They followed the pale-gray beams for a while before he let out a quiet "No. I'm sorry. I don't have any more to give."

Nodding somberly, Claudia wanted to rub her face but the stage make-up prevented her from doing so. She ran her fingers through her hair instead, but it didn't provide the relief she had wanted. "Okay. I understand."

"I just can't keep up any longer. And it's only the twentieth!  Goodness me, I can't even imagine how this place will look on the twenty-third or the twenty-fourth… I'm really, really sorry, Claudia… I hope it won't cause you too much grief."

"Well, it certainly presents a challenge… no doubt about that. But just for the record, I think you've made the right decision," Claudia said as she reached over to put a hand on the elderly fellow's arm. "Making the kids happy by playing Santa is important, but our health is even more important. There are many Santas out there, but once we lose our health, we… ah…"

An image of her mother in the final hospital ward she would ever see appeared without warning in her mind's eye. She clammed up as a glistening veil of tears suddenly obscured her vision.

Even without his glasses, Edmund could sense the mask of sadness that had fallen over Claudia's face. He was working for another agency when Marianne MacCready had passed away, but Douglas had kept him informed of the lady's illness so he knew how much it affected the entire family. Smiling wistfully, he returned the earlier supportive gesture by giving Claudia's hand a little squeeze. No words were necessary so they both kept quiet.

---

A short ten minutes later, Elaine returned to the office with a face the color of cold ash - i.e. pale-gray. She continued to hold the telephone to her ear, and the voice of J. Anthony Corbett, the managing director of Spencer and Woolcott's, came through the connection spewing out less than complementary terms about this, that and the other.

Claudia gave Edmund's arm a little squeeze in return before she clambered to her feet. She wanted to offer her support to Elaine as well, but the head of the Human Resource department seemed to turn away from her. The small-scale snub made her scrunch up her face in annoyance and stride out into the hallway beyond the office.

Once there, she retrieved her own telephone and soon found the number for the Send-A-Santa Recruitment Agency. "Hi, Beryl, it's me… no, it's not going well. Edmund needs to bow out- yeah. Yeah, I'm afraid so. It's just too damn hard for him. Can't blame him… I'm half his age and I felt it too. Pardon?  No, I don't know how Miss Sutcliffe feels about it. Listen, Beryl… I want you to organize an urgent money transfer to Mr. Flanagan. I guess his banking info will be in the system… it is?  Good. The old boy gave it his all and I'll be damned if we don't honor that. Let's say a five- no, make that an eight-hundred dollar bonus. He deserves every last cent. Yeah. Okay… okay, talk to you later. Bye."

Claudia had barely put the telephone back into the neck purse when Elaine opened the office door to search for the missing Elf. They briefly locked eyes. The moment didn't last long, but it was enough for a non-verbal apology to fly from Elaine's blue orbs and over to Claudia's hazel ones.

As they stepped back inside, Elaine put a friendly hand on the small of Claudia's back to guide her along. Edmund was still on the couch so Claudia returned to one of the satellite chairs she had used earlier.

Elaine continued over to her desk where she bumped down onto her swivel-chair and pretended to look at some papers. A moment later, she gave up the fake act and leaned forward so she could prop her head up on her arms. "The managing director wasn't happy about my last status report. And now I hear that Edmund needs to pull out completely…"

"Forcing him to stay would be a lawsuit waiting to happen for S-and-W," Claudia said while she put a finger across her lips in the age-old gesture known as Shhh! - it was directed at Edmund who had already opened his mouth to counter the claim.

Elaine let out a long sigh; she looked at her telephone but made no move to use it. "I really ought to call my boss again and let him know, but… I just can't make myself do it."

Over on the couch, Edmund rolled onto his left side to get his reading glasses and the can of Coke. Once the drinking straw had been given a good workout and the glasses were back on his nose, he tried to sit up - but failed. There was no point in appearing even weaker than absolutely necessary in front of the ladies so he settled for lying on his back. "I'm sorry for causing all this brouhaha… neither of you deserve it," he said and put a hand behind his head.

Claudia let out a dark chuckle. "It's not your fault, Edmund. It's my fault."

"Will you two stop it with all the self-blaming!" Elaine barked; she looked as if she wanted to slam a fist onto the desktop, but she held herself back. "We have a strict no-blaming policy here at Spencer and Woolcott's and I won't allow it to be broken. This is nobody's fault!  Shit just happens!"

Edmund and Claudia stared at each other with similar, wide-eyed expressions etched onto their faces - Claudia even let out a surprised snort at the blue language that had burst forth from the elegant lady.

"I've already called other agencies," Elaine continued, "and none of them… as in n-o-n-e of them… have any short-notice replacements ready. One of them could possibly, potentially, perceivably send over a Santa Claus on the twenty-sixth!  We're in a meat grinder, all right… one that I can't see a way out of."

Edmund's second attempt at getting his feet down and his head up had more success, and he was soon sitting upright. After he had emptied the can of Coke the regular way, he put on his boots, took the Santa hat and shot Claudia another wistful smile. "In any case, I'm sorry for not being stronger. Gosh, this gig is tougher than I'd imagined… those ninety-minute sessions can knock down a bull. Perhaps you should consider getting someone half my age next year. I think I'll be heading home now… and sleep for the rest of the week."

Claudia got up from the satellite chair at once and helped the recovered Santa on his feet. The precious coat was soon unfolded and fluffed out; she admired the expert craftsmanship on the stitching and the decorative elements as well as the quality of the fabric in general. "This is definitely a great coat, Edmund… it's vintage. How long have you had it?"

"Oh, thirty years give or take!  I bought it new after the old one I had used fell to pieces," Edmund said and stuck his left arm down the coat's sleeve. "The old one was the first suit I ever got, would you believe. It only lasted twenty years, but that was a hand-me-down from an old fella I knew from the neighborhood where I lived at the time."

"Yeah?  Where was that?"

"Gosh, it doesn't even exist anymore… the old Oirish carnah o' Cahrlyhle," Edmund said with a smile - the exaggerated dialect made Claudia grin back. "I believe it's called New Seoul now. It's a Korean neighborhood. But that's fine, we're all immigrants one way or the other."

"True," Claudia said; she briefly looked at Elaine who was busy speaking into her telephone once more. Grunting, she turned back to Edmund. "I'm going to give you money for a cab. I don't want you to spend a minute on any kind of public transportation today."

"Gosh, I can't accept-"

"Even Santa needs to listen to his Elves once in a while!  Here," she said and dug into the neck purse that held her wallet as well as her own telephone. "Fifty dollars. That should be enough. Right?"

"Oh, definitely!  Thank you… thank you very much, Claudia. I'm sorry it turned out like this. Perhaps it's best if you delete my name from your personnel rec-"

"Nope. We never know when a retirement home needs a Santa!" Claudia said with a grin. Opening the door, she helped the fatigued Robert Edmund Flanagan out into the hallway where they waved goodbye to each other.

Once she had made sure the elderly Santa was well on his way down toward the private elevator, she closed the door and stepped back into the office. A dark shadow fell over her face. Crossing her arms over her chest, she stood with her feet out wide like a battle commander on the dawn of a major military operation.

Elaine threw down her telephone with a snort that could best be described as disgusted. "That's it. We're officially on the ropes… in the dumps… staring into the abyss… screwed!  I even tried calling my counterpart over at one of the other department stores, but they're in the same fix we are. Nobody has any Santas this year. Nobody. And there's a nasty flu going around as well, apparently."

"Yes. For several weeks now."

Sighing, Elaine swiveled away from the desk so she had room to cross her legs. She sat like that for a few moments before she let out another sigh that was even deeper than the first one. "There's nothing we can do. We need to cancel the rest of the Meet Santa events. Not to mention the regular tours of the floors and the big ad push we had planned for the twenty-second. The celebrity lighting of the Christmas tree on the twenty-third needs to be reworked… and my career is down the drain."

"Oh, I'm sure it won't come to that, Elaine," Claudia said and shuffled over to the desk.

"You don't know Mr. Corbett."

"I don't… and judging by the way he runs his business, that makes me a happy, little Elf!  Anyway. Which celebrities did you invite?"

Elaine picked up her telephone when a thought entered her mind; she put it down at once when the thought fizzled out. "Oh, a couple of pop music starlets and the leading cast members of one of the daytime soaps. Mayor Goddard will also be making an appearance, of course."

"Well, of course. You couldn't keep her away from the cameras with a ten-foot barge pole. Especially not when she can hob-nob with celebs," Claudia said and broke out in a lopsided grin. "Did you catch her spotlight-stealing act at the anti-violence protest rally down on West Seventh Street?  Oh brother, that was cringeworthy."

"No. I didn't have time to watch any of it… but I read about it in the Times."

Claudia nodded and shuffled away from the desk. She moved over to the large windows that offered a partial view of the Carlyle skyline. Lights had already been turned on in many of the homes she could see; the golden sheen provided a ray of hope in the mounting afternoon gloominess. "And to think that all this drama could have been avoided if your stuck-in-the-Stone Age customers had only been willing to accept a female Santa Claus. Sheesh!"

"I suppose you could say we attract a conservative customer base. Perhaps even a conformist one. That comes with the location and the number of years we've been here. Nobody likes to mess with traditions… especially not Holiday traditions."

Claudia let out a grunt. "You're tellin' me?  Some of the procedures back at the agency were written by my granddad Angus!  But dammit, sometimes, we need to broaden our scope. Look beyond the tips of our noses. If only we had someone who-"

Interrupting herself, she spun around on her ruby-red slipper's heel and stared at the female individual sitting behind the desk. "If only we had a Mrs. Santa!  And I think we do!"

"What?  Didn't you tell me you didn't want to play-"

"Not me," Claudia said with a cheeky grin spreading over her features. "You. You'd be perfect as Mrs. Santa."

"I beg your pard-"

"You meet the physical requirements… or you will in a big, ol' Mrs. Santa dress!  A fatsuit or plenty of padding in all the right places… sensible shoes… long-stockings… wide, grandmotherly hips, a bulkier midsection, a heavier, uh… upper section, a gray wig… round glasses… the proper makeup. Elaine!  You're Mrs. Santa!"

Claudia ran around the desk after she had finished speaking. There, she held up her hands and pretended to look at her friend through a viewfinder like all the professional photographers and movie directors did.

"Now, wait a minute… wait a minute," Elaine said and jumped up from the swivel-chair. "I don't… okay, listen… a fatsuit?!  I can't… hey… hold on… don't I get a say in this?"

"Sure!  But only if that'll be a yes. Didn't you twist my arm into playing the Cheeky Elf?  I think you did. Now I'm adding a little pressure to yours so you can see the light and play Mrs. Santa."

"But-"

"We'll have this show up and running in no time," Claudia said and whipped out her telephone. "How long do we have until the seven PM… damn, very little time!  All right… all right…"

"Claudia!"

"Trust me, okay?  Everything's going to be fine. Don't worry. Let me call the office and get Beryl to send over an express courier with a truckload of costume accessories. This is gonna work a treat, I promise."

Elaine opened her mouth to complain about the whirlwind decision that involved her without giving her a chance to balk or even back out completely, but Claudia had already punched in the number for the agency and was lost to the world.

Stepping back, the head of the Human Resource department put her hands on her hips - that were about to become a great deal wider - and let out a grunt. "Huh," she mumbled to herself. "Elaine Sutcliffe starring as Mrs. Santa. Huh. Well… why not?  It might be fun. Or it might be an unmitigated disaster… yikes, I must be insane to go along with this…"

"Were you talking to me?" Claudia said and shoved her telephone back into her neck purse. When Elaine just shook her head, she continued: "Anyway, the express courier has been booked. They'll be over before long with all kinds of goodies for the Mrs. Santa costume. And just for the record, Beryl thought it was a great idea. She's willing to offer you a permanent contract if you do a good job here."

"Oh… yippee. I'll need it if J. Anthony Corbett happens to swing by at the wrong moment," Elaine said in a monotone that earned her a cheeky laugh in return from the one and only Cheeky Elf.

*
*
CHAPTER 6

When the head of the accounting department walked past the cleaning crew's utility room located a short distance from Elaine Sutcliffe's office in the non-descript hallway on the sixth floor, he wondered greatly about the peculiar noises of someone fumbling around - and the occasional burst of inventive profanity - that seemed to come from somewhere beyond the locked door. He was about to knock to ask if the people in there were all right when he reconsidered and continued onto his own office.

'You need to hurry up, Elaine… we only got ten minutes…'

'You hurry up!  These long-stockings are… ugh!  This is exactly why I don't wear pantyhose!  My legs are too long for the darn things…'

'Well… yeah… there's a punch line in there that I could have exploited, but I won't given the situation we're in.'

'Thank you!'

'You're welcome.'

'Jeez, the stockings are on… now what?'

'Foam padding. Tons of it. It's all Velcro'ed together. You'll get used to the added bulk pretty quickly. Mmmm… no, another couple of pads on your hips.'

'I mean… really?!  I already look like a manatee… or a hippo… a pregnant hippo!'

'Trust me. Okay, and another two layers on your chest. They need to be out there-'

'I get the picture. Like this?'

'Works for me!  And the long-sleeved blouse… yep, okay… and now the dress. Stand still.'

'I am!'

'Now you are… you were wigglin' like an earthworm before. Okay… it's down. Now you can wiggle… wiggle your hips. That'll make it come down into place.'

'My own hips or the foam hips?'

'Both.'

'Ohhhh, this is nuts…'

'Naw, this is purr-fect!  Simply purr-fect. Sit down so I can apply your makeup… yes, that'll work. Soot here, bronze there, a little bit of flour here, more bronze there, a little red blush on your cheeks… and a beauty spot of course.'

'Don't make it too big…'

'No, it'll be just right. A little more white here… let me see… yep. And the wig… no, sit still. I got it.'

'Are we done?'

'Not quite yet… you need the granny-glasses. Let me slide 'em up your nose. Alllll right, now we're ready.'

A few more fumbling noises came through the locked door before the women beyond it fell quiet - then someone let out an impressed, and certainly appreciative, whistle. The other just grunted.

The lock was twisted a moment later to open the door and reveal Santa Claudia's latest companion: a Mrs. Santa the likes of which the world had never seen.

Elaine wore sensible, dark-brown loafers and white long-stockings. The latter had been decorated with various Christmas symbols like bells, bugles, wreaths, cherubs and candy canes that had been sewn into the fabric.

Further up, she wore a long, dark-brown, knee-length dress that gripped her shoulders by way of a pair of wide straps. Several horizontal stripes of the white, wavy kind made it resemble what a gingerbread lady might wear, and that was wholly intentional. The dress covered a Christmas-red blouse that had its long sleeves end in multi-layered puff-cuffs. Beyond the cuffs, she wore white gloves that were meant to illustrate she had just had her hands buried in flour and dough for the next batch of Yuletide cookies.

Up top, her face was covered in greasy stage makeup held in various shades of bronze, soot-gray and flour-white that gave Mrs. Santa a look that suggested she was toiling away at the stove and the cookie ovens all day up on the north pole. The blush on her cheeks and the small beauty spot were just right as well and added to her appearance.

The old-fashioned wireframe granny glasses - without lenses for safety reasons - were perched across the tip of her nose and were perfect for the character. The gray wig styled in a grandmotherly fashion completed the glorious ensemble.

As Elaine tried to walk like she used to, she found the extra-extra-wide hips interfering with how she could move her legs - it all ended like something typically seen at a rambunctious duck disco on a Saturday night rather than in the managerial offices of the proud Spencer & Woolcott's department store. "I really, really don't know about this, Claudia…" she said as she tried to turn around without the foam padding getting in the way.

"I do. You look great."

"But the sooty-floury make-up and the white gloves and all that… women moved out of the kitchen a couple of decades ago, you know. I've memorized the phone number to my local Italian 'cos I can't cook worth a lick!"

"That doesn't matter… the character is exaggerated on purpose."

"Still…"

"You look fantastic," Claudia said as she ran around her reluctant friend. "All the way up, down and up again. Yep. You're ready."

Elaine looked at her costume once more before she spoke in a voice that strayed dangerously close to whining: "I'm not an actress!"

Claudia pulled a little on Elaine's left sleeve to make it sit lower - the manager had insisted on wearing her gold bracelet come Hell, high tide or Mrs. Santa. She was unable to hide the jewelry, but it was so elegant it didn't really matter. "None of us are and that's for the better… believe me. I've had a few stage and soap actors working at the agency but none of them ever lasted longer than a week. Just go with the flow, Elaine. It'll come to you much faster than you think. I'm not kidding. It'll work… I promise."

"I guess."

"It will. Come on, the clock is ticking… our customer satisfaction figures will undoubtedly drop a percentage point for each minute we're late. Right?"

"Probably," Elaine said and moved her legs the fastest she could to get to the private elevator. "Oh, I hope the staff cafeteria was able to process the cookie order quickly… that might be what saves us."

Claudia ran ahead and pressed the Call button for the elevator. Elaine and the car arrived at the same time, and the two outrageously dressed women soon stepped inside. "Yes, that was a great idea you had there, Elaine. Everybody loves hot cookies straight out of the oven."

"I just hope they won't be too hot… the last thing we need is for someone to sue us…" Elaine mumbled as the automatic doors closed behind her.

---

Downstairs on the third floor, the central square was a heaving mass of noisy children, dead-tired parents and excited grandparents. The colorful sea of humanity at least two-hundred strong rolled back and forth like the tide in the Atlantic; the waves all swept toward the circular area at the center where the big Meet Santa event was to take place.

Some of the children didn't want to wait any longer and let the world know by breaking out in loud wailing. Others couldn't wait any longer due to a different basic need which made the line to the two restrooms as long as the one that snaked over to Santa's Big Chair.

An entire detachment of guards from Spencer & Woolcott's security detail had been deployed and stood in strategically important positions to make sure the vast number of excited people were safe and content - most of the beefy, mustachioed human oaks seemed somewhat out of their element dealing with pint-sized kids rather than the usual troublemakers or shoplifters.

Several fire guards from the local station just down the street were present for reasons of safety, and Spencer & Woolcott's had even called Pettersson's Nine-Nine-One Ambulance Services to have a crew on standby with a stretcher in case someone fainted or was knocked over. The familiar short blonde from Pettersson's sat atop the stretcher swinging her legs freely while her taller brunette companion seemed to find it more interesting to clean her fingernails.

Elaine and Claudia soon exited the private elevator but only made it a single step out into the central square before their progress was halted by the hind shore of the sea of humanity. "Oh. My. God," Elaine breathed. "Panic attack… panic attack… panic attack…"

"You'll be fine… come on," Claudia said and put her hand on the small of Mrs. Santa's back - although that was a relative term given all the foam padding. Even though they went the long way around the center section so they wouldn't be spotted by too many people, it took them a while to arrive.

Elaine cast a brief glance at the hastily printed poster that had been placed diagonally across the billboard that marked the waiting line's starting point. It announced that Santa Claus had been detained on the North Pole but that the lovely Mrs. Santa would take care of everyone with hot cookies and delightful tales.

The first kid who spotted the two women approaching the big chair let out a squeal of delight and began to jump up and down in giddy anticipation. The kid's actions alerted other children who promptly joined in. Soon, everything spread like a runaway nuclear reactor until the entire third floor seemed to reverberate with happy squeals and calls for Mrs. Santa and the Cheeky Elf.

"Panic attack… pa- panic attack…" Elaine mumbled as she stared wide-eyed at the heaving mass of people that surrounded her on all sides.

Claudia had already experienced the mad rush too often to panic, so she jumped ahead to greet the countless children and to run interference for her new Mrs. Santa so she wouldn't high-tail it back to the sixth floor. "Hello, everybody!" she cried at the top of her lungs to be heard over the many squeals. "Look who's here!  Mrs. Santa!  Isn't she beautiful?"

"Awww-jeez…" Elaine groaned when she was hit by a strong wave of affirmative answers from the countless people. She cast a dark glare at the Cheeky Elf who was being very cheeky indeed.

Claudia didn't let the glare stop her and was soon back on full song: "Yes, as soon as Mrs. Santa heard that Santa Claus needed to go back to the North Pole, she asked us Elves to fly her down here on a reindeer express!  And here she is!  Mrs. Santa!" As Claudia introduced Elaine, she spun around and pointed at the garish-looking woman who had just sat down on Santa's Big Chair. "Come on, everybody!  Let's hear all your dearest wishes!  With a little Christmas magic, they will come true!"

Running back to the head of the row of children, Claudia crouched down and pretended to tickle a little boy who had been fortunate enough to be first in line. The young fan seemed a little shy, so the Cheeky Elf took him by the hand and led him up to the armrest.

From the moment Claudia helped the first kid up to Mrs. Santa so she could be let in on all the things he dearly wanted for Christmas, Elaine's ears wouldn't get a second's rest for the next hour and forty-four minutes. There were so many who wanted to talk to Mrs. Santa that breaking off after the scheduled ninety minutes would have been grossly unfair - not to mention detrimental to the vital approval ratings listed in the customer satisfaction surveys.

---

It was only after the last child, the last parent and the last grandparent had left - and Claudia had eaten the last chocolate chip cookie the staff cafeteria had made for them - that the proverbial stage lights were turned off to allow Elaine a modicum of peace. She remained sitting in Santa's Big Chair for several minutes, completely flaked-out and unable to do anything but silently observe Claudia thanking the people from the security detail, the fire guards and the ambulance crew from Pettersson's.

Her ears were ringing, her throat was raw, her facial skin was bothered by the makeup and her rear end was numb from spending so much time in the chair. On top of that, it seemed that a bumblebee had somehow found its way inside her head where it flew around and around aimlessly. Her brain throbbed harder than it ever had before, and even a post-New Year's Eve hangover had nothing on the current state of her being.

She had just talked herself into at least making an attempt at getting up when she let out a long groan instead. J. Anthony Corbett, the all-gray managing director, walked into the Meet Santa area with an unreadable look upon his face. "Great. That was all I needed," she mumbled to herself.

"Miss Sutcliffe, I must congratulate you. Let me shake your hand," the senior manager said as he put out his hand for the traditional greeting.

"Uh… what?" Elaine croaked as she stared at her gloved hand being pumped up and down; then she looked up at her boss.

"That's what I call a marvelous recovery. I was deeply concerned when I was told the Santa actor had to bow out due to illness. I'm glad to say I needn't have worried. You did remarkably well. You and Miss MacCready both. There's such an amazing chemistry between you. It's like you've worked together for years."

"Ah… well…"

Corbett smiled as he took a step back from the big chair. "I won't take more of your time, Miss Sutcliffe. I know you well enough to know that you're already making plans on how to structure tomorrow's five events."

Elaine's eyes grew so wide it was a miracle they were able to stay in her head. At the same time, she had to grip the wooden armrests hard to stop herself from falling out of the seat. "Buh… to- tomo- tomorrow's five events?!"

"Indeed, Miss Sutcliffe. At eleven, one, three, five and seven. Plus the tours of the various floors, of course. Break a leg!  Isn't that what you showbusiness people say?" - Chuckling at his clever parting salute, J. Anthony Corbett turned around and soon left the circular area and the stunned Elaine.

Claudia waited until the gray fellow had disappeared before she strolled back to the morose Elaine. "What was that all about?  Do you still have a job here?"

"I think so… I'm not so sure I want it, but…"

"Well, you can come work for me any day. You did great."

Elaine let out a dark chuckle as she finally got to her feet - the first thing she did was to make a beeline for the restroom. All the foam padding around her hips and mid-section made her waddle like a duck, but her vanity had to take a back seat to more pressing matters.

Grinning at her friend's overly cute walk, Claudia dug into her costume to find her telephone in case someone had tried to contact her during the performance. Beryl had sent a text message about a subject that could wait a while, so she put the telephone away and began to clean up the inevitable mess of candy wrappers, lost baby pacifiers and other long-forgotten items that always littered the area around the big chair.

-*-*-*-
-*-*-*-
-*-*-*-

December 24th at Spencer & Woolcott's - six PM.

After the final customer of the day had been thanked for choosing Spencer & Woolcott's to complete their Christmas shopping - it was a man buying sexy Lady Bartholdy lingerie for his mistress and a SuperSoakItUp scrubbing brush for his wife - the doors were closed and locked by members of the security detail.

The lights were soon dimmed to their regular night-time levels save for those that illuminated the many storefront windows; there, old-fashioned choo-choo trains ran past lit Christmas trees and sweeping, white landscapes where joyous miniature Elves played in the snow while red-nosed reindeer pulled heavily-laden sleighs. In other windows, mechanical figures of Santa, Mrs. Santa and some of their little helpers sat around tables drinking Yule-ale and eating rice pudding with a healthy glob of butter and a sprinkling of cinnamon. King Frost and his polar bears looked at the cozy scene through a porthole, but the warm fire that flickered merrily inside meant that Old Man Winter had no power there so he was forever doomed to a freezing solitude.

A similar scene played out up on the sixth floor. Though there was no rice pudding involved, all the various department managers had convened in J. Anthony Corbett's opulent office for the traditional Christmas send-off. The well-dressed men and women stood in their usual groups speaking quietly while they awaited the arrival of the Big Boss - who might as well have been King Frost - and the traditional bottle of sherry.

Not content with basic amenities, the managing director had a genuine Persian rug gracing the floor while original oil paintings had prime spots on the walls. The lamps that hung from the ceiling on old-appearing wrapped cords were exact replicas of the type of kerosene lamps the founders of Spencer & Woolcott's had sold when they first went into the mail-order business in the 1890s as a general store in an isolated, rural town nobody had ever heard of until then.

The furniture - a very large desk, a smaller desk off to the side, a three-hatch sideboard and a coffee table with a shin-basher lower level - was made of hand-crafted darkwood that had been polished to such an extent the growth rings seemed to glow. A deep-burgundy, four-seater leather couch accompanied by two satellite armchairs had been placed in the far corner of the office under the watchful eye of the elder members of the Spencer family who had been immortalized in a large oil painting created in 1908.

The only modern fly in the old-fashioned ointment was the ergonomic office chair that had been pushed up to the large desk; it had been a recent addition after J. Anthony Corbett had sprained his back in a golf swing that had gone wrong.

All the department heads stopped talking when the office door was swooshed open, but when it turned out to be Elaine and Claudia, the din returned to its previous level at once. "Thank God, Mr. Corbett isn't here yet," Elaine said as she closed the door behind them.

She had barely had time to use the shower facilities in the staff cafeteria and change into a classier set than the Mrs. Santa costume before the Christmas send-off was scheduled to start - her hair was still damp in spots, but the wet look suited her. The set she had jumped into was the familiar cobalt-blue pant suit that covered a black, rib-edge turtleneck blouse. Two brooches made of precious metals graced her lapels: one made of gold that had been shaped to resemble a few oak leaves, and the other was a pair of silver bells that jingled whenever she moved too fast.

"I guess the big boss demands a grand entrance, huh?" Claudia said with a chuckle. Like Elaine, she had changed into an elegant set to honor the occasion: sharply creased, dark-gray slacks and a Navy-blue blazer jacket. The latter covered a white shirt and - as the Cheeky Elf's last job at Spencer & Woolcott's - a very loud Christmas tie that she had borrowed from her father's collection of such clothing items.

"You better believe he does. I was late two years ago… let's say I won't be doing that again-"

The words hadn't even left Elaine's mouth before the door opened once more to reveal the managing director and two kitchen staffers who had brought the customary trays. One held a bottle of sherry and the appropriate number of glasses while the other had the sugary treats: bite-sized squares of high-quality imported chocolate, the type of exquisite butter cookies that were sold at Spencer & Woolcott's souvenir shop and finally two large marzipan rings decorated with white and pink frosting. The rings were soon cut into smaller pieces and had toothpicks stuck into them so the people enjoying them wouldn't get sticky fingers.

Unlike the managers - who had mostly dressed in bright, cheery colors to mark the special occasion - J. Anthony Corbett wore his usual set of black shoes and a dark-gray three-piece business suit over a white shirt featuring a starched collar. The knot on his dark-gray tie was so perfect it could have been used in one of their ad campaigns.

The department heads all fell quiet on cue as the managing director uncorked the bottle of sherry and poured himself a small glass of the dark-amber liquid. Once the kitchen staffers had distributed the glasses and the sherry among the guests, they retired to the side of the office while Corbett held his usual speech.

After he had locked eyes with each and every one of the department managers to make them understand they needed to stay quiet while he held his annual address, he cleared his throat and set off: "Ladies and Gentlemen. Welcome to our traditional Christmas celebration. This year, we certainly have something to celebrate. The sales are up across the board. Indeed, they've far exceeded our forecast after the darkest hours of last year and the first few months of this. Similarly, our customer satisfaction figures showed a steady rise over the summer and into the last quarter… until we reached December."

Elaine's breath hitched as the words filtered through to her brain. She had intimate knowledge of the figures and knew they were good, but the way the managing director had phrased it reduced her to a quivering bowl of jello. Staring wide-eyed at the man in gray, she could hardly feel the hand Claudia put on her back for support.

J. Anthony Corbett took a sip of his sherry before he continued: "As everyone here knows, we had several challenges from December sixteenth onward when it came to our important Meet Santa events." As he spoke, he cast a steely gaze at his team of managers. "We had not one, but two incidents involving the people we had hired as Santas. It took a great deal of dedication, improvisation and plain, old hard work to recover from the incidents, but we did. I can say without doubt that Mr. and Mrs. Spencer would have been proud of what we accomplished."

He paused to gesture at the oil painting in the corner of the office. "Dedication to our work and a will to think laterally when things go against us. Ladies and Gentlemen, those have been the key values of our proud department store ever since the newfangled electricity wiped out the entire market for kerosene lamps within a few years. Instead of giving up, Mr. and Mrs. Spencer switched to producing and selling electric lamps and soon regained the market share they had lost. Others, like Mr. Woolcott, were less willing to change their ways and ended up being bought out by their competitors. It is magnificent to see that those key values have remained with us."

A murmur of affirmative answers rippled among the interested spectators - Elaine just turned more confused by the moment.

"After an unfortunate slump in mid-December," Corbett continued, "the customer satisfaction figures didn't just rise. No, they exploded. They went through the roof in a way I have never witnessed in my forty years in senior management. Well done, Miss Sutcliffe," he said and toasted Elaine who could barely stand unassisted by now.

The other department managers duly sent congratulatory cheers at Elaine who responded with a nervous smile and a few jerking nods at her colleagues.

As J. Anthony Corbett spoke on concerning the various other departments at Spencer & Woolcott's, Claudia seemed to be the only one who wasn't overly impressed with the way it had panned out. " 'Well done, Miss Sutcliffe' ?  I mean… that's it?  After all the blood, sweat and tears you put into it?" she whispered for Elaine's ears only.

Elaine finally let out the breath she had been holding. It came as an explosive burst that seemed to blossom onto her cheeks - they turned cherry-red in an instant. "Are you kidding?" she whispered back while she fanned herself. "That's like being knighted around here!"

"Huh. Okay."

The managing director eventually finished his traditional speech and raised his glass of sherry. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I could go on for hours, but I won't. I'll finish off by saying that it has been a very special year for Spencer and Woolcott's. Well done, everybody. Merry Christmas and cheers!"

A chorus of Cheers! rose before everyone fell quiet to sip the sherry. Elaine didn't just sip hers - she chugged it down in a single gulp.

"Whoa, girl," Claudia said with a chuckle. "Do that again and you'll need to call a cab to get home. Don't forget you've been through eighteen Meet Santa shows over the past couple of days."

"Nineteen shows. Plus lighting the Christmas tree. Plus touring the floors four times each day."

"Well, I guess you'd know," Claudia said and took the opportunity to rub Elaine's long back. "But anyway… I'm proud of you. Damn proud. Like I've said several times already, you can come work for me any time you want. We'd be a fantastic one-two combination. I can imagine the playbill already… watch out!  The Fabulous Mrs. Santa & The Naughty Elf!  Coming soon to a department store near you!"

"I thought you were the Cheeky Elf?"

"Oh, you know," Claudia said and gave Elaine a little nudge, "I'm pretty flexible when it comes to things like that."

"I'll bet," Elaine said under her breath.

After the important speech had concluded, the kitchen staffers moved around the office collecting the spent glasses and distributing the sugary treats. The din rose once more among the various department heads as the topics turned to the coming Holiday period and the presents they had bought for their loved ones.

J. Anthony Corbett floated around the office like a shadowy presence without speaking to anyone beyond a few sentences here and there. As the gray individual shook hands with Claudia, it was plain to see that he was offended by her hugely loud - but perfectly kid-friendly - Christmas tie that depicted snowmen, reindeer, sleighs, Santas, Elves and even an igloo for good measure.

The loudness seemed to drive him out of the office because he left soon after that - and the moment the door closed behind him, the mood among the department heads became far looser and cheerier. The topic of conversation soon turned to more personal matters: comparing the size of the Christmas bonus checks that had been handed out earlier in the day.

Elaine knew that her bonus check had been at the fairest end of the scale so she had no interest in adding her two cents' worth to the usual office gossip. Yawning as fatigue began to nibble at her stamina, she looked for somewhere to put her empty glass. Her wishes were heard when the kitchen staffers happened to walk past at the same time.

After she had put her glass on one tray, she nabbed two pieces of marzipan from the other. "Don't spend money printing that playbill, Claudia. I'm retiring from the stage. And that's official," she said as she gave her friend one of the pieces.

"Awww…"

"Eat your marzipan."

"Yes, ma'am," Claudia said with a grin before she bit into the dry, but sublimely tasty, treat.

-*-*-*-

Walking through the empty floors of Spencer & Woolcott's proved to be an eerie experience after every square inch of every floor had seen so much life throughout the month. At times, it seemed that Claudia and Elaine were the only ones left after some kind of apocalyptic event.

On their way to the access tunnel that led to the underground parking garage, they ran into the occasional security guard from the night shift. The uniformed men and women patrolled the floors verifying that the public restrooms and dressing rooms were empty, that no suspect bags had been left behind anywhere, that the daytime smoke alarms were active, and that the primary and secondary night-time fire containment systems were monitoring ambient temperature and the air quality - the latter was a backup system for the smoke alarms and would automatically alert the local fire station in case of high levels of air contamination.

Elaine released the metal door to the tunnel and held it open for Claudia. Large signs bolted onto the concrete walls in the basement of the department store ordered everyone to keep the doors closed at all times, so she depressed the handle twice to make sure it was secure.

The tunnel was dimly lit and held a vague scent of concrete dust, old soil and even wet newspapers for some inexplicable reason. Their footsteps echoed off the bare walls as they walked down the long tunnel to get to the far friendlier parking garage. The constant noise that had existed everywhere around them for so long meant they enjoyed the rare silence - neither said a single word during the entire walk from the offices on the sixth floor to the underground facility.

Once they reached the parking garage itself, they were met by the same female security guard who had stopped Claudia when she had first come to Spencer & Woolcott's a week earlier. The guard - G. Falcone - resembled a bouncer from a dubious night club, and she carried a grim, no-nonsense expression on her face that spelled out quite clearly that anyone considering mouthing off at her would need a plastic bag to carry home their teeth.

The gruff look vanished when she recognized the two women. "Well, if it isn't Santa Claudia and Mrs. Santa," she said in a friendly tone that belied her severe exterior - she even broke out in a rare grin.

"That's right, but I'm wearing my nice clothes today," Claudia said with a matching grin. Her and Elaine's credentials were checked as a standard measure, but they were soon allowed to walk over to their cars.

After the first visit, Claudia had been allowed to park her Christmas-red BMW in the zone reserved for employees. Ever since Sunday morning, she and Elaine had parked next to each other so they could partake in pleasant conversations while going up to the offices; they were frequently too tired to speak once the working days were over.

Elaine drove a somewhat more subdued black Mercedes-Benz compared to Claudia's loudly colored car. Once the manager reached the low-slung sports coupe, she leaned against the door and let out a long sigh. "What a day. What a week. What a month. What a life…"

"Is it that bad?" Claudia said with a grin. When Elaine didn't respond, she reached out to give her friend a small, playful slap on the arm.

"Bubble bath, here I come…"

"Now that we can agree on," Claudia said as she reached up to loosen her tie - the loud garment went well with the equally loud car. "But that'll have to wait until after… oh, probably the New Year. Dad was discharged from St. Mary's earlier today."

"I beg your pardon?" Elaine said and pushed herself off the car. "Only today?  But… don't tell me he had to spend an entire week at the hospital for nothing more than a sprained ankle!"

"No," Claudia said with a shrug. "The doctors found one or two other things they wanted to keep an eye on. Nothing major. Typical old-guy things, you know. High blood pressure… and one of his electrocardiogram readings showed an anomaly or unusual spike or whatever. His patience was running a little thin last night when I visited him."

"I can imagine… but Claudia!  Why on Earth have you been working here all day?  Everyone would have understood if you had taken the day off to drive him home!"

"Oh, I called Dad to offer just that. Do you know what he said?  To quote him directly, he said, 'Well, you can forget all about that!  The kids come first!' " Claudia said with a grin.

"I have to admit that does sound like Douglas. Was he driven home in an ambulance or something, then?"

"No, my brother Jonathan has stepped up to the plate for once. He and his wife Marie-Chantal took Dad back to his house over on West Seventy-seventh Street. It's a really great neighborhood close to a park with a beautiful lake."

"Oh!  I didn't even know you had a brother!  How intriguing!" Elaine said and reached out to touch Claudia's elbow. "How old is he?  Are you the responsible older sibling or the free-spirited afterthought?"

"Hey, I'll give you afterthought!" Claudia said and broke out in a cheesy grin. "I'm the responsible older sibling… who's just spent the better part of a week in tights playing a cheeky Elf."

They both laughed out loud at the memories of all the silly antics Claudia had pulled to keep the children happy; she hadn't hit a dry patch the entire time and had only left glowing kids and smiling parents in her wake. The happy moment was interrupted by Claudia letting out a snort. "Yeah… we're all going to spend Christmas at Dad's this year. My own bachelorette pad is on the fifteenth floor and that's just way too bothersome on way too many levels."

"Oh, the penthouse, or…?"

"Yeah. I have a fabulous view of Victory Park and the skyline beyond it. On New Year's Eve, I can see fireworks from all over Carlyle."

A shy smile briefly flashed across Elaine's face. "I'd love to check that out some day. Or night, to be exact."

"Yeah, that would be fun," Claudia said and reached out to touch Elaine's arm to keep the pleasant touchy-feely theme going. "Jonathan and Marie-Chantal have brought their rugrats along this year. Rosie is four and Mark has just turned six."

"Sounds like you won't have any trouble working off the extra pounds you'll gain over Christmas, huh?"

"Ugh, tell me about it," Claudia said and displayed a tired grin. "And everything hinges on me. It's a recipe for disaster is what it is. Jonathan has no cooking skills to speak of and Marie-Chantal is, ah… she's fond of tawny port… and sherry… and mulled wine… and cream liqueur… well, that's all I'm saying. And Dad can't help me this year, so… yeah. I'll probably end up losing sleep, weight and my temper at least once."

"I hope you bought all your Christmas gifts at Spencer and Woolcott's!"

"Not all of 'em. But some," Claudia said and winked at her friend in an overly exaggerated fashion.

Silence fell between them; not an awkward one, but one that suggested they had said all there was to say and that everything beyond that point would be nothing more than talk for talk's sake. The moment of tranquility was only interrupted when one of the other department heads walked past and shouted a "Merry Christmas!" at Elaine who responded by waving.

"Well… I guess this is it, then," Claudia said after a while as she reached into her pants pocket to find her car keys - a sign the conversation was about to come to an end. She toyed with the keys by letting the set twirl around her index finger.

"I guess."

Another couple of beats went by before Claudia said: "So… are you doing anything over Christmas?"

"Yes, my parents flew in from St. Lawrence yesterday. That's up in the northern provinces near the rise of the Satchawahnee River. My Mom's turned my apartment upside down. She's the kitchen wizard in our family. Dad's more of a couch potato… like I am away from the job."

A rapid shadow of disappointment flashed across Claudia's face. For the briefest of moments, it was reflected in her eyes that she had wanted to invite Elaine over to her pad for a little post-Holiday togetherness under far cozier conditions than what they had experienced for the past couple of days. She briefly furrowed her brow before she pretended to be cool by chuckling and reaching out to swat at Elaine's arm all over again. "Families, huh?  Can't live with 'em, can't tell 'em to get lost."

"No," Elaine said and pressed the button on her key fob that unlocked the doors of her Mercedes. Turning around to get into the car, she pretended to find something in the center console by sheer accident. "Oh, look… a twig of mistletoe. You know what they say about mistletoe," she said as she held up the small fragment that was barely larger than the toothpicks that had been used for the marzipan treats.

"Yeah, but… are you sure that's really mistletoe?  It looks like someone has Elmer-glued a couple of leaves onto a matchstick-"

"Oh, will you just kiss me," Elaine said in a voice that held more than a little humor.

Claudia duly complied. Closing her eyes, she leaned her head back to ease the final approach. The touch was sweet, warm, sensual and just what she needed at that moment in time after the busy month she'd had. The kiss made her realize how much she missed the sensations that followed in the footsteps of intimacy. She had been far too busy for far too long; it became crystal clear to her that work would soon have to give way to an adventure of the heart or else she'd shrivel up inside.

The eventual separation was brutal but regrettably inevitable. All done for now, they remained close while they both let out juvenile snickers and goofy grins. "Why didn't we do that ages ago?" Claudia whispered.

"I guess we were too busy with our careers…" Elaine whispered back.

Claudia blushed again as she ran a gentle finger along Elaine's silky smooth jaw line. She didn't know what was best - feeling the skin or seeing Elaine respond to her touch by sighing and leaning into it. "We've been stupid. There's a spark here. A big spark. It's ready to ignite."

"You're right. But we don't have time to act on it now."

"Says who?!"

"I do," Elaine said and humorously tapped a finger into Claudia's chest. "Our families are here for the Holidays, remember?"

"Family?  I have family?  And what Holidays?" Claudia said before she broke out in a wide smirk and leaned her forehead against Elaine's shoulder. "No, I guess you're right. Oh, darn."

Elaine reached up to run her fingers through Claudia's soft locks - she was rewarded with a sigh of great satisfaction. "There's also another thing… and this is a real stumbling block. As the head of the Human Resource department, I'm not allowed to have relationships with anyone who's employed by Spencer and Woolcott's. And your contract doesn't expire until noon on Friday the thirty-first…"

"What a load of… who dreamt up such archaic rules?"

"Mr. and Mrs. Spencer did a hundred and twenty-five years ago."

Claudia rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well…"

"But I'm directly responsible for policing them, Claudia. If I of all people break them… well, I'm sure you get the picture."

Claudia let out another sigh - this one was fueled by frustration rather than satisfaction. She looked at Elaine for a couple of moments before she broke out in a nod. "Yeah, okay. I'd hate myself if we got you into trouble over this. All right."

A second kiss duly followed. Although it was shorter than the first one since there was no mistletoe involved - fake or otherwise - it meant just as much. "See you after the Holidays, Claudia," Elaine said before she got into her luxury sports coupe and rolled down the power window.

The expression on Claudia's face told a tale of being less than thrilled about the rollercoaster ride she had just been through. The kisses had been wonderful but she could have lived without experiencing the subsequent damper on her mood; still, she wouldn't have missed the ride for the world. Leaning down to the low coupe, she put an arm on the roof above the window. She wetted her lips but said nothing.

Elaine started the sports coupe's engine which soon let out a steady, powerful hum. It idled for a while until she moved the shifter into reverse.

Before it was too late, Claudia quickly ducked in through the open window and placed a solid smooch directly on Elaine's kisser. "Mistletoe!  Gotcha!  Merry Christmas, Elaine," she said with a grin.

"Why, you cheeky, little Elf!  Merry Christmas, Santa Claudia," Elaine said before she reversed out of the parking bay to leave her friend alone next to the red BMW. A quick honking was her parting salute before she drove up the concrete slope and came to a brief halt while she waited for a gap in the traffic on the busy street.

Claudia kept looking at the black Mercedes Coupe until a gap presented itself and the luxury vehicle went out of sight. The old chestnut about dreaming of a white Christmas insisted on being whistled, so she did just that as she climbed into her own car and got ready to drive home.

*
*
CHAPTER 7

December 26th at the MacCready residence - 11 AM.

The quiet West Seventy-seventh Street and the rest of the upscale neighborhood known as Stanton Heights rarely saw major events - save for the occasions where Douglas MacCready got home late from work wearing a Santa Claus costume - but few of the residents could forget the dramatic night in mid-October where vile thugs from the DiSorrento mob syndicate had tried to firebomb a home only three streets away.

The crime had been solved, but the fear and subsequent rampant paranoia against anyone who looked even the slightest outside the norm continued to lurk just below the surface. Retired men and women from various branches of law enforcement and the military had called in favors from their former colleagues and had soon created a neighborhood watch that patrolled the quiet streets around the clock seven days a week. Their manifesto explained they were there to prevent another near-tragedy, that there was no room for complacency and that skeptics, pinko intellectuals and other types of dissident voices should move away from the Stanton Heights area if they felt threatened by the patrols.

Proper winter in the shape of solid frost and a foot of snow had come to Stanton Heights and the rest of Greater Carlyle on Christmas Day. It had delighted the children and frustrated the adults, but all could agree that the piles of white were nice to look at from the comforts of one's couch. Scores of snow-families had been built all along the quiet street, and it seemed the rotund snowy figures outnumbered the human residents on a factor of three-to-one.

Douglas MacCready's home was an elegant, two-storey brick house built in a Colonial style that seemed to be the preferred design throughout the upscale Stanton Heights area. It was pulled back a good fifty feet from West Seventy-seventh Street which left plenty of room for a lawn, a few fruit trees, a couple of bushes and a small-scale goldfish pond - of course, everything was buried under the recent snow and the pond had frozen over.

The chimney atop the sloped roof sent out a plume of grayish smoke indicating the fireplace in the living room was burning merrily. The driveway leading up to a flat-topped, double-unit garage had room for three vehicles but was only used by one. Claudia's BMW was parked inside the heated garage alongside Douglas' Chevrolet Malibu which left her brother's Ford Explorer outside as a white lump resembling an igloo.

As could be expected of someone who made a living of wearing the famous red suit, hundreds of colorful Christmas lights had been attached to every single surface of the house that could be seen from the street. Endless reams of dark-green garland ran along every window frame, and a hand-crafted laurel wreath adorned the front door - the latter had been made by Claudia's mother Marianne and was thus a prized possession that spent eleven months a year safely protected by multiple sheets of silk paper inside a cardboard box lined with cotton wool.

A full-sized Santa-figure stood next to his reindeer and the familiar sleigh on the roof of the garage while several Elves were busy climbing down the drain pipes next to the automatic door. Another, smaller, team of reindeer pulled a sleigh on the front lawn next to an LED sign that said Happy Holidays! in several shades of red and green. The latter two decorations were hooked up to a solar sensor so they would automatically turn on once it got dark enough in the afternoons.

The roof-Santa and the reindeer had been covered in snow the day before like the rest of the Stanton Heights area, so Claudia had done her bit to restore good order on the North Pole by venturing up onto the roof to sweep away the snow. Unlike the real Elves who all used drain pipes wherever they could, Claudia had needed to use an aluminum ladder that was so cold she could feel it through her gloves. Her brother and father had been down on the ground giving her plenty of advice on what to do until she had sent a shovel-ful of snow down toward them - completely by accident, of course.

---

Inside the elegant Colonial, Claudia appeared at the top of the hallway staircase that led to the smaller bedrooms on the upper floor. For the Holiday period, she had moved into her old room where she had spent a good number of her formative years. Her brother Jonathan had gone back to his old quarter as well but found it to be wholly inadequate now that he had a wife and children with him. Claudia's old room was larger, but she refused to switch rooms no matter how hard he tried to bribe her into doing so.

The master bedroom was on the ground floor not too far from the kitchen and the bathroom - that was a stroke of good fortune considering Douglas' tender ankle and knee. Having reached the age of needing a nightly pee or two, moving up and down the staircase in the dead of night would have been murder for him, not to mention an accident waiting to happen.

Claudia wore a comfortable - if not exactly color-coded - set of clothes in the shape of pale-brown loafers, white slacks, a red-and-green-striped long-sleeved blouse and a charcoal-gray indoor vest. She hurried down the staircase with little regard for her safety, turned sharp right at the foot of the stairs and went through a swinging door to get back into the kitchen. The first thing she did was to wrap a red apron around herself hoping the lady-Elf depicted on the apron's front would protect her clothes.

The electronic timer had just started its infernal chiming all over again when she smacked a fist down onto it and immediately turned to the bread oven behind her. Using heat-resistant mittens, a full wire rack of ginger snaps were soon extracted and transferred to the designated cooling-off-spot on the far right of her kitchen counter.

Once the door for the bread oven had been shut, she took off the mittens and rubbed her brow. All she could do was to stare wide-eyed at the chaotic scenes in her Dad's kitchen: at the dishwasher that was so overloaded the hatch wouldn't close, at the mess on the floor where she had dropped an entire cupful of flour, at the stacks of clean dishes and cutlery needed for the next serving and at the gigantic recycling bag in the corner that was so full of empty beer and soda cans that it had already tipped over twice. Her eyes ended their short tour on an inspirational message that her father had sticky-taped onto the side of one of the cupboards: Christmas; How I Love Thee; So Why Do You Treat Me So Cruel?

She knew and accepted that she was the sole individual in charge of the entire Christmas menu, but it irked her that nobody would as much as offer their help to clean up or do the dishes afterwards. It was not in her nature to keep quiet about such things, but she had made a pledge to herself, in the spirit of the Holidays, that she wouldn't act like a sour grape and spoil one of the rare opportunities her father had to see his grandchildren Rosie and Mark.

Sighing, she noticed the recycling bag threatened to tip over again, so she went over to it and gave it a fair shaking so the lightweight contents were distributed better.

A loud cheer from the living room across the hallway reached her ears. Sighing for the umpteenth time that day, she picked up a tray of chocolate treats and left the kitchen.

The scene in the living room had not shifted an inch in either direction since the last time she had set foot in there: An oh-so-important live hockey game played on the large, wall-mounted TV. The game had apparently just entered its second period, but Claudia had so little interest in hockey she couldn't care less if it was the eighteenth period.

Her father occupied most of the couch while wearing one of his new Christmas presents, namely a huge, and hugely fluffy, Navy-blue terry cloth bathrobe. He wore a sports sweater and sweatpants underneath the blue fluffiness, and he had his right leg up on a low footstool to rest his sore ankle and knee.

The central coffee table was littered with cups, stirrers, sugar bowls, plastic jars of coffee creamer, spent tea bags, several kinds of jam, colorful candy wrappers and crumb-covered plates that had held cookies or slices of well-buttered toast. Claudia was too annoyed to keep count, but the briefest of glances proved there were at least another twenty spent bits and bobs on the table. At least nobody smoked anymore so there weren't any stinking ashtrays or stubbed-out cigarette butts anywhere.

Like every year, Douglas had a seven-foot Christmas tree in the corner of the living room, and like every year, he had put so many ornaments, tinsel, drums, flags and little angels on it that it was a miracle the branches still held up. The Star of Bethlehem had been squeezed down onto the top like tradition dictated.

To keep everything safe, the active fireplace had been equipped with a shield that would catch stray embers while still allowing the heat and the golden light to shine through. A three-by-three-foot metal plate had been placed on the carpet in front of the shield to act as a secondary line of defense against rogue embers that had managed to vault the shield. The final safety measure was a rolled-up fire blanket and a two-gallon bucket filled with water.

The mantelpiece had been designed to remain cool even when the fireplace was going well, so several angels, shepherds, saints and other porcelain figurines had been placed there. It was also the home of a high-quality, gold-rimmed card from the senior management of Spencer & Woolcott's thanking Claudia and Douglas MacCready for their sterling work for the department store. It had been signed by J. Anthony Corbett, the managing director, but not Elaine Sutcliffe, and that fact had puzzled Claudia ever since her father had opened the special card the previous morning.

A dining table with room for eight was in the section of the large living room closest to the fireplace. It had been set according to all MacCready Christmas traditions with a red tablecloth and white cloth napkins. Wine glasses and extra-fine tumblers that were only used once a year were lined up with mathematical precision next to sets of silver cutlery, gravy boats and red-and-white plates of varying sizes meant to hold different types of dishes. Finally, a pair of heavy-duty oakwood table mats had been placed centrally so they could be reached from both sides of the table.

Claudia's brother Jonathan and his wife Marie-Chantal shared one of the armchairs while the little ones, Rosie and Mark, played noisily on the floor with some of their new presents. Mark made a purple dinosaur stomp all over a town made of Lego bricks while his younger sister held a dolly in her arms and pretended to be a doting parent.

"Chocolate delights, anyone?" Claudia said with a smile that faded when she realized that everyone's attention remained focused on the fast-moving hockey game on the wall-mounted TV.

The smile disappeared altogether when the only response to her question was her brother's hand popping up from somewhere beyond the armchair. It was obvious he expected to be served. That would have been fine had he been six like his son Mark, but not thirty-six.

Claudia cast a brief glance at her father whose face carried a beaming smile - not because of the hockey game, but because of the antics the little ones were up to down on the floor. Swallowing her frustration, she put a random chocolate treat in the palm of her brother's hand before spinning around on her heel and stomping back to the kitchen.

She counted to ten inwardly. Then twenty. Then another twenty. By the time she was nearing sixty instead of just fifty, she gave up and made a beeline for the refrigerator instead. She had a wide selection of chilled beverages to choose from but ended up going for her regular Coke. Her frustrations whispered in her ear that she ought to nab one of the imported, extra-strong Christmas beers and forget everything that went on around her, but it was a little too early in the day to go blotto.

Moving back to the kitchen window above the sink, she tracked one of the patrols from the neighborhood watch that happened to pass by at the same time. The three mature fellows had fierce-looking German Shepherds on leashes - the men and the dogs were all retired officers from the Carlyle Police Department K9 unit - and everyone looked as if they were freezing their behinds off despite the fact they were wrapped up in so many layers of warm clothing they resembled the Michelin Man.

Claudia shook her head at the nonsense of it all before she took a long swig from the Coke. As she moved an index finger down her busy agenda, she discovered it was high time to get started on the wholegrain buns that were going to accompany their dinner.

A sigh escaped her; then she moved over to another section of the kitchen counter and took the yeast and the special pack of flour she would need to make the buns.

-*-*-*-

Once the hockey game had finished and the worst of the coffee table's litter had been mucked out, Claudia was finally able to sit next to her father and enjoy a quiet, cozy Holiday moment. The only sounds heard in the living room were irregular crackles from the fireplace and the occasional shout from the street when some of the neighborhood's kids threw snowballs at each other.

A nearly full glass of pale port stood on the table in front of her, but the dessert wine had made her woozy after the very first sip so she had decided to let it be. Douglas had been advised against drinking alcohol because of some medicine he needed to take to keep a small infection under control, but he eyed the glass eagerly like he was permanently on the brink of chugging it down.

Claudia had her arm hooked inside her Dad's and leaned against his warm body like she had done a thousand times when she was a young girl. Now and then, she glanced at his sore leg before studying his face to see if he was in any pain, but it seemed he had come out of the drama relatively unscathed.

Douglas smiled when he sensed his daughter's eyes on him. After giving her arm a little tug to make her come even closer, he leaned into her touch and placed a tiny peck on her golden locks. "Thank you for all you've done for me this Christmas," he said quietly. "I'm so grateful you were able to carry the flag for the family business. Without you, it could have been a disaster. Heck, it should have been one. But you made it a success. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Dad," Claudia whispered back in a thick voice. She had to blink away a few tears but was soon able to gaze up at her father's beaming face.

"Oh, before I forget… Ed Flanagan called me to wish us all a Merry Christmas. The old fella's back on full song now, but it took him several days to recover from the hustle and bustle over at the department store."

Claudia let out a dark grunt. "I'll bet. It still pains me when I think of how bad he looked at the end. I'm glad he didn't suffer any lasting effects. That would really have put a dampener on this Christmas. I'll call him to repay the favor when I get the chance."

"Speaking of which… he mentioned something about an eight-hundred dollar bonus?"

"Yeah. That was the least we could do, Dad. You should have seen him… he was about ready to exit stage left after his final Meet Santa event."

"Ouch."

"Yeah… he went above and beyond the call of duty, even for Santas. He deserves every last cent."

The swinging door to the living room was pushed open to reveal Claudia's sister-in-law Marie-Chantal. The thirty-seven year-old's pumpkin-colored dress may not have been in any of the traditional Christmas colors, but it certainly made the natural redhead stand out in any crowd. If the dress itself wasn't enough, the fact she wore plenty of makeup and had emptied an entire can of VolumeBooster onto her hair to make it puff out like something last seen in the 1980s would certainly do the trick. A black, decorative belt had been around her hips earlier in the day, but she seemed to have lost it somewhere along the way - the same could be said for her large, round ear rings as the left one had suddenly gone missing.

Nature had been kind to her in that she was quite pretty, but she insisted on hiding her natural looks under heavy makeup that Claudia and Douglas thought detracted more than it helped. That Jonathan thought it was 'way hot' was only typical of him, or so Claudia thought. Marie-Chantal's red hair suffered through her continual use of large amounts of VolumeBooster - it had become frail and dull from all the cans she had emptied in it.

Douglas had nearly caused a domestic dispute early on Christmas Eve when Marie-Chantal had shown up in a tight dress. He hadn't seen his daughter-in-law wear anything but loose-fitting clothes since a family get-together at a summer BBQ party, so he had asked her - in all sincerity - if she was pregnant again. When it turned out she had merely filled out a little around the middle, it had taken a string of heartfelt excuses, half a tray of chocolate treats and the promise of sending a huge bouquet of red roses to calm the rough seas.

Claudia chewed on her cheek as she watched her sister-in-law glance around like she was searching for something. The swimming eyes gave her away at once. Despite being fond of sampling various dessert wines and other types of easy alcoholic beverages, Marie-Chantal would get tipsy just by looking at a bottle of port, sherry or home-made eggnog. Her eyes and the somewhat zig-zagging walking pattern offered hints she had done more than look at a bottle though the hands of time had only just moved past noon.

Marie-Chantal finally gave up the search and continued on to sit down in the chair she had shared with her husband during the hockey game.

A moment later, Jonathan moved aside the swinging door and popped his head into the living room. His hair was thick and blond like his parents and older sister. He had been trying to grow a full beard ever since reading in a men's magazine that the outdoorsy type would be The Man To Be in the coming year, but it had stopped its progress after an initial growth spurt. Four weeks of not shaving had only left him with a faceful of minute, blond fuzz, but nobody dared to point that out to him except Claudia who rarely wasted an opportunity to rib her kid brother about something or other.

"Hon?  Honey?  Hello?  Marie-Chantal?" he said; each attempt grew louder and yet failed to establish a connection with his wife though she was only fifteen feet away from him. When he couldn't get in touch with her, he stepped inside revealing that he wore a pale-gray sweatsuit that carried the familiar logos of the Campbell Hill Sports College he had attended for a few semesters in the hope of becoming adept at something beyond drinking beer and playing poker online - it hadn't worked.

"I think she's sleeping, Jonathan," Claudia said and craned her neck to look at her sister-in-law. Sure enough, the morning had been too much for the redhead who had succumbed to the dessert wine. Her closed eyes and slowly heaving chest proved she had fallen fast asleep and would most likely remain in such a state until the next serving.

Before Jonathan or Douglas could reply, an electronic chime from the kitchen meant Claudia needed to get on with her agenda. She snuggled up to her father one last time before she got up and moved back into the hot zone known as the kitchen of the MacCready residence.

---

Twenty minutes later, Claudia wished Rosie and Mark had been able to extend their afternoon nap by another half hour or so. Full of energy after their nap, the kids had been transformed into whirlwinds that tore around Claudia's legs and the kitchen tables while she tried to form a fresh batch of dough into perfect globs for a special type of buns. The patches of flour on her Christmas-red apron proved she had already been startled more than once.

"No… ugh… no, kids… please… Mark, will you… ugh!" she said as she tore off bun-sized chunks of dough while trying to keep an eye on the children to make sure they didn't get anywhere near the knives, the hot oven, the trays of fresh cookies or the hard edges that could be found in a hundred places in the kitchen that certainly wasn't designed for children.

Then the inevitable happened - a thump was quickly followed by a piercing wail. Claudia sighed as she looked at Mark who had bumped his knee on the leg of one of the tables. Being up to her elbows in dough and flour, she had few options but to call for someone to come and help her. "Jonathan!  Hey, Jonathan!  Jonathan, will you get your lazy butt out here!  On the double!  Your son needs you!"

When nothing happened save for more wailing by Mark, Claudia raised her own voice another couple of notches: "Don't make me come in and get you!"

The threat worked as Jonathan soon entered the kitchen and knelt next to his wailing son. He offered his older sister a dark glare that she ignored completely like always. A few soothing words and kisses on Mark's owie followed before Rosie and the two young boys - one tall and one short - left the kitchen without uttering a single word to Claudia.

"Peace at last," Claudia mumbled as she was finally allowed to concentrate on the special buns. Once she was done forming the globs of dough, she scrubbed her hands and arms under the hot faucet so she was ready for the next item on her agenda - a tray of cookies that only needed another three minutes in the oven.

---

Five seconds after she had retracted the hot wire rack filled with fresh cookies, the swinging door flew open and Rosie and Mark came running in all over again alerted by the delicious smell. "Rosie… no, take care!  This is very, very hot," Claudia cried as her young niece grabbed her pant leg and held on tight. "Please let go so I won't stumble over you…"

"Cookies!" Rosie said without letting go. "Wan'some cookies!"

"And you'll get one in a little while when they've cooled off," Claudia said and reached out to get the hot tray out of her hands and onto the kitchen counter. Though she wore her regular oven mittens, the heat began to seep through the fabric as a result of holding onto the hot rack for much longer than usual - as soon as the mittens had been flung off, she opened the cold faucet and let it run over her fingers and palms that had already turned a little red in places.

And then the door bell rang. Claudia let out a long groan as she craned her neck to look out of the kitchen window. Whomever the surprise guest was, he or she was just out of sight save for a section of a dark-gray winter coat that could belong to anyone ranging from Mayor Goddard to the head priest of the local chapter of the Virgin Tower religious organization.

"Jonathan?" she said out loud. Before anyone could be bothered to come to her rescue, the door bell rang again. "Jonathan!  Will you get the door?  Jonathan?  Somebody?  Anybody!"

Claudia tried to move her legs so she could carry out the simple act of opening the front door without needing help from anyone, but the pint-sized human burr who had attached herself to the left leg of the white slacks meant she moved with the speed of the average snail going uphill in molasses. "Ugh… Rosie… dear. Honey, please… can't you torment… I mean play with your dad for a while?  Where's your mom?"

"Living room," Rosie said while she pointed at the swinging door.

"That's nice. Why don't you go in there and play a little with your mom and dad?"

"Wanna stay here with Auntie Claudia!"

"That's nice too, but not right now, honey… okay?"

Before anyone could shuffle out into the hallway to get the door, the button for the electronic bell was pushed again. And again.

"Jonathan!" Claudia barked at the top of her lungs to be heard across the hallway. "Jonathan, will you get the frickin' door?!"

The profanity made Mark pop his head out from behind a hatch to one of the cupboards where he had been playing hide and seek with himself. "Auntie Claudia said a naughty word!  Auntie Claudia said a naughty word!" he squealed while bouncing up and down.

"Yeah, and I'm about to say a whole slew of 'em if your daddy doesn't get his lazy backside in gear and do something about that damn door!" Claudia said before she let out an exasperated groan that seemed to come from the bottom of her soul.

---

In the living room across the hall, the large screen of the wall-mounted TV nearly burst at the seams as it showed the incredible palette of vibrant colors on display at the traditional Christmas parade downtown. Eighty-two motorized floats decorated to the nines carried dancing snowmen, waving Santas, happy Mrs. Santas, busy Elves, neighing reindeer, roaring polar bears, inflatable Nutcrackers and all the other classic elements of the merry Holidays.

The impressive convoy drove slowly northbound on Sunderland Street that had been fully cordoned off for the annual event. Plenty of traffic jams were created on every single parallel street in the vicinity so not all citizens were happy about the parade, even if it did present their metropolis in a better light than all the negative headlines that had cropped up over the summer and fall months.

The Carlyle Police Department and the ANOCRITA - the Anti-Organized Crime Task Force - had strongly advised the parade's organizers to move the starting point north from its traditional spot at East Twelfth Street because of increased activity among the vicious street gangs; a bloody turf war had raged since the catastrophic collapse of an entire building complex in the middle of Skid Row in the late summer.

Thus, the staging area and the large banner that marked the start of the parade route had been moved north to the intersection at Sunderland and East Fourteenth - that it also meant the cameras for the important nationwide TV coverage would miss the seedy porn shops and Triple-X movie theaters at the southern end of Sunderland was icing on the cake.

Hundreds of police officers and tens of thousands of citizens lined Sunderland Street to wave at the Santas and catch the candy thrown high into the air by the hard-working Elves. The lead vehicle was a golden field tractor that had been given a red front to represent Santa's elite squad of flying reindeer now that the real thing couldn't be used anymore. Ahead of the golden tractor, nine police motorcycles and three armored SUVs from the CPD Tactical Fast Response Unit drove in an arrowhead formation with all their lights flashing.

All the old Christmas chestnuts blared out of speakers installed on every third float, but as the notes bounced off the buildings on Sunderland, the sweet sound turned into a witches' cauldron of white noise that nobody got any enjoyment out of.

The major networks all covered the event but only Channel Three-Eight Action News had a pair of freezing-cold reporters actually riding on one of the floats. Dressed in winter gear so thick and shapeless it could be used for expeditions to the Antarctic, the reporters interviewed some of the people playing Elves, Santas and all the other traditional characters. Vast plumes of steam drifted down Sunderland as they spoke to illustrate how chilly the conditions were.

The three family members who shared the living room of the MacCready residence had vastly different expressions on their faces: Douglas was grumpy, surly and above all greatly annoyed that his bad leg meant he couldn't participate in the parade like he had done several times. Jonathan had a wide, childish grin plastered all over his face as he took in the colorful spectacle, and Marie-Chantal didn't pay much attention to the TV at all as she held a bottle of cream sherry an inch from her swimming eyes to try to read the label.

As the door bell ran for the umpteenth time - and Claudia's cries from the kitchen had grown to a level just shy of the apocalypse - Jonathan shuffled around to get to the door. Just as he rose from the armchair, the camera cut to a particularly impressive float full of dancing snowmen. "Oh, look at that!  Isn't that so neat?" he said with a grin. The door had to take a back seat to the snowmen, so he sat down again. After a few seconds, he nudged his wife in the side. "Hon, would you mind getting the door?  I think someone wants to pay us a Christmas visit."

"The door?  Which door?" Marie-Chantal said in a distinct slur.

"The front door… you know, out in the hallway?"

Marie-Chantal nodded in an exaggerated fashion as the words filtered through the haze the egg nog, the tawny port and the cream liqueur had caused in her mind. "Oh… okay," she eventually said and got up. She needed to put her hand on the chair's backrest for a moment before she could put one foot ahead of the other enough times to make it to the hallway and the front door.

---

When Marie-Chantal whooshed open the outer door, she came face to face with a tall, dark-haired woman who held an armful of wrapped presents. The woman wore boots, a dark-gray winter coat, thick gloves and finally a pale-blue knitted hat to keep her ears warm in the freezing conditions.

"Hi!  Merry Christmas," the dark-haired woman said, clearly puzzled at the appearance of the puffy-haired, semi-drunk lady in orange. "Uh… this is the MacCready residence, isn't it?"

"Yuh."

"All right, then. Would it be possible to see Claudia?"

"Dunno. She's prolly in the kitchen. She's always in the kitchen."

"Okay. And the kitchen is where, exactly…?"

"Over there," Marie-Chantal said and nodded over her right shoulder. The bobbing motion upset her equilibrium so she needed to grab hold of the front door before the carpet would come up to greet her. Turning back to the dark-haired woman, she offered her a wide-eyed stare like she had only just seen her. "Sorry, we're not buying anything today," she slurred. With that, she closed the door in the woman's face and shuffled back into the living room to catch the rest of the parade and to wet her whistle.

A moment later, Claudia had finally liberated herself from the clutches of Rosie to take a peek into the hallway. When nothing went on out there, she moved over to the living room to see if the visitor had been ushered into the warm, cozy den. As she pushed the swinging door aside, it only took her a moment to take in the scene. "Huh… what's going on?  Who was that at the door, Jonathan?"

Her brother was only able to tear his eyes away from the colorful parade for two seconds - he used those seconds to nudge his wife again. "Who was it, hon?"

"Dunno. Some door-to-door salesperson or somebody," Marie-Chantal said while she once more tried to read the label of one of the bottles that were lined up on a serving trolley. The proverbial light bulb was suddenly turned on above her head. "Or maybe it was one of those Virgin Tower people… yeah… I think it was, actually. Yuh."

Claudia opened her mouth to inquire further, but soon realized it would be a waste of time. Eventually, she just shrugged. "Today?  Huh. They must be desperate for new members. But anyway, lunch will be served in thirty minutes' time. Jonathan, would you mind-"

"The parade won't be over by then, Sis."

"Well, ain't that too damn bad… Bro!  And will you please keep your two little firecrackers on a tight leash?  The kitchen's too dangerous to play in and I don't have time to watch over them!"

"I'll do that in a mo," Jonathan said without taking his eyes off the TV.

Claudia let out an exasperated sigh before she glanced over at her father like she was hoping he would tell Jonathan to get off his butt. The elder MacCready still carried a surly expression from not being part of the grand parade, so she would get no help there either.

At last Jonathan got up to retrieve his children: Mark and Rosie were soon resting safely at their parents' feet in the living room. It only took a few seconds for them to become so enchanted by the vibrant colors that they were lost to the world.

Moving back to the kitchen, Claudia happened to look out onto the snow-covered sidewalk just as the next patrol from the neighborhood watch walked past. The uniformed patrol seemed to study a smart, black car parked at the curb - and then she nearly choked when she realized that the black car was a highly familiar Mercedes-Benz E-Class Sports Coupe. It only took her a split second to zoom back out into the hallway and whoosh open the front door.

Bootprints in the snow proved that someone had been there, and that the 'someone' had subsequently walked around the house. Growling, Claudia slammed the front door shut and zoomed back into the kitchen. She grabbed her telephone and quickly found Elaine's number in the registry.

The connection couldn't be established and eventually ended in Elaine's voice mail. "Oh for Pete's sake," Claudia mumbled as she shoved the telephone into her pocket. She was about to storm into the living room to give Marie-Chantal and Jonathan a very large and rather thorny piece of her mind when somebody started tapping on the unused kitchen door behind her.

"Oh!" Claudia said loudly as she looked out at a grinning Elaine Sutcliffe who carried an armful of presents. As they shared a long look and a wide grin, Elaine held up the presents and shook her head to explain why she couldn't pick up the phone.

Grinning, Claudia hurried over to the kitchen door. "Hi!  The door's sticking!  It won't open!  Can you hear me?" - Elaine nodded - "Okay!  Go back to the front door!  The front door!  I'll open it myself this time!"

Elaine nodded once more and soon went out of sight.

Claudia whipped off the apron and zoomed back into the hallway. Standing in front of a full-sized mirror, she fluffed out her hair and made sure her clothes sat just right. She soon came to the conclusion that she looked pretty damn fine considering all the nonsense she had been put through by all and sundry.

When the unexpected guest was finally ushered into the hallway, it was to a loud cheer from beyond the swinging door to the living room. "Oh!" Elaine said and broke out in an amused chuckle. "I guess someone is happy to see me…"

"Well, I certainly am, Elaine. Welcome!  Merry Christmas!" Claudia said before her lips were needed to form a beaming smile.

"Merry Christmas, Claudia. What a beautiful laurel wreath… your work?" Elaine said as she watched her friend close the front door.

"No, that was my Mom's. She was a master at those things… I have no skills whatsoever when it comes to arts and crafts. I tried knitting once because I was told it worked wonders as stress relief. Uh, it may help someone, but I grew so frustrated I ended up throwing the whole thing into the trash."

"And now you know exactly how I feel about cooking!"

To help Elaine offload the presents so the warm coat could be shed, Claudia hurried into a room a short distance down the hallway to retrieve a serving trolley identical to the one that held the potent pick-me-ups in the living room. "Here we go… just put 'em on here. Wait a minute… that's S-and-W's wrapping paper!  Did you sneak into the store and scoop up as much as you could carry or something?" she said as she took some of the smallest presents on top to reduce the risk of having them fall out of Elaine's hold.

"No," Elaine said with a grin as she placed the rest of the wrapped packages on the table. Once her arms were free, she took off her coat to reveal she wore an elegant burgundy pant suit over a midnight-black blouse that had golden streaks sewn into the fabric, "I bought my final Christmas gifts earlier this week. They were delivered to my home address. I had a hunch December would be busy this year… I just didn't think it would be insanely busy!"

They laughed at the undeniable fact of the statement before Claudia put out her arms to pull Elaine into a strong, warm hug. "Are any of 'em for me?" she whispered while she made a big number out of winking at her friend.

"Yep. But my lips are zipped!"

"Awwww!"

"Say, that's a very nice outfit."

"Change of subject, huh?" Claudia said with yet another wink before she took a step back. "Thank you. Yours, too!  Yeah, I guess this beats the green tights for the Cheeky Elf costume."

"Oh, I don't know. The tights had a couple of good angles," Elaine said with her tongue stuck firmly in her cheek. "I was in the neighborhood, so I thought, why not… no, that's not true. I needed a moment away from my folks."

"Ha!  I know exactly what you mean…"

"One street led to the next and here I am. Speaking of being here… 's funny, but I can't see any mistletoe anywhere. I thought you MacCreadys were big on Christmas traditions?" Elaine continued as she looked around the hallway.

"Uh, yeah, we are… but… you know. This is Dad's house, so… there hasn't been anyone he could kiss after Mom passed away. My brother and sister-in-law are over for the Holidays, but I draw the line at kissing either of them, mistletoe or not!"

"Oh, your sister-in-law?  The lady in orange?"

"Yep."

"She was the one who shut the door in my face just now."

Claudia shook her head and cast an evil glare at the swinging door to the living room like she was blaming it for Marie-Chantal's rudeness. Even if the rays contained plenty of fire and venom, they were unable to penetrate the woodwork and ended up fizzling out. "Yeah, sorry about that. She's found the stash of Christmas booze." - The comment was accompanied by a pair of rolling eyes.

"Oh. Right," Elaine said before she let out a chuckle. "But anyway, I guess it was a good thing I brought this, then," she continued as she dug a hand into a pocket.

When the toothpick-sized twig of mistletoe came into the light of day, Claudia let out a warm laugh. The laugh turned into an even warmer smile as she put her hands gently on Elaine's arms. They did nothing but gaze at each other for a few moments before another cheer rose from the living room like someone was telling them to get on with it. Complying to popular demand, they met in the middle and shared a nice kiss that ended up being just right for the occasion - it wasn't too short, too long, too impersonal or too intimate.

Separating, they went back to the pleasant gazing before a third cheer filtered through the swinging door. "Are they watching hockey?" Elaine said.

"No, it's the big Christmas parade downtown."

"Oh… of course. Spencer and Woolcott's sponsored a float three years ago. It didn't lead to any increase in sales so it was dropped for the following year."

"Huh. Yeah, well… sounds like one of Corbett's bean-counting decisions," Claudia said with a wink and a sly grin.

"Cheeky Elf. And it was, actually. Say, I'd like to meet your family now I'm here and all…"

Claudia rubbed her nose a couple of times like she was pondering how to process that request. "Trust me. You don't," she eventually said.

"Oh, come on!  Sure I do," Elaine said and made a beeline for the swinging door; Claudia stopped her halfway there.

"If you can wait for two minutes longer, I'll introduce you to my caveman brother, his wife and their rugrats… and Dad, of course. But first I need to take care of business regarding the buns I have in the oven. They're almost done and I don't feel like leaving you alone in there…"

Elaine broke out in a loud laugh that lasted until she realized Claudia was only partially joking. "Deal," she eventually said and hooked her arm inside Claudia's on their way into the kitchen.

---

Once the full tray of wholegrain buns had been set to cool off and Claudia's Christmas-red apron had been put on a nail on the wall, she and Elaine wheeled the trolley with all the presents through the swinging door and into the living room. "Look who's here!  And look what she's brought!" Claudia said as wheeled the table over next to the tall Christmas tree.

"Well, if it isn't our newest Mrs. Santa!  Merry Christmas!" Douglas said and tried to get up from the couch to give their guest a proper handshake.

When the first attempt at getting enough leverage to stand up failed, Elaine saved the moment by moving over to the elder MacCready instead. Leaning down, she skipped the handshake to pull him into a brief hug. "Merry Christmas, Santa!  What a lovely bathrobe!"

"Yes, isn't it?  That was from Claudia," Douglas said and grinned at his daughter and the lady from the department store.

"How are you?  Is your leg getting better?"

"I can't complain… too much… well, I can't have any port or anything this year and that makes me a grumpy Santa, let me tell you," Douglas said with a grin. "No, seriously, it's okay. A little painful if I move too quickly. But I'm getting there."

"That's great to hear," Elaine said and gave the elder MacCready's shoulder a squeeze.

Claudia had her hands on her hips but soon gestured at her brother. "Elaine, you need to proceed at your own risk from here on… this is Jonathan, my brother, and Marie-Chantal, my sister-in-law. Guys, this is Elaine Sutcliffe. She's the head of the Human Resource department at S-and-W's."

Jonathan could barely be bothered to look at Elaine; his focus was solely on the pictures of the colorful parade where the TV reporters were interviewing an eighty-nine-year-old woman who had been to every single one of the parades. When the camera cut back to the golden tractor and the police escort at the head of the grand parade, he had a split second to look up at Elaine. "Hello. Merry Christmas," he said, but he was cut off immediately by Marie-Chantal who exclaimed in a loud and slurred voice:

"Wait!  That's the woman from before… at the door… isn't it?  The salesperson or somebody… I think it is… what's she doing here?"

Claudia slammed her hands onto her hips again before letting out a deep growl at her sister-in-law's impudence, but Elaine just laughed and stepped ahead with her hand extended. "Hello, I'm Elaine Sutcliffe. I'm the person who hired Douglas and Claudia for the Christmas events at Spencer and Woolcott's."

The length and complexity of the sentence was clearly too much for Marie-Chantal in her present state because her only response was to furrow her brow. An "Oh…" followed several seconds later while she shook hands with the visitor.

"See what I meant, Elaine?" Claudia said before she crouched down next to the young'uns. "And these two runaway land missiles are Rosie and Mark. Say hello to the nice lady."

Mark mirrored his father's behavior in that he was far too preoccupied with the parade and his purple dinosaur - it was about to stomp on an unusual congregation of cowboys, plastic soldiers and Medieval knights - to have time to look at anyone, but Rosie waved at the woman who seemed as tall as the Christmas tree for the tiny tot.

"Hello, there," Elaine said as she crouched down. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Elaine." She briefly stuck out her tongue and winked at Rosie which made the young girl break out in giggles. Mark just sort of stared at first but eventually put out his hand like a proper, pint-sized gentleman.

Once everyone had been introduced, Claudia hooked her arm inside her friend's and leaned in to give her a little shoulder-bump. "Right. Elaine, you're staying for lunch, aren't you?"

"Well-"

"Excellent!" Claudia said and turned back to wink at her father who responded in style. "Now that we all know who everyone else is, I'll bring in the cold cuts and the rest of the things I've prepared for lunch. It'll only be two more minutes so you might as well move over to the dining table and settle down. The fresh buns smell great!  Jonathan, would you mind going down into the cellar to get a few more cans of-"

"Sis, really… the parade's still going. Can't we postpone the lunch for half an hour or something?  They're running a little late this year," Jonathan said without taking his eyes off the TV.

Over on the couch, Douglas drew a deep breath almost like he dreaded what was coming. He glanced at Elaine who in turn cast a wary eye at Claudia.

Claudia kept her mouth firmly shut as she stared daggers at the back of her brother's head. The children babbled happily down on the floor, Marie-Chantal made a few off-the-wall comments about what she thought she saw on the TV and Jonathan pretended not to feel his sister's eyes on him. "No, I don't think we can, brother dearest," she said in a remarkably civil voice.

"Can't you just fix me a plate of various stuff and bring it over here, then? I really don't wanna miss the big finale."

Claudia's head jerked back like she had just been stung by a bee the size of an elephant. Douglas gasped again; Elaine blushed so hard her cheeks turned cherry-red. Then Claudia spun around on her heel and left the living room.

Five seconds later, she raced back in holding the apron she had used all morning. She flew around the armchair her brother used, wadded up the apron and threw it directly into his face. "Congratulations!  You're in charge of the kitchen for the rest of the day!  No, screw that… you got it for the rest of the year, pal!"

"The hell's gotten into you all of a sudden?  I mean, Jeez," Jonathan said after extracting himself from the red apron. "I'm just sitting here watching the-"

Over on the couch, Douglas bolted upright and tapped his knuckles onto the coffee table. "Jonathan!" he said in a booming voice. Once he had his son's undivided attention, he continued in a more restrained tone: "This would be a good time to listen to your sister."

Jonathan's face turned into a sour mask that was a surefire sign he was about to whine like a six-year-old: "But why can't she-"

Claudia threw her hands in the air. "She can't 'cos she won't be here!  My friend and I are going for a walk now. A long one… as far away from you as we can get!"

"Oh, will you calm down-"

"Don't tell me to calm down, Bro!" Claudia said and thrust out an index finger at her brother. "You can do whatever the hell you want as long as you look after Dad. Yeah?  I'm gonna get very angry with you if you don't."

"But of course I will… Jeez, Claudia!" Jonathan said and finally rose from the armchair. He glanced over at his wife in the hope of getting a little moral support but soon realized she was three sheets to the wind - the half-empty bottle of tawny port on the table closest to her told a colorful tale. Grunting, he scratched his neck and rubbed his nose a couple of times as he looked at the fully set dining table like he had no idea of where to start or even what to do in general.

Claudia had seen enough and spun around on her heel again. Out in the hallway, she kicked off her loafers and rammed her socked feet into sturdy winter boots. After thrusting her arms down the sleeves of a pale-brown winter coat, she took Elaine's similar garment and held it ready by the shoulders. The blushing Elaine joined her before long, and they soon left the battleground behind.

---

Claudia stomped down the garden path at a high rate of knots despite the icy surface. For onlookers, it appeared she was trying to get as much distance between herself and her family as she possibly could. Once she reached the snow-covered sidewalk, she hung a sharp left and strode along West Seventy-seventh Street heading for the proverbial horizon.

Elaine followed at a safe distance at first before she upped her pace to catch up with the irate woman. The slippery surface down below and the chilly breeze that swept around her bare ears were engaged in a battle for supremacy; the mortal combat lasted until she did the sensible thing by coming to a halt and donning her knitted hat and her thick winter gloves. Fully attired, she set off after the fiercely stomping Claudia before she would get too far ahead.

They continued their forced march for just shy of a hundred yards before Claudia slowed down and put out her arm. Elaine knew what was expected of her and hooked her own inside the offered limb. Once they were joined, the difference in height between them meant they had to walk on at a far more normal tempo.

"I'm sorry you had to witness that," Claudia mumbled after another minute or so of complete silence. As she spoke, large plumes of steam escaped her mouth and drifted down the bright-white street. Unlike Elaine, she hadn't had time to pick up any kind of headwear while making her fiery getaway, but at least she'd had her fleece gloves in the coat's pocket - they were soon on her hands.

"Oh, that's all right, Claudia. I'm just glad I'm an only child," Elaine said and gave her friend a little tug toward her. Another plume of steam escaped Claudia's mouth as she let out a chuckle at the reply.

The snow creaking under their boots added a winter soundtrack that was supported every bit of the way by the scents of woodsmoke that rose from the many chimneys in the neighborhood. Across the street, several children were engaged in an unrestrained post-Christmas snowball fight while their parents looked on from the comfort of their warm and cozy living rooms. The real world intruded on the postcard-perfect winter scene when an emergency siren cut through the frosty air somewhere in the far distance, but it soon faded away into nothing.

---

It only took Claudia and Elaine a short ten minutes to reach the end of West Seventy-seventh Street. There, they turned right onto Jerrod Street that marked the western boundary of the exclusive Stanton Heights residential area. The Samuel Johnston Memorial Park was on the other side of Jerrod Street, and Claudia soon crossed over the deserted two-lane street to follow the park's outer row of snow-covered hedges. When one of the park's official entrances presented itself some twenty yards further up the street, they turned left and were soon inside the picturesque park itself.

"Oh, this is a nice park," Elaine said as she looked around at the snow-covered hedges, bushes and trees.

Claudia nodded. "Yes. I often drive up here… spring, summer, autumn, winter… whenever I'm about to drown in work or personal stuff. I park at Dad's, walk over here and sit by the duck pond. It helps me clear my mind."

"Even with Victory Park just a stone's throw from your apartment?"

"Victory Park is different. It's much noisier and it doesn't have the lake. It's the body of water that soothes me."

They soon followed a pair of paths - one for pedestrians and one for bicyclists - that formed an irregular, snaking circle around a central lawn. The lawn hid under the thick layer of new snow, but scores of winter-clad people took full advantage of that by dragging kids along on tiny bobsleds, riding on mountain bikes and practicing their cross-country skiing techniques. A few dogs frolicked in the snow without leashes although the park's regulations said it was strictly prohibited. As long as none of the perennially humorless Park Rangers were in sight, everyone continued to do what they pleased.

The small lake with the integrated duck pond was soon reached, but any hopes of sitting on the bench watching the aquatic birds on the semi-frozen stretch of water were dashed by the thirty-five inches of snow that had accumulated on the seat.

Now that Claudia's plan A of sitting on the bench and enjoying the view had been scuppered, she executed her plan B by moving over to the four-foot tall, wooden parapet that had been built all along the shore of the small lake to create a solid, and above all safe, barrier between the water and the path. Unfortunately, her notion of leaning against it or even resting her elbows on the upper railing had to be pushed aside by the numerous inches of snow that had created an amusing dome-shaped top on everything over there as well. She let out a brief chuckle at the sight, but soon fell quiet.

Elaine sensed that her friend's proverbial dam was about to burst. Though she slid up next to her, she gave her enough room to speak first if she so desired.

Another moment of silence went by before Claudia finally let out the deep, heartfelt sigh she had held back ever since the ugly scene in the living room. "My brother and I weren't always like that," she said as she let her eyes wander over the white surface of the semi-frozen lake. Here and there, ducks and seagulls had found small gaps and cracks in the icy surface that they used to bob around in. Further out, two Canada geese waddled around checking their tailfeathers before take-off. "We used to be the best of friends until he got married. I don't know what happened. Marie-Chantal just doesn't like me… she never has. And the feeling is mutual, let me assure you."

"I noticed," Elaine said and rubbed Claudia's back with a gloved hand. "That happens in many families."

"Perhaps… but I never thought it would happen in mine. They never visit me at home so at least I only have to deal with her a couple of times a year. Christmas, Easter, Dad's birthday and perhaps a Fourth of July barbecue… but that's always outdoors so it isn't too bad. The only time of the year we're all together for more than half a day is over the Christmas period. They visit Dad more often so he can see his grandchildren. "

"Mark and… what was the girl's name?"

"Rosie."

"Right. They seem like good kids."

"They are. Amazing, really. Mark is like a mirror image of his father. Thank God that Rosie is nothing like their mother."

Chuckling, Elaine increased the rubbing to soothe a few of Claudia's frazzled nerves. They fell silent to watch the local wildlife; the Canada geese had completed their pre-flight checklist and were just trying to gain enough speed to get their heavy behinds off the slippery surface. Plenty of flapping wings and frantic squawking ensued before the large birds took to the skies where they were instantly transformed into elegant flying creatures.

A different type of wildlife in the shape of a German Shepherd - wearing a fluorescent-green vest marked with the words K9 Officer Of The Stanton Heights Neighborhood Watch printed on it in reflective letters - soon strode past on the snaking path at the far end of a long leash. It was obvious by the murderous look in the dog's eyes that it didn't appreciate being forced into patrolling the park in such conditions. The white frost that had gathered in the dog's brown fur had turned into proper ice in places which couldn't help.

The retired K9 officer followed a short distance behind his striding dog. Visibly freezing his behind off, he kept his head well down into the high collar of a survival-style winter jacket. He barely acknowledged Claudia and Elaine when he shuffled past them; instead, he kept his eyes on the snowy ground so he wouldn't slip and end up as a snowman at the bottom of a ditch - or the lake.

"Huh," Elaine said once the officer was out of earshot. "Is it really necessary to patrol so often?  Two patrols walked past your Dad's house when I was trying to get in touch with you… and now this one."

"I've learned not to question it," Claudia said with a shrug. "They say it's to prevent crime, but there's never been any here. I don't know… it seems like a waste of time and energy to me."

"Yeah… look, there's another team over there," Elaine said and pointed in the other direction of where the K9 had gone. Over near the snow-covered lawn, two men wearing the familiar fluorescent colors seemed to investigate whether or not a plastic bag left at one of the park benches contained suspicious or threatening material - the small drama was defused when a man ran over to them and pulled out a pair of dry boots that he would no doubt need after skiing.

"Crazy. But anyway… I hope you see what I mean about the lake clearing my mind?" Claudia said and made a sweeping gesture over the frozen surface and the grand vista beyond it. Though the famous Carlyle skyline reached toward the heavens like a jagged mountain range in the distance, the Samuel Johnston Memorial Park was truly an oasis in the middle of a busy world.

One of the ducks that had been bobbing up and down in a cozy little ice hole quacked a couple of times and soon came waddling toward them - perhaps it had misinterpreted the hand gesture and thought there would be something to eat there. When it proved not to be the case, it quacked again and left for greener pastures elsewhere.

Claudia licked her lips a couple of times before she cast a stolen, even shy, glance at her friend. "Elaine, there's something I need to get off my chest. It involves you. I can't break it off once I get started because I'll never be able to get back on track. So, please… if you have any comments, please store 'em until I'm done. Please?"

"Of course," Elaine said and cocked her head.

A deep sigh escaped Claudia's lips; the resulting plume of steam drifted over the frozen lake until it dissipated. "There's a spark between us. A big one that's just waiting to get crackling. I guess I've known it for a while… I mean, the gang at the Purple Sector have kidded us about it often enough, right?  But… it really became a thing for me after we kissed in the parking garage the other day. I know it was just a mistletoe kiss… but it was more than that, wasn't it?  Please tell me there was more to it than that."

Not wanting to interrupt, Elaine just nodded.

A brief smile of relief spread over Claudia's face before she turned back to glance across the frozen wastelands. "Thank you. I won't say it's been haunting my dreams… that's a little too melodramatic for my pragmatic tastes, but… it refuses to leave me. I can sense your lips on mine without even having to think about it. The closeness between us. The kiss made me realize how little personal contact I have in my life. How little intimacy. It also made me realize how much I miss those things. I miss being in a relationship… caring for someone, sharing things, doing stuff together… even household chores like vacuuming or washing socks, for Pete's sake!"

They locked eyes for a few moments before Claudia turned back to look at the birds near them. The woman next to her suddenly had a much stronger pull on her than any lake or fowl could ever have, so she moved in close and put out her arm in a request for a little snuggle.

Breaking out in a smile, Elaine duly complied with the wish and pulled Claudia into her grasp. They stood like that for a short while before the distance was reduced even further when Claudia leaned her head against Elaine's winter coat and closed her eyes.

"And I was thinking," Claudia continued, "that… maybe… once my contract with S-and-W expires next week… that we could… maybe… you know… meet for a coffee… or something. Somewhere nice. Just you and me. Or something. I mean… no strings attached… to begin with. Oh God, that didn't come out right… I mean-"

"Don't worry, Claudia… I know what you meant," Elaine said quietly as she gave her friend a little squeeze. "I'd like that very much."

"You would?"

Elaine offered Claudia a warm smile and another little squeeze. "Yes. What you said about sharing things and having someone to do stuff with… I know exactly what you mean. Frankly, I long for someone special in my life. It's been far, far too long. A dear friend or a romantic partner. Maybe one thing could lead to the other, who knows?  But if there isn't anyone at all, nothing can ever develop… and watching romantic comedies or dramas on WorldFlix just doesn't cut it in the long run."

"It really doesn't," Claudia said and let out a knowing chuckle.

"You know what I think?  I think that we modern women have been so damn busy realizing ourselves that we've forgotten the most important part of our beings is our heart."

"Huh. Well, I've been thinking along the same lines, but I'm not sure I've reached the same conclusion," Claudia said and locked eyes with her friend. When Elaine didn't seem to have a problem with the difference of opinion, she smiled and snuggled down again. "We're in control of our own fates these days… most of us. I guess some still aren't. But anyway, now that we can make our own decisions, the risk of making a wrong one has never been greater. That's where I think the real danger lies… if we shy away from romance because we're too scared of failure, we just end up with an empty life."

"Very true."

"Yeah… it's not like I haven't known a couple of sweet ladies over the years, but I've always had a laundry list of poor excuses that I used when things began to move. Most of the time, I just lulled myself into believing I was too busy to go for it. Well, dammit, look where that got me… we need to jump at the chance of a little loving when it presents itself."

"Hear, hear. On that note…" Elaine said and shuffled around a little to make Claudia take a short step back from her so they could lock eyes again. "I have an idea. Do you have any plans for New Year's Eve?"

Claudia furrowed her brow. A dark expression spread over her face that left it downhearted and depressed. "I'll be behind my desk at the agency from nine AM to way, way past midnight with the telephone glued to my ear. Yeah… we also rent out skilled waiters, kitchen staff, bartenders… all those people. They're in extremely high demand and low supply over the New Year. It all starts tomorrow morning at nine and doesn't stop until the fourth or fifth of January…"

"Oh… right," Elaine said and let out a grunt of surprise. "I'd forgotten all about that part of your business. Okay. Never mind. I'll get another idea."

Claudia scrunched up her face and cast an angry look out over the frozen lake like it had betrayed her somehow. "What was on your mind?" she said in a quiet voice that held an undertone of approaching tears.

"Oh, it was nothing, really. Just a random idea-"

"Please, Elaine… I'd like to hear it."

"Well, there's a classy place down on the corner of West Twenty-seventh and Avenue C. The Golden Crescent Café and Restaurant. I've been there a couple of times… like the name suggests, they serve coffee and cake as well as quality dinners. I just thought we could, oh, maybe have met there for a late afternoon coffee or an early dinner or something. After that, well… who knows where the evening would have taken us. I guess we could do something later on in January instead."

The spark between them that Claudia had talked about ignited in a flash and sent out so much crackling energy it could have been used to light up an entire city block. Golden electricity blossomed inside Claudia and ultimately created a warm glow that spread everywhere until it even shone from her eyes.

The warmth that was created within her heart went into a fierce deathmatch with the sense of responsibility produced by her brain; the war raged for a moment or two before her heart won out. "That's… that sounds really great, Elaine," she said in a croak as if her business brain still tried to knock some sense into her heart by throttling her vocal cords. "I… I'd love that. Yeah… I'd really love that."

"Wait, didn't you just say you were going to be extremely busy-"

Claudia shook her head to interrupt. "This is more important. We're more important… far more than any client could ever be. Besides, I have great people working for me. Beryl will take care of anything short of an earthquake."

A warm, genuinely pleased smile spread over Elaine's features. They just stood there and gazed at each other for a few seconds before she reached up to caress Claudia's cheek with her gloved fingers. "I think we have a New Year's date."

"I think we do…"

"I'll probably call you forty times before then."

"Can't wait… oh, will you please just kiss me already!" Claudia said in a voice that had turned husky and inviting.

Elaine's warm smile was instantly replaced by a shy one as she leaned her head down toward the impatient Claudia. They shared a long, silent moment gazing into each other's eyes at point blank range before the power of the soft lips became too great for them to resist.

A blush colored Claudia's cheeks as she took in the transformation of the Human Resource manager: in Elaine's present guise, there was little left of the cool, detached business attitude she had perfected into a fine art. What remained was a desirable, attractive Woman with a capital W - a Woman whose mere presence caused a hot flash that reached out to every fiber of Claudia's being.

She pulled the taller woman even closer. The thrilling pas-de-deux reached its zenith when their lips touched; the park, the city, the entire world and everyone in it faded into insignificance. When the sweet contact was finally established, it was all she had hoped it would be. Although she didn't actually hear an angelic choir breaking out in hallelujahs like all the pulp romance novels claimed they would, the sensation of having Elaine's lips caress her own in such an unhurried, unforced, natural and above all sensual manner was nothing short of miraculous.

The outside world had little to offer that could compare with the kiss they shared, so they carried on for a good while. The need for air eventually got the better of them, but as they broke off, their goofy grins and the white rose petals that fell from the sky everywhere around them suggested it wouldn't be their final kiss.

All Claudia could do was gaze at the woman in her arms. She ran through a dozen compliments in her mind but ended up discarding them all on grounds of being far too cheesy for the momentous occasion. Ultimately, she whispered: "Wow… just wow… that was so beautiful." - A moment later, she lost the ability to speak when Elaine's eyes seemed to glow the brightest they ever had.

The flurry of rose petals grew stronger which made Claudia look up into the sky. "What the… oh, man!  Somebody's gotta work on their timing!" she exclaimed when she realized a heavy snow flurry had sprung a surprise on them - and that she and Elaine were a good distance away from the MacCready residence.

"I think we better head back before we turn into a pair of snowladies…" Elaine said and let out a grin.

"Yeah… and I need to see what I can salvage of the lunch."

"But your brother-"

"Will have made a mess without any tangible results. I have to make sure that Dad takes his medicine anyway, so… hey-ho, home we go." Putting out her arm, she and Elaine were soon strolling back along the snaking path to get to Jerrod Street and then onto West Seventy-seventh Street.

---

The flurry ended a short five minutes later, but it had been enough for the black Mercedes to have turned white. While Claudia went inside to survey the expected carnage in her father's kitchen, Elaine swept the roof, the windows, the hood and the side mirrors so she could see where she was going.

Claudia came back out a couple of minutes later with a surly expression etched onto her face. She had her hands thrust down into her coat's pockets indicating that not all had been well inside.

"That bad?" Elaine asked before she knocked off the excess snow from the bright-orange scraper she had used to clean the hood.

"Well, it certainly isn't good. Marie-Chantal has gone to bed with a headache. No wonder, really. Dad's taking care of the little ones and Jonathan is doing his worst to make a mess of the kitchen. And they haven't even eaten yet. Dammit, I knew it…"

"Ouch," Elaine said as she dumped the orange scraper into the trunk. "Listen… I'm sorry for abandoning you in your hour of need, but I promised my old folks I'd only swing by here for a little while. I'm surprised they haven't called the Ski Patrol already…"

"Oh, don't worry about that, Elaine," Claudia said as she stepped over a tall pile of freshly swept snow. "I'll be on top of things in no time. But isn't it pathetic that my kid brother can't even make a damn sandwich out of toast and cold cuts without ruining both?"

Chuckling, Elaine reached out to pull Claudia into another hug. "Yes, I have to admit that it is. I told you I can't cook worth a lick, but even I could make sandwiches when I was, oh, three years old!"

"Ha!  So could I!  I'll use that as an argument the next time he and I butt heads. Which will probably be in ten minutes' time… but anyway. Speaking of time… isn't it time for a kiss?"

"It's high time for a kiss," Elaine said and leaned down to do just that. The latest edition was shorter and perhaps contained less raw passion than the one at the frozen duck pond had been, but the value it held for both women was just as great as the earlier ones - it was clearly the starting point for something exciting.

Stepping back, Claudia could barely hide the wide grin on her face - then she realized she had no need to hide anything. Once she let go of her inhibitions, the smile spread from ear to ear in nothing flat. "Call me when you get home, okay?  Not when you're driving. That's too dangerous."

"I promise," Elaine said and opened the driver's side door. After she had knocked the worst snow off her boots, she paused to lock eyes with Claudia once more. A few more tendrils of electricity crackled between them before she got into her car and drove away from the curb at low speed so the traction control systems could keep up with the driving wheels' progress on the snowy street.

Claudia broke out in an unrestrained snicker and an even more unrestrained wave that was responded to by a Toot-Toot! as the black car moved further up West Seventy-seventh Street - she remained on the snow-covered sidewalk until Elaine's car had disappeared behind the piles of snow. Turning around to head back to the house, she lost a step almost at once at the sight of her brother and father standing in the doorway staring at her in wide-eyed shock and surprise.

"Great… now what did he break?" she mumbled as she strode up the garden path.

Douglas pulled rank on his son as soon as Claudia had closed the front door behind her: "I know my eyes are getting old, but did you lay a nice one on Miss Tall And Gorgeous out there?" he said with a grin.

"I may have."

"Oh, you did," Douglas said and let out a booming laugh reminiscent of one the real Santa Claus could have produced. He grew a little more serious as he reached out to put a warm hand on his daughter's icy cheek. "For fun or for real?"

"Yes."

Douglas nodded in understanding. A proud smile spread over his face before he winked at his daughter - then he hobbled back into the living room to continue the H.C. Andersen fairy tale he had been telling his grandchildren when Jonathan had cried out that something major was going on outside.

Claudia took off her gloves before she unbuttoned her coat and removed her heavy boots; only then could she be bothered to cast a glance at her brother. He did in fact wear the Christmas-red apron, but the sight of salad mayonnaise on his forehead and something that could possibly be ketchup in his blond beard made her let out a deep, heartfelt sigh. "Have you been up to see your wife since she went to bed?"

"Uh… no, but-"

"Then I suggest you do that. I'll deal with the lunch… or what's left of it," Claudia said as she untied the knot on the back of the apron so Jonathan could lift it over his head.

Once she had put it on, she offered him a longer look and even the slightest hint of a smile. "I know you're dying to ask what's going on, so… ask."

"That woman out there… wasn't she your boss?"

"She's my employer slash client, but only for another five days. Next question. It's your last one so choose wisely."

Jonathan scrunched up his face into a sour mask before he thrust his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants. "Don't you think kissing your boss is kinda gross?"

"Brother dearest," Claudia said and put a hand on her brother's shoulder - she added a long rhetorical pause to increase his expectations. "I'll tell you all about the matters of the heart when you're old enough to understand them. Okay?  Now if you'll excuse me… I need to find a shovel so I can clean up the mess you made in Dad's kitchen." With that, she strode out of the hallway and entered the danger zone.

"Oh, ha-ha-frickin'-ha!" Jonathan said out in the hallway, but by then, the swinging door had already closed so Claudia just ignored him.

The kitchen looked as if a whirlwind had swept through it on a whistle-stop tour. Surveying the mess, Claudia compiled a nine-point battle plan that she hoped could be carried out without shedding too much blood, sweat or tears. First up, she would need a dustpan and a broom to sweep the linoleum floor so she wouldn't step in anything and thus make it even worse.

Chuckling at the mess she discovered even inside the broom cupboard, she quickly found the right tools and got down to business. It wasn't too bad - all things considered - once she got started, so she would soon have everything back in order.

---

"What a December… what a Christmas," she mumbled as she righted the huge bag of cans for recycling before she moved onto a mixing bowl that had tipped over. A few squares of potato and a handful of sweet peas - meant to go into a special potato salad she had designed herself - had fallen out, but the small spillage was soon taken care of.

Movement outside her kitchen window made her look up in a hurry, but it was only a patrol from the Neighborhood Watch walking past - they had enough snow on their shoulders and caps to be mistaken for walking snowmen.

A wide grin spread over her face as she thought of Elaine and the very special date they had planned on the last day of the year. Even the briefest image of Elaine Sutcliffe in her mind's eye sent Claudia MacCready's heart racing all over again - although it would most likely be a nerve-racking affair once it got there, the big day couldn't come soon enough.

"Ohhhh, what a New Year's Eve it's gonna be!" she whispered before she let out a small whoop of delight at the thought of what the special night might bring. Beaming like a proper Cheeky Elf, she went back to preparing their lunch while humming a jaunty Christmas chestnut…

*
*
THE END.

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