“What? Still no prezzie for my wife? Crap!”
But no. The mailbox was resolutely empty! Okay, so I know that, as usual, I'd left it until the last minute, but that site had promised it was absolutely guaranteed to be here by today at the very, very latest! But I guess the current postal strike had something to do with this. Nothing else to do but brave the throng. “Off to the mall!” I called my wife and slammed the front door before she could question me.
Gone were the days when you’d buy everything in the magical kingdom that the mall had transformed into. Being serenaded by carol singers, cupping a hot chocolate, and watching as some portly guy dressed as Santa listened to the bright-eyed and rosy cheeked youngsters fantasizing about the gifts that were going to magically appear on Christmas Day. Nope, nowadays the magic has gone. It was laziness, a laptop, mulled wine and home deliveries.
I battled through the crowds for what seemed like a week but still not finding anything remotely suitable. Something that looked as if I'd agonized over what she'd love the most but I had drawn a complete blank. Maybe perfume. Again!
I enjoyed the procession of kids lining up for Santa in the grandiose Christmas display sipping hot chocolate.
Oddly, one of the kids left Santa with tears flowing down his face, sobbing his little heart out, and clutching a worn and well-loved teddy bear.
Everything around me seemed to vanish and become still; one of those moments in life that changes lives, just like in books or YouTube videos. You know, the ones that try to make you believe all about the power of positivity and how it can influence your life. I always remember one line from the courses I took all those years ago ‘I attract to me that which occurs’.
I should have got up and found the damned perfume, after all, I only had an hour or so before the mall closed. But I didn’t.
Something about that sad face, a familiarity, like me, when I cried losing my son three years ago.
I was caught in that moment of calm when nothing else mattered, watching the boy sobbing into his mother’s midriff, the sorrow and angst very much misplaced amidst the carol singers' joyful rendition of Jingle Bells.
I probably can’t help him, but… Everything around me wavered into a surreal setting, much like a Van Gogh painting. Wishing I could help that sad boy, I cautiously approached the distraught mother clutching her boy and the teddy.
“Hi. I'm Tony. Hope you don't mind me asking, but this is very unsettling, and obviously not just for me. Is there any way I might be able to help?”
The mother stroked her son's head. “His sister disappeared in late spring. They were playing together in our local park. I looked away for literally one second to put my coffee cup in the garbage can and then… she was gone. The police say they're still searching, but, you know, after all this time…”
“Can you help us, mister?” The young lad looked up at me, his brown eyes pleading from the depths of his young soul. “This is her teddy.” He offered me the worn bear.
I tenderly stroked its worn fur and stared into its sewn-on amber eyes, wishing I really could. I sighed. “I'm sorry young man, but probably not. But if I had one wish in my entire life it would be to help you, no matter what.”
“Do you really mean it?”
A voice from behind me. Quizzically, we turned to the source of the voice. An elf? Only… usually they were cheerful cherubs. The green and red satin regalia were the same, but that's where the resemblance ended. They didn't usually sport oversized, pointy, gnarled ears. Nor the vampire-like fangs. I suppressed a shudder.
My instinct was to run. But I didn't want to frighten the boy or his stricken mother. However, maybe this was a sign of some sort? Or a test? Did I believe in myself enough to help?
“The name's Sammy. I’m banned from the sleigh. Your faces tell me you've guessed why. Imagine waking as we're working on delivering the gifts and seeing me! Well. Poor little things would be traumatized for life if they saw dear old Sammy here. However Santa has given me a different job. A chance to help people. Only I gotta prove myself this year, see.”
“And you picked this boy?”
“No. I picked you! Hoping you'll want to choose to help. That your words were not just empty. Enable this boy to have the happiest Christmas ever instead of buying perfume for your wife. Again!”
I pondered for a few long seconds. And I realized why the boy's tears had tugged so at my heart. He reminded me so much of…
“…of the son you lost.”
“What? How did you…?”
“Look, this ain’t no act! I'm real. Now time is running out. You realized this boy needs help, and your askin' him opened the doorway to allow me in. Give us a break! I’m only granted one chance at this gig otherwise it’s mucking out the reindeer for life. You won’t believe how much they can shi…”
“Help us! Please!” The lad spoke softly, looking up at me with those wide, hazel eyes, his mom sobbing softly, quite perturbed, not knowing whether to believe or not. But, I'm guessing, like me, she'd gladly clutch at any straw right now.
“Look, buddy. Sorry, but I can't help your son, some moments in time are fixed and cannot be changed, however hard that may be, but I can help you help him. If you believe.”
The words came to me once again. I attract to me that which occurs. I just didn’t think I would attract this kind of craziness in a million years.
“Okay. What do we have to do?”
With that we vanished in a red and green haze and found ourselves on a road constructed of yellow bricks. “What?”
I closed my eyes bringing back the memories where I lost my son; on a brick road. And the sign above me was painted yellow. The car at the intersection had…
The boy turned around. “My sister loved yellow, she even painted a brick yellow and called it Sonny.”
Strange how our sad memories related to each other.
“Sorry, just needed to sort out some time paradoxical dimensional things and get past certain memories. Think I got it now.” He blinked twice and snapped his fingers, I felt sick as everything whirled around and we were in a playground.
“This is where we last saw Emma!” his mother said, as they faded into nothing more than wispy ghost-like images.
How in hell was this possible?
“Why'd they disappear?” I asked Sammy.
“Cause we weren’t here before and they were. Can’t be in two places at the same time. Cause some kinda catastrophe. A schism or some such time warp gizmo. It’s not allowed.” With that he too vanished, leaving me alone. After some moments I caught sight of a young girl clutching her teddy. The same teddy I'd been holding earlier.
I watched her delightedly chasing the dandelion fluff she’d blown off the stem, dancing through the grass, trying to catch the wisps fluttering in the breeze. The lad was high on the swings, and mom on the bench. Disposing of the coffee cup. The young lass chased the fluff behind the washroom. Just seconds, and she was gone.
I followed her and as I rounded the side of the building, a male figure, black hoodie pulled down over his face, put his hand over the girl’s mouth, yanked her bodily into the air and bolted for the bushes. Her teddy fell to the ground.
I ran after him, just as another hoodie hove appeared menacingly brandishing a knife, standing between me and the thug with the lass.
The jujitsu I learned many years ago kicked in. It was funny how I still knew instinctively how to move, or my body did, kicking the blade away from his reach and hammering him in the throat.
He collapsed gagging. I spun aside as the other dropped the terrified girl and leaped at me. I kicked his arm aside and with a straight arm nailed him in the throat as well. My elbow smashed him in the side of the head and elbowed the recovering other back to the ground.
The mother, clutching her son's hand, rushed to her daughter's side, who was sitting sprawled and dazed, but alive!
“Oh, thank God!" She clutched the girl like she'd never let go again. "Thank you! You're a true hero!"
Sammy appeared before us. They looked stunned and very quizzical. Like they’d never seen him before!
“Well, they haven’t! They're from the past. Now these two are coming along with me. I think I know of some gnomes who can teach these two a few lessons on how to become better people.” He blinked twice and the three vanished.
The boy looked up at me like he knew me and hugged me, winking. “Thanks for the best Christmas gift ever!”
“But it isn’t Christmas yet!” his mom said, staring, rather shocked, as the elf popped back before us.
"But it will be soon! And it's going to be the best Christmas ever!” I replied, as the elf and I vanished in a red and green haze and we were back at the mall.
“Wait! Where's the kid and his mom?” I asked.
“Well, you saved the daughter, and they don’t know you. You’ve altered the past.” He pointed to the three as they exited Santa's grotto, enjoying the festivities, clutching the little gifts they'd just received. But the little girl still clutched her beloved teddy too.
Over the intercom a voice echoed. “Please be aware, the mall closes in ten minutes. Thank you. Have a very merry Christmas!”
“Great! Now I have to go home empty-handed! And my wife will kill me tomorrow! Or divroce me!"
“Well, the gift is knowing what you did for them. Isn’t that a great gift to yourself?”
“Sure, it is. And I'm so glad I could help, but my wife is never going to believe this when I try to explain…”
“Well, you won't have to! Look what I, er, appropriated.” With that he handed me a package, addressed to me.
“What?” I stared at the sticker; it was from the company that I ordered my wife’s gift from. “How?”
“I have my ways.” He closed his eyes for a moment. “Hey! I’ve just been told that I’m back in Santa’s good books! So, no more dung for me! Perhaps he's at least going to let me ride in the sleigh and let me do more good deeds. Thanks, friend. You’ve given me the best Christmas gift I could have ever got too. Looks like we all win today!” He smiled selfishly at me, but I wished he hadn't; I'd have nightmares for weeks! But, well, I learned another lesson. It's what's inside that counts, and inside this strange little elf was a hero.
Seemingly reading my mind, blinked twice and vanished as the family of three walked by all giggles and happiness.
The boy, whose name I'd never know, turned to look back at me and blinked twice. Or maybe he didn't forget. It didn’t really matter; I’d given someone a gift that I wished I could have been given; the gift of not having lost a child. But as the elf had said, some things are not meant to be changed. Perhaps one day I'd understand that.
I stared up to the stars and cardboard angels floating above me and smiled to the vision of my son staring back as one of the angels glistened back twice as it shifted in the air. All in all, it was going to be a great Christmas!
Blinking twice in return I left the mall.
Bio:
Frank Talaber lives in Chilliwack, BC. He currently has twelve novels released. As well as the novels, he can boast over one hundred published short stories, articles, over sixty blogs and twenty live interviews.
People who have read Frank’s books describe him as a natural storyteller who writes like his soul is on fire and his pencil is his voice crying out. They go further to say that they find his books grabbingly intense and hilarious at times, screaming everyday life from such a realistic viewpoint you’re drawn into his world, unable to stop; almost cursing that they can’t set the book down, page after page