Nine

Steve

“Stevie, what’s going on?” my sister Dale asked as soon as I answered her call.

“Just driving home from work. Did I tell you I got fired from the electronics store?”

“What? No, are you okay?” she asked, concerned as always.

“Oh yeah, I got a different job the same day if you can believe that.”

“Well, that’s a relief. Where are you working?” she asked, and I grinned as I thought of the look on her face when she heard my response.

“I’m one of Santa’s elves at the mall,” I said and waited for her to reply. I was driving down Greenback headed for the freeway and she took so long to react I thought I’d lost her for a moment.

“Are you serious?” she asked. “I was waiting for you to say you’re joking.”

I burst out laughing before I could speak. “Nope, I decided to go by Sunrise Mall for some strange reason, and they were hiring. It’s only through Christmas then I’ll need to find something else, but I didn’t want to be out of work for very long.”

“But, Stevie, you hate Christmas,” she said, her voice full of confusion.

“Well, I don’t really hate it.”

“Are you kidding me? You have forced us to not buy you a present, and not do anything too Christmassy for years, are you sure you’re feeling okay?”

“I met someone,” I said, not meaning to but unable to hold it in.

“Oh, did you?” I could hear the smile in her voice as she instantly pivoted from concerned to happy. “Tell me about him.”

“Well, he’s very sweet, he drives for UPS, and he loves Christmas.”

“I guess that explains your sudden full reversal on the holiday hate,” she said.

“I only met him yesterday, maybe it was just time for me to stop being such a grouch around the holidays.”

“Stevie, I love you, but it’s not just the holidays. You’re a full-time asshole.”

“Thank you, I try,” I said making her laugh.

“So, does this mean you’re coming over to the house for Christmas this year?” she asked, and I realized I hadn’t joined them since I’d moved out, and when I still lived at home, I stayed in my bedroom and avoided everything to do with that day that I could.

“I might be convinced. It’s been a while,” I said, and I knew she understood, because Dale always understood.

“Too long, brother. It’s time to come home,” she said.

“Okay, don’t be so pushy. I’ll be there just don’t make a big deal of it. You know how they get,” I said, and I didn’t need to tell her I meant our parents. Because even though I avoided Christmas, they did not. They’d moved past those hard times and enjoyed every second of every day, especially Christmas.

“You know our parents, and you know they will make their usual big deal of it, but if you’d rather not go then I won’t tell them to begin with,” Dale said.

“Let me think about it. I don’t want to commit then end up disappointing them.”

“Fair enough,” she said after a long pause. “But you’d better show up filled with holiday cheer when you get there.”

“If I go, I will. How’s work been?” We spoke a while longer and my drive passed so fast, I didn’t even notice the traffic. After hanging up and taking the exit for my house I realized I needed to go to the grocery store, well if I wanted to eat. After driving a few blocks, I pulled up to the small grocery store in my neighborhood. It was more expensive but way less crowded and I questioned why I lived in the city when I could live in a small town that wasn’t ever crowded.

After parking near the front of the store, I got out of my car and hurried to the door and got busy grabbing everything I’d need for a few days. I was about to leave when I walked down the snack food aisle. There was a display of the little cakes we used to have every day with our lunch. Mom would buy them for the holidays just to make it special. Truth be told they were a little waxy and a whole lot sugary but looking at them I couldn’t resist getting a box of tree shaped ones. “Apparently they skipped over Thanksgiving,” I mumbled.

“No, they had them, they just sold out already,” an old man said as he reached past me and grabbed two boxes of the trees. “You better take as many as you’ll need because they’ll be sold out in a week.” He shook the boxes at me before hurrying off to the front of the store.

I stared at the boxes for a moment longer before picking up three more. “Hopefully Garrett likes Little Debbie,” I said and hurried in the direction of the checkout. Then I noticed more Christmas goodies, and finally some Thanksgiving decorations. Mostly there were fall colored leaves and pumpkin scented candles, but at least they hadn’t totally forgotten about it. Not that it really mattered to me.

I wasn’t a big fan of turkey, and neither was my family. We usually got together on Thanksgiving for a game day and just had all sorts of appetizers while a football game played on the TV that no one paid attention to. We’d always played games, and even if none of us cared about a big dinner, we did love getting together for it. I might not love Christmas, but I did love game day. I paid and hurried out to my car just as it started to rain.

As soon as I was in my car my phone chimed with a message.

Hi Mr. Elf, I hope you’re having a good evening. Garrett.

My favorite UPS driver! Are you still at work?

Yes, just on my lunch break. Is it raining where you’re at?

It just started here.

Lucky, it’s been raining here for a while. Well, I better go, have a good night.

You too and watch out for all the crazy drivers.

??

I stared at the stupid smiley emoji for way too long before finally starting my car. It was just a stupid emoji, but deep inside I knew I was fooling myself as I put my phone away and drove home with a grin on my face. “Stupid fucking emoji,” I grumbled before smiling some more.