- Text Size +
Chapter Twenty Five – December 22 – Addy

For the past three days the snow had been relentless, coming down in big heavy flakes so fat that you couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began. Big snow drifts blew through the barn the moment you got the doors open. The horses were restless but I didn’t fathom running through the fields.

Dad and I had fallen into our old ways. I still couldn’t sit down face to face with him and tell him word for word what had really happened. There wasn’t an easy way to tell your father that you had been reduced to nothing more than a living blow up doll.

Aside from pressing emergencies, dad always closed the office from the 22nd through the 26th. He was currently hunkered down in front of the TV watching football. I was getting out ingredients to bake cookies. I had just taken off the lid of the vanilla and was greedily inhaling the sweet scent when the phone rang. I reached over and picked up the phone hanging on the wall.

“Hello?”

I heard a loud crackling and a screech. I held the phone away from my ear and winced. From the depths of the static a voice began to get clearer.

“Ad—“ the voice cut out. “Addy?”

This time the voice was clear.

“Kevin?”

Another loud crackle filled the line.

“Stuck...mile…Sadieville.”

“What?”

This time another little voice came on the phone.

“Santa needs to come get us! We’re stuck-ed!”

“Mason?”

The phone went dead. I stared at it for a few seconds thoughtfully before hanging up. I poked my head into the living room. Dad was falling asleep.

“Hey dad?”

His head jerked back up. He looked at me as if he had almost forgotten I was there.

“What?”

“I think it’s our turn to save the day.”

---------------------------------------

It had been fifteen years since dad had taken the large sleigh he had handcrafted out from the large storage shed and hooked it up to our team of horses. Moonshine, as the oldest horse, was the only one that had been on the last ride. I was confident that for as many times as Puck and Robin Hood had followed her, that we would have no problem at all. I had already gotten them used to the heavy attachments; now they would be able to make use of their knowledge.

“They said they were about a mile outside Sadieville. They’re coming from Lexington,” I called as Dad placed a pile of blankets in the sleigh. He climbed on up as if he hadn’t aged a day. I actually saw excitement on his face.

“Well let’s get them, shall we?”

I scrambled up behind him and with a “Yah!” the horses took off. Snowflakes clung to my hair and the wind hit my face, but I wasn’t as cold as I thought I would be.

The farther we went outside the town, the heavier the snow was. The sleigh glided over the packed snow without a problem and the horse’s heavy hooves kept a steady beat. About a mile from town I saw Kevin’s car. The roads hadn’t been plowed; there was no way his car was going to get through.

“Whoa!” dad called out loudly. The horses stopped; Moonshine tossed her head as if to say ‘see, I still got it!’

Kevin stepped out of the car. Even through the whirling snow I could see the incredulous look on his face. He shook his head and opened the backseat. A second later he pulled Mason out. Mason’s face lit up as he pointed.

“Santa’s sleigh!!!!”

Kevin walked over slowly, Mason clinging to his neck. The snow clung to his goatee. The closer he got, the more I could see the smile on his face.

“You guys actually have a sleigh?” he said incredulously. I nodded.

“Dad built it when I was little,” I explained.

“Can we go to the Nowth Pole?” Mason squealed as Kevin set him up in the sleigh. I threw a blanket around him.

Dad chuckled. “Not today, kiddo.”

Kevin returned to his car and returned a few minutes later with a duffel bag and three other large bags. He hoisted himself up beside Mason. I turned to look at them with a smile.

“Welcome back,” I said lightly. Kevin smiled, tucking Mason close to him.

“Good to be back.”

The ride back to town was more eventful than the ride out. Mason began to sing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer at the top of his lungs. Kevin began to sing along. By the time we pulled back up to the house, we were all singing.

“You want to stop in for some hot chocolate?” my dad asked. “We can take you guys over to your place in a bit.”

For once, I was hoping Kevin would say yes.

“You want hot chocolate buddy?” I heard him ask Mason. I thought it was a silly question; what little kid turns down anything that has chocolate in its name?

“Yeah!”

We headed inside. Mason still clung to the big woolen blanket that weighed more than him. The warmth of the kitchen felt like heaven.

The guys clustered around the kitchen table as I made rounds of cocoa for all. Sprinkling a handful of marshmallows in each cup, I placed two steaming mugs down for dad and Kevin and a lukewarm mug down in front of Mason.

“I can’t believe how hard it’s snowing,” Kevin said as he looked outside.

“Well, we’re definitely going to have a white Christmas,” dad said. “Perfect marshmallow to chocolate ratio Addy,” he added, lifting his mug. I laughed softly.

“Santa?” Mason said in his tiny voice. My dad looked over at him.

“How do you fit down the chim-nee?”

Kevin, dad, and I all burst into laughter. I noticed a twinkle appear in his blue eyes.

“Magic, buddy.”

Mason smiled and took a big sip from his cup. When he pulled away he had a marshmallow mustache.

It was the most laughter I had heard in our kitchen in a long, long time.