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Archive name: xmas4.txt (youths, cd, no-sex)
Authors name: J R D (jrdss@pobox.alaska.net)
Story title : Bad Wishing: A Little Girl's Christmas 

--------------------------------------------------------
This work is copyrighted to the author © 2003.  This 
story remains the property of the author. Permission is 
granted to download, photocopy, copy and repost so long
as any such action contains these disclaimers, and no 
attempt is made to profit from this story.

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

Bad Wishing: A Little Girl's Christmas (youths, cd, 
no-sex)
By J R D (jrdss@pobox.alaska.net)
 
***

In this story, Patty finds a little girl having a bad 
time because her parents have forgotten what Christmas 
is all about. So she arranges with Patty for a wish, 
and even though she doesn't understand exactly what 
she's wishing for, makes her wish...

***

All characters in this story are the creation of the 
author, and any resemblance to real persons, alive or 
dead, are purely coincidental. This story may contain 
aspects of fantastic science or magic. The parameters 
of what this science/magic can accomplish are 
completely at the discretion of me, the author, and, as 
such, I make no apologies for any rules of "real" 
physics, chemistry, biology, or magic that may be 
broken within the story.

***

Seven-year-old Muriel Lucas ran into her room and 
jumped on the bed. She buried her face in the pillow 
and started sobbing. She was still crying when she 
heard a voice say, "Ah, now what would a wee lassie 
like you be havin' such a fit about?"

Muriel sat up and saw a strange little man all dressed 
in green sitting on her dresser. "Who are you?"

"My name be Patty. Patty the leprechaun. Now what does 
a pretty lass like you have to cry about?"

Muriel sniffled a bit, and said, "I shouldn't talk to 
you. Mommy and daddy say I shouldn't talk to 
strangers."

Patty smiled. "Normally good advice, lass, but I'm not 
a stranger. All children know the wee folk. We live on 
the edges of dreams where the innocent walk and only 
the young remember visiting. Now what's wrong?"

"It's this lousy season."

"Christmas? I thought all humans loved Christmas, 
particularly little children."

"I used to love Christmas, but this year... Everybody 
just sucks. Daddy keeps complaining about bills. Mommy 
says she's so busy with her work that she doesn't have 
time for Christmas. The only decorations we have is 
that ugly fake tree down on the table." Muriel wiped a 
tear from her cheek and sniffled. "That tree is smaller 
than you are."

Patty grinned. He leapt down from the dresser and 
walked over to Muriel and sat beside her on the bed. 
"Lassie, you shouldn't despair. I have seen many 
wonders, many magic's in this world, and the greatest 
of them all is the magic of Christmas. But Christmas 
doesn't come from out there." 

Patty swept his hand in a wide sweep, signifying the 
rest of the world. "Christmas comes from right here." 
He tapped her chest. "Your parents know the true spirit 
of Christmas; they just forgot it as they grew up. As 
long as you keep it true in your heart, it'll infect 
others and make them know it, too."

Muriel sniffled up the last of her tears, and said, 
"Thanks."

"Feeling better?"

"A little."

"Good. I have to go now, got a lot of work to do, but 
if you need a little cheering up, call me and I'll stop 
by as soon as I can."

"Patty, could you help me? Help me teach my mom and dad 
about the Christmas spirit? Use your magic?"

"I can't. I am bound by ancient laws not to use my 
magic except in trade for gold."

"Wait a minute." Muriel leapt off the bed and ran to 
the closet. She dug around for a while, then came out 
carrying a pair of gold-colored ballet slippers. "I got 
these for Christmas last year. Mom was supposed to get 
me some ballet lessons to go along with them, but she 
never got around to it. I'd really like to get to use 
them, but," she held them out to Patty, "I'd gladly 
give them up to help mommy and daddy be happy again."

Patty took the shoes and looked at them, fighting back 
tears of sentiment. He was almost heart-broken over the 
fact that he'd have to turn them down. With no real 
gold in the shoes, they weren't worthy of a wish. But 
then he stopped. The law stated that he was only 
allowed to trade wishes for gold of significant value. 
But the law said nothing about it needing to be real 
gold, and these shoes were clearly of significant value 
to the girl, so...

"Alright, it's a deal. I can give you one wish, but you 
must be very careful what you wish for. I must grant 
the wish as you word it."

Muriel nodded. She didn't really understand, not being 
old enough to realize the difference between literal 
definition and inferred meaning of words. Patty, not 
being used to dealing with young children, had no idea 
that she didn't know what he meant. But she did think 
about it and said, "I wish my parents would learn what 
Christmas was supposed to be by living each other's 
childhood," thinking it to be a very grown-up sounding 
wish.

Patty was about to ask her to rephrase, but stopped. 
Sometimes kids knew best, even if they didn't know it. 
The wish probably wasn't what she intended, but it 
would do the job. Patty smiled and said, "Granted."

Downstairs, May Lucas was working on some typing that 
she had. She could've done it at work, but she wanted 
to impress her new bosses, so she took it home to get 
ahead. Michael Lucas had just finished paying the last 
bill. He had a little extra left over, which he planned 
to just store away for a rainy day.

Suddenly, the world just dropped out from under them 
and both passed out.

***

Michael woke up in a soft bed. He sat up, the soft 
shirt he was wearing shifting on his frame. He looked 
around. His blanket was covered with pictures of pink 
bunnies, and there was a pink bunny on his shirt. 
Without knowing why, he got up and snuck downstairs. 
Underneath the tree were far more presents than what 
had been there last night, and he knew that Santa had 
been there.

He ran down and looked around. He wasn't allowed to 
open any gifts before his parents got up, but that 
didn't mean he couldn't look. Santa usually left one 
unwrapped gift for him that he could see. When he got 
downstairs, he saw it. A big, pink, fluffy, stuffed 
bunny rabbit (he loved bunny rabbits) larger even than 
he was. He clapped his hands gleefully, thinking about 
where that'd go in his room.

Now he just had to wait for his parents to get up. He 
could go through his regular routine of making a lot of 
noise until his parents got up, but that never seemed 
to work. In fact, he was beginning to suspect that they 
purposefully ignored him just to tease him.

He instead decided to get into his stocking. His 
parents didn't mind that. He dumped the stocking out. 
Most of it was chocolate or dried fruits, and, of 
course, there was that new toothbrush that Santa gave 
him every year (as if he didn't get enough pressure 
from his parents about brushing), but what really 
grabbed his eyes was the single pair of clip-on 
earrings. His very first pair! He ran to the bathroom 
and put them on. They were crooked, but mom would help 
him straighten them out when she got up.

He returned to the living room, the new weights already 
feeling weird on his ears, but mommy had told him that 
would happen. He sat down next to the contents of his 
stocking and began eating some of the food. He wasn't 
allowed to eat the chocolate until he had breakfast, 
but he could eat the fruit.

Then he decided, "Why wait?" He'd show his parents he 
was a big girl now and make his own breakfast. He went 
out to the kitchen and looked up at the cabinet with 
the cereals. He then went over to the column of drawers 
and pulled them out. The lowest went out furthest, and 
each one up a little less, forming a set of impromptu 
stairs he could climb to get up on the counter. Mommy 
had told him not to do this, but how else was he going 
to get to the cereal?

He got out a box of Cocoa Puffs (his favorite), set it 
on the counter, got a bowl from the next cabinet, set 
it beside the cereal, and jumped down. He took the bowl 
and box and put them on the table, then went to the 
fridge. The milk pitcher (mom made her own from dry) 
was on the top shelf and barely within reach. He 
grabbed it and pulled it down, spilling a good amount 
on the floor. He carried it over to the table, setting 
it beside the other stuff.

He poured the cereal into the bowl, filling it right to 
the rim. He poured the milk in on top, spilling half 
the cereal and some of the milk on the table. He got a 
spoon from the silverware drawer and dug in.

After most of the way through, he heard someone behind 
him and looked up to see mommy. She was smiling, and he 
lifted his spoon, proudly saying, "I made my own 
breakfast!"

She said, almost laughing, "I can see that. Finish up 
your breakfast, young lady. Santa left you a lot of 
gifts to open." He didn't understand what she was so 
amused about, but he happily scarfed down the rest of 
his cereal and went with mommy back to the living room.

The rest of the day was normal for them, opening 
presents, mom cooking, dad reading while smoking his 
pipe, and him playing with his stuff. And the haul had 
been great this year. Among other stuff, he got a new 
Barbie with a new doll house, a whole collection of 
stuffed animals (including 5 new bunnies), and a small 
collection of plastic jewelry. He had hoped for some 
make-up, but mommy said he was still too young for 
that, and he guessed Santa agreed with her.

***

May woke up when her little brother, Luis, climbed into 
bed with her. He looked up and smiled conspiratorially. 
They both got out of bed and crept over towards her 
older brother's bed. She was getting pretty sure her 
older brother, Kenny, let them "ambush" him every 
Christmas morning, but he never admitted anything. They 
jumped on the bed, yelling, "Christmas time! Christmas 
time! Get up! Get up! Get up!"

Then with a loud roar, he suddenly grabbed them and 
started wrestling like brothers do. The two of them 
were getting better, but Kenny was growing up, in his 
first year of high school (almost an adult!), and when 
he had them pinned down, he yelled "Winner and still 
champion, Kenny Lucas!" then made the roaring sound of 
a simulated crowd.

From the door, they heard their dad say, "Alright, 
kids, time for Christmas."

Luis and May ran downstairs with Kenny and dad 
following behind. They went through their gifts 
quickly. Most were hand made, and May loved them all. 
They were a poor family, particularly since mom had 
died, but somehow dad always made Christmas a special 
time. And the best time was when Kenny got to the 
special gift they had got him. He unwrapped the box and 
said, "An official, regulation-size NFL football! Dad, 
I can't accept this."

May said, "You better! Luis and I both chipped in to 
help."

Dad said, "When your brothers heard your coach 
recommend some home practice last September, they both 
agreed to go on half allowance to help pay for that. If 
you're going to make it to State on a scholarship, you 
need all the practice you can get."

Kenny turned to his brothers. "Thanks, guys. Why don't 
you go get dressed and we'll go toss this around."

May and Luis ran upstairs and got into their winter 
clothes and went outside with Kenny. While dad made 
their Christmas meal, the three boys tossed the ball 
around, then they had their meal and both of the 
younger boys crawled into bed, too tired to keep their 
eyes open.

***

It was the first day back to school from Christmas 
break and Michael was on the playground playing with 
his doll with some of his friends. He didn't even 
question that he had spent a few years growing up in 
the body of his wife, nor did he question the fact that 
everyone around him referred to him as May.

While playing, Linda said, "Cool doll, May, where'd you 
get it?"

"It was a gift from Santa."

"Oh, you mean your parents got it for you."

"No, it was a gift from Santa."

"Don't tell me you still believe that. Grow up. Santa's 
just a story adults make up for little kids."

"LIAR! Santa is too real!"

Linda snorted a most unladylike snort. "Come on. Flying 
reindeer? One sled filled with toys for ALL the girls 
and boys? Delivering all those toys on one night? 
Santa. isn't. real."

Michael stormed off, refusing to play with mean old 
Linda anymore. But her words had already sunk in and 
were having their effect. Over the rest of the day, all 
the logical inconsistencies of Santa filtered forth, 
and by the end of the day he was convinced. His parents 
had lied to him. Santa was a lie.

That afternoon, when he got home from school, he went 
upstairs to his room and got the ultra-large, stuffed 
bunny he had gotten from Santa years ago and started 
dragging him down the stairs. About halfway down the 
stairs, mom saw him and asked, "Dear, what are you 
doing with Mr. Floppy?"

Tears in his eyes, he said, "Getting rid of him."

"Why? I thought he was your favorite gift from Santa?"

"Santa's a lie! I don't want to see him anymore!"

"Oh, hun. Come on down here. Leave Mr. Floppy where he 
is."

Michael came down the steps and his mom pulled him up 
on her lap. 

"Now let's talk about Santa."

"You gonna try to tell me he's real?"

"Depends on what you mean by real. Am I going to tell 
you there's a big man in a red suit up at the North 
Pole with a bunch of elves making toys? No. But Santa 
is the spirit of giving without expecting anything in 
return. He's the essence of all that is good about 
Christmas, and as long as you keep him real in your 
heart, then the world will be a better place."

"I... guess so."

"Now look at Mr. Floppy. Think of all the joy and 
happiness he's brought you. Does he deserve to be 
thrown out just because he was paid for by your dad and 
me rather than made by Santa Claus?"

"No. I guess not."

"So let's get Mr. Floppy back to your room, and I'll 
make you some hot cocoa."

"Okay." Michael did as his mom asked, but despite her 
words, the world had lost just a bit of its magic.

***

May was pretending to be asleep in bed. She could hear 
her little brother Luis sneaking up on her. Kenny was 
off at college, so now it was her job to be the ambush 
victim every Christmas. She heard and felt Luis jump on 
the bed and tackle her. They wrestled around until May 
managed to pin Luis, saying, "Winner and still 
champion," and making roaring sounds just like Kenny 
had done when he had won.

Both boys then looked over to the door, expecting to 
see their father. He had always been right there every 
Christmas after they finished their little wrestling 
match, but not this year. Luis said, "Maybe we can get 
dad."

So they snuck into dad's room. He appeared to be still 
sleeping, so they jumped onto the bed, yelling and 
screaming to wake him up. Finally they stopped, but 
Luis kept shaking his dad, saying, "Daddy, wake up. 
Wake up, daddy, wake up." Finally he turned to May and 
asked, "What's wrong with daddy, Mikey? He won't get 
up."

May knew, but she didn't want to say. "It's... just 
something. I'll try to get him up. You go down and make 
yourself some breakfast."

"O... okay."

Luis left the room, and May checked her father, just 
like they had taught her in health class. But there was 
no pulse, no heartbeat, and the body was noticeably 
colder than it should've been. May crawled off the bed, 
sat in a chair and cried. She was still crying when she 
heard the phone ring and her brother call out, "Mikey, 
it's Kenny."

May wiped her eyes and went downstairs. She took the 
phone and shooed Luis back to the kitchen. When she 
spoke into the receiver, Kenny asked, "Hey, kiddo. Luis 
said something was wrong with dad. What's up?"

"Kenny, daddy's... dead." She sniffled back some tears. 
She couldn't cry. Big boys weren't supposed to cry.

"Are you sure?" May explained what she had done. "Okay, 
just to make sure, call an ambulance. Now. Then call 
Mrs. McGuillicutty and ask her to come over. I've got a 
car I can borrow. I'll be home by noon."

The next few hours were a grief stricken blur as May 
watched people come and go. Finally Kenny got home and 
things settled down. At the end of the day, Kenny said, 
"Okay, you guys have had a rough day, so why don't we 
open the presents now?"

May was too upset and blurted out, "I hate Christmas! I 
never want to open another present again!"

"Hey! Don't ever let me hear you say that again! I 
don't care about your opinion of presents, but 
Christmas is about family. Saying you hate Christmas is 
saying you hate family. Every year, dad went to a lot 
of trouble to make Christmas a special time for you. 
Don't let your grief ruin that."

With tears in her eyes, May said, "Kenny, what are we 
going to do now?"

Kenny took her in his arms. "We'll find a way through. 
We'll stick together as a family and find a way 
through."

***

Michael walked downstairs, his soft, blue nightie 
clinging to his form like a lover's caress. He saw the 
stack of presents and smiled. Right in the center was a 
carved ivory bunny. He was eighteen and the quickest 
way to get him to smile was still give him a bunny.

He walked to the kitchen and got out a box of Special K 
(a girl had to watch his figure), and prepared his bowl 
of cereal. While eating, he heard a strange pop, but 
thought nothing of it. Only a short while later, he 
noticed a strange flickering of lights from the living 
room. He went back and nearly freaked when he saw that 
the Christmas tree was on fire!

He ran through the room and upstairs, banging on his 
parents' door. After they were awake, he ran back to 
his room, grabbed a coat and boots and ran to the rope 
ladder in the box at the end of the hall, under the 
window. His father was waiting and tried to usher him 
through the window. He tried to go back, realizing he 
had forgotten Mr. Floppy, but the flames were already 
coming up the stairs and almost to his bedroom door. He 
regretfully went through the window and retreated to 
the family's place of safety.

After the fire was over and some of the rubble was 
cleared, he found what remained of Mr. Floppy. The only 
thing left was his head, and it was covered in soot and 
burn marks. His parents thought it was just silly, 
girlish sentiment when he held it and cried. They 
didn't understand. Mr. Floppy had come to symbolize the 
essence of the season to him. When he went up in 
flames, so did most of the magic of Christmas.

***

May slammed her book closed. "I'm never going to get 
this!"

Kenny told her, "Relax, and just go with it. You'll get 
it."

"History's just a mystery to me. I'd much rather add up 
a column of numbers. Math is so much more... precise."

"So when you get to college, major in accounting or 
math. But for now, you got to finish all these little 
classes that the school district, in its infinite 
wisdom, has determined that you need to take."

"Kenny, I was thinking about that. About going to 
college after I graduate next May."

"Yeah?"

"I was thinking that I could put off going to college 
for a few years. I could take your job at the plant, 
and you could go back to college and finish up. Then 
maybe you could get a better job, and make it easier 
for you and Luis while I was away at college."

"No way, kiddo. You've got a scholarship to State, and 
next September, you're off to college."

"But it's only a partial scholarship. You had a full 
scholarship."

"Which I'm not even sure I'm eligible for anymore."

"But-"

"Mikey, I appreciate the thought, but it's time for 
some blunt honesty. The most I was ever going to be was 
a ball jockey, running a weird shaped hunk of air and 
plastic up and down a hundred yards of turf. If I was 
good AND lucky, maybe I could've gone pro. But you and 
Luis? You've got the brains to really take yourself 
places. But not if you're slaving away in a factory 
making assembly-line furniture for 12 hours out of 
every day."

"But-"

"No more buts. You're going to college and that's 
final."

"Thanks, Kenny."

"That's what family is for."

***

Michael wandered through the dance hall. It was the 
last dance before finals, and even though Christmas was 
a few weeks away, the official theme was "The Holiday 
Season." All the holidays of the time were supposed to 
be represented, but about 80 percent of the decorations 
were the standard Christmas fare.

He wandered out of the hall to the open area outside. 
There was no one out there, but that was okay. Michael 
didn't really feel like company. He figured he'd spend 
the rest of the dance outside, but after a few minutes, 
he realized his dress and stockings were scant 
protection from the cool December air. He was about to 
return to the hall when someone placed a heavy coat 
around his shoulders. He turned and saw a handsome, 
young man and smiled up at him. Michael said, "Thank 
you."

May said, "What's a gentleman for? My name is Michael."

"My name is May."

"No offense, but you don't seem much in the spirit of 
the holidays."

"I'm not really. Last year my house burned down on 
Christmas morning. Between that and some business 
setbacks, things haven't been the same. I guess I'm 
just feeling a little melancholy."

"I know the feeling," May mused. "Five years ago, my 
father died on Christmas morning. Passed away in his 
sleep. My brothers and I always managed to make 
Christmas something special despite that, but without 
them..."

Michael finished the statement, "Christmas just doesn't 
have the same magic."

The two of them looked into each other's eyes and May 
said, "Neither one of us seems happy here. Want to go 
get a latte or something?"

"I'd like that."

And having found each other, a little of the magic of 
Christmas was restored.

***

"What? You can't be serious!" Kenny said.

May replied, "I'm sorry, Kenny. But I love this girl 
and I'm going to marry her."

"But what about your family? Luis is going to be 
entering College next year. We need your help."

"I'm sorry, but I've got a woman I love and a family to 
be. I've got to think of them first."

"Them? Don't tell me you got this girl knocked up?"

"Yeah, I got her pregnant."

"Great! So because you can't keep it in your pants, 
Luis and I have got to suffer? Why couldn't you at 
least use protection?"

"HEY! For the record, I did use protection. It just 
failed. And just to forestall any further argument 
along these lines, I asked her BEFORE I knew she was 
pregnant. The pregnancy just speeds everything up."

"So because you and your little slut can't-" Kenny 
wasn't able to finish his statement when May slammed 
her fist as hard as she could into the side of his 
face, knocking him to the ground.

"Don't you EVER talk that way about May again!"

Luis got between them. "Come on, guys. We're a family 
here. We can work this out."

May said nothing as Kenny stood. Kenny said, "Nothing 
to work out. Little Mikey wants to choose his 
girlfriend over his family, he can just get the hell 
out and never come back."

May was shocked. Luis said, "Kenny, you don't mean 
that?"

Kenny remained silent and stoic. May angrily said, 
"Fine. If that's how you want it, I am out of here," 
and turned and walked towards the door, grabbing her 
coat as she went.

Luis turned to his eldest brother. "Kenny, please." But 
Kenny said nothing and walked towards the kitchen. Luis 
dashed out the door to catch his brother, intercepting 
him half way down the walk. "Mikey, wait. Come on back 
inside. Kenny's just angry. He'll cool down. Don't ruin 
Christmas."

"Me ruin Christmas?" May pointed back to the house. 
"I'm not the one running him out of the house!"

"Kenny's just angry. You did everything he couldn't. 
You'll graduate college next May, and you've got a job 
lined up. Now you come in and say you're not going to 
be moving home. He's upset, but he'll get over it."

"Fine. When he gets over it, I'll be in my dorm room. I 
didn't ask him to go George Bailey on me. I didn't ask 
him to sacrifice his future for me."

"Mikey-"

"Luis!" May took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I really 
am. Our original plan was that we'd marry in a few 
years after you'd gone through college, but with the 
baby on the way... I'll still do what I can for you, 
but I've got to look after May. I'm going to be a 
father, Luis. That's got to come first."

"I understand. Just give Kenny some time."

May sighed. "He's got all the time he needs. He's got 
my number at the dorm." Luis tried to protest, but May 
just walked past him to the beat-up clunker car she had 
bought earlier that year.

***

Michael's father was almost yelling. "I can't believe 
you're going to marry this... this pauper!"

"I love him father. He's a good man who treats me 
right."

"But the other boys we introduced you to."

"Overstuffed puffins more concerned with profit 
management and inner-business politicking than with me. 
Michael loves me, daddy, and I love him. That's all 
that matters."

"Fine! You want to marry this boy against my wishes, 
you do this without us. I'll disown you. Cut you out of 
the will. Cut you off without a penny."

"If that's the way you want it. Michael and I will make 
do."

"Hah! You've never had to exist without money before. 
Wait'll you find out what the real world is like. 
You'll be back begging for forgiveness."

"Is that what you think of me? That I'm some hot house 
flower who'll fold at the first sign of trouble? I'll 
show you! I'll make it on my own without your damned 
money!" And before his father could say another word, 
Michael stormed out of the house in tears.

He drove right back to the dormitory, seeing his 
intended drive up at the same time. He ran right into 
his beloved's arms.

"What's wrong?"

"My father and I had a big blowout. He threw me out of 
the family. 

I didn't even get a chance to tell him I was pregnant."

"Sounds like what happened with my family. So I guess 
all we've got now is each other."

Michael sniffled. "Some Christmas we've got."

"Hey. As long as we're together, we'll make Christmas a 
special place for you, me, our baby," May rubbed his 
tummy, "and any other babies that come along."

Michael was so caught up in the moment that he kissed 
May with all his heart and soul.

***

May was at her desk doing the bills. Little Muriel came 
up to the edge of her desk and asked, "Daddy?"

"Yes, dear?"

"Daddy, I was thinking that since we couldn't afford 
store decorations this year, we could make our own. I 
drew this tree." May, barely paying attention, just 
made non-committal agreeing sounds. "Daddy?"

"Muriel, daddy's very busy right now. Whatever it is, 
ask your mom."

Muriel was sad, but said, "Okay." She went over to her 
mother at the typewriter. "Mommy, I made up this tree, 
and thought we could get together and make up a bunch 
more for Christmas."

Barely noticing the crayon drawn tree, Michael took it 
and set it on the other side of the typewriter. "Very 
nice, dear. I'll put it up on the fridge later."

"No, mommy, it's for-"

"Muriel, honey, mommy's very busy right now. Why don't 
you go upstairs and play with your dollies?"

In real life, neither noticed their daughter run 
upstairs with tears in her eyes, but now their 
attentions were forced to her, even if their eyes were 
not.

Then the world dropped out from under them again.

***

They were back in their own bodies, stunned. May looked 
over and picked up the tree her daughter had drawn. 
Michael looked around, seeing the decoration-less room 
they were in. They both stood at the same time. Michael 
said, "I'm gonna go out and get some Christmas stuff. 
Will you-"

"I'll take care of Muriel. We'll get started on some 
home-made decorations, but you'll need to get 
construction paper, glue, et cetera."

"Be back shortly."

After Michael left, May went upstairs to Muriel's room. 
"Honey?"

"Yes, mommy?" Patty had disappeared right after 
granting the wish, only seconds before.

"I'm sorry your father and I haven't been really 
Christmassy this year. He and I just forgot what the 
season was all about."

"Okay. Where is daddy?"

"He's out getting some more paper and stuff. Let's you 
and me get started on some decorations of our own."

Muriel gleefully yelled "Okay!" and leapt off the bed 
to get into her supply of art stuff.

After about fifteen minutes, May said, "Mommy's got to 
go make a quick call."

***

Michael was running through the stores, getting a bunch 
of supplies for their home-made Christmas. He was 
walking right by the thrift store when he saw it, 
knowing it was perfect.

After he loaded all his purchases into the car, he made 
a quick call before driving from the mall.

***

It was Christmas morning in the Lucas household. The 
walls were covered in paper trees and Santa's, and 
glitter covered paper ornaments were stuck to the tree. 
The place was clearly home-done, but that only made it 
all the homier.

They passed out all the gifts, until only one very big 
box was left. May picked it up, figuring it was for 
Muriel, she read the tag, saying, "And this one is 
for... me?"

She looked to Michael for some kind of explanation, but 
he said, "Just open it."

Muriel tore open the wrapping and paper and opened the 
box. She was surprised when she saw a big, stuffed 
bunny, larger even than Muriel. "It's... Mr. Floppy. 
But how?"

"It's not the exact same doll, but when I saw him in 
the thrift store I knew he was for you."

May picked up the stuffed bunny and hugged Michael, 
tears in her eyes. "Why are you crying, mommy?"

Wiping tears from her eyes, May replied, "Sometimes 
adults cry when they're happy."

"That's silly."

"Yes, dear." The doorbell rang, and May pushed Michael 
towards the door. "You got me all misty eyed, so you 
get that."

Michael walked to the door with a big smile on his 
face, figuring he knew who was on the other side of the 
door. But when he opened the door, he was stunned into 
immobility. "Luis?"

Luis stepped in and hugged him. "Hey, big brother. Long 
time, no see."

Behind Luis, Kenny stepped up to the door. "Hey, 
squirt. Got room at your table for a broken-down old 
fool, too stubborn to admit when he's wrong?"

Michael grabbed his brother and hugged him, tears in 
his eyes. 

"Always room for you."

May said, "Welcome, guys. Come on in. We don't have 
much, but you're welcome to share everything we have."

As the guys hung their coats on a nearby coat-rack, 
Michael said, "Things might be stretched a little 
tighter than you think, May."

"Why's that?"

The doorbell rang again, and Michael grinned. "Your 
turn to get the door."

May gave him a curious look, but stepped past him to 
the door. When she opened it, she almost feinted. 
"Momma?"

May's mother stepped in and grabbed her daughter to her 
tightly. She hugged her so tightly that May thought she 
was going to pass out. When they separated, May saw her 
father just behind her mom. 

"Daddy," she said properly.

"May-flower. Can you ever forgive me?"

"Oh, daddy!" She leapt into his arms and hugged him. 
"But what happened? Why'd you come?"

Her mother said, "Michael called us yesterday. He said 
it'd be wonderful if we could both come by for 
Christmas."

"We're kind of packed, but it will be great."

Kenny said, "Hey, there's always room in a Lucas 
household for family," while giving Michael a knowing 
look.

Suddenly, Luis said, "Hey, Mikey, there's one last gift 
under the tree."

"Really? I thought we got 'em all." Michael walked over 
and picked it up, reading the tag. "To Muriel; From 
Patty" He handed the gift to Muriel. "Patty a friend of 
yours?"

"Yeah." She tore open the wrapping and opened the box. 
Inside was a pair of ballet slippers in her size, these 
ones silver. Beneath the shoes was an envelope.

Written on the envelope was a note saying, "I may not 
be able to use magic except in exchange for gold, but 
sometimes the intrinsic magic of gold is enough. Merry 
Christmas!"

She opened the envelope and pulled out the paper 
inside. It was a certificate to a ballet school for a 
year's worth of lessons. May looked at it and said, 
"Patty must be a very special friend."

Muriel smiled and said, "Very special."

Luis said, "Come on, guys. Let's make dinner!"

They got together and started making dinner. At one 
point, May pulled her husband aside and said, "Y'know, 
I can't actually recall ever having told you about Mr. 
Floppy."

"Yeah, well..."

"It happened to you, too. You lived my life while I 
lived yours."

"I guess so. Any idea what happened?"

"No. But it was definitely a needed wake-up call. So 
what do you think after living my life?"

"It definitely gave me a better understanding of you, 
but..."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Come on, hun. What's up?"

"It's just..."

"Yes?"

"After living your life, I realize that I prefer 
sleeping in nightgowns to the pajamas I normally wear. 
Would you think me too fruity if I wore one of your 
nighties to sleep in?"

May grinned. "I think we could work something out." 
Then she kissed him, and they walked back to the rest 
of their family.

END

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Please keep this story, and all erotic stories out of
the hands of children. They should be outside playing
in the sunshine, not thinking about adult situations.

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Kristen's collection - Directory 26