Christmas Giving

by Tex Zavaleta

The members of Team Seven, having completed all the actual work they still had to do, were killing time before they could leave at quitting time on the third of December. Ezra and Nathan were sharing online shopping sites and bargains at Nathan's desk. Vin was sucking on a candy cane and juggling small balls of wrapping paper. JD and Buck were playing Battleship and each accusing the other of cheating. Josiah was nodding off at his desk, late nights helping the homeless shelter prepare for Christmas having taken a toll. No one was sure what Larabee was doing since his office door was closed and locked and the blinds were down, but from the occasional muffled outbursts of cursing heard, the others would guess he was also shopping online and not successfully.

When the ding of the elevator sounded, everyone snapped to attention and made an attempt to at least look as if they were working, hoping it wasn't Judge Travis or anyone else bringing them another assignment or more paperwork to ruin the holidays. They were relieved when they recognized Tessa Tidwell, the head of clerical administration for the ATF, but the relief was short-lived for those who recognized the sweetly determined look on her face. She wanted something. She was dressed for the Christmas season, wearing an emerald green velvet blouse topping a green velvet skirt, and black boots.

As usual Buck was the first to react to the presence of a lady. He went forward to greet her, took her arm and escorted her to his desk. "Tessa Tidwell, you are a vision of Christmas cheer today. Come right in and take a seat. It's nice of you to come calling and bring some warmth into a cold and dreary day."

Tanner was running a suspicious eye over her bland expression. "Yeah, right kind of you to 'drop in'."

That earned him a slight smile as she seated herself. The smile widened when Tanner tossed a green and red tennis ball at Larabee's office door, creating a soft thump that brought the team leader out of his refuge. "What the hell-" Larabee broke off as he caught sight of the lady. "Tessa. What can we do for you?"

"I need some help," she stated briefly. No one said anything. They weren't about to volunteer without knowing what they were getting into, though JD impulsively opened his mouth his mouth as if to speak. He stopped himself as he picked up on the nonverbal cues from his teammates.

"Could you be more specific?" Ezra drawled. "As in elucidate, exculpate..."

"Fine." She wasn't about to enter a war of words with Standish. "You may be familiar with the Salvation Army Angel Tree program?"

JD, Buck, and Chris frowned. Josiah nodded and offered a brief explanation. "The Salvation Army has angels on a tree at the mall and some other stores. Each one has the name of a child from birth to age twelve and a gift request, as well as clothing sizes and other information. The idea is for someone to take an angel and shop for the child then return the merchandise and the angel to the Army where it will be given to the parents of the child for Christmas Day."

"They also do angels for homebound senior citizens. One reason the Salvation Army was chosen for our charity this year is because they make sure that the need is real. It's not a program where anyone who wants something for free can show up and get something they may or may not really need," Tidwell said.

"The parents get to give the gifts to their kids?" Tanner asked. When she nodded, he added, "That's real nice. Not makin' the kids feel like they're charity cases."

Cutting to the chase, and not wanting to dwell on why Tanner would say such a thing, Larabee crossed his arms and leaned against the wall next to his office door. "So what do you need help with?"

"I have organized volunteers from the office and from my church to do the shopping, mostly ladies since they are inveterate bargain hunters and will get the most 'bang for the buck'. What I need from you gentlemen is a means of transport."

"You want to borrow my truck?" Larabee asked skeptically. "What are you planning to buy?"

Tessa folded her hands in her lap. "I don't think you understand the size of this project. We asked the Salvation Army to give us 250 Angels this year, the ones no one would want to take."

"Why wouldn't someone take them?" JD inquired, somewhat dismayed that some child might be overlooked.

Josiah explained, "Lots of people will take the angel for the two-year-old who wants a teddy bear or a four-year-old who wants a doll, JD. Most people are prepared to spend ten to twenty dollars on something like that. Unfortunately, not all the toys the older children want are that inexpensive."

"Like bicycles or skateboards or mp3 players..." Tanner said.

"So how much are you gonna spend on these 250 angels, Mrs. Tidwell?" Nathan Jackson asked. "And where are you gonna get the money?"

Tessa kept strict eye contact with Jackson as she replied, "We're planning on spending an average of $75 to $100 per angel. The money has been donated. That's not the problem. The problem is that even if you give money directly to the organization, someone has to do the actual work of shopping and bringing in the items. My team of volunteers are going to do the work."

"That's a lot of money," JD said earnestly. "Where did it come from?"

"You didn't notice the donation cans in the cafeteria and break rooms?" Tessa asked innocently.

Josiah might have been the only one to notice how carefully she was avoiding looking at Ezra and, even more telling, the way he was carefully not meeting anyone else's eyes or chiming in with a remark.

"Wow," JD replied. "People must have really been donating a lot. With the economy down and all, I wouldn't have thought..."

"Yes, some people know it's even more important to give to those in need now," Josiah said. "Because the need is greater."

Larabee waved a dismissive hand and stopped eying Standish's lack of expression. "Anyway, back to transport?"

Tidwell pulled a folded sheet of paper from her skirt pocket. "According to my list, we need to purchase one hundred, twenty-seven bicycles. Since we will be buying them already assembled, we will need several pickups or other trucks to haul them from the store to the Salvation Army's warehouse. Aside from bicycles, our list also includes cribs, strollers, car seats, playpens, cases of diapers, play kitchens, dollhouses... "

Larabee held up a hand. "I get the idea."

"So you're thinkin' if you get me and Chris to bring our pickups and Josiah to bring his Suburban..." Buck began.

"Gentlemen, please," Standish interrupted. "That would require several trips. Perhaps you could simplify the logistics if Mr. Larabee would agree to hitch his flat bed trailer to the Ram. And if there are others with trailers available...? Tessa, do you know how many trucks or trailers you will require and when they will be needed?"

She sent a warm smile the Southerner's way. "I'm still working on it, Ezra. We're planning three shopping expeditions. One on Saturday afternoon, one on Monday evening after work, and the final one on Wednesday evening after work. All the angels and items must be turned in by Friday, the tenth, so the Army can organize them and get them delivered to the families. Can you pencil those dates onto your calendars? If you don't want to participate in the shopping itself, you can just be on call to come with the trucks and help load and then unload."

"Don't know if our vehicles will be enough," Larabee stated. "But I know Team Five and Team Three have at least another five pickups among their vehicles and Charlie has another flat bed trailer. You want to talk to them or you want me to tell them they've been 'volun-told'?"

JD snickered. Volun-told was a word he'd coined. It meant that someone was told he'd volunteered when in actual fact he wasn't even present when his services had been offered. Buck did it to him all the time.

Tessa stood gracefully. "Thank you so much, Mr. Larabee. I'd appreciate it if you would coordinate transportation. I'll get back to you when the arrangements are confirmed. I can't tell you how much your help will mean to the families and children the Salvation Army is helping this year."

Larabee jerked his head in what could have been a nod and ducked back into his office, closing and locking the door once more.

Standish got to his feet and offered an arm to Tidwell. "My dear lady, I will escort you to the elevator and you may expound on what this shopping list consists of. I may have some shopping suggestions..."

JD Dunne watched the pair vanish from view before turning his gaze to Vin Tanner. "So you thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"

"Dunno, kid. What are you thinkin'?"

Buck smacked JD on the shoulder. "He's thinkin' that those little cans by the cash registers couldn't get close to holdin' pert near twenty-five thousand dollars. Were you thinkin' that, too, Josiah?"

Josiah grinned a big toothy grin.

Jackson raised an eyebrow. "Do y'all really think...?"

"Come on, Nate," JD moaned. "It's for kids."

"Yeah. You might be right. But why wouldn't he say-"

Tanner scoffed, "Because if he actually admitted he gave the money, someone might thank him or something. God forbid someone should know he ain't the hard-hearted, selfish bastard he pretends to be."

Standish strode back into the bullpen and stopped, concerned by the silence and lack of activity. "Gentlemen?"

The five stared at him for a moment, just long enough for him to feel uneasy. Then they all smiled. That really made him uneasy. He scowled at them. They were all in accord?

The stalemate was broken by a loud curse word from Larabee's office, then the door flung open and there came a roar. "Standish! Get in here!"

Glances were exchanged, then shrugs. Ezra sighed then headed for his boss's office. "You bellowed?"

December 8th, 9:45 PM

Team Seven plus one trudged slowly into The Saloon and headed for their usual table. Vin snagged an extra chair and seated Mrs. Tidwell before sinking into his own chair with a heavy thump. They were all grateful just to finally be sitting down.

JD shook his head. "Man, shopping is hard work, Mrs. Tidwell. My feet are killing me." He looked under the table, contemplating taking off his boots but was quelled by a reproachful frown from Buck.

"I'm just glad it's over," Nathan commented. "Everyone was really nice and all but the crowds..."

"Just imagine how much worse it will be next week when Christmas is that much closer," Josiah replied. "Good idea to get it done early, Tessa."

For once Mrs. Tidwell's perfect posture was not in evidence. She was slightly slumped into her chair, elbow on the table, chin resting in the palm of her right hand. Her other hand massaged her forehead. "Not to mention the noise. And having to repeat myself over and over again." It had been her responsibility to give the shoppers instructions and coordinate with the store managers.

Inez appeared at the table with a tray containing a pitcher of beer, a smaller pitcher of milk and eight glasses. "Do you wish to order something to eat?"

"You're supposed to close in less than an hour. Thought you quit serving food at nine," Nathan said.

Inez shook her head. "There are times when one may bend the rules. You have all been doing a wonderful thing and you deserve some reward."

They all appreciated her words and quickly ordered their meals. Actually once they'd stopped moving, they realized they were starving.

"How many angels did we do tonight?" Vin asked. "We filled up two trailers and three pickups." Knowing his dislike for crowds, Chris had assigned Vin to staying in the parking lot to keep an eye on the vehicles and supervise loading of the purchases.

Tidwell pulled a sheet of paper out of her shirt pocket. "On Saturday, we did 87 angels, on Monday only 49, and tonight 120. Our average cost per angel was $97.25. We stayed exactly on budget."

"Wait," JD said, "that doesn't add up to 250. That's 256."

With a slight shrug, she said, "I know, JD... when I went to get the angels, they had six more that were for homebound seniors so I took those as well."

"But how did we stay under budget when we took more people than we were supposed to?" the young man persisted.

Josiah grinned. "We call that God math, JD. He arranged for us to find sales and bargains and worked things out so we spent much less than planned on a lot of items. Of course, Ezra helped with that part."

Standish recovered from stifling a yawn and flinched upon finding himself the focus of all eyes. "It was only reasonable to ask the store manager if he could provide a discount of some kind as an incentive..."

Larabee snorted. "Surprised you left him the gold fillings in his teeth."

Standish scowled in his direction. "You must admit that Buck also did his part in assuring the cooperation of the cashier in getting our caravan of carts checked out and the items properly bagged and coded with the angel numbers."

Larabee almost smiled. "A good leader knows his men's abilities and assigns tasks based on those abilities." Tidwell fought off a giggle.

The store manager, possibly stung from the concessions wrung from him by Standish, had insisted that the party had to check out at the regular stands at the front of the store. That would have complicated matters considerably. He had finally conceded that they could amass shopping carts in the garden center area until they were ready to check out and IF they could get a cashier to volunteer to help them, they could check out there all at one time. Larabee and Tidwell had listened, knowing full well that the manager, Rudy by name and rude by nature, thought that none of the overworked, underpaid cashiers would volunteer.

Looking around at the shoppers who were waiting to begin, Larabee nodded at Buck. Reading his cue with ease, Wilmington went on his mission and found a young lady cashier named Brenda. He charmed her into volunteering with flattery and a description of what they were doing and brought her to the garden center. After collecting her phone number, of course.

Buck was of little use in shopping and was banished to the parking lot when it became clear that there were just too many distractions (pretty women) in the store. Vin definitely needed him once the loading started and to provide a driver to pull trucks into position.

"Do you do this every year, Mrs. Tidwell?" Dunne asked.

"Not on this grand a scale, JD, but yes, I have been helping out with the Angel Tree for the last four years." Her brown eyes suddenly seemed far away and melancholy. "After my husband died, I needed to stay busy, especially at this time of year."

"Being around other people helps too." Surprising everyone, the quiet words came from Larabee.

Josiah had turned contemplative as well. "And knowing that you're helping those less fortunate than yourself. It's more blessed to give than to receive."

Wanting to break the sudden downturn of mood, JD Dunne chimed in. "And more fun to give too. That little Shelby girl was having a blast shopping for the girls. She did twenty angels while I was doing three."

"She has so much energy," Jackson commented. "I was glad she knew what the girls would want since I didn't have a clue. She found that sale rack with skirts and blouses for less than $3 a piece."

"That's why she's my 'shopping consultant'. Shelby is a freshman in high school and I know her from my church. She's been going shopping with me every year and translating what the child is asking for into adult speak," Tidwell added. "And while we're on the topic of expertise, I congratulate you on your organizational skills, Chris. The loading and transportation end of the project has never been so smoothly handled. It helped to have so many trucks on call. We usually have to make two or three trips each time instead of one."

"Hell, Tessa, he just treated it like it was a bust," Buck confided. "Got the other teams involved like they were our backup and told them what to do, didn't ask." With ease of practice, he ignored the poisonous glare that comment earned him.

"Well, however you did it, thank you," Tidwell said warmly. "And God bless you all for your help and participation."

"There're going to be a lot of happy kids on Christmas Day," Jackson said with a big grin. "Did y'all see that itty bitty Dora the Explorer tricycle I got for that two year old girl named Betsy?"

"Hey, I got one kid an Iron Man bicycle, Iron Man pajamas, and Iron Man shoes," JD said. "And another one a whole set of cars with a carrying case."

"Ain't just the kids that will be happy," Vin said quietly. "Their parents will be able to give their kids something for Christmas. More than just a toy. Those winter clothes and jackets will come in right handy a lot of the year here. Means a lot to parents who ain't got much money and can't afford nothing."

There was a moment of silence. It was broken by the dreaded Standish drawl. "You do realize, gentlemen, that since we have finished our obligations to charity, we now have just over two weeks to complete our own Christmas shopping?"

Three of the people at the table threw napkins at him, two groaned, and another slugged his arm.