Tennessee absolutely despised being the zoo's messenger boy. However, Tennessee loved Christmastime. So, he was completely neutral about being Megapolis' Annual Santa. Not this year, though. Stanley had worked him ragged all of Christmas Eve, and Tennessee had a rather late start at passing out all the gifts.
Yak, Baldy and Chumley were all chatting in the auditorium, where the gifts were. Tennessee suddenly burst through the door, panting. He was trailed by a signature gravelly laugh.
"What's the matter, Tennessee? How's it feel to be Sandy Claws' little elf?"
Tennessee steamed and huffed. He grabbed another armful of gifts from the pile in front of his friends, not even noticing their presents. He then turned on his heel and faced Jerboa Jump directly.
"Keep laughing, wise guy, it won't be very funny when you don't have a gift under your tree," Tennessee replied.
"Good luck wit' that," Jerboa smiled, "I don't celebrate. I ain't got a gift in that pile anyway."
Tennessee, exhausted, didn't have enough steam left for a quip back. He stormed off while Jerboa laughed after him.
"You don't have to be so rude to him, Jerboa," Chumley stated as Jerboa's laugh faded out.
Jerboa furrowed his brows a moment, then started to laugh again. He padded over to the group and smirked, "Tennessee hates the cold, doesn't he? Being angry keeps him warm. I'm doing him a favor."
Baldy rolled his eyes. "Shouldn't you be with Tiger Tornado?" he drawled.
"You think Tiger is up at this hour?" Jerboa snickered, "He can hardly stay awake in the day, let alone at midnight-o-one."
"Twelve-o-one!" Yak exclaimed. "That means- that means- that- that Tennessee has been on his feet for nearly two hours!"
"Yeah, and he's nowhere near finishing," added Baldy, eyeing the large pile of metallic red gift boxes.
Chumley picked up two gifts in his hands. "We should help him out," he said, "Tennessee's always been a good friend."
"Good friend," sneered Jerboa. "Sure."
Baldy rolled his eyes, scooping up some gifts. Yak gave a small sigh. Tennessee then returned to the auditorium in a rush. He soon froze, however, as he saw his friends bearing gifts.
"Great," he sneered, "Not having to bend over will really do me wonders."
Chumley stepped forward gingerly. "No, Tennessee, we're here to help you!"
Behind him, Yak and Baldy smiled kindly. Tennessee sighed and slouched, his beak twisting into a smile. He then rose up and prepared to start giving orders. The three listened intently as Tennessee went through his sorting method. He separated the zoo into six parts, one of which was already full of gifts.
Tennessee clapped his hands together enthusiastically. "Wonderful! If we all work our fastest, the gifts'll be passed out by one!" The penguin then turned expectant eyes to Jerboa. Chumley and Yak followed suit, their gazes half-pleading. Baldy rolled his eyes, but eventually landed to stare holes through Jerboa as well.
Jerboa stared back, unmoving for quite some time. After a few more moments, however, he sighed and stepped forward, grabbing a single small gift.
"I'm only doing this because I don't have anything better to do," Jerboa exclaimed, rushing out the auditorium doors first. Tennessee grabbed the next armful of gifts, and the merriment was on their way.
Yak was the fastest of his friends, so he got the section of the zoo near the entrance. Baldy worked in the area around the Megapolis Woods. Chumley dumped off gifts near the nursery. Tennessee rushed between the creatures who bore cold better than he did. Jerboa drifted anywhere the wind blew him.
At 12:50, the job was done. Christmas was saved. Tennessee panted as he leaned against the outside wall of the building. "I could've been here til Easter!" he exclaimed. He stepped forward and entered the doors once more.
Yak, Chumley and Baldy all glanced anxiously at eachother. There weren't any gifts left, none that they could see. Still, they followed Tennessee, just in case. Even Jerboa streamed in, several paces behind.
Tennessee carried one last armful of gifts. There were only three, and he brought them over to his friends.
"I believe these!" he exclaimed, "Are for you!"
He handed them each a gift. They were all the same size, and wrapped in the same metallic red paper. None of the three could resist shaking their gifts. Yak's made no noise, Baldy's jingled, and Chumley's sounded like something hitting metal.
"And now for my gift," Tennessee said to himself. He turned on his heel and looked under the large tree in the middle of the room. Nothing was under there. He circled around. Nothing. He searched within the branches. No gifts.
"Gr-great," Tennessee sighed, "T...terrific."
Chumley padded over and rested his hand on Tennessee's deflated shoulders.
"I'm awful sorry, Tennessee," he said.
"All that work, and for nothing…" Baldy added.
"He-here, Tennessee, have my gift!" Yak offered.
Tennessee waddled slowly by them. "No, Yak, it's yours."
Jerboa stared at Tennessee intently. Usually his rival held some sort of fire, be it of spite or sarcasm. Occasionally Tennessee even held complete and utter defiance, depending on his plans for the day. But, no. Tennessee looked exhausted, and completely, totally defeated.
Jerboa felt his heart ache. That wasn't something he ever expected to feel for Tennessee Tuxedo.
Tennessee faced Chumley sadly. "I'll meet you at our quarters," he said, his voice the most somber any of them had ever heard it, "I need a nap."
No one said a word as Tennessee left. The silence even held on for several moments after.
"We have to buy him some sort of gift," Chumley stated. "But I don't know how to get out of the zoo without him."
"I do," Baldy claimed, "But I don't have the money to buy him anything."
"What- what are we gonna do?" Yak panted.
Jerboa sighed, loudly, making sure the three of them heard it. They all faced him angrily, surely expecting a rude quip about how he'd done something better. Fortunately, Jerboa was still feeling a bit of whiplash from the wave of sympathy Tennessee slapped him with.
"Just- go home," he said, "I'm see Santa will bring him something."
But Jerboa didn't believe in Santa, and he wasn't sure any of the others did either. Still, the three left sadly back to their quarters. Jerboa stayed in the dark room for a bit.
Jerboa didn't believe in Santa Claus; but Jerboa did believe in Jerboa Jump.
Tennessee was so exhausted from the previous night, that he forgot how close his bed was to the ceiling. He groaned, collapsing back into his pillow. Not only did Tennessee's entire body ache, now his head was pounding. Great.
He slowly slipped out of bed and made his way carefully down the ladder. Chumley was still sleeping. Tennessee stretched and steadily made his way toward his quarter's door to receive the newspaper.
At least that was working out for him. He grabbed the roll from atop a metallic red box, and unfurled it as he closed his door once more.
...wait, metallic red box?
Tennessee pulled his door open again. Sure enough, on his doorstep sat a long, metallic red box. He picked it up and shook it. Something hit cardboard. A wave on confusion washed over Tennessee as he sat down. How did he get a gift. The auditorium was empty when he left.
Tennessee carelessly tore away the wrapping paper. Under it, as expected, was a white box. He pulled the box open. Inside was a ukulele with a light blue body. Tennessee was even more confused. Stanley didn't care for his music.
He flipped it over to look at the back. Painted on the back was a nice, serene picture of a beach. So it definitely wasn't Stanley. Tennessee looked up the neck. Under the strings of the first fret was a guitar pick.
"...why would Jerboa Jump give me a Christmas present?" Tennessee mused to himself. It couldn't have been anyone else. Tennessee talked to Chumley, Yak and Baldy about music enough that they'd know you didn't need a pick for a ukulele. No one else was close enough to Tennessee to know that he liked warmth and music, but distant enough to not know about picks.
He played a few notes. "How did Jerboa Jump manage to get a genuine ukulele…" Tennessee muttered. He played a few more notes before setting the ukulele down on his lap and starting to read the paper.
He'd have to say something nice to Jerboa next time they saw eachother.
