*Thanks everyone for the comments! PatriciaFarmer-I like your interestin Bo and Buzz's relationship. I figured I mix up the couples a bit. I am actually not planning on doing another Christmas story unfortunately. I have not seen It happened one Christmas, but I have seen Wonderful life, long, long time ago. It was good, however not one of my favorite Christmas movies. Next chapter up!*
Years pass and now Buzz is in his early thirties, working as an accountant at a shipping company. He adds numbers into a machine and goes to write it down in a ledger when his pencil breaks. Sighing, he gets up to sharpen it, but stops. There has got to be more to life than this, he thinks to himself. He sees his boss, Mr. Jones, coming out of his office with his assistant.
"Thank you, Charles. That will be all." Jones said to the assistant.
"Mr. Jones, a moment of your time, please. Buzz said. Barnabas Lightyear sir. If I may, I believe that my skills go far beyond inputting numbers into an adding machine. I've been reading up on this German fellow, who believes he's developed a glider that can carry a man in the air. Isn't that fascinating? Now if we could apply that to this business, it would be revolutionary." Mr. Jones looked at him like he didn't hear a word he had just said, and turned to his other workers.
"Gentleman, may I have your attention?" He said. The men stopped what they were doing and looked up. "You've all been dismissed. The company has gone bankrupt."
"Bankrupt? Buzz asked. But I thought we had trading ships, at least a dozen of them."
"Yes and they are all at the bottom of the south china seas. A typhoon sank them all." Jones turned and walked away, leaving Buzz and the others to pack up. Before leaving his desk, Buzz snatched his cup holder with several holes in it and a pencil and put it in his briefcase. When he got home, he had no idea how to tell Bo he was without a job, but chose to just come out with the truth. He heard his two daughters from the roof and climbed the ladder on the side.
"Oh you're going to get it now." Charlotte, his ten year old, cried out.
"You can't catch me!" His other daughter Evelyn, now eight, yell. Bo was watching them while hanging the laundry. She saw him walking over to her.
"Well hello there! I didn't expect you to come home so early." She said, smiling.
"Neither did I. And until further notice." Buzz said, holding up the dismissal notice. Bo took it from him, reading it. She leaned back against the laundry pole. "Well you know what, I never thought you were right for that job anyway."
"Or any job apparently."
"That's alright. This is just part of what makes our life together exciting."
"Bo, my love. This is not the life I promised you."
"Are you blind? I have everything I could ever want."
"What about the magic?"
"What do you call those two beautiful girls over there?" She turned to her daughters. "Hey you two, look who's home!" The girls looked up and screamed.
"Daddy!" They cried. They ran and jumped on him.
"Did you bring me a present, daddy?" Charlotte asked.
"A present, for what?" Buzz asked.
"My birthday, silly!"
"It is not your birthday. Is it really your birthday?" Charlotte nodded. "Oh do I have a present for you, a fantastic present." He takes out the pencil holder, the pencil, and lights a candle, placing it under the cup. "Behold, the wishing machine. This extraordinary machine was originally created by Leonardo Da Vinci 400 years ago. But the blueprints have been lost for centuries, until just last week, on a stormy night...when a sunken pirate ship washed up on the shores of Nantucket. They found skeletons and treasures...and the blueprints were recovered by none other than JW Mercantile. The blueprints crossed my desk very briefly...but I managed to commit them to memory. Make a wish and it will keep it safe until it comes true."
"Can I tell it a wish?" Evelyn asked.
"Step right up." Evelyn got down low to the machine.
"I wish to marry Santa Claus." Bo and Buzz laughed.
"That is a good wish. Buzz said. Charlotte, step up." Charlotte leaned down.
"I wish for ballet slippers." She whispered. Buzz sighed, but smiled.
"That is a good wish too. Happy birthday, Charlotte." He hugged her tight.
"What's your wish, mommy?" Evelyn asked. Bo thought for a moment.
"I wish...for happiness that lasts forever. For you, and you, she said pointing to the girls, and for your father." She kissed Buzz on the forehead.
"That's boring!" Evelyn said, laughing. Bo and her raced around the roof once more, but Charlotte looked around. The machine's light made it look like stars were dancing around them. She began to sing the lullaby her parents always sang to her.
Every nightin bed, the brightest colors fill my head
A million dreams are keeping me awake
Her sister joins in.
I think of what the world could be, a vision of the world I see
A million dreams is all it's gonna take
Buzz looked at the girls and then looked around at the lights.
"For the world we're gonna make." He whispered. A wide smile spread across his face. A new idea for a new dream had come to his mind.
*Next Chapter coming soon. Hope everyone had a happy and safe Thanksgiving!*
