Santa Fred

(cont.)

4. Christmas Time Is Here

The final days before Christmas were busy ones for Fred . . . and everyone else, for that matter. Nobody had anything done.

"Mee halp, Ahdee?" Tad asked Mystique, who was wrapping presents.

  Mystique looked at Tad. "You can bring me that bag over there."

Tad toddled over to the bag, picked it up and handed it to Mystique. "Heah, Ahdee Miseek."

"You really are talking, aren't you?"

Tad nodded."'Essmee S'eet."he explained. Showing his counting skills, he said:"Un, doo, th'ee, foh, fahve..."
Mystique was startled. She'd heard of child prodigies before, but she'd never heard of anyone learning to count this young. Even Charles Xavier, according to Magnus, hadn't started learning numbers till he was three.

"That's nice," she said.
Tad gave her an irritated look. "No' done! Sees, seba, eat, nahn, te'."

Mystique's eyes widened...

Then someone called her from the other room . . .

"Wait right here, Tad."

Tad looked at her like he didn't understand. "Wah Ahdee go?"

"I'm just going to see what's wrong . . ."

"Ahdee com bak?"

"Of course I'm coming back! I've still got all this to wrap!"

Tad beamed."Okay.Babye, Ahdee Miseek.I p'ay Ibbit."

While Tad played with Ribbit, Mystique went to see what the matter was.

It turned out to be a simple problem....

"I can't get this to stay up!" Wanda was trying desperately but unsuccessfully to pin up a snowflake decoration....

"Have you tried tape?"
"It won't stick to these walls!" She shook her head in frustration...

"Try hanging a string from the ceiling," Mystique suggested.

So she did... "Perfect!"

Tad looked around at all the presents Auntie Mystique had to wrap.... This one looked interesting. He started to rip open the box . . . but stopped when he heard Auntie Wanda....

"No, Tad, that's not for you."

"No me?" asked Tad.

"No, Tad. Anyway, we're not supposed to open them till . . ." Wanda stopped short, confused.When were they supposed to be opened, anyway?

Tad looked at the presents, then at Wanda. "Ti' w'en, Ahdee Baba?"

"Till . . . till Auntie Mystique says you can."

Tad nodded."Okay, Ahdee Baba."

Wanda didn't even know when Christmas was. While she was in the hospital, one day had blended into the next. And that had also been true where Hanukkah was concerned.... She was still tripping over all the presents that Pietro had given her . . . when she came home from the hospital. And most of them were useless . . . especially the pink go-go boots... sized to fit a ten-year-old.
I don't know where he got the idea that I was ever a fan of the Spice Girls, but as soon as I can find a free moment, I'm donating those stupid things to Goodwill. Or something.

There was one gift she liked, though... It was a photograph of her and Pietro with their father, taken . . . on a beach in the Caribbean.... He had brought them on one of his business trips. It had been one of the happiest days of her life....

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud crash from the next room. "Oh, great."she sighed.... "What have those idiots broken now?"
In their haste to get the Christmas tree up, the boys had knocked everything off the walls and nearly decapitated each other.
"Is it straight?" asked Lance.

Mystique shook her head.... "A little to the right."
Toad and Fred yanked the tree so far to the right that it nearly broke a window.
"A little, I said!"

"Sorry, Mystique."Fred said.

Their attempts to fix the seriously tilted tree sheared all the needles off one side, and nearly gave Lance a concussion.
"This is like watching Laurel and Hardy deck the halls," Mystique said.
All three boys looked at her blankly. "Who?"
Wanda cleared her throat. "Has anyone seen Pietro?"

Fred just stared at her.... "I thought he was with you!"

"You don't think he ran away, yo?"asked Toad.

"Why would he do that?" Lance asked.

"To make us feel sorry for him, maybe?"

Wanda started to say something.... but a glance from Tad convinced her to drop the wisecrack before it even got out of her mouth.

As it happened, Pietro was out buying a ton of CDs. Most of which were for himself, but some were gifts. One was a disc of children's songs for Tad....

As he went up to pay . . . he noticed something.... out of the corner of his eye.

"Hey, what's this?" he said, picking up.... a little frog figure. He pressed its stomach... and it did absolutely nothing.

"Bummer."Pietro sighed.

Then he found one that was working . . .  and it said "Ribbit!"

Perfect!
Then he turned it over and saw the price.

"$3.99." For this little thing?

Then he saw what else it could do... It also hopped, stood on its head, blinked and when he pressed the button on its back . . . it did a somersault.

This would be great for a stocking! Are we doing stockings?

He could just see the look on Tad's face.... So he bought it, and had it wrapped at the store.


Meanwhile, Fred's last days as Santa were not going smoothly. In fact, he was in danger of getting fired....

It wasn't his fault the day guy never showed up and no one told him . . . or that the kids wouldn't sit still.

And as they got closer and closer to Christmas, the lists of demands became more and more exorbitant. They were asking for everything but gold bullion... only because they didn't know what it was.

Why couldn't the other kids be more like Tad? He'd even put up with them sleeping on his tummy!

"What is it with you, Dukes?" his boss grumbled.

"How many more days is it to Christmas again?" Fred asked, as another little whiner jumped down.

"Three."

"I don't think I can take much more of this." And he meant it....

"If you can just hold out for a few more days . . . just till 6:00 Christmas Eve. You think you can do that?"

"I'll try..."

Tad was back. "No s'eep," he promised.

"OK, Tad."

"Tell Santa what you want for Christmas," Todd prompted him.

"F'end foh Ibbit." Tad said.

"What kind of a friend for Ribbit?"

"Odder og."

"What about you? It's okay if Ribbit wants a playmate, but what do you want?"

Tad held up a video cassette box."Tubbies."

"Okay."

Tad loved the Teletubbies more than anything else in the world...except for his big brother and Ribbit, that is.

And Aunt Kitty. Hey, there she was!
"Aht Giggy!" Tad called to her, waving his arms.

"Hi, Tad!"

"Hi, Ahgoo Ku't."

"Hello, Tad.Vhere's Ribbit?"

"Ibbit!" Tad pulled Ribbit out from under him and waved his flipper.

"Hi, Ribbit!"

"An' Sada!" Tad added.

"Fred?" Kitty said, surprised.

"Sssshhhhh!" Tad said. "Secwet."

"Secret?"
Tad nodded."Ahgoo F'ed p'ay Sada coz reel Sada busee mak toize."

"Oh, okay." She hadn't understood a word of that, but Tad wouldn't know that.

"Wha' Aht Giggy wa't for Kismus?"Tad asked her.

Kitty looked a bit uncomfortable, and Kurt said, "She's already had her holiday."

"Okay.Agoo-agoos?"

"Okay." She came over and huggle-wuggled Tad. He thought she smelled really nice . . .

"Aht Giggee ba'?"he asked her.

"Yes, I had a bath. Why?"

"Sme' lak so'p."

"Well, aren't you a smart little frog baby?"

"Sma't og babee."Tad repeated cheerfully.

"Santa needs his lap back." Fred interrupted.

Tad climbed down. "Bah, Aht Giggy. Bah, Ahgoo Ku't."

"Auf Wiedersehn, Tad."
"Bye, Tad."

"Bah, Sada."
"Bye, Tad. Next!"
As Tad toddled over to Auntie Wanda, he heard Aunt Kitty say, "Whose stupid idea was it to have Hanukkah three weeks early?"
"Don't azk me!"

"Ahdee Babah, what Ahnka?"Tad asked her.

"What's what?"

"Ahnakha."Tad repeated.

"Oh, Hanukkah. Remember when Uncle Magneto and Uncle Pietro and l lit the candles and said prayers at the kitchen table?"
"Uh huh."
"We even let you spin the dreidel," Wanda said with a smile.

"D'eidle fun." Tad said.

"Why are you asking about Hanukkah?"

"Me he' Aht Giggee an' Ahgoo Ku't tak 'bout it."Tad explained.

"Oh."

Tad looked at Wanda. "Wha' w'ong?"

"Nothing, Tad.It's just that I wasn't expecting you to ask me so soon." Wanda explained. "Most kids your age are still trying to learn how to count past five."

"Sma' 'og babee," Tad said, beaming.

"Very smart frog baby." Wanda replied in admiration. "Would Ribbit like to learn about Hanukkah too?" "Ibbit?"
Tad nodded Ribbit's head. "Ibbit wan'."

Wanda couldn't help thinking at that moment that her mother would have loved Tad. If only she could have been here to meet him . . .

At the Xavier Institute, the halls had been thoroughly decked. A gigantic Christmas tree stood in the front hall.
Today was the day that those students who were going home for the holidays were leaving.

There was also a rather sizable menorah on display, and Evan and Ororo had taken the liberty of setting up prayer rooms for those observing Ramadan...

"So who are we inviting to our big multi-holiday dinner?" asked Scott Summers.

"I was thinking about asking if Tad could join us," Professor Xavier replied.

"Tad?"

"I think it would be good for us to reach out to Tad and his family, in the spirit of the season."

"What if Todd says no?"

"I should hardly think he'd have any objection to Christmas dinner . . ."

"Just trying to be prepared for anything, Professor."

He made the call after the students who were going home had left.
Kitty was staying (she and her parents had celebrated Hanukkah when she'd gone home at Thanksgiving), as well as Evan, Kurt, Bobby Drake, Rogue . . . and, of course, Scott.

Todd was feeding Tad his juice when Professor Xavier called him...

"Yeah?"

"Todd, I was wondering..."

"I didn't do it! It wasn't me! It was . . . uh . . . Pietro! Yeah, that's it!"

"Actually, Todd, I was calling to find out if you and Tad wanted to join us for our holiday dinner."
Todd stared at the phone, wondering what was up. "You serious, yo?"

"Of course. There's always a place for you and Tad here, should you decide to join us."

"Hang on a sec."Todd turned to his baby brother and asked him. (Silly as that sounded.)

Tad clapped his hands and giggled."Ta' go! Ta' go!"

"What about everyone else, though? Auntie Mystique? Uncle Lance? Auntie Wanda?"

"Ahdee Miseek."Tad repeated...

"What about me?" said Fred, who had just come in.

"I don't think you'd fit in their chairs, yo."said Toad.

"No Sada?" Tad said. They couldn't have Christmas without Santa!

"Uh, do you have a super-sized chair for Fred?" Todd asked Xavier.

"I'm sure I can find one."

"Cool."

"Ahdee Miseek? Ahgoo 'Needo?" Tad asked.

"Hang on, Taddy..." Todd went back to the phone. "Uh . . . can everyone come?"

And so it was that Christmas Day, Todd and Tad--and most of the rest of the Brotherhood--found themselves at the Xavier Institute, celebrating with the X-Men.
Fred even wore his Santa suit.

(Whew! Who knew a Christmas story would run into the summertime? I'm working hard on Chapter 5, and will get it up as soon as I can!)