Dancing Snow
–-:one.
\\.Tennyo
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The first day of work at the information desk went by in blur of motion and confusion. Serena had arrived early, just so she could catch the former employee before she left. The woman had jumped at the chance when a vacation opportunity came up and immediately asked for a leave of absence. Serena, however, was not that blessed. She had to stay here and work during her Christmas vacation. Her tight budget barely allowed her to live in her apartment.
The woman, Sandy was her name, had haphazardly explained how to use the computer and the P.A. system. Serena was still fiddling with all the fancy buttons when a security guard came up to her with a bundle of clothing in his hand.
"Here," he had said and shoved the bundle into her arms, "Wear this." Then he walked off without another word.
Serena looked down at the bundle, wondering how many people had worn it before her. It was alright though, the outfit wasn't as bad as the elf one had been. It was a plain blue dress shirt with a dark blue vest. She supposed she had to wear a skirt or something to go with it.
Serena looked around the lobby where she was stationed. No one was here to hold the fort while she went someplace to change. Maybe if she hadn't been so preoccupied with the P.A. system, she could've asked the security guard who spoke in abrupt phrases to watch the desk for her.
Now, she didn't know what to do. The information desk was slightly taller than her shoulder when she sat down, and it was the only cover she could possibly get.
'Oh well', she thought, 'I guess I'll just have to make do.'
Serena crouched behind the chair and quickly took off her sweater. While buttoning the dress shirt, she heard a child behind her.
"Mommy, mommy! That lady's naked!"
That comment froze Serena in mid-motion. The draft of air that she should've felt long ago, was only being felt now. In her hurry to dress, Serena had forgotten to adjust the shirt as she pulled it over her head. In fact, she didn't even pull it over. So busy she was in the task of buttoning, she had not realized that the back of her shirt was so far up her back that it revealed her bra.
Slowly, Serena turned around, embarrassment creeping up her cheeks. Of course, as fate would have it, a little remark such as that goes unnoticed in the crowded mall. Nooo… people may not hear a person's plead for help when they are being chased by an angry mob, but they will hear a child when he screams someone is naked.
A crowd had gathered behind her to form a semicircle around the desk. The adults were so preoccupied with pointing and whispering to each other that they didn't even bother covering their children's eyes. Really! People these days! Didn't they have anything better to do than stare at half naked people?
Slowly, Serena stood up and adjusted her shirt so that it covered everything. She heard a few wolf calls from the crowd and some groans of disappointment.
"I was just scratching my back!" she yelled at the crowd.
A few understanding heads nodded here and there, but the rest of the multitude remained unconvinced.
"Really!" she said, "I'm allergic to eggnog!"
"Then why'd you drink it?" someone shouted from the back. It was always those bastards from the back that ruined us all.
"I didn't know it was eggnog!" she yelled back.
A few more people shook their heads and walked away, muttering things like "those poor college students… so hungry they need to eat foods they're allergic to."
Finally, as Serena continued to glare at the rest of the crowd, they finally dispersed. Maybe they finally realized there wasn't going to be a striptease in the middle of a crowded mall.
Serena rolled her eyes and turned around in a huff. She picked up the forgotten sweater and folded it into a neat pile. She eyed the wrinkled vest for awhile, and then decided against wearing it. Who's going to notice anyway?
Well lo and behold, the first person that comes up to her with an inquisitive look on her face asked her why she wasn't wear the standard information desk vest.
"Um… I'm sorry, and you are?" Serena asked. She wasn't about to be bullied by some random customer!
"You don't need to know who I am, missy," the old woman rattled, "What happened to Sandy? What did you do to her?"
"Nothing, miss. Sandy went on vacation."
"She did, did she?" the old woman seemed to dwell on that for awhile, "Well you better get to wearing that vest or else I'm going to tell Johnny he needs to look for a new employee."
"Johnny?" Serena asked politely.
"Jonathan Waltham. He's my grandson," the old woman continued on, ignoring the shocked look on Serena's face. "Now I know he could be a pushy bastard sometimes, but that's only because he's got the old Waltham family blood in him. I raised that boy up well, I tell ya. His momma was never home; too busy with her real estate business, so I'm the only person he's got."
Serena was growing more and more confused with each passing moment. Who was this woman and why was she telling Serena her life story? Fine, she was Mr. Waltham's grandmother. So how old did that make him? Heck, how old did that make her? The old woman didn't seem all that old, but Mr. Waltham had to be in his 50's.
"-ey!" the old woman snapped in her face, "You paying attention?"
Serena nodded absently and the woman shook her head. She started walking in the direction of the office, while muttering "…young'uns these days don't pay attention to their elders no more."
After that, Serena's day was pretty normal. Luckily, normal people asked her normal questions and she didn't have much trouble telling them where the stores were located.
However, as noon quickly approached, Serena began to wonder how she was going to eat. There didn't seem to be anyone to take her place at the desk, and if she wasn't here, who would answer these people's questions?
Sadly, the response to her question was her grumbling stomach. She stared at the large clock that hung on the wall behind her for awhile, and didn't notice the boy until he was practically crawling over the desk to get her attention. Once Serena snapped out of her stupor, she swirled around in her chair and didn't see anyone.
She looked around the mall, convinced that she had seen someone out of the corner of her eye. Maybe she was getting delusional and needed to see a therapist about crawling monkeys running loose in the mall. Or maybe she just was just hungry. Yeah, that was it.
The boy grew impatient as he stared at the incompetent woman behind the desk. What was wrong with her? Didn't she see him?
"Hey!"
Serena's eyes flew to the direction of the voice and finally saw a pair of cobalt blue eyes giving her an unfriendly look.
"Yes? May I help you?" she asked and stood up a little to peer over the edge of her desk. The only thing that she saw was half of his head with his nose resting on the edge of her desk. The boy couldn't have been more than four feet tall. Where were his parents?
"Where are my parents?" he asked.
"What's your name? Maybe I can help you find them," she asked politely
"Darien," he said, "Darien Shields."
Serena smiled and walked over to the other side of the desk. She held her hand out and Darien looked at her warily. Could he trust this lady?
Whatever instinct that had brought him here, made him trust this woman. Darien had been wandering the streets of Manhattan the whole morning, not knowing where he was or how he had gotten there. However, as he observed the people around him, he noticed the people who were around his height had taller people holding their hands. They were walking around like they had some place to go.
So from that, Darien concluded that he needed to find a tall person that he could trust (because he couldn't just let anyone hold his hand) to take him where he needed to go. From another observation, he gathered that these tall people holding the short people were called parents from a conversation he had overheard. Despite the fact that he didn't know where he needed to go, he had ended up here in search for a parent. This was, after all, the information desk. The information desk should hold all kinds of information should it not?
Logically, Darien had decided that whoever this parent was should be able to take him to wherever he needed going.
Serena brought the young boy around the desk and led him to sit on her chair. She leaned against the desk and brought the microphone up to her lips and announced over the P.A.:
"Attention. Attention Mr. and Mrs. Shields. Please report to the information desk. Mr. and Mrs. Shields, please report to the information desk in the front lobby."
Darien looked around, startled at the loud voice that suddenly boomed from every direction. Serena smiled at him and put her hand on his shoulder in reassurance.
"Don't worry. Your parents will be here soon to pick you up."
"How do you know?"
"Because I just announced it so that they could hear me."
"Was that loud voice you?"
"Uh…yeah," Serena answered.
"Wow. You must be God," Darien said in awe.
"Uh… heh. Heh." Serena chuckled and scratched the back of her neck, "No, silly! That was just the P.A. system." She pointed to the microphone next to the computer. "See! This device amplifies my voice so that everyone in the mall could hear me when I have an announcement to make."
"Ahh…" Darien nodded in understanding. "So where's God?"
Serena smiled and began to get a little nervous. These were the type of questions her little cousin kept asking her when he was young. She would answer his questions, but eventually, it would lead to a question that she couldn't answer.
"God's in heaven, sweetie."
"Where's heaven then?"
"Heaven's somewhere that doesn't exist on earth."
"So where DOES heaven exist?"
"Heaven exists where God is."
"So where's God?"
"God's in heaven."
"So where's hea-?"
Serena quickly clasped her hand over his mouth. "Only God can answer that question, honey." Once she removed her hand, however, he still wasn't satisfied.
"So where's God?"
In a brilliant stroke of genius, Serena decided to try a new method. "God is everywhere around you."
Darien looked around frantically, trying to search the mall for God. "Really? Where is He? How come I can't see Him?"
"God isn't physically here, but if you talk to Him, He will hear you."
Darien nodded thoughtfully. "So if I talk to Him now, will He answer me?"
Serena tilted her head. "Yes, but in His own way."
"What do you mean?"
"He won't actually speak to you, but He will answer you through other means."
"Really?"
"Yup."
"Wow…"
For a while, they sat there in silence while they waited patiently for the arrival of Darien's parents. However, as the hours ticked by and there was no sign of a frenzied parental unit rushing to her desk about a missing child, Serena began to worry.
"When did you guys arrive at the mall, Darien?"
Darien, who was busy swirling around in Serena's chair, came to a full stop that left the world spinning. For a moment there, Serena thought he was going to be sick. She went over to him and stroked his back in reassurance.
"Are you all right?"
Once Darien stopped feeling nauseous, he smiled up at the woman in front of him. He felt so safe in this woman's presence, like she would hold the world at bay even if it went crashing down around him.
"What's your name?" he asked suddenly.
"My name's Serena."
"Serena… that's a pretty name."
"Thank you, my mother thought so too. Speaking of which, I asked when your parents came to the mall."
"Oh, I came to the mall right before I came to your desk."
"What? YOU came to the mall?"
"Yup," he said proudly.
"Where are you parents then?"
Darien shrugged. "Aren't you supposed to know?"
Serena drew back in shock. "If your parents didn't come with you to the mall, then how did you get here?"
"I walked."
"From where?"
"I don't know."
Serena's face paled as realization finally dawned. What was she going to do? A missing child? Who knows how far this boy had wondered from? What would they do to him if she went to the police?
"Do you at least know where you live?"
Darien shook his head. What was with this lady? Why did she suddenly grow pale? Is she sick? Should he pat her back like she did to him?
"What borough?"
"What's a borough?"
Serena slumped down onto the floor and buried her face in her hands. What in the world could she do? She's a college student! No one ever taught her how to take care of a child!
Darien hopped off the swivel chair and walked up to her. "Are you okay, Serena?"
With Serena sitting on the floor, she was almost at eye level with Darien standing up. She noticed then that his clothing was impeccably ironed, without a trace of any wrinkles. He was wearing a white dress shirt, neatly tucked into charcoal slacks. And his feet were tucked into a pair of polished black dress shoes. From the looks of it, he seemed to have come from a well off family. That information at least helped her narrow it down a little. Perhaps he belonged to one of those rich families that lived in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Maybe she could bring him to one of the police precincts there.
Serena stood up with renewed determination, glad that she could help this boy get back home. Meanwhile, all she needed was a way to get out of here. The sooner she got to the police, the more time they would have to search for his parents.
"Come," Serena said with her hand held out, "Let's go ask Mr. Waltham if he could let us go find your parents."
Without a question, Darien took her hand and they marched towards the office. The crowd was thinning anyway, so Mr. Waltham just might let her leave early. Better yet, maybe he would know what to do! Surely this couldn't be the only time a child went missing in his mall!
Serena knocked on the door that led to his office. There was no reply, so she knocked again. He couldn't have left already, could he? It was only three in the afternoon! Serena prepared to knock again, but the door finally opened.
Serena smiled widely, and then her face faltered. It was only his secretary.
"May I help you?" the secretary asked impatiently without a change in his expression. Serena wondered if he often saw people look at him in disappoint because they weren't looking for him. Maybe he was used to it.
"Yes, um. I'm looking for Mr. Waltham."
"He's gone," he said abruptly and began to close the door.
"Wait!" she shoved her foot against the door, preventing him from closing it.
The secretary eyed her foot in the doorway and gave her an unpleasant look. "Look, lady. What do you want? We're kinda busy here."
"We? Who's we? I thought you said Mr. Waltham was gone."
"He IS lady. You need to clean out your ears." He attempted to shut the door on her but her foot wouldn't budge.
"Look, I just need some help. This boy," Serena bought Darien forward from behind her, "This boy is looking for his parents. Do you know what I should do?"
The secretary just stared at her like six heads had suddenly popped out from her shoulders. "You go to the police! DUH!"
Serena, angered by this man's rudeness, was prepared to give him a piece of her mind, but he slammed the door in her face. He had taken advantage of that second it took her to make up her mind about punching his face in and quickly locked the door behind him.
"Crap!" Serena kicked the door and muttered a few choice words. Darien, puzzled by the whole situation, began kicking the door too. It was pretty fun, actually, and he began to enjoy himself immensely.
Serena, finally realizing what that ruckus was all about asked Darien to stop. "Come on, Darien. We need to find your parents."
Serena angrily marched towards the information desk with Darien in tow. Screw this. Mr. Waltham wasn't here, anyway. And never mind him! The nerve of that secretary! If she saw that asshole again tomorrow, she wasn't going to hesitate about conducting violence in front of innocent children.
She gathered her belongings and walked towards the bathroom to change into her sweater. At first, she didn't know what to do with Darien. She couldn't just leave him out here alone! But as soon as she saw another woman walk into the bathroom with a toddler in her hand, she brought Darien in with her too. If anyone asks, she'll just say he's her son. Naw… that'll make her seem old. He'll be her nephew then! Of her…nonexistent sibling. Oh whatever, people shouldn't be so nosy anyway.
Serena quickly dressed and came out of the bathroom. When they were out in the cold wind, she finally realized that Darien didn't have a jacket on him.
"What happened to your jacket?"
"Uh… I don't have one."
"I thought you said you walked to the mall yourself. Weren't you cold?"
"A little, but it wasn't that bad."
Serena looked around the streets, as if the answer she was searching for would suddenly appear. What could she do? She very well could not let Darien walk around in the freezing cold without a jacket!
Quickly, Serena made up her mind. She had planned on spending the money she had managed to save on a nifty new laptop. It would have eased up things a little if she was able to carry it to her classes. Her note-taking skills weren't quite up to par yet, and her old computer was dying on her.
"Argh!" Serena clutched her empty hand in frustration. She quickly turned back into the mall and headed to the nearest clothing department. It was okay, she thought. Her Pentium II processor could still handle her workload. Couldn't it? If she didn't use it as much, and kicked it a little, it would still work.
Darien tugged on her sleeves. "Where are we going?"
Serena's problems left her for a moment as she looked at his clear blue eyes. She smiled at him and felt instantly better. What was she complaining about? This was the season of giving!
"We're going to get you a jacket."
His eyes widened in excitement. "Really?" he began to skip along next to her. "That's so cool! Do I get to pick it out?"
Serena nodded, her heart warming up with the knowledge that she could please him with a simple act of kindness. She led him to the boys' section and they wandered around for awhile, searching for the perfect jacket.
Finally, Darien saw it. "How about this one?" he said excitedly while picking up a green tweed jacket.
Serena flinched at the horrendous color and hoped Darien didn't notice her expression. Apparently, he didn't because his wide grin never fell.
"Uh… sure. Why won't you try it on?"
Darien struggled into the jacket, only to find that it didn't fit him quite well. Luckily, the jacket was the only one left and it was too small for him. Serena breathed a sigh of relief. Even though she was growing fond of him with each passing minute, she wouldn't have liked spending her savings on an ugly jacket.
"How about this one?" Darien picked up a black bubble jacket and began squishing it. He watched in fascination as the jacket deflated and inflated again when he removed his hand.
Serena nodded in approval. "This looks good! These kinds of jackets keep you especially warm in the winter."
"How come?"
"Because of the down feathers- they keep in your body heat."
Darien nodded in comprehension and Serena went to the checkout line to pay for it. Serena glanced at the price tag and winced. Prices weren't this high in her day! This was just a lousy jacket! Ok, it wasn't lousy, but it cost over a hundred dollars!
Serena breathed in deeply. Everything was okay as long as Darien was happy and warm. Besides, it was Christmas! The spirit of giving and taking-er, sharing!
She forked the money over and smiled stiffly at the clerk. The clerk behind the desk smiled back uneasily; she was getting a lot of those looks lately. It really wasn't her fault that prices were like this! However, some customers seemed to be unaware of this fact, or they decided to momentarily forget it. See, she had to start bringing in her pepper spray now.
Serena had to control herself not to strike out at the clerk for these outrageous prices. It took more effort than was pretty, but muttering "It's Christmas" under her breath like a mantra proved to be effective- for now. Later, much later, Serena might dwell on the fact that she had just purchased an expensive jacket for a boy she barely knew. However, whatever instinct that had prompted her to buy the jacket, just as easily dismissed the thought.
It was Christmas, after all.
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