Chapter 4 – Tinsel, Tensions, and Threats
Anakin and the three Pratt brothers entered the living room, laden with boxes and covered with dust from their jaunt into the attic. "Did we get everything?" asked Felix hopefully.
Judy took one look at the four men and burst into giggles.
"My, don't you look festive," Liberty teased.
Anakin joined in the laughter. Besides the boxes full of Christmas decorations, each of them was draped with Christmas lights and tinsel. Brigham had a Santa hat balanced precariously on his head, and Anakin wore a wreath around his neck for lack of a better place to put it. He set his box down, removed the wreath, and hung it on the front door.
"When's Grandpa and Dad and the funny guy gonna get here with the tree?" begged London.
"About fifteen minutes," Austin assured him. "And FYI, kid, the funny guy's name is Cody."
"He was close enough with 'funny guy,'" Trapper remarked, pulling a wad of newspaper from a box and carefully unwrapping it to reveal a porcelain camel.
"Oh, that's part of Grandma's nativity," Ruth told him, reaching out to snatch the statuette away from him. "Careful."
"Trapper's a very careful boy," Austin assured her. "Believe me, he collects vintage action figures, and no one touches them without feeling his wrath."
"Da-ad," Trapper groaned as he set the camel on an end table.
While waiting for Clinton, Jacob, and Cody to get back with the tree, the rest of the household began putting up other decorations. Being the tallest member of the household, Anakin got drafted into hanging swags of tinsel and greenery along the tops of the walls.
"Do they have any holidays like Christmas where you come from?" asked Lydia as she arranged decorative stockings on the mantle.
"There's Life Day," Anakin replied. "It's similar, but it doesn't come with the traditions and stories that your holiday does. And from what I've seen so far, I much prefer Christmas to Life Day. Christopher, hand me another thumb tack, will you?"
The boy dutifully handed him the item. "So do you believe in Santa Claus, Mr. Skywalker?"
"Of course he doesn't!" Gideon retorted, looking over from where he and Trapper were arranging the nativity. "He's a grownup! He's too old to believe in baby stuff!"
"I'm not a baby!" Christopher shot back. "And there is too a Santa!"
"Boys, don't make me send you outside to cool off," Hyrum said warningly.
"Tell him to grow up!" Gideon snapped at the same time Christopher cried, "Tell him to stop picking on me!"
"Both of you stop it," Lydia ordered. "Santa doesn't bring presents to boys who fight with their brothers, you know."
"You mean Mom and Dad don't bring presents to boys who fight," Gideon corrected.
"Hey, shut up," Trapper ordered. "Let him believe if he wants to."
"Hey Darth – I mean Anakin, what do you think?" Gideon demanded. "Do you think Santa exists? Or is he just made up?"
Great, the kid puts me on the spot, he thought, pinning up the last garland. He brushed tinsel from his breastplate and turned to face Gideon.
"I think," he replied carefully, "that there are many things in this galaxy that cannot be explained. I have personally seen many things that, had I not seen them, I wouldn't have believed could happen or exist. Yes, some tales may seem rather unbelievable. But I will not dismiss a story until I have made sure for myself whether it is true or not. I do not know for sure whether this Santa gentleman is real, but until I find out I will not deny his existence."
"Ha!" Christopher said triumphantly.
"Drop dead," Gideon humphed.
"Stop it, Gideon," Hyrum ordered.
At that moment Cody burst into the house, snow dusting the shoulders of his jacket. Around his neck he wore a leather strap studded with jingle bells, and from an elastic headband a wire protruded from which dangled a sprig of mistletoe. A gaudy red-and-green felt elf hat, decorated with fake holly and more jingle bells, was flopped lopsidedly atop his head.
"'Rockin' around the Christmas tree at the Christmas party hop!'" he belted out in a very off-key voice. ""Mistletoe hung where you can see every couple tries to stop…'"
The Pratt family's cat, an ancient gray tabby dubbed She-Ra, had been napping on the couch, but upon hearing Cody's raucous entrance she bolted with a sort of pained yowl.
"Geez, even the cat thinks you can't carry a tune," noted Austin.
"Okay, so I'm not the Mormon Tabernacle Choir," he confessed.
"'Course not, you're Catholic," Austin replied.
"I don't think you have to be a Mormon to sing in the choir," Ruth pointed out. "Hey, you guys gonna bring in the tree or just have it sit in the truck all winter?"
"I'll bring it in for a kiss," Cody replied teasingly, leaning forward in an effort to put the mistletoe over Ruth's head.
Ruth rolled her eyes and brushed past him. "Fine, I'll go help Dad and Brig with the tree."
Cody shrugged. "Teenagers. They have no sense of humor."
"She's been acting funny ever since she fell for that Xizor guy," noted Felix.
"Ah, she's a love-struck youth!" Cody sighed in a sickly-sweet voice. Then, in a more normal if somewhat ornery tone he added, "Hope he slips on the sidewalk and breaks his neck on his way in tonight."
"Here comes the tree!" Clinton exclaimed as he and Mr. Pratt hauled a tall evergreen into the house. The kids squealed in glee.
"It's beautiful!" Lexus gushed.
"It cost fifty bucks, so treat it nice," Mr. Pratt said warningly. "Anakin, help me get it set up, will ya?"
Once the tree was fastened securely into the tree stand, everyone set to work unboxing ornaments. Anakin found himself in a corner, helping Opal untangle the Christmas tree lights.
"You have a wonderful family, Opal," he told her.
She didn't reply, only focused on working a snarl in the wire apart.
"It's okay, you can talk to me," he assured her.
She didn't look up. "Maybe I don't want to talk."
"Ah." He remained silent as he worked.
Evidently something he had said had opened the floodgate, because she continued to talk in a quiet monotone. "You can think this family's wonderful if you want, but you don't know them. You don't know how obsessed they are with religion or how they think anyone who decides to not be part of the church anymore is a traitor to the family." She stared at the knotted wires in her hands. "It really hurts to see them acting all warm and friendly to that Xizor creature just because he wants to join the church, yet they completely ignore me."
He felt a stab of pity for her. "It must be difficult. I'm sorry."
She shook her head. "It's not your fault. If anything, it's mine. I shouldn't have told anyone that I was being excommunicated. If they thought I was still a Mormon, maybe they would have at least sent me a Christmas card sometime in the past three years."
"Then you would have been living a lie," Anakin pointed out. "Could you live with yourself knowing you had deceived those close to you?"
"I suppose not." A pause. "And anyhow, my cousin Brigham didn't seem to mind. At least he would still talk to me." She gave a half-smile. "He's the only reason I came, actually. He never judges. And he's probably the only one in the family with friends that have no intention of joining the church."
"He's a wonderful young man. A shame that he hasn't found a woman yet."
"If I wasn't related to him, I'd date him," Opal replied.
There was a sudden shriek from Liberty as Cody laughingly dropped a fistful of snow down the back of her shirt. She whirled, clutching the garland in her hands as if to strangle him with it.
"Hey girl, it was all in fun!" Cody protested, backing away with his hands up in a placating gesture.
"You," Liberty snarled, "are going to find yourself Utah's first homicide case in which the murder weapon was Christmas tree tinsel!"
Cody ran off with a shriek as she chased him out of the living room, trailing the garland after her like an overlong crystal snake.
"These are your friends, Brig?" inquired Mrs. Pratt with a raised eyebrow.
"She wouldn't really kill him," Brigham assured her. "Amethyst probably will sometime on the honeymoon."
"Honeymoon?" repeated Austin.
"Yeah, didn't you hear? He proposed to her this Thanksgiving, and she said yes."
"Those two?" Austin marveled. "I never would have thought them a couple."
"Oh, behind all the teasing about Maria Von Trapp, he genuinely liked her," Brigham replied.
Opal smiled. "Your friends sound wonderful."
"Yeah, it's a fun place, Star City is," Austin replied. "Two Star Wars conventions every summer and so many fun and interesting people."
"Weird people, you mean," Trapper put in.
"Can't argue there," Austin conceded.
"I'd like to live there," Opal mused. "How big a town is it?"
"About five thousand people. Done with the lights yet?"
Anakin and Opal brought the lights over and began stringing them. The kids sorted out ornaments according to type and began hanging them gleefully anywhere within reach. Mrs. Pratt reached down as if to rearrange the decorations – after all, they were mostly on the lower branches and clumped together in odd areas – but Mr. Pratt shook his head with a smile.
"Let them hang them where they want," he told her gently. "The children enjoy decorating the tree and feeling like a part of the tradition. Don't spoil it."
At last Anakin lifted Wendy to the top of the tree, where she fastened the golden star to the top. Brigham plugged the lights in, and everyone stepped back to admire the handiwork.
"Ooooh!" crooned Cody. "Pretty."
"Now that that's over, who wants Christmas cookies?" asked Mrs. Pratt.
"Me!" all the kids chorused at once.
"Me! Me!" Cody cried, bouncing on his toes. "Got sugar-free?"
She laughed. "I remembered to bake some for you this year, Cody."
"You mean he's been here before?" asked Opal.
"Oh yeah, Brig invites anyone in our club who wants to come over to his house for Christmas," Austin replied. "I believe this is Liberty's second year and Cody's third, but this is the first time Trapper and I have been here. It's kind of a tradition."
"I don't think Mike's allowed back, though," Liberty added.
"Why, what did he do?" asked Anakin.
"You know that Mike spent a couple years in prison for something he didn't do," Austin explained. "Poor guy's always been a bit simple and was easily set up to take the fall by his buddies. Anyhow, when his appeal finally went through he came out with quite a few behind-bars stories to share, and from what I hear, last year Judy walked in on him sharing a few with the kids."
"He was telling them about his last cellmate, for crying out loud!" Judy complained. "The guy had murdered his wife and her lover with a vacuum cleaner!"
"A vacuum cleaner?" repeated Felix, making a distasteful face.
"So needless to say, they asked him not to come back again," Austin finished.
"That's too bad," said Hyrum. "He was a nice guy. Apart from the prison stories, I mean," he amended when Lydia began glaring at him.
"You can invite him over if you're willing to stay up with the kids when they have nightmares," Lydia informed him crisply.
After dinner had been cleared away (and the mashed potatoes Emma and Gideon had been hurling at each other cleaned off the walls), Mrs. Pratt gathered the family and guests together and announced the beginning of one of their Christmas traditions.
"Nobody here has the resources to buy everyone in this house a Christmas present," she explained, "so we'll make it simple. I've put everyone's name in these three bowls." She gestured at the bowls before her. "Everyone will draw one name from each of these bowls. If you draw your name or more than one copy of the same person's name, put it back and draw a new one. Those will be the people you get presents for."
"What if we want to get presents for anyone else, like our children?" asked Austin.
"You can exchange those presents later Christmas Day, when you're not in front of everyone else."
"Luke, don't you want to participate?" asked Liberty.
"Nah," he replied. "Let this be something your family enjoys."
The kids drew names first, whispering and giggling over their choices. Lydia helped Wendy decipher what names she had received while the rest of the adults drew.
"Aw man, I got Grandma again!" grumbled Lexus. "I never know what to get her!"
"Use your imagination," Brigham suggested.
Anakin examined his choices – Gideon, Opal, and Liberty. Well, Liberty wouldn't be too hard, but he'd have to ask Brigham about his relatives' tastes. He knew Gideon liked fantasy, but what about Opal…
"Oh no," moaned Cody.
"What is it?" asked Anakin.
Cody showed him the slip he'd drawn – marked "Xizor."
"I see. I'm sorry, I can't help you."
"Don't you at least want to exchange?" Cody begged.
"No," he replied quickly. He wasn't about to be caught dead buying gifts for Xizor either.
"Get him a gag gift," Austin suggested. "That's what I do for relatives I hate."
"I'm not getting presents for an intergalactic crime lord!" Cody hissed.
"Shut up, he'll hear!" Austin snapped.
Too late. Xizor had overheard the conversation and was already handing his names to Luke.
"I'm sorry, but I suppose it's for the best if I bow out of the gift exchange this year. Luke can take my place."
"Xizor, don't listen to what they say…" Mr. Pratt told him.
"I don't want to cause contention in your house," Xizor replied, giving a magnanimous bow. "And as those two will obviously never accept that I have changed, it's best if they don't have to deal with my presence. I'll be in the other room while everyone finishes drawing names." He bowed again and strode out.
Ruth glared at Anakin and Cody. "Thanks a lump for making him feel so welcome!" she spat before fleeing the room, sobbing.
"Nice one, Cody," grumbled Brigham.
"What?" demanded Cody. "I was just stating a fact!"
"You could have been a little more tactful!" retorted Brigham.
"Why are you defending the guy anyway?" shrieked Cody. "You know his past as well as I do…"
"I couldn't care less about him either," Brigham shot back, "but by gosh, that was my SISTER you just hurt there! Why couldn't you just keep your big mouth shut…"
"I'm just trying to warn her away from the creep…"
"It's none of your beeswax, and if you make her cry again I'll smash your teeth in…"
"BREAK IT UP!" shouted Anakin, taking great advantage of his thunderous bass. "Cody, I know you don't like Xizor, and neither do I. But he's just as much a guest here as you, and you should be treating both him and Ruth with respect!"
Cody shrunk back as if slapped.
"And you!" Anakin went on, rounding on Brigham next. "I agree that Cody's remarks were uncalled for, but stang it all, he's your friend! And despite his 'big mouth,' as you call it, his intentions were good."
Brigham stared at him as if he'd transformed.
"Are you done?" asked Mr. Pratt blandly. "You're scaring the children."
"My apologies," Anakin replied.
"Wow, he really looked like Darth Vader there," breathed Christopher.
"Bedtime, kiddies," Mrs. Pratt told them. "We have shopping to do tomorrow."
"Five more minutes?" pleaded London.
Needless to say, it was a rather subdued and divided household that began settling down for the night. Brigham and Cody shot each other daggers all evening, and Xizor slunk through the halls as if trying to keep from drawing attention. Opal, never overly outgoing to begin with, became so reclusive that Luke almost sat down in the recliner in the living room without realizing she was already sitting in it.
"And on that lovely note, we get ready for Christmas Day," Anakin said with a healthy note of sarcasm. "I'm sure I'm all the rage with the Pratts now."
"We knew this was going to be a problem ever since Xizor came in the picture," Luke told him. "Don't worry, you only have three more days to deal with him."
"And doubtless they'll be three very long days." He sat down in the armchair next to the tree, staring into its sparkling branches. "I forgot to ask how your meeting with the church leaders went this afternoon."
"Pleasantly productive," Luke replied, gently taking a silver reindeer ornament from the tree and casually studying it. "They were quite willing to talk and even gave me a Book of Mormon as a gift. No pressure to investigate their church, curiously."
"I'm hearing the pleasant part, but not the productive."
"I'm getting there. President Hinckley informed me that a couple of months back – the first week of October, to be exact – a representative of an interstellar 'commerce guild' arranged an appointment with him and asked if the LDS church would be willing to negotiate an alliance with them. Apparently the church has a lot of money and assets, and this guild was interested in consolidating its wealth with the church's in exchange for 'protecting' the LDS people."
"Can't get more blatantly Black Sun than that, can they?" Anakin noted. "He turned them down, I'm sure."
"President Hinckley's no Star Wars fanatic, but he's a perceptive man. He gave Black Sun a flat no. A few days later he received a threatening letter, informing him that unless he reconsidered his decision, church members, missionaries, and temples all over the planet would be in great danger." Luke replaced the ornament. "He's suspected that Black Sun's activities around Temple Square are in preparation to fulfill that threat."
"As you said, he's perceptive. Has he taken any action? Alerted the members?"
"He's asked for tighter security at the larger temples and cautioned the missionaries to be careful in their dealings. But he won't issue any special warning to the members; he doesn't want to start a panic. Besides, he says he has faith that all will be worked out by the Lord."
"I hope his faith will not be betrayed," Anakin replied.
"I'm not letting Black Sun hurt anyone on this planet," Luke told him fiercely.
"I believe you, Luke," Anakin replied. I only hope you do not hurt yourself in the process, he added quietly.