Charlie, the Elf
Excerpt from my story „Election Special", chapter 2:
...Suddenly there was a loud clatter outside and then the door to the conference room swung open.
„Daddy!" A little brown-haired girl ran through the door and towards Will without hesitating for a moment. „Daddy! Mommy say I can have ice-cream, twoooo scoops, and I'm a elf and we sing and you come and watch and I..."
„Hey, hey, slow down, little Pumpkin, come here." Will laughed and pulled Charlie into his lap and pressed a kiss to her cheek. „Now, first of all say 'hello' to everybody and then start at the beginning, okay?"
Charlie tilted her head and looked along the table, meeting the eyes of Will's staff looking at her with amusement. They had gotten used to her occasionally bursting into the newsroom and were always happy to see their little mascot, as they had started to call her a while ago. With a wide grin she shouted „Hi!", only to get the expected „Hello, Charlie" in return.
Still grinning the little girl turned back to her father, putting her hand to his cheek to force his attention onto her, which was completely unnecessary, because as always she owned the room. „I wear a green shirt and pants and have huuuuge ears and my shoes has bells and we sing 'Merry Christmas' and Santa comes and brings PRESENTS!"
All this came out without pausing to take a breath, and the last word was shouted out with a special amount of excitement . Not being able to sit still anymore she jumped up and down in her fathers lap, almost landing a blow to his jaw with her head. Before Will could ask where and when exactly all that would take place he heard a slight cough and turned to the door, where Mac and Sarah stood, shaking their heads and trying to hide their smiles.
„Sorry, guys! Sweetheart, what did I tell you? First you knock and when someone invites you in you can open the door, okay?"
Charlie's chin sank to her chest, but then she looked up again, her little bottom lip quivering. „Sorry, Mommy." she whispered. „I seen Daddy and wanted to tell him. Can we still get ice cream?"
Mac laughed. „Of course, Sweetie. Just try to remember that we're not at home the next time." Immediately Charlie's grin was back and she snuggled into her father's chest, who looked at his wife.
„So what's all that about elfs and singing and Santa Claus in midsummer?"
„They are going to do a christmas play in kindergarten at the beginning of December and our little gremlin here will play an elf, as you all have heard. She was so excited that Sarah promised they would stop by on their way home so she could tell us."
Seeing that Will wanted to say something Mac raised her hands. „Don't ask me why they have to begin their planning in July already. I really hope they are not starting to practice right away, or it's going to be a looong christmas season..."
She winked at her husband, who just wanted to open with his well-tried but good-natured rant about the holiday hoo-ha coming earlier each and every year, when he remembered his daughter who was looking up at him expectantly.
„That's wonderful, Pumpkin, that's going to be fun, I can't wait to see you in your costume. Can Uncle Jim Bob come, too?"
Shooting a dark glare at Will Jim leaned forward. „I'd love to come and see you as an elf, Charlie. And I'm sure Aunt Maggie will join me if she's in town then. Would that be okay?"
The little girl nodded fiercely. „You all come!"
Again Mac laughed. „We will see about that, I don't think there will be enough chairs for everybody to sit on during the play if the whole newsroom shows up. Now let's go before the ice-cream melts, okay?"...
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„Billy? Billy, where are you? We really have to get going!"
Mac's voice became louder the closer she got to the master bedroom. When she opened the door she found her husband in front of the mirror, comparing ties by alternately holding them up to his chest. „What are you still doing here, only half-dressed?"
Will sighed and gave her a desperate look. „I let Charlie chose the tie I'm going to wear to her play tonight..."
When his wife took in the selection of ties in his hand she grinned broadly. „Let me guess... That one?"
Giving her an agonized look he nodded. „I can't wear that in public! What if there's a reporter or photographer there?"
Mac stepped up to him and took the tie in question from his hand.
The basic color was a dark green, and although it was shaped like a regular tie, it was considerably wider than normal. At it's broadest point Santa's sleigh was depicted in gold with red ornaments, while his ever faithful reindeer Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen were hitched to it and pulled it up into the air, sympolized by them 'flying' upwards on the narrower part of the tie.
However, none of this would make Will reject wearing it, were it not for the absolute pièce de Résistance that had attracted his daughter to it in the first place: Of course 'Rudolph with his nose so bright' was guiding the sleigh - with an actual LED light tirelessly blinking in a brilliant red, and that basically right beneath Will's chin.
Mac could barely hide her laughter, when she looked at his pitiful face. „It really didn't occur to you that she would pick the tie she has given you for St. Nicholas' Day? Which was only yesterday, by the way, so you should have known that it was fresh on her mind?"
Mac had implemented December 6, St. Nicholas Day, as a Christmas tradition for Charlie, to be observed as she herself had gotten to know it while her father was stationed in Germany during her childhood. Namely this meant that children got a little present and chocolate into a boot they put in front of the door the night before. When she had told her daughter about this day, she had insisted on getting little presents for her parents, too. Mac had been lucky and got a pair of socks with a cute christmas motif, while Will had ended up with the tie that he now held in his hand.
„I... I..." No words would come out to Will's own defence, so he simply shook his head. „Do you think she would let me wear this one? It's a little christmassy...?"
He showed her a grey tie with thin, red and green stripes, but the expression on her face showed him immediately that it was not even close to being a possible substitute for his daughter's choice.
„Did you promise her you'd wear the tie of her choosing?"
Will nodded, already dreading what would be coming next, and sure enough Mac pulled Charlotte's gift from his hand and flung it around his neck.
„Then I guess that's settled." Mac smirked, while she started to work on the knot. „You should turn off that light during the play, though, to not distract from it."
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When they arrived at Charlotte's pre-school most of the other kids and their families wre already there, so Mac asked Will to search for Jim, who had promised to save their seats, while she herself brought her daughter backstage.
She still had a few minutes to put the final touches on Charlie's costume, but just as she was about to attach the pointy elf ears, her daughter pulled at her sleeve. „Mommy? I have to go potty."
Mac stopped mid-movement and looked at her. „What? Now?"
Charlie nodded, pressing her legs together awkwardly, and Mac sighed. Of course her daughter didn't have to go when she had asked her at home before they left. And now they had four minutes before the show was about to start!
„Okay, we can make it. Come here, Honey." She put the ears back into her pocket, hoisted her little girl onto her arm and ran into the direction of the toilets, while signaling the teacher that they would be right back.
Miraculously they didn't have to wait in line, and once in the stall she had Charlie sit down, using the time to pull out the fake ears again and fastening them to her child's head. Luckily the elf costume otherwise only consisted of leaf green leggings with red strips and a shirt in the same color, so that she didn't have to accomplish some super-human feat in un- and redressing Charlie in record time.
Once done Mac pulled her up onto her arm again, quickly rinsed their hands and than ran back to where the other kids were already lining up to go on stage.
„Okay, Sweetie, you have to get in line. Do you remember what you have to say?"
When Charlie nodded excitedly Mac leaned down to give her a last kiss. „You're gonna be great. I better go find Daddy now, bye, Charlie"
She made it back just in time to find Will and greet Jim and Maggie, hugging the latter, whom she hadn't seen in quite a while. „How are you doing?"
„Great, thanks. I was just admiring Will's outfit." Maggie snickered, but stopped when she caught his face.
Mac winked at her and turned towards her husband, taking her seat next to him. „I bet nobody else is wearing the same tie, Billy. Be proud of it."
Their friends barely suppressed their laughter when Will rolled his eyes and groaned in despair. Maggie leaned over to whisper to her friend. „It feels like every parent in this room had something to say about it. The mothers overwhelmingly thought it is cute, while the father's reaction varied from pity to schadenfreude, probably because they have been spared."
Mac giggled, but then pressed a kiss to Will's cheek, while her fingers moved to the back of the tie to push the button that turned off the light. „Just think how happy Charlie was, when she saw that you are really wearing it, Honey."
Before he could answer the lights were dimmed, and they quickly turned towards the stage, not without making sure that Jim was ready to film the show with his camera.
The pre-school had put on a cute little show with some solo performances and singing, before the highlight, a little play, started. It basically was about a group of kids who surprised some elves at the zoo, so there were many human, mystical and animal figures for the kids to impersonate, and nobody had been left out.
After weeks of practicing Mac knew the play by heart and excitedly grabbed Will's hand when their daughter's line was coming up.
Charlie was just about to say her words, standing turned towards the audience and mouth already open, when she suddenly frowned.
„Daddy? Why isn't Rudolph's nose on?"
The whole audience, including Mac, burst into a fit of laughter, while Will tried to become invisible in his seat with a face as red as a beetrood.
Finally Mac was able to talk again, and while quickly turning the LED's back on, she called out towards the stage. „Sorry, Sweetie, it must have gotten turned off by accident!"
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Needless to say that Will never wore this tie in public again (and had Mac make it up to him thoroughly in the solitude of their bedroom that night; after all it had been her fault). However, it became his tradtion to wear it on Christmas morning for the unwrapping of the gifts and the following family breakfast.
That is, until Charlotte was thirteen and asked him, why on earth he was always wearing this absolutely ridiculous tie.