Warnings: Course language/talk. A bit of angst in this part; mostly fluff.
A/N: Yup.
...
"Annie! ANNIE!"
A girl with long, raven hair stirred and emerged from the blanket and pillow cocoon on her bed. "WHAT?"
"YOU PROMISED TO TAKE YOUR LITTLE BROTHER TO THE MALL TO SEE SANTA! Remember?"
Anne rose from her bed and rushed up to her bedroom door; flung it open. "OKAY! Okay, I'll be ready in 15."
"Hurry up!"
Anne slammed the door shut. She wished she could just sleep away the holiday weekend. She was home from college–the first quarter of her sophomore year just completed with a painful round finals, and she was dead tired and not really caring about the holidays. Much to the chagrin of her parents.
And why did Tommy have to go see the Fat, Jolly Guy so early? He had most of the month of December to go to the mall and spill his guts to the guy in the red suit.
Besides, wasn't her nine-year-old brother over the whole Santa thing anyway? She couldn't remember exactly when she learned he wasn't real, but it seemed like it was around the same time.
Anne looked in her vanity mirror. Okay, maybe 15 minutes was being optimistic….. She showered, dried her hair and applied some make-up, and donned a sweater, jeans, and her boots, before throwing on her long, shearling-collared coat as she headed downstairs.
She entered the living room to see Tommy sitting, waiting impatiently on the couch. "Where you been?"
"Rising from the dead," she retorted.
She looked over her little brother. Their mother had stuffed him into about four coats and sweaters, two scarfs, ear muffs and a hat, and pairs of over-sized boots and gloves. Anne shook her head.
Before she could say anything, their mother came out and handed Anne a set of keys. "Take the Olds. Your father filled it with gas this morning."
Anne let out an aggravated sigh. The Oldsmobile Titanic was called that for a reason.
"Now don't give me that look. Go on, you two."
Anne and Tommy came outside to see their father in front of the garage, fiddling with a large, tangled ball of Christmas lights.
"Having any luck, dad?" Tommy asked.
"Mmm hmmm. Sure. By the time you guys get back this whole house will be lit up brighter than the Fourth of July."
"That…sounds safe," Anne commented as she ushered her younger brother toward the wood-paneled Oldsmobile in the driveway.
Once Anne had pulled away from their house and they were well out of view, she pulled the car over.
"What are you doing?" her brother asked.
"Get out, so you can shed the excess clothes."
"Alright!" Tommy exclaimed.
Anne waited patiently while Tommy slimmed down to a pull-over sweater, a down coat, his hat, gloves, and boots. He tossed the rest into the back seat of the car.
"Let's roll!" He threw his arm forward.
Anne laughed. "Alright, big guy."
….
Richland was beautiful. It wasn't sleek like Midtown or cheaply built like Castleland. It had a somewhat modern design in soft whites and brown colors, with skylights in the ceilings. Many of the store fronts had wood paneling. The tile floor was all earth tones and set in a herring bone pattern, here and there, and all the planters were lush with green, thriving plants.
Nearly everywhere Arthur looked people were smiling, saying hello. Even though he, Gary, and Randall had initially accessed the mall by a service entrance at the back. Gary knew where this was, and led the way as they headed for the center of the mall, where Santa's Workshop was always set up.
And where it was again this year. They'd literally rolled out the red carpet for Santa and his guests, in a recessed octagonal area by the glass elevator and escalators. Near a once-live, decked out Christmas tree were a dozen or so small, fake evergreens, scattered around a small, gingerbread house behind a plush red chair.
Randall whistled–to the extent he could through the fake beard. "Nice set up."
The photographer arrived about the same time they did. Fairly young guy, maybe mid-twenties. "Hi there, my name is Brian." He took the time to shake each man's hand. Then he went about setting up his equipment in front of the red chair.
"There's someone else we're supposed to meet with…." Gary said as he looked around.
Arthur looked around too. Children and their parents were already starting to crowd around the space, looking at he and his colleagues with bright, expectant eyes. A few of the youngsters even waived; he waved back.
"There you all are!" a high-pitched voice called out. Arthur glanced over to where it came from and spotted a small, wiry bald man with glasses, holding a clipboard and carrying a small box, as he appeared from behind some of the fake evergreens. "You must be the group from…Ha Ha's, is it?" He said the name of their company with a touch of disdain.
Gary approached him first. "Mr. Dundee, you remember me, don't you?"
Dundee looked down. "Oh, yes. Gary, is it? Glad to have you back. I don't recall your friends here, though…?"
Gary introduced Randall and Arthur to the mall manger. Dundee hmmm'd at Arthur's appearance briefly, before taking Arthur and Gary aside and explaining how he wanted the crowds to be managed throughout the day, and handing them the supplies they would need.
"Good luck. I will have my assistant come down every few hours to give each one of you a break. Lunch breaks will start around 1."
Arthur offered to usher the first families in, who were by that time waiting in line behind a velvet rope. He unhooked it off the stanchion. "C'mon in to see Santa!"
….
Anne opened one of the doors at the west entrance of the mall for her brother. "So, what do you want Santa to bring you this year, anyway?"
"Why do you care?" he said, looking away.
Okay…. "What? Is it something embarrassing?"
"No…just…." Tommy's shoulders dropped.
Anne elbowed him. "Hey, you can tell me. It's okay."
"Well…." He hesitated just a moment before spilling out: "The latest BSA air rifle with an attached telescopic sight."
"Ah, I see," Anne nodded. "Probably something Mom and Dad won't approve of…."
"Yeah…."
Anne shrugged. "Well, maybe Santa will throw one down the chimney this year." Anne pondered whether she would have enough money to get Tommy one, and whether her desire to make him happy and piss off her parents was worth all the parental ire it would earn her at the same time.
As Anne mentally went through her shopping list and tried to do some math in her head, she and Tommy rounded a corner as they entered the main wing of the Richland Mall.
From there, they could already see the line of people waiting to speak with Santa Claus.
"Oh shit," Anne whispered. She hadn't planned on that line being so long. She figured she could do a little shopping beforehand, make a quick Santa run with Tommy, grab a bite to eat, then finish her shopping, all before coming home to dinner. But now those plans seemed dashed.
She looked down at Tommy. "We better get in line, like, right now."
He nodded up at her. "Agreed."
They joined the back of the line, which was all the way back at the Radio Shack. It seemed to be moving along fairly regularly, but still slowly enough that about 45 minutes passed before Anne and Tommy even reached the perimeter of the Santa's Workshop set up in the heart of the mall.
Arthur hadn't counted on it being this busy. Not that the crowds were rude or or raucous. So many of them smiled, said hi to him. A few even engaged in some small talk with him. Every half hour he would switch with Gary, being the elf to manage the line, or being the one to assist directly with Randall and Brian. Arthur loved being the one to make the kids smile for their photo with Santa; Gary even admitted he was better at it. Still, he sort of liked working the crowd directly a little better this year, they were so nice. One woman who had brought her two sons had also brought homemade gingerbread cookies for everyone working at Santa's Workshop. It was surreal.
Arthur was getting tired, though. On his first break, after smoking a cigarette or two, and after he had toured the mall–making sure to stop and grab any food samples being given out, such as those at the Hickory Farm store–he had had just enough money to buy a bag of peppermint candies from the See's Candies store. He was subsisting on sugar and niceness to get him through this shift. Staying alert by subtly swaying and humming along to the Christmas music pipped through the mall's stereo system, interspersed with some contemporary, everyday music.
Anne could see he was tired. The thin, tall elf with dark, curly hair and an outfit that made him look like a dancer at an Emerald City disco club. Still, he kept up a smile for everybody, and politely kept people in line where he had to, not that that happened all that often.
"Hi there," he said to her and Tommy when they stood maybe four or five people away from Santa Randall.
"Uh, hey there…Happy."
A few people had read the pin he wore on his lapel and called him that. He hadn't felt the need to correct them–until this girl.
"Actually, it's Arthur. Not that that matters all that much…." He looked down.
"No…no. It does." She motioned to the pin, toward his outfit in general. "Must be dehumanizing to have to dress up like this and try to amuse children for the holiday season."
Anne and Tommy moved up one person in line and Arthur moved with them.
"Actually, I…do this all the time. Sort of. Year round. I work as a party clown."
"Oh. That must be…. Actually I don't know. Do you like that or not?"
No one had really asked him that. His therapist had, sort of. But he knew it was a stock question she got from a piece of paper, rather than being prompted by actual curiosity.
"I do…actually. A lot. It's worth it to see the smiles on children's faces."
Anne smiled. "That's nice. I know I wouldn't have the patience for that sort of job.
Arthur just shrugged. "It's a livin'."
Anne smiled a little wider. He was sort of cute, in a weird, random way. Definitely older than her. Early 30s maybe?
Arthur felt a spark of confidence when looking at that smile of hers; he seized it with everything he had. "What's your name?"
"Anne," she said firmly, but with a smile still.
"What–what do you do for a living?"
"Nothing really. College student. I do odd jobs on campus during the semester, but I am technically, blissfully unemployed at the moment."
Arthur started to chuckle a little. His hand flew to his mouth. Oh no–not now. He had thankfully not had a laughing fit so far that day. Maybe because of the nice atmosphere, nice people. But did it have to strike when this pretty girl was talking to him, showing an interest in him?
He turned away momentarily.
"Uh, you alright?"
Luckily, he was able to suppress it. He breathed a sigh of relief. "So where do you go to school?" he asked as he turned back to her.
"Oh. Uh, Hudson University, in New York. I live on campus during the semesters."
"That's a nice school. Do you like it?"
Anne shrugged. "It's okay."
"What do you study there?"
"Pfft, what haven't I studied…."
They moved up in line again.
Tommy pipped up. "She can't make up her mind about anything, Mr. Happy Elf."
Anne glared at her brother. "Tommy, his name's Arthur. You heard him."
Well, shit. Now he was in love with her.
Not exactly. Well, he wouldn't have admitted such at the time, even to himself, but looking back later…yeah, that about did it.
Anne went through the list of majors she had been through: English Lit, Art History, Photography. She was currently toying with whether to go into archaeology or geology. "I liked digging things up as a kids, so…hey, who knows."
"That sounds like it could be fun."
"I've even played with the idea of transferring to Gotham University, maybe to be closer to home."
Arthur perked up a little at hearing that. "Gotham U is also a good school," he nodded.
"I don't know…. I guess my little brother is right, I have a hard time making up my mind."
So, the boy was her brother. He sorta figured. If he had to guess, she was barely 20, and thus too young to have a child his age, but he had been wrong about people's ages before.
They moved up in line again. The last child had run away screaming and crying from Randall, which hadn't really surprised Arthur, though the particular child itself had seemed antsy and sullen the whole time it had been in line.
Arthur searched for some other topic to discuss with the girl. He knew he should be walking the line, talking to different people in it, watching for any funny business. And he would glance up and down, keep an eye on things. But he felt drawn to Anne like a magnet. "Do you like the holidays?
"They're okay. It doesn't quite feel the same once you become an adult."
Arthur nodded. Something in him felt weirdly assured by her referring to herself as an adult.
"Do you?"
"Do I what?"
Anne smirked. "Like the holidays?"
Again, not something he'd ever really been asked. "I do, I think."
"'You think'?
Arthur liked the concept of Christmas and other holidays. He liked how the city subtly changed when it got colder and people seemed a smidgen kinder–though nothing like what he had experienced so far today at Richland. He loved the colors, the more innocent and beautiful aspects of each holiday. But he had no real personal experience with them. His mother, Penny, never really acknowledged them.
He had tried to, at various times. There was one year, when a Christmas tree lot had been set up on an empty lot he passed everyday en route to and from school. When people would drag or drive out Christmas trees from the lot, pieces of them would fall off onto the sidewalk and into the street. He would collect some of these, and by Christmas, he had collected enough to build a sort of "tree" held together by twine and tape. He loved the smell of it, even if it did look like a disaster.
He was frankly sadder the next year, when no Christmas tree lot was set up on that lot at all, even though it was still vacant.
"You look like you're deep in thought. Did I touch a nerve or something?"
He didn't want to share any of this with Anne, though. He knew how sad it sounded, and the last thing he wanted to do was make her sad in anyway. He tried to brush it off. "Oh, you know, you get busy. Adult stuff. It's not the same." He was quick to add, "And I don't have any kids or anything, so…."
"Yeah, I get it."
Anne and her brother were now next in line. Arthur felt his heart drop a little. He knew he needed to go down the line, do his job, but still.
"Hey, Arthur, do you want to switch off again?" Gary asked as he approached his fellow elf.
"Yes! Uh, yes. Yes I would."
He wasn't sure if this was lucky timing, or maybe Gary had been watching him and Anne and wanted to give him a break, but Arthur jumped at the opportunity nonetheless.
Once the last kid had left Santa Randall's lap, Arthur unhooked the velvet rope and motioned for Anne and Tommy to step forward.
Tommy did. He rushed right up to Randall and plopped into his lap.
"This is Tommy, uh, Santa Claus," Arthur informed Randall.
"Aw, shit, kid, careful you miss my nuts, okay?"
"What was that?"
"Uh, nothing. Ho, ho, ho. What do you want for Christmas, little Tommy?"
Anne, meanwhile, had stayed back. Close to Arthur, actually. Which left him feeling a little anxious, but excited. Anne was also a little anxious, though her anxiousness was directed at her brother.
"Well, kid–er, Tommy–other children are waiting. Ho ho."
"I want the newest BSA air rifle with full attached scope Santa!"
Randall finally fully broke character. "But, you'll shoot your eye out with one of those, kid."
Tommy looked crestfallen.
Anne stepped up. "Hey, fat ass. I mean, Santa. He's going to get one of those air rifles this year. Isn't he?"
Randall pointed to Anne. "This your mom, kid?"
Tommy looked at Randall like he was nuts. "No, she's my sister."
Anne shot daggers at Randall, before giving a smile and nodding slowly, as if to say, "Yes, he's going get one. Now play along."
Randall sighed. "Yes, then, my son. I promise you shall get…one of those rifles under the tree this year. Ho ho."
"Thanks Santa. Hey, is this real?" Tommy went to pull on the beard that was wrapped around Randall's head by a string. Randall caught Tommy's hand before he could. "Yes. It is. Now don't ask any more questions. Okay?"
"'Kay." Tommy was suddenly sullen. He moved to get off Randall's lap, but Brian, the photographer, had called out, "Wait a sec! Need to get your photo."
Tommy rolled his eyes, looked to Anne. "Do I have to?"
"Yes, or else Mom will…not be happy. Okay?"
Tommy sighed. "Fine." He frowned at the camera.
It was Arthur's turn to work his magic. He tried to make some funny faces, but that didn't work. Made some funny noises. Told some corny jokes. But Tommy wasn't budging.
As Arthur mulled over what to try next, Anne took the initiative. She stood slightly behind Arthur, so he wouldn't notice, and far enough to the side so Tommy could spot her over the photography equipment.
As Arthur told another joke, Anne raised her arm and flipped her brother the bird.
Tommy started to chuckle. So did Randall.
"Alright, one two three!" Brian quickly snapped several photos. "Perfect."
Tommy quickly hopped off Randall's lap. "See ya Santa."
"Uh, yeah. Merry Christmas. Ho ho."
Tommy joined Anne. She wrapped an arm around him. "What do ya feel like for lunch, big guy?"
Before Tommy could answer, Arthur approached them, holding out a card to Anne with with numbers stamped on it and Tommy's name written in pencil. "Bring this back in about a week, to the mall's office, upstairs by the food court. Your photos will be ready then."
Anne took it, and in the process their fingers touched. Both felt a funny little shock ring up their bodies at the contact. "Oh, thank you. We will."
Their eye contact lasted a longer than it should have, and both Arthur and Anne realized it around the same time.
"Um…thank you, for keeping us company while we waiting in line. It was nice to have someone to talk to."
Arthur smiled. "It was."
Anne nodded her head. Arthur suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder. It was Brian. "Hey, next kid," he said with a smile. Damn, everyone here was nice.
"I'll see ya around," Anne said, pulling away with her brother.
"Yeah, see ya." Arthur's heart dropped even further than before. Why couldn't he have the courage to do…something. Give her his phone number maybe. But then he sort of hated the fact that their respective, apparent ages sort of made him feel like a creep.
Arthur sighed, got back to work. After cycling through two or three more kids, Dundee's assistant came around. "Hey, it's time to start lunch breaks. Who wants to go first?"
Arthur was going to decline and let one of the other guys go, but then it occurred to him–hadn't Anne mentioned something to Tommy about lunch?
"Can I go?" he asked timidly. Randall harrumphed over in his plush Santa throne. Arthur looked over at Gary, who nodded. "Perfectly fine."
The assistant looked at Arthur. "Alright, you're first. Be back in 30."
"Yea–yes, I will."
Arthur was on his way to the food court.