Authors Note

All,

Once again, a big thank you for reading and reviewing the story, I hope it is enjoyable to all. I please encourage all of you to continue to leave comments and review, your feedback is very much appreciated.

Looking forward at my story outline, I am somewhat dishearten to report that, given my job and other commitments, and the desire for the highest quality of the story, this will not be able to be completed in time for Christmas.

However, just because it won't be completed in 20 days does not mean it will stop. I have been working on an intense schedule with this story for the last few weeks, attempting to accelerate to meet that date. Now that I have realized that meeting that date is impossible, I will be slowing down slightly, but not stopping. I apologize in the advance for the slower chapter turnaround. I hope you understand.

Without further ado, here's the next one!

Chapter 19

It was Saturday afternoon. While the sun was shining brightly, the temperature in Peach Creek was quite chilly. The reading on the thermometer was around the freezing mark, and accordingly, all of the residents brave enough to be out and about were bundled up accordingly.

The Ed boys happened to be within that particular minority. The three teenagers had once again mounted the Ed mobile, and we're making their way down the Main Street of the Peach Creek business district. Eddy was driving the bike, wearing a heavy brown workman's jacket, in addition to a red beanie hat and winter gloves. Double Dee was directly behind him, wearing his characteristic thick orange winter coat, and green earmuffs. Ed was not dressed any different than usual, other than donning blue gloves and a grey Sherpa hat.

"Do you think the girls believe that we are going Christmas shopping Double Dee?" asked Ed.

"I didn't witness any sign of suspicion in Marie," said Double Dee, "As much as I despise deceitfulness, I believe that in this particular case, the good intentions outweigh the dishonesty. Although, we do have to think of something else to use as an excuse for our frequent absence in the near future, as the girls will become suspicious if we are 'Christmas Shopping' on a daily basis. But what a coincidence, the girls happen to be going shopping tonight!"

"Sounds good to me," said Eddy, "I little bit of work now, some ballet torture for a couple of hours, then tonight, I'm a freeeee man!"

Eddy paused.

"I wonder how much Chris is planning to shell out for this tree deliver thing?" asked Eddy.

"Hopefully enough for Ed to procure May's pitching machine, myself to fund Marie's eye surgery, and yourself to purchase Lee's dream dress." said Double Dee.

"You still think I'm going to blow my cash on some ball gown that Lee doesn't even really want. I told ya before, I got a plan to stop World War 3, and it's good one." said Eddy.

"As a matter of fact I do" said Double Dee, "I have not given up hope on you yet Eddy, and I know that if you search within the depths of your heart, you will decide to do the right thing."

"Been there done that," said Eddy, "The right thing is to get rid of Lindsay, get Lee back to normal, and get myself back on easy street. I'll just get Lee some jewelry for Christmas, can't go wrong with that for a chick Christmas gift."

Double Dee sighed.

"Whatever you say Eddy," said Double Dee.

At that point, the Ed-Mobile had rounded the final corner of it's journey towards the boys destination. The tree distributor was located on a small side street that branched off of the main avenue. On the corner was a large sign, reading "X-Mas Trees Here: Delivery Included" with a large arrow pointing down the small street. On the left side of the street was a long wooden fence, acting as the boundary into the tree lot. The boys chained the Ed Mobile to the fence, after which they made their way inside.

The boys were taken aback as the tree lot came into view. The area was quite large, and contained an estimated amount of fifty trees, lined up into rows based upon size. On the left side of the lot sat a flatbed trailer with a hitch, as well as an old 1980's pick up truck with a long flat bed section, apparently adapted for handling Christmas trees.

In the back of the lot was a small shack, acting as something of an office building. Statues of Santa Claus and Ms. Claus flanked the sides of the brown building, each standing around 10 feet tall. A string of "icicle style" Christmas lights hung from the gabled roof of the shack, and were currently flashing in a chaser pattern. A large green wreath hung above the door, across which was a red banner that read "Merry Christmas".

The boys made their way across the tree lot and towards the shack. Double Dee lead the way in a serious manner, as Ed giggled dopily at the sight of all of the trees; Eddy trailed behind slowly with his hands in his pockets.

Double Dee walked up to the wooden door, with Eddy by his side and knocked three times. A mere three seconds had passed, at which point the door opened with a long audible creak, revealing Chris Nicklaus. He smiled as he looked down upon the boys faces.

"Well looks like my help is here!" said Chris exuberantly, "How goes it boys?"

"Good afternoon Mr. Nicklaus", said Double Dee, "Let me just say that I am very thankful for your offer of employment. All three of us are desperate for funding to fulfill our holiday wishes and are willing to work as hard as possible to suit our needs."

"Glad to hear," said Chris, "You boys don't know how much I need ya's this season. I'm swamped, I can barely keep up with the deliveries. Everyone and their mother needs a tree this year."

Chris paused as he exited the shack, closing the door behind him.

"Let me be straight up with ya's." said Chris, "I expect nothing but quality workmanship. My success depends on the happiness of my customers, and happy customers are those that get trees delivered on time, with no damage. You boys will all be getting paid ten dollars an hour."

"Ten bucks an hour?" asked Eddy, "At that rate, we're not even gonna get a hundred dollars if we work three hours a day until Christmas."

"C'mon kid, youse are lucky you're getting that," said Chris, "I'm only obligated to give ya $7.25, so take it or leave it."

Chris paused.

"Besides, I'm a reasonable guy," said Chris, "If you guys work hard and do well, you may get a little bonus reward on the tail end."

As soon as Chris had completed his sentence, Ed's voice rang through the air.

"Hey guys, check this out!"

At the same time that Chris was explaining himself to Double Dee and Eddy, Ed had been spending his time admiring and fooling around with the trees. Without Double Dee's better judgement able to intervene due to him being distracted, Ed had taken several Christmas ornaments that were on display, tied them to a rope, and hung them around the top branches of one of the 9 foot trees. After he had mounted the ornaments, he proceeded to bend the trees trunk until the top was touching the ground, creating a spring loaded catapult of sorts with the ornaments being used as the ammunition.

"Fore!" yelled Ed as he released the tree trunk, causing it to suddenly spring back to it's erect position. The Christmas ornaments were flung high into the air, on a parabolic trajectory towards the adjacent store building's concrete side wall. Within seconds, the ornaments collided with the concrete, shattering upon impact with an audible crash.

Ed giggled.

"I'm a scientist" said Ed is a dopey voice.

Double Dee slapped his palm to his forehead and slid it down over his face. At the same time, Eddy's face developed an expression of extreme annoyance.

Chris pointed to Ed as he glanced at the other two Ed boys with an expression of anger.

"That damage to those ornaments has just come out of your bonus my friends," said Chris, "Don't let it happen again, or I'll have to find other boys who really want to work."

"My apologies on behalf of my good friend Mr. Nicklaus," said Double Dee, "I can assure you that it will never happen again."

"Good, let's keep this thing accident free as long as possible," said Chris, "I don't need OSHA up my ass over nonsense like that."

Chris began walking towards the shack.

"I'll be right back," said Chris, "I'm going to go grab you guys some supplies, and some other paperwork you're going to have to fill out when you make deliveries. Then I'll take you around the shop and show you the ropes."

Chris entered the shack, and closed the door behind him. No sooner than the sound of the dead latch engaging the striker filled the air, did Eddy run over towards his oafish best friend in a fury.

"Ed!" yelled Eddy, "What the hell man, can't you control your stupid antics for five minutes! You just lost us some of our bonus!"

"I must agree with Eddy, Ed," said Double Dee in a much gentler manner as he walked towards his oafish friend, and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"While I appreciate your sudden, and may I say completely ill-timed interest in classical mechanics, we must be completely focused on our task at hand while at work. Mr. Nicklaus is counting on us to provide our customers with beautiful Christmas trees, that will provide merriment to families all over Peach Creek until a few days after the New Year. In addition, the money that we earn will be dependent on the services we provide in the days leading up to Christmas. You don't want to deny May her chance at owning a new pitching machine, do you?"

Ed pouted at the sound of Double Dees last sentence. Up until a few months ago, the only two things that could truly upset Ed were the denial of gravy and buttered toast. However, the prospect of denying May her hopes and dreams (or anything that could upset May for that matter) had been added to that list, and had been given highest priority for adjudication.

At that thought, Ed stood erect and delivered his friend a salute.

"Sir no sir," said Ed, "Little May will get her pitching machine sir!"

"You been watchin' war pictures again Ed?" asked Eddy in a sarcastic tone.

Ed smiled at which point Chris re-emerged from the shack, carrying a clipboard.

"Alright boys," said Chris, "Which one of ya's is good with numbers?"

In an instant, both Ed and Eddy whipped their hands towards Double Dee, extending their index fingers to point toward the boy. Chris immediately tossed the clipboard towards Double Dee. Due to not being athletic in the slightest, and not expecting the clipboard to be tossed, Double Dee bobbled the board in his hands for a few seconds before he gained control of the object.

"You'll be the most important guy of all," said Chris, "The guy who handles the money. You will be responsible for pricing the trees, monitoring inventory, and accepting and tracking money paid by the customers. All money going in and out of this business is tracked on that sheet. Think you can handle it?"

"Most certainly," said Double Dee, "I don't mean to brag, but numbers are my speciality!"

"Great", said Chris, "Now come with me, I'll show ya's around."

Chris lead the three boys to the flat bed trailer sitting next to the old pickup truck.

"See this here trailer?" said Chris, "This is what youse guys will use to deliver anything up to 8 feet tall. All's you guys got to do it take some rope, and hitch this to the back seat of that old school triple rider bike youse guys ride. Presto, you got a way to transport the tree to it's destination."

Double Dee glanced at the trailer with a look of confusion. The apparatus was set up perfectly to accommodate his triple rider bike, even accounting for the rear fender via a notch cut into the frame leading to the hitch pin. Double Dee decided to pose a question.

"Pardon my curiosity Mr. Nicklaus," asked Double Dee, "While I am impressed with the idea, and believe it to be the most efficient manner possible for us to deliver the tree, I can't help but notice it was designed as if you were aware that we utilize a triple rider rider bike for transportation. How did you possibly know?"

Chris paused momentarily, after which he decided to reply.

"How the hell should I know?" said Chris, "Good guess on my part, that's all I can say."

Double Dee pondered Chris's response for a brief instant, after which he was broken out of his trance by Chris slapping his palm on the hood of the pickup truck.

"For anything bigger than 8 feet, you're gonna need me." said Chris, "Just let me know if anyone orders a big puppy, we'll throw it in the back, and I'll drive ya's to the delivery spot."

After covering transportation, Chris began walking toward the area where the trees were being stored while signaling the boys to follow him.

The boys spent the next hour learning everything there was to know about Christmas trees, such how to properly trim the branches, proper cutting of the trunk, and how to wrap the tree to protect the branches during transport.

Before they knew it, Chris had determined that the Ed's training day was complete. He had bid them farewell until Monday afternoon, when they would be reporting back to the tree farm for their first day of deliveries.

It was around 3:00 p.m. when the boys mounted their triple rider bike to begin their journey back to the cul-de-sac. Eddy decided to be the first to comment on the situation as they turned onto the main avenue of the business district.

"Well, who knew there was that much to delivering Christmas trees?" asked Eddy, "And if you ask me, this Nicklaus guy is too much of a hard ass and a cheapskate too!"

"I will admit that Mr. Nicklaus does have high expectations for us," said Double Dee, "But he was gracious enough to offer us employment, something which we were desperately in need of. Looking on the bright side, in addition to funding our holiday needs, this job will be an excellent method for us to build some character and learn a new trade!"

"I am the tree man!" yelled Ed, after which he began making monster noises.

Double Dee giggled.

"That's the spirit Ed!" said Double Dee.

"Whatever," said Eddy as the boys continued to pedal down the Main Street of Peach Creek, on their way back to cul-de-sac for a well earned shower, and for Eddy to report to Lee's house for some dance practice.