Chapter 46

Eddy stood in silence for a few seconds, quite dumbfounded at the fact that Chris had not only sensed his presence, but also correctly identified him with his back turned. Nevertheless, the small Ed boy took a few steps forward, as he sheepishly provided a response.

"Yeah, I guess I am." said Eddy in a rather quiet manner.

"I guess the better question is." said Chris, as he turned around to face Eddy, "Why have you come back?"

Eddy paused briefly before providing a response.

"I need my job back." said Eddy.

Chris removed a pack of cigarettes from his jacket pocket, along with his lighter. He removed one of the white sticks, and held it up to his mouth, after which he provided a response to Eddy's statement.

"Is that so?" asked Chris, as he placed the cigarette in his mouth. He held the lighter up to the free end, and placed his free hand around it as he flicked the flame to life. After taking a brief draw, he removed the cigarette from his mouth, cradling it between the index and middle fingers of his right hand as it hung towards the ground.

"I was an idiot for quitting," said Eddy, "I didn't realize how much I need the money."

"So now ya need the money," said Chris, "What happened to 'telling the old man to keep his chump change, and that his bullshit ain't worth it.'"

Eddy appeared quite surprised at Chris's statement.

"So the Sockhead told ya I said that," said Eddy, as he ground his teeth, "Typical goodie two shoes, I thought he'd be smart enough to just tell you I quit."

"Your friend didn't tell me anything," said Chris, "Let's just say I've been around the block a few times, and even though I'm an old head my ears work just as good as they did when I was twenty five. They are definitely able to pick up when somebody's tryin' to screw me."

Chris turned back towards the oil drum, and picked up a bucket of water sitting next to the steel structure. He proceeded to pour the water into the drum, extinguishing the flame.

"Look kid," said Chris, "It's less than a week till Christmas, and everyone's got their trees. I barely got any business for myself, let alone some kid suddenly desperate for work. It's getting late and I gotta get home. Come back next Christmas."

Chris turned away from Eddy and began walking back towards the main street. However, the heavyset man had barely taken two steps, at which point Eddy dropped to his knees, clasping his hands in a prayer stance.

"Please," said Eddy, "I'm begging ya, I really need this money. I messed up real bad and I don't know where else to turn. C'mon guy, there's gotta be something you need. I'll shovel mud,

I'll polish your truck, hell I'll even clean the outhouse. I'll do anything, anything. Please, please please."

"Alright, alright kid!" yelled Chris, as he suddenly whipped around to face Eddy, "You're gonna start to set off the car alarms if ya keep yelling like that."

Chris walked towards Eddy's position, maintaining eye contact as he did so.

"Now let's talk man to man," said Chris, as he walked past the boys position, "That mean's get off your knees, straighten your back, and learn to speak calmly. Once you've got yourself together meet me in the shack, I'll heat up some hot chocolate. It's cold as a bitch out here."

Eddy remained on his knees as he watched Chris make his way towards the solitary shack located in the rear of the tree farm. A few moments passed, after which he took Chris' advice; he rose back to his feet, straightened his back, took a deep breath and began walking towards the entrance.

Eddy slowly but surely placed his hand on the silver door handle, and opened the heavy brown wooden door; the hinges emitting a long drawn out "creeping sound" due to age and poor lubrication. The stout Ed boy entered the cabin, closed the door behind him, and observed his surroundings.

The inside of the cabin was a relatively claustrophobic, twelve by fourteen space. The walls were covered with brown, 1970's faux wooden paneling, the ceiling consisted of a grid of 2x4 white ceiling tiles, supported by a black "L" channel. One of the tiles near the center of the room had been replaced by a translucent panel, yellowed due to exposure to cigarette smoke, through which shined the fluorescent glow of a shop light. Near the left wall was a brown, fold up table, on which sat piles of notebooks, flyers, and other piece of paper. The desk was also occupied by a coffee cup, an ash tray that had appeared to have been emptied recently, and an older 1970's Lasko desk fan with blue blades. Sitting underneath the desk was a large silver safe, placed in such a way to allow the user of the desk to have leg room when sitting in the large, swivel chair, currently positioned adjacent to it.

Behind the desk, was a metal fold up chair, currently in the deployed position, and positioned directly adjacent to a water cooler. On the other side of the water cooler was another small table, on which sat a coffee maker, along with packets of hot chocolate, sugar, and a small refrigerator to keep the milk fresh.

Chris himself was standing next to this table, pouring hot water he had just boiled into two styrofoam cups. He promptly mixed the drinks using disposable stirrers, tossed them in the trash can, and handed one of the cups to Eddy, keeping one for himself.

"Alright kid," said Chris as he pulled out the large chair and took a seat. He pointed towards the metal fold up chair, "Have a seat, and let's try this again."

Eddy slowly but surely made his way towards the chair, had a seat, and took a sip of his hot chocolate. He sat holding the cup with both of his hands, leaning slightly backward as his feet dangled towards the floor. A few seconds passed, after which he decided to speak.

"Look Chris," said Eddy, "I've had a really rough holiday season full of stress, and it caused me to make some real stupid decisions. One of those was quitting this job, I had no idea how much I needed this money until tonight. Please, can ya find something for me to do."

Chris took a sip of his hot chocolate, after which he snickered slightly.

"It's funny," said Chris, "I've never met any kids your age with this much enthusiasm to work until I met you and your friends. Most kids today don't know the meaning of hard work and want everything handed to them. And yet here you are, begging for me to put ya to work."

Chris paused briefly.

"So if I may ask," said Chris, "What's with the sudden interest in getting your job back. Shouldn't ya be worried about gettin' into trouble with your friends at the mall, or chasing after the young ladies?"

Eddy placed his hot coffee on top of the water cooler, and began twirling his thumbs.

"Ya see," said Eddy, "I don't have to worry about chasing the girls because I got a girlfriend, and she's the reason I'm here."

"No shit," said Chris, in a playful manner as he took a draw of his cigarette, "Well she's gotta be something special to make you this desperate. What's this girl like?"

"Well," said Eddy as he continued to twirl his thumbs, "Her name is Annalee, but I've always called her Lee for short. From a looks standpoint, she's as pretty as can be. She's got long red hair, she's tall and slim, and has a really nice figure. Personality wise, she's as sweet as can be, but she's also a real tough cookie when provoked. When she's pissed, she goes right for the throat. She doesn't look it, but I have no doubt she can take down men twice her size."

Eddy giggled slightly after which he decided to continue.

"But she's also very smart and nice," said Eddy, "When I first met her, we couldn't stand each other. She just moved here from the city with her two sisters, and they used to torture me and my friends. They always chased us around trying to kiss us, force us to be their boyfriends, and also beat us up and took our money. It's a long story, but earlier this year we all became friends after Double Dee started dating her sister, then I found out I actually liked Lee too and we started dating."

"Interesting," said Chris.

"So to get to the point," said Eddy, "Over the last few months, Lee's been getting really spun up over this girl named Lindsay that moved to Peach Creek over the summer. Lee knows her from elementary school back in the city, and apparently she and Lee never got along because Lindsay would always tease her about not having a lot of money growing up, and the fact that Lee was somewhat of a nerd. I don't know all of he details, but all's I know is that Lee really hates her with a passion, and she now spends almost every waking minute trying to one-up her. The newest thing is the school winter ball. I asked Lee if she wanted to go, but she said she'd rather not cause "she's got better things to do than to parade around all night in a dress." But then, Lindsay shows up and talks about how she's gonna win this stupid winter ball queen crown, and all of the sudden Lee's all gung ho about going."

Eddy took a sip of his hot chocolate.

"I don't know what to do," said Eddy, "This Christmas seasons got me so confused. I hate Lindsay for making Lee so miserable, and I thought that she was the root of the problem. At first I took this job to buy Lee a dress for the ball as a Christmas present, but then I remembered how much she hates fancy schmancy stuff, so I decided to try to get Lindsay off of her back. Hell, I even came up with a plan to use my foreign friends weird cultures to drive Lindsay away, but it didn't work. I quit my job out of frustration over that, and the fact that I had no idea what to get Lee for Christmas until tonight."

Eddy paused.

"Tonight, we performed together at the school talent show," said Eddy, "Right before the performance, Lee commented on how she actually liked getting dressed up for the performance and how much she's excited for us to get dressed up again next week. It was then I realized that maybe I was right from the start, and a custom dress may actually be just what I need to make Lee's Christmas a good one."

"Goddamn," said Chris as he puffed his cigarette, "That's some crazy shit right there."

Chris flicked his cigarette into the ash tray, after which he turned his attention back to Eddy. Eddy reached into his pocket and retrieved his brown leather wallet, the corner of which remained attached to the chain securing it to his pants for safety. He proceeded to open it, rummaging through its main pocket for a few seconds, after which he found what he was looking for; a headshot of Lee in her white cap and gown for eighth grade graduation, clasping her diploma in her hands near her shoulder right shoulder as she smiled. He passed the photograph to Chris.

"This is Lee," said Eddy as he handed the photograph to Chris with a smile.

Chris removed a pair of reading glasses from his coat pocket, unfolded them, and placed them. On his face, he examined the picture briefly with a smile.

"Oh yeah, she's cute," said Chris, as he handed the picture back to Eddy, "Definitely a catch, reminds me of my high school crush, Eleanor "Ellie" Bennet. Man oh man, I was crazy about her from the first time I saw her. She had shoulder length red hair, a banging body, green eyes with long eyelashes, and a sweet voice. But it was those freckles, she had these cute freckles that would appear when the sun hit her face just in the right spots, like an artist drew them on."

Chris paused briefly, taking a puff of his cigarette, after which he decided to continue.

"Funny story," said Chris, "It took me months to get the balls to finally talk to her. She sat next to me in math class, and I noticed that she got hundreds all all of her tests. Now I gotta tell I don't know shit about math other than what I need to run my business, so my grades were tanked. So I decided to crack open the door by asking her to tutor me after school, and she said yes."

"Way to go man!" said Eddy in a playful manner, "Way to lay on the Nicklaus magic!"

Eddy and Chris shared a laugh, after which he decided to continue his story.

"Now listen up kid cause I'm gonna tell ya a story that might help ya make a decision regarding your situation," said Chris, "After a few weeks of being tutored by Ellie, I decided to finally try to ask her out. It just so happened that the timing coincided with Christmas, so I decided to break the ice with a gift. Now that year, there was one thing that girls wanted: a pair of new, hip-hugging, bell-bottom jeans made by some company I can't even remember the name of. Obviously, my first choice was to get Ellie a pair of those pants, but I quickly realized that it wasn't going to happen. I may of had a thick head of hair back then, but I didn't have a pot to piss in, in terms of cash."

Chris took another draw of his cigarette.

"So because the jeans were out the window, I had to come up with an alternate plan," said Chris, "I found out that Ellie loved the ocean, and wanted to be a marine biologist when she grew up. So I got the brilliant idea to make her a necklace made of seashells and shark teeth, to show her that I listened to her and really appreciated her life's passions. Unfortunately, I ain't no Picasso or Michelangelo, and it really showed in my craftsmanship. But it was straight from the heart, and I figured that's all that counts."

"So ya got the girl, right?," asked Eddy with a smile.

"What are ya crazy!," yelled Chris, "Hell no I didn't get the girl. The most I got was a slap upside the face, and a lecture on animal rights. Apparently using shark teeth to make the necklace 'perpetuated a culture of violence' and made me Satan's right hand man. Jokes on her, those teeth were fake, I bought those off some bum on the street selling them for a nickel."

Chris laughed as he took one final draw of his cigarette, after which he pressed the butt out in the ash tray.

"I don't get it." said Eddy in a confused manner, "Ya got shot down by the girl of your dreams over a shitty gift, how's that supposed to help me?"

"Kid," said Chris as he leaned towards Eddy, "The moral of the story is that I was so hung up on trying to find something material to present to Ellie, that I didn't take the time to really get to know what she was all about. Any idiot with green paper in his pocket can get his hand on a pair of jeans, or make a seashell necklace, but the truth is if you take a step back and look at the big picture, the best gifts are in fact those that are immaterial in nature."

Chris paused.

"Obviously, Ellie and I were never meant to be," said Chris, "But if I would have taken the time to listen to her, I would have known that shark tooth necklace wasn't the best idea. Perhaps a simple trip down to the ocean, or a walk on the beach would have satisfied her."

"I hear what you're saying," said Eddy, "But with Lee, I'm shit out of luck in terms of ideas aside from the ball gown. The only things she really likes are math, science and ballet, but she gets mad if I ever bring up the fact that she does cause she wants to maintain this whole bad girl reputation."

Chris snickered.

"You love this girl?" asked Chris.

Eddy blushed slightly, after which he shook his head up and down as he smiled. Chris' face transitioned to that of a sly grin as he folded his arms.

"Listen, you seem dead set on this dress, so I'll cut ya a deal just cause I like ya kid," said Chris, "I got a lot of cleaning up to do around the tree farm, and a few extra last minute deliveries to make. The township says I have to be out of here Christmas Eve, and there's a lot of shit I need to move out. Since school lets out for winter break in few days, how's about I let ya come in and help me out for a few hours every night after six. And just for you, I'll let ya come in on the weekends too. My rate should cover Annalee's ball gown."

Eddy's eyes lit up with happiness, at which point he jumped out of the chair and grabbed Chris' hand in his.

"Thank you, thank you thank you!" yelled Eddy as he shook Chris's hand vigorously, "You're a life saver man, I won't let ya down I promise!"

"Alright, alright!" yelled Chris, "Calm down Spaz!"

Eddy calmed down slightly, and retook his seat in the chair.

"Now," said Chris, "Before you go, I'll leave you with one more piece of advice. I have no doubt that a gown will make your girl happy, but I'm telling ya I guarantee there is something better. I know you've been spinning your wheels hard over the few days about making Annalee's Christmas a good one, but trust me if you just relax, everything will fall into place."

Chris stood up, took a few steps towards Eddy, and leaned down to the stout Ed boys eye level.

"Remember this." said Chris, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, material possessions are overrated, and there's more to every story than meets the eye."

Chris stood up straight, turned around, and returned to his desk, leaving Eddy to ponder exactly what the large man had meant by his previous statement.

A few seconds passed, after which Chris decided to chime in once again.

"Anyway," said Chris as he organized a stack of papers on his desk, his back turned towards Eddy. "I can't put ya to work tonight, but I can start ya tomorrow night after six. Don't go blabbin' about this to those friends of yours, I only got enough work for one person."

Chris paused for a few seconds prior to continuing.

"Besides," said Chris, "I gotta get out of here, I got shit I gotta take care of at home. It's five minutes till eight anyway, don't you have school tomorrow?"

Eddy was quickly broken from his thoughts at the completion of Chris's previous statement.

"What!?" yelled Eddy, as he whipped his head toward the wall mounted clock mounted directly above his position.

Sure enough, the clock read five minutes till eight. This posed a problem for the small Ed boy, as he had promised to meet Lee, Tabby and Rod at the restaurant fifteen minutes ago.

"Shit, I gotta go," yelled Eddy as he dashed toward the door, flinging it open with force, stopping briefly to turn and shake Chris's hand one final time.

"Thanks again Chris, I appreciate it!" yelled Eddy in a frantic manner as he wildly shook Chris' hand, "I'll see ya tomorrow six sharp. I won't disappoint ya!"

With that statement, Eddy let go of Chris' hand, and began his mad dash through the tree lot, leaning fully forward with his arms outstretched as he always did when running. While Eddy had changed a lot over the course of the year, his bad habit of sticking his tongue out when running was still quite prominent.

Chris made his way over toward the door, standing in the threshold with his arms folded as he watched Eddy disappear around the corner, on his way to the Italian restaurant. Chris maintained his position for a few seconds, after which he uttered a few simple words.

"Don't let me down kid"