The next day, Silver was back in the store he was in the previous day, happily buying the music box. It was a beautiful wooden box with a floral pattern embellished in gold around the borders and two skating figurines at the top. Every time the key was turned, the box would play the classical-sounding tune and the two tiny figures at the top would spin slowly on the white platform. After thanking the cashier and skipping out of the store, Silver hurried to the art store.

"Modeling clay . . ." he mumbled, "Where do they keep – ah!"

He bolted to the aisle and spent a few moments browsing the shelves, looking for the right colors. Once he'd found the ones he was looking for, Silver rushed to the checkout, tripping on multiple things, including his own feet, on the way. A sudden crash indicated his falling over a snowman statue.

"I-I'm so sorry," he said breathlessly to a distraught employee, who glared at him. The hedgehog checked inside his bag to see if the music box had been damaged, only to find it still completely intact. Silver helped the young man stand the statue up and the display of paintbrushes that went along with it. "Sorry about that!" he exclaimed, not affected in any way by the annoyed look of the employee. At this point, Silver couldn't feel upset by anything. He was in too much of a good mood to let anything get him down. His idea was exciting him a bit too much.

Silver stumbled through the door of the art store, panting with anticipation. The hedgehog felt just as happy as a child on Christmas.

Wait . . . he thought with a goofy grin. I guess I am.

While running to a nearby restaurant and pushing through crowds the whole way, Silver came to a screeching halt, nearly tumbling into a street light pole. He stared through the glass of the window in front of him. There inside was a small display of biker's helmets.

"Yes!" he shouted, pumping a fist in the air, "I am on a roll today!"

The excited hedgehog got so happy that he teleported himself inside. Realizing that he alarmed some of the tough-looking bikers already in the store, Silver backed up a bit. He cleared his throat anxiously.

"Uhh, s-sorry about that, fellas," he stammered as one man in front of him with a scraggly beard took a drag on his cigarette. "I'm just looking for a helmet for a friend of mine."

The bikers looked at Silver suspiciously and continued to talk to each other, unfazed by the strange hedgehog's appearance among them. Silver let out a deep breath and browsed, something he felt he had been doing for too long now. Nonetheless, he still needed a gift for Shadow.

Silver wasn't sure if it was the way the light was reflecting off of it, but one helmet in particular stuck out to him. It had "Shadow" written all over it in terms of appearance. The helmet was completely black, save for a few red stripes at the visor's sides. Not to mention it said, "Mobian Compatible" on it. Hopefully Shadow would be able to fit his quills into it.

"Perfect," Silver whispered, hoping the bikers wouldn't hear him talking to himself. Unfortunately, such was not the case.

"You know how much those cost, right, pal?" a deep and scratchy voice asked behind him. Silver timidly turned around and held up his pointer finger.

"Y-yeah, something like a hundred rings, right?" The hedgehog couldn't help but feel a tiny bit of his cheerfulness be replaced with a rising fear in his chest.

"You got it," the voice said. There behind him was a large and older hawk, a fellow Mobian, who bore a name tag that simply read, "Pred". Silver smiled weakly.

"Ah heh," he chuckled nervously. "So, uh, can I buy it, then?"

"What, that one?"

"Um . . . y-yes, please."

The hawk plucked the helmet from its perch and looked it over.

"Not so sure you're gonna want this one, kiddo," Pred drawled after feeling the smooth surface of the helmet, "It's a bit too much for ya."

"Oh, it's not for me," Silver replied quickly, "It's for a friend of mine."

"Well, I'm sorry, but I was just lookin' at it myself. I think it's more meant for me."

Speechless, Silver frowned in confusion and began sputtering gibberish.

"But . . . I . . . you . . ."

" 'Less you'd be willin' to pay with whatever you've got in that there bag," Pred negotiated, pointing to the shopping bag containing the special music box. "Looks awfully heavy n' expensive." Silver started to protest as Pred pulled out the delicate item from the bag.

"No, wait!"

"Verrrry pretty thing," the greying hawk said, "How much is it worth, you think?"

Silver felt his whole state of mind, every shard of happiness he had, shatter to pieces.

"Look, I won't buy this helmet, then," Silver sighed, "I need that music box."

Pred raised an eyebrow, still holding the music box.

"Oh, do you?"

"Yes!"

Silver looked around to see the crowd of tough men and Mobians staring. He'd been causing a scene. Desperate, the hedgehog explained.

"It's for a girl," he said, "I-I was going to give that to her for Christmas."

Surprisingly, Pred looked questioningly at Silver rather than making fun of him.

"You've got yourself a girl?" he asked, his voice softening.

Silver nodded frantically.

"Yeah, and I need to give that to her. See, I don't want to give her just any gift! I wanted to give her something really special. And . . . and that music box was the only chance I had."

Pred slowly spun the music box around in his hand and then smiled. He shook his feathers out a bit and carefully handed the music box back to a bewildered hedgehog.

"How about that, boys?" he bellowed, his body shaking with laughter, "The kid's got himself a special girl before me! I can't even snag me a dame for over a week!"

Shocked, Silver listened to the laughter of the many patrons in the shop. He kept his mouth shut, not know whether they were mocking him or not. The answer to that question came abruptly after Silver felt himself being slapped on the back.

"Sonny, you must be something awful special if you've got a gal at yer age," Pred said with another guffaw. "What's your name?"

"S-Silver."

"Well, then, Silver, m'boy," Pred announced, "You go and give that gift to your girl! I'll take half the price off that helmet, no problem! I wasn't gonna take it anyway, y'know."

Silver's ears were full of the sound of the bikers all encouraging him to go to his "special gal". The still shocked hedgehog quickly paid for the helmet.

"Thank you all so much!" he said. Applause sounded throughout the store, accompanied by the deep roars of support. It sounded like an army of vikings about to go to war. "Thank you! And have a merry Christmas!"

Silver waved at the bikers, clutching his helmet and other bags. They all waved and called after him.

"Good luck, kiddo!"

"Give your gal a kiss for me!"

"Make this Christmas a good one!"

Silver's eyes lit up. He laughed quietly to himself as he shut the door behind him. He felt that, for the first time thus far, Christmas was showing itself.