So far, so good. The contents of Slippy's boxes had also since been separated into two piles: one full of broken shards and pieces, and another with the ornaments still intact. They were now pondering how they were to put up the tree, since the base that was supposed to hold it up had gone missing over the years it had spent in Slippy's storage closet.

"Falco, could you sweep up the mess while I find a way to get the tree ready?"

"Since when were you giving me orders!?" The avian was not impressed.

"I'm not, Falco! I'm just trying my best to make this all work out…"

Suddenly, the two nearly jumped off the ground as the telephone rung. Guessing that it was Peppy at the apartment entrance, Slippy rushed and picked the phone up at once.

"Peppy! That was so quick! Hope you got nice stuff! I LOVE YOU!" Slippy said all this in a single breath, and promptly punched the button that unlocked the apartment front door. Hanging up in one swift motion, he waved his webbed hand at Falco in excitement.

"Woah! Did Peppy arrive already?" Falco asked. "It's only been like, ten minutes! Are you sure that it's him…?"

"Uh, yeah! I… think?"

Slippy froze as he realized that he hadn't confirmed the identity of the caller. Right after, the telephone rang once more – and Slippy's ears met the voice of a young-sounding female.

"Hello, Mr. Toad and family. I am a representative from Merry Woodland Window Cleaners. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Would you be interested in giving the gift of wonderfully sparkling, awesomely shining, squeaky-clean windows to a loved and cherished one – "

Slippy groaned, hanging up the phone.

"Who was that?" Falco asked.

"Telemarketer… some stupid window cleaning service," Slippy grumbled. "Ever since I put down my phone number for this promotional draw at a shopping center, I haven't stopped getting all these weird calls." His expression then softened into a dreamy look. "But now that I think of it, maybe it would be nice to have some wonderfully sparkling, awesomely shining, squeaky-clean apartment windows for the New Year…"

"Alright, Slippy. I'll just pretend nothing even happened." Falco tried to contain his laughter, but couldn't help but let out a small snort. " Now… how are we going to put up this stupid tree?"

"Keep calm, Peppy. Keep calm," the hare thought to himself. It was the mantra that he repeated in his mind in difficult situations,, and now, that thought was the only thing stopping him from flying into an uncontrollable fit of rage. He advanced deeper into the supermarket as discreetly as he could. He let out a breath of relief as he managed to turn into an aisle where there weren't too many other shoppers around. There shelves were full of colorful boxes and cans of different foods. He reached into his pocket for his reading glasses…and came to the realization that he had left them on the table at home, atop of his copy of The Cornerian Times, which he had put down to take his nap. He sighed in resignation.

He bent down, squinting, trying to make out what was on one of the packages at the bottom row, glasses or no glasses. Suddenly, a female voice came through the speakers in the store, loud enough to make the entire store collapse.

"ATTENTION ALL SHOPPERS. WE WILL BE CLOSING IN TEN MINUTES. HAVE A HAPPY HOLIDAY."

"Aaargh!" Peppy yelled out loud. Slippy's yelling over the phone earlier was nothing in comparison to this voice. Simultaneously, all lights in the store went dim.

The hare signed in frustration, and randomly picked up a few boxes, bags and cans in the aisle in his arms. He then hurried towards the checkout at the front of the supermarket. However, an extremely long line had accumulated at each open cash register. The cashiers were working extremely hard by now, but almost every shopper had their cart filled to the brim. As the hare got in line, even more people lined up behind him.

Peppy looked over towards the cash register which seemed miles away, in order to better judge how much longer he would have to stand in the store doing nothing except stand with those heavy items in his arms. He frowned upon recognizing the five white-furred heads currently passing at the end of his line. Mrs. Rabbit Mother was loading an unimaginably large amount of fruits and vegetables onto the conveyer belt, and Mr. Rabbit Father was keeping a half-hearted eye on the children. The twin boys seemed to be chatting excitedly to one another, although their voices blended right into the cacophony in the rest of the store. Slightly behind the others, and thereby closest to Peppy, stood the rabbit girl in her glorious red-frilled Christmas tree dress. Her back was turned to him, and she tapped her feet as though immensely bored. At the moment that Peppy was looking spitefully her way, she happened to turn around and look up in her boredom, meeting his gaze.

Cottonfoot, or Cottontail, whatever her name was, cast a devilish smile right back at him. She then turned around to face her brothers. They whispered a bit more amongst themselves. Then, all three heads turned to Peppy as the girl pointed straight at him, and the children erupted in plainly visible laughter.

"Kids these days…" Peppy mumbled in spite. It was all he could do to ease his rage.

What seemed like hours later but was in truth fifteen minutes, Peppy finally exited the crowded store. The cash register he was in had run out of bags, and he was in too much of a hurry to wait for the cashier to get some more. Therefore, he was still carrying the items in his arms. He was also keenly aware of the throbbing pain still in his right index finger where the girl – Cottonfoot or something – had bit him.

It was quite dark outside by now. He began walking into the parking lot… and realized that he forgot where his car was parked. He stopped where he was, and looked around desperately. Shoppers whizzed by him left and right, and different cars were driving out. Their headlights nearly blinded Peppy's eyes.

Aha! There it was! He finally saw his car, a red, beat-up old thing, at the end of the parking lot. He began to cross the street between the store and parking lot. Just then, an impossibly red Ferrari drove past, even redder than the reddest Christmas ornaments in town. It sprayed a volley of muddy slush onto the legs of Peppy's pants.

Happy holidays indeed…