Wonderful
Chapter 40
T'was The Night Before
The day before Christmas found Toby waiting for his pay and the hoped for holiday bonus. He was the last driver to get in and so the last one to get paid. The pay clerk wanted to get home so she had his money ready and waiting. After she checked his time card, he often forgot to get the foreman's signature for all of the runs he claimed. This time it was without flaw. The clerk recounted before handing the money over, then Toby counted. Then he asked, "Hey, have you forgotten something?"
The pay clerk had to think a moment. "Oh, right." She took the hint. "Sorry my mind is on tomorrow." She handed Toby a slip of paper. "There you go."
Toby looked at the piece of paper. It wasn't a check. It was a voucher for a turkey at the market round the corner. "What's this?"
"This year Mr. Leech is giving everyone those in lieu of a cash bonus."
With a huff and a scowl, Tobias showed his displeasure. The Pay clerk was not sympathetic, "For Mr. Leech, that's generous."
"I can't bloody well buy a kid a bike with a coupon for a turkey now can I?"
"Sorry." She didn't sound all that sorry as she pulled the pay window shut. From behind her barrier Toby could hear her wish a "Merry Christmas."
A few things ran through Toby's mind as he stood staring at the voucher. One, that he worked for a cheapskate. Two, that he needed to get his errands done before getting home in time for Eileen not to be late for her shift a the pub. He recounted his pay and wondered how much a bike for a kid as small as Sev was going to cost him. He looked at the turkey coupon again to see it was only good until Dec. 24th. 'Great,' he thought. 'Get it today or don't even get that.'
"Come on Toby," the foreman called out. "Move your car so I can lock the gate. I want to get home to my family."
"Right Chet." Anyone else asking Tobias Snape to move his car would not have been answered so politely. Toby wanted to get going anyway. On the way to get the turkey he passed a toy store. Luck was with him in that there was an empty parking space right in front. 'Yes!' Toby thought triumphantly. 'Someone must have just pulled out.' He climbed out of the car and joined the other last minute shoppers looking through the shop's window. There were a few bikes, but they were all to big for Severus. The price hanging off of the handlebars gave Toby doubts as well. 'Fifty pounds.' This was not the shop for him.
The grocery where the turkey voucher came from was at the corner of that block so Toby walked down there. The help at the grocery were all dressed as elves. One of them greeted Toby with a perky, "How may I help you today?"
"You can take care of this," Toby said while shoving the coupon under her nose.
"Oh." Her disposition changed. "Follow me." The now dejected elf led Toby to a freezer case that looked like a vast chasm with only a half a dozen puny frozen turkeys at the bottom of it. "Take your pick."
What Toby really wanted to do was tell elf girl where she could stuff that eight lb. turkey, but free was free. He reached in for the one that looked the biggest. He looked at the pathetic thing. "Ho, ho, ho," he mumbled to himself.
"Anything else?" the shop girl inquired.
"Are you kidding me? With the prices in this place."
"Guess not."
Tobias departed with his 'bonus' and walked back to the car where he found a traffic officer placing a ticket on the windshield. "No, no, no," Toby said as he hustled to get there. "Wait, what's that for?"
"You read the sign?"
He hadn't. He looked now. It read: No Parking Noon to Nine PM
"Hey, it's only ten past."
"Noon means noon." The officer went on down the line of cars writing tickets and Toby looked at his. "Five Pounds CRAP!" 'Well, I don't have to pay it today,' he thought. He probably wouldn't pay it at all. It went in the glove compartment after Toby tossed the frozen turkey on the passenger seat. Buying toys was not something Toby had much experience in. He sat there thinking. Getting something cheep was something he knew about. Toby drove to his favorite second hand store.
"Hey there T," the man running the store seemed to know Snape. "What you got for me today?"
"Not selling today Max," Toby offered. "You got any bikes for really little kids?"
"That would be called a tricycle."
"No, he ain't that little."
Max went to rummage around his junk shop. He came back with the pronouncement, "Lot of the kids like these racing bikes these days."
One look at the slick ten speed with curved handle bars made Toby shake his head. "Definitely not. Just a kid's bike Max. Something cheep."
"'Kay T." The racing bike was rolled back and Max reappeared with a large but narrow box. It had a picture of a kid the appropriate age riding a bike on it. "Only ten pounds."
"Ten Pounds?"
"Brand new T. For another five pounds, I can put it together for ya."
Toby handed over the ten pounds and took the box. 'Gonna have to put the bloody thing together as well. Little puke better appreciate it.' After calling his son a 'little puke' in his head, he thought he aught to get a few other small things for the kid. He didn't want Eileen to be in a bad mood because he didn't listen to her.
When Toby arrived home with only a half thawed turkey in his hand Ele gave him her most irritated look. He knew what she was thinking. "It's in the car trunk. Didn't know if Sev was going to be downstairs now did I?"
A kiss was given before Eileen asked, "So, what's with the turkey?"
"Humph, that is my Christmas bonus care of the Leech shipping company."
This garnered a sympathetic look. "Let's hope Joe is a bit more giving."
Feeling Ele had opened the door Toby verbalized, "Speaking of Joe, Does he still have that thing for the kids on Christmas Eve?"
"Yes."
"You think we could bring Severus down there for a bit, seeing other kids will be there and all?"
Not thinking it was a good idea for Sev or Toby, Ele worried. Toby knew what to say. "I know Joe lets the kids stay until eight on Christmas Eve.
"I know," Eileen said with hesitance. "It's you I'm worried about."
"Come on Ele, Just one, to celebrate the holiday."
"You never stop at one thought."
"I will," Toby proclaimed before uttering his favorite words, "I promise." There was a long silent pause. "Doesn't Tripper dress up like Father Christmas and give the kids treats?"
"Yeah."
"Don't you want Sev to have a little fun?" Tobias knew how to play Eileen like a fiddle. He knew he could get to her through their son.
Some Pubs on the river front would not have been a place for kids anytime, but the Serpent's Tongue did serve families food in the afternoons. Then the kids that were there were kicked out before the serious drinkers arrived at night.
"I suppose." Ele mulled the idea over as Toby looked like an expectant kid himself. He hadn't had a 'night out' in a while, and there she could keep an eye on him. "For today."
"There's my girl."
Toby went to hug Ele, but she warned him, "You remember what day tomorrow is, and keep to your promise. Just one."
Changing the subject Toby asked, "Where should I stash - -" He lowered his voice. "The bike?" This was a first, Tobias Snape not knowing where to stash something.
"Keep it in the car. When you bring Sev home, send him to bed, then you can get it out and put it together." She paused. "You do know how to put it together?"
"Ele, don't start."
Eileen threw up her hands in surrender. "Give me the bird. Hope the thing will be thawed out by tomorrow."
"Look at the thing, it's so puny. Don't know how it couldn't be."
While his wife brought the bird to thaw in the kitchen sink, Toby went to his favorite spot; the sofa. Before falling asleep he made up his mind that Barnes' offer was exactly what he needed to get out of working for a man who thought a scrawny turkey was a Christmas bonus. Things were turning his way, he could feel it. If he could talk Eileen into letting him in a pub, and even if it was only one, having a drink, he was getting back into a 'lucky' grove.
When Ele came back Toby was fast asleep. 'May as well let him get a snooze in.' Then she thought of the other man in her life. "Severus," she called out to her son as she climbed the stairs. "Sev."
Severus had been reading and was lost in the book's pages. He'd have to stop pretending to be the great wizard who could stop ten knights with the wave on his hand, for the moment. "What Mum?" He shouted back, not moving.
"What?" Ele said in a mimic. "I'll tell you what. We're going to do something special today."
Not sure what to think the boy asked, "We are?"
"You and Daddy are going to come down to the pub with me."
Severus didn't know what was special about that. His face told her this.
"We're going to have supper there, and they'll be lots of other people with kids singing Christmas songs and, I have heard on good information, that someone special might show up."
It didn't take Sev long to figure out. "Father Christmas?"
"Joe told me he likes to stop in for a pint before he finishes his rounds."
"Really?" The boy's eyes were as big as saucers now.
"Really. So you need to got take a bath and put your best on." The boy frowned. The look his mother gave back told him there was no getting out of it. "I need you to be quick. Mummy needs to get ready too. Then Daddy." She knew Dad wouldn't need as long as she would.
"All right," Sev mumbled before heading for the tub. Severus didn't care for their tub. Sometimes the water was a funny orange color like the large rust stain near the drain. Sometimes there were spiders in there.
tbc
