Day 3

Living in a big house was something Hitch loved growing up. Then again, he wasn't the one taking care of it, or putting the Christmas lights up every year. As a kid, he knew his father, Noah, was the one putting the lights up. All Hitch and his sister had to do was go out and see the wonderful display when the sun went down. His father made it look so easy!

When Hitch volunteered to put the lights on his parents' house that year, the sense of regret was immediately crushing. The house was big. There were many, many strings of lights. It meant going up on a ladder, and Hitch had a tendency to be accident-prone at the worst possible time. He carried the big box of lights and said several prayers before ascending the ladder to start putting the lights up. He didn't have a fear of heights the way Troy did, but falling from the ladder wouldn't have good results. He didn't exactly want to spend Christmas in the hospital.

It was delicate work, balancing the box of lights while pulling out the tangled mass inside. Hitch had heard his neighbors swearing up storms when putting up their lights. He didn't want to do the same, but despite his father being careful when taking the lights down, the strings were somehow tangled together.

"How's it going, Mark?" His mother, Irena, came outside, bundled in a jacket and a fluffy hat.

"Trying to make sure I don't fall off, Mom," Hitch replied. "The lights are tangled up real good."

"Take your time. I don't want to look out the window and see you falling."

"Thanks." Hitch managed to pull apart two strands of lights, hanging them on hooks his father installed purely for Christmas decorations.

"Do you need help?"

"No. I got it."

"Mark, every time you say that, things go wrong."

"This'll be different."

He heard his mother sigh, then she said, "Well, it looks like someone else has come to check on you."

Hitch looked down briefly to see the long, dark, patterned shape of Raccoon, an eastern diamondback rattlesnake who helped rescue Anah from a traveling circus a few years back, slithering through the snow and pausing near the ladder. He was an ordinary snake with no magic the way Anah did, but he seemed more intelligent than an ordinary snake. His reward for helping in the rescue mission was permanent residence with the Hitchcocks in the backyard. "Isn't it a bit too cold for him to be out?"

"I'm sure he'd still be in the shed your father built if he thought it was too cold," Irena said. She looked down at the rattlesnake as he curled up and rested his wide head on his diamond-patterned coils. "Are you going to make sure Mark doesn't fall, honey?"

Hitch rolled his eyes. "I don't need a babysitter."

"I'd think you'd prefer having Raccoon." Irena smiled up at her son. "He doesn't nag like your mother."

"You're not a nag. I just feel like everything's going to be fine. I'll get the lights up and it'll look nice like it does every year. No issues."

Irena sighed again. "Alright. There'll be hot chocolate waiting for you in the kitchen."

"Thanks." Hitch untangled a trio of light strands, carefully draping them over more hooks. He looked down when he heard the front door open and close, and saw Raccoon was still curled up in the snow, his big dark eyes focused on Hitch. "Mom's a bad influence on you," Hitch muttered.

The rattlesnake stayed put. It was cold, but at least the sun was out. He only moved when Hitch moved the ladder to decorate another portion of the roof. Fortunately, decorating the very top of the house went without, well, a hitch. That gave Hitch confidence that the rest would go smoothly. As he decorated the porch, Hitch looked over at where Raccoon was laying in the snow by the covered bushes in the front garden. "You know, you have a cozy little shed with an electric blanket inside that you could be on instead of watching me. I'm near the ground. No risk of injuries. Everything's fine." He turned to hang a fake pine branch above the porch swing, oblivious to the patch of clear ice near his boot. "Nothing to worry—"

His boot caught the ice. Like a character in a cartoon, he landed on his rear hard before falling down the four steps leading down from the porch. He lay flat on his back, pain surging through his lower body. Please don't tell me I broke my tailbone. Hitch glanced over at Raccoon. "Give me a minute. I'll be fine."

The big viper lifted his rattle.

"No, no, no, no, don't tell Mom. Please don't get her attention. Raccoon, please, I'll never hear the end of it. Come on, don't—"

The harsh buzzing of Raccoon's rattle broke the silence around Hitch's parents' property. Hitch sighed heavily, though he winced from the pain in his back. Great. Mom's going to lecture me. Then she's going to tell Molly, and Molly's going to panic. I'm going to have to go to the hospital, and wear a cast on Christmas. Just… great.

It took all of two minutes for Irena to come running out the door. She gasped when she saw Hitch lying at the bottom of the porch stairs. "Mark, what happened? Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I slipped on some ice, that's all," Hitch said.

"Can you get up, honey?"

"Uh, yeah." Hitch tried sitting up, grimacing from a sudden sharp pain. He reached to use the stairs as leverage.

Raccoon had stopped rattling, and resumed watching with great interest.

"Where did you slip?" Irena asked.

"On the porch, and… fell down the stairs. It hurts, but I'll be okay." Hitch tried taking a step forward.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Come inside and rest. Right now."

"I gotta finish decorating."

"That can wait. Come on. Inside." Irena helped him into the house.

"You're not gonna tell Molly, are you?" Hitch asked.

"Unless I have reason to suspect you broke your tailbone and should see a doctor, no, I won't."

"Really?"

"Really. I'll get a cushion. You, sit down, have some hot chocolate."

Hitch was fortunate to find later that he hadn't broken his tailbone, though he would be sore for a while. When he was finally able to finish decorating, he let a thought blossom into an idea, and drove into town to pick up a few things. He returned with an unopened box of Christmas lights and garland, and went into the garage to get some extra hooks.

It was close to sunset when he went into the backyard. It hurt to kneel and bend over, but he still took it open himself to add some Christmas flair to the little wooden shelter his father had built for Raccoon. The rattlesnake was inside, curled up on top of the electric blanket, and watching attentively as Hitch strung up some lights and garland. As Hitch finished, it was dark enough for the lights on the rest of the house to be turned on. He connected a plug to an outdoor outlet, and the lights hung on Raccoon's den glowed brightly, illuminating the backyard with a variety of colors.

"There," Hitch said with a slight grin. "I think that looks nice." He looked down at the rattlesnake inside, and swore he saw Raccoon smile a little.

Author's Note: For those curious, Raccoon was introduced in the story "A Raid of Circuses and Weddings."