December

Lydia and Beatie were shopping in New York that day, so Beetlejuice decided it was a good time for him to take Chazz to the Shocking Mall to buy some Christmas presents themselves. It had become a tradition that, when they shopped there, they would always stop at the food court and get something from Shin-and-Snout Burger. Chazz would have a kid-sized wheeze-burger and Beetlejuice always got French flies and shared just a few of them with his son because Lydia thought that salty deep-fried snacks were bad for a growing child.

Beetlejuice was a little surprised when, after they'd gotten their order, Chazz took his hand, leading him to an empty table. The boy had had just about reached the age when public kisses and physical demonstrations of affection made him uncomfortable.

But Chazz looked up at him and said, "Mama's so beautiful."

His father smiled and divided up their snacks. "Yep, she's the most beautiful thing there ever was."

"I want to buy her a present that makes her feel as beautiful as she is." Chazz started on his wheeze-burger but looked longingly at the container of French flies and his father nudged two of them toward him.

Beetlejuice thought that over. "You mean like jewelry, or perfume, or something pretty to wear?"

"Mmm . . . not sure. I thought maybe you'd think of something. Or know something she wants." The growing child savored his salty deep-fried crunchy guilt.

"Okay, let me think about it. 'Course you always want to buy something special for the people you love the most, but sometimes it's hard to think of just the right thing. And Mama's the specialest person there is."

"Uh-huh. I love Mama just as much as you, Papa." said Chazz.

"I doubt it," said Beetlejuice. "I know you love her as much as you can, Chickie-Chazz, but no one can ever love her as much as I do."

His son finished his small burger and looked again at the French flies. "No, I mean I love Mama as much as I love you. But I already got your present." He grinned in triumph.

His father grinned back at him then went off on a slight tangent. "You know how your Mama and I met, right?" When Chazz nodded, he said, "And I told you how she proposed to me." He handed over two more salty fried flies. "Well, if you want to talk about beautiful . . ." He smiled and said, "She's beautiful on the inside, too." Another two flies were passed over. "I knew that right away, from the very start." He looked at his son then. "How many flies have you had?"

Chazz held up four fingers then slowly the other hand with two fingers came up. He pleaded silently.

"Okay, here's two more, but that's all. If you're still hungry I can get you some buggets." He raised his eyebrows interrogatively. "They're not fried, so they're better for you." He saw his son's expression and grinned. "But they don't taste as good, right?"

Chazz nodded then asked, "Beautiful? On the inside?"

"Yeah. You know what that means, right? That she's kind and cares about other people and tries to make them all happy." He looked a question at Chazz, who nodded and waited for his father to look away before stealthily taking two more flies from the package. "Even animals, and birds. Even me. Right from the start." Staring into the distance, he smiled again. "Even me," he said again, very quietly. Beetlejuice sighed then, a contented happy little sigh. "She wanted to be with me, to do things with me. She was always helping me and taking my side and she wanted to be my friend. She wanted me with her, making her laugh and keeping her company and just being together." He looked down at his son, who promptly stopped chewing and but kept his interested expression. "You have a friend like that yet?"

Chazz shook his head and chewed again when his father looked away.

"She was always thinking up things to do, but she made sure I was part of everything she did. She made me part of her life." He smiled a little wider. "And she made friends so easily after that, there and here. Everybody liked her right away, and why wouldn't they? But she was always my friend first." He huffed a tiny laugh in amazement as he looked into the past. "My friend. My dearest. My only one. You'll never find someone like Mama, but you will find the one person you need, the one person for you. And you'll know it that instant – you'll know like I did."

Chazz finished the flies while his father thought back.

"Hey!" Beetlejuice said, suddenly noticing a dearth of French flies. "Did you eat all those?"

A smiling shrug was the answer. "You had some, too, Papa."