Grinch took care of Max just as Bricklebaum had instructed. As nosy as his neighbor was, he was still an animal-lover and had more knowledge on what to do with them. To his delight and relief, Max was soon back to his usual self. That left the issue of payment. Bricklebaum hadn't mentioned how much he owed, and though Grinch didn't want to talk to him, he refused to let a debt stand. So once he'd used the last of the medicine and Max was back to normal, he forced himself to pick up the phone and dial Bricklebaum's number. The Who answered on the first ring.

"Hello there! Bricklebaum here. How can I help you on this lovely day?"

Grinch gritted his teeth, unsure of what to say.

"Grinchy, is that you?"

"Yes!" Grinch managed to shout. He grimaced and lowered his voice. "Ah, I wanted to tell you that Max seems to be all better."

"That's great! Glad to hear it."

Grinch hesitated then sighed. "How much do I owe you?"

There was a long pause. "You can come over for dinner and we'll be even."

"Who's going to be there?" Grinch asked once he'd found his voice.

"You, me, Mabel, and Max."

Grinch waited for more names, but none were forthcoming. "Just us then?" He didn't know whether that was good or bad.

"Yep. I want to show you some Whoville hospitality. You be over here by six-thirty, okay?"

"Um, sure. Yeah. See you then," Grinch said and hung up the phone. He stared blankly at the phone until Max made a noise. "Huh?" Grinch asked, looking down. "Oh. Uh, well, we have to go over there for dinner. That's all he wants."

Max yipped and wagged his tail excitedly. Grinch smiled a little but his stomach was full of stones. He hadn't been alone with another Who for an extended length of time since that horrible Christmas. And if he thought of the head of the orphanage for very long, everything started hurting. So he pushed back his nerves and continued about his day, keeping himself busy until he needed to leave.

All too soon, Grinch found himself on the way down the mountain to Bricklebaum's house. He clutched at his scarf as Max chased several birds, barking excitedly about how much fun this would be. Grinch had serious reservations, but if it meant he no longer owed Bricklebaum, it was worth it. Debts owed to people were burdens that should be avoided.

"Grinchy?"

Grinch suddenly realized he was standing on Bricklebaum's front porch. The sky was dark, and he couldn't remember most of the trek down the mountain. Bricklebaum looked concerned and Max barked again, nudging Grinch to go inside. He realized how cold he was and swallowed.

"May I come in?" he asked, his teeth chattering.

"How long have you been here?" Bricklebaum asked, stepping aside and ushering him in.

"What time is it?" Grinch asked, relieved as warmth washed over him.

"Almost seven-fifteen."

"Oh…"

'It will not happen again,' Grinch thought fiercely.

"Sorry. I, uh, got lost in thought." Grinch hurried to the fireplace and huddled close, aware of his neighbor's gaze.

"Happens to everybody," Bricklebaum said. "You just sit on down in that chair and get cozy. I'll bring you some hot cocoa. I made it fresh."

Grinch obeyed simply because he was so very cold. Max lay down at his feet in front of the fire, watching him worriedly. He let out a concerned whimper. Grinch shook his head.

"What happened?" he whispered.

Max let out several noises, and Grinch frowned. Before he could respond, Bricklebaum came in with a big cup of hot chocolate. Grinch took it gratefully and sipped on it. He was surprised by how tasty it was. "What's in it?" he asked.

"Peppermint," Bricklebaum said. "One of my favorites. What about you?"

"It's good," Grinch said. He sipped again and warmth spread through his insides. He shivered.

"No, what's your favorite?" Bricklebaum insisted. "Marshmallows are pretty good, too."

Grinch didn't answer for a few minutes as he drank his cocoa. Bricklebaum studied him and said nothing.

"I don't have a favorite," Grinch finally replied. "We couldn't afford hot cocoa when I was a kid, and after I left town, I never bothered trying to enjoy it. It was connected to Christmas, and for me, that was enough to avoid it."

"Oh," Bricklebaum said. He leaned forward. "How about some food? It's all ready."

"Food would be nice, thank you," Grinch said, grateful to Bricklebaum for not asking more questions.

Bricklebaum brought out some green eggs and ham, which made Grinch roll his eyes. "Really?" he asked, his lips twitching.

"Believe it or not, it's my favorite," Bricklebaum laughed.

"Sure it is," Grinch said, but he didn't mind. Green eggs and ham were more expensive than regular due to the diet the animals had to eat. It was a nice treat and proved that he was welcome by Bricklebaum, even if he still didn't understand why. The food was still hot, and Grinch quickly dug in. He hadn't been able to eat all day, since the phone call before breakfast, too anxious about what was going to happen, so he polished off his food in a hurry.

"I hope you're not planning on leaving right after you eat," Bricklebaum said.

Grinch shook his head and quickly swallowed. "That would be rude," he said. "And we mustn't be rude to our hosts."

Bricklebaum frowned. "Grinch, is something bothering you?"

Grinch looked ruefully at his empty plate. "I'm fine."

Max actually scoffed, and Grinch scowled at him then tossed down the ham bone. "Here. Stay out of this."

Max immediately began to gnaw at the bone, and Bricklebaum studied his neighbor. "What's wrong?"

Grinch couldn't take it. "What do you think, Bricklebaum?" he demanded. "Just last week, I stole every present, wreath, and tree in Whoville, and I realized that it still didn't fix anything. All my life I thought it was Christmas I hated, and it wasn't. That's just when I realized…" Grinch trailed off and shivered.

Bricklebaum got up and refilled his plate. Grinch was grateful and cut up his ham as his host refilled the hot chocolate. "Sounds like you've had a rough Christmas."

"Yeah. I have. But nobody else ever feels that way. Which is no big deal. Like, at all." Grinch's lips tightened. "It doesn't matter."

"I think it does," Bricklebaum said. "Want to talk about it?"

Grinch hesitated, chewing for a long time on his dinner. Did he want to? Not really. But maybe confiding in somebody who wasn't a canine would help him sort through things.

"You won't tell anybody?" he asked quietly.

"Not a soul, Grinch," Bricklebaum promised.

"You, too," Grinch told Mabel. "I know you talk to Clarice sometimes."

Mabel made a noise, glancing at her master.

"Sure. I'll ask next time I want to borrow something."

Mabel snorted then lay down. Grinch tossed her his second hambone. She began to gnaw.

Grinch set his plate aside and clutched at the hot chocolate. "Is the old orphanage still around?"

Bricklebaum sat up. "Wait. You lived at the orphanage?" Grinch didn't answer so Bricklebaum leaned back, understanding in his eyes. "That place has been gone a long time. And good riddance. The Whos that stayed there until Illicure's care still aren't quite right. It's all a fostering system now. We find it's better that way."

Grinch let out a breath and sagged. "That's good. That's very good. I'm glad. That place should have never been allowed to run."

"Nobody ever talks about their time there."

"For good reason. I remember when Prunella spoke back. Illicure punished her. She wasn't the same after that." Grinch hesitated. "Does she still have that slur?"

"Yeah. Yeah she does," Bricklebaum said. "She said she was born with it and nobody says otherwise."

"Those who know better aren't going to talk," Grinch said. "It was when the number of children started dwindling that things really fell apart." He paused. "I was the last kid there. The last one. And that Christmas…"

He stopped talking. Bricklebaum leaned forward. "You don't have to talk about it. I'll understand."

"No, it's not that. Well, yes, but not completely." Grinch sipped the hot chocolate, enjoying the richness of the treat. "I just don't know where to begin. We were never believed. I'm afraid that's going to happen again."

"They went through the files and notes that Illicure left behind after he left town," Bricklebaum said grimly. "Don't worry about me not believing you."

Grinch swallowed another mouthful of hot chocolate, staring into the fireplace. "Did they ever find his safe?"

Bricklebaum sat up straight. "Safe?"

"The door was hidden out back," Grinch said softly. "That's where he kept the worst stuff. Including his journal. He detailed every day in that thing."

"No. Nobody found that," Bricklebaum said.

"We knew if somebody found that, he'd be caught," Grinch said. "There were hints, you see. We dropped them in conversations. But he caught on, and then he punished us. That's when Prunella was adopted by the Quintons. And Silvanus was adopted by the Pruitts. Then there were four left." He sipped his drink. "He was doing Floo by that time."

Bricklebaum nearly choked on his last drink, and he burst into a coughing fit. When he caught his breath, he stared at Grinch in horror. "He wasn't."

"He knew it was only a matter of time," Grinch murmured, unaffected by horror. He'd lived it, and nothing could be worse than that. "The hints we'd dropped were starting to pick up steam as the right people began to talk about it. There was a scramble for Whos to adopt the rest of us. Timonius got adopted by the Justuses. Three left. Brilla was adopted by the Brickhams. Two left. Then Elena was adopted by the Trishes, and it was just me. And Illicure called me into a meeting on Christmas Eve."

Bricklebaum stared at Grinch without a word. His face was blank of anything, staring into a past that he'd never escaped. He was the only one. Nobody remembered him. Bricklebaum had heard all the stories from those who had been in charge back then, but not one of the Whos would speak of their time in the orphanage. In some ways, they'd all moved on, but if Grinch was any kind of example, there might be a good reason for the town to look into the former orphans' experiences. If it could make a Who steal the joys of Christmas just to make them feel the way he did, those experiences must have been horrifying.

"You don't have to talk about this," Bricklebaum said.

"Are you saying that because you don't want to hear it, or are you saying that because you think I don't want to?" Grinch asked quietly, staring into the fire.

"Both," Bricklebaum answered.

Grinch's smile turned into a malicious leer. "At least you're honest. We don't have to talk about it."

"Do you want to?"

Grinch hesitated then nodded once, refusing to glance over.

"Then I'll listen."

Grinch sipped his hot cocoa and stared at the fire for several long minutes. He didn't want to go back into those early years, to relive that horrible night when his whole world changed forever. But he took a deep breath and cast his mind back into his early years, before he'd made his way up the mountain outside of Whoville, before he'd left town, back to that quiet, lonely Christmas Eve where everything in his life went horribly wrong for the second time in his young life.