Chapter 15: Christmas

Christmas! The season where everyone gets to act like a little kid again.

It started snowing on the last Friday before Christmas—excuse me, Winter—vacation and by Saturday morning there was at least six inches of the white stuff on the ground. Dad was grumbling about having to drive on a bunch of un-plowed streets but I was up for a day in the snow.

I had cleared the driveway and was waiting for Beth when Kevin walked into the kitchen, "Tommy, did you buy Beth a Christmas present?"

"Yeah, I got her a necklace."

"I'll bet that cost a lot of money," Kevin looked depressed as he plopped into a chair.

"Well, that depends on what you consider a lot. What's up?" I figured it was time for a brother-to-brother talk.

"Well, was thinking of buying someone a present, but I can't afford anything like that."

Oh-ho, my little brother's getting serious! "You want to give me a little more info. Maybe I can come up with some ideas. Is it Gail from your Math class?"

He looked surprised that I remembered the girl he'd talked about a month ago, "Um, yeah. Gail Hanson and she really likes me," he sounded almost stunned by the idea. "But I don't have much money saved up."

"Kevin, if she really like you the size of the gift won't make any difference. Does she have any hobbies or anything that she's really interested in?"

"She loves to read."

"I tell you what, when Beth gets here we can stop at a bookstore I know. Maybe we can find something she'd like."

Beth was driving the Jeep because of the snow and looking sexy as hell in a white parka with the fur-trimmed hood framing her face.

Kevin and I got in, "Hey there, sweet lady, wanna take me for a ride?"

She batted her eyes and replied in her little-girl voice, "My mother told me I shouldn't let a stranger in my car. How strange are you?"

I heard Kevin's snort from the back seat, but he wisely made no comment.

Beth leaned over the seat, "Hi, Kevin, what's up?"

"Tommy said we could stop at a bookstore or something. I want to get something for a girl I like."

"The one from your Math class?"

Kevin blushed and gave her the same look I got from him, "Wow, you remembered her too?"

"Hey, your first girlfriend is important, of course I remembered. What's her name again?"

"Gail, Gail Hanson and she's pretty. Almost as pretty as you are." And suddenly I was the only one in the car with normal skin coloration.

I gave Beth directions to the bookstore—actually two stores, science fiction books in the front and mysteries in the back. Kevin told the clerk that he was looking for a Christmas gift for a girl. He looked at Kevin, "What kind of books does she like?"

"Well, she was just talking about reading The Wizard of OZ and how much she liked it."

"Does she have her own copy or did she get it from the library?"

Kevin thought for a second, "It was a library book."

"Then I think I've got something she might like," he walked over to a shelf and took down a book, handing it to Kevin, "How about a copy of the first OZ book? It's the centennial edition, with copies of the original illustrations. It's even annotated."

Kevin was about to ask the price when I decided a bit of distraction was in order, "Why don't you look around and see if there's anything else Gail might like before you decide."

Beth took my hint. She took Kevin and started wandering around the store as I motioned to the clerk, "Can you do me a favor? My brother doesn't have a lot of cash. Is it okay if I cover the difference?"

The clerk just grinned, "Sure. Want me to ask him how much he's got and mention the 'sale' we're running?"

"I'd appreciate it. Why don't I pay for it now and you can just give me back the difference after we figure out how much he's got?"

"Sure. Here they come," he said as I passed the money over.

With what Kevin had the "sale" was half-off. I was picking up a couple of books myself so the "change" I got back took care of our little subterfuge.

"Boy, Gail's gonna love this! Beth, can you drop me at home so I can get it wrapped?"

After we dropped him off Beth looked over at me, "You're a pretty nice brother, you know that?"

"What do you mean?"

"There was no sale. You paid the difference, didn't you."

"Was it that obvious?" I thought I'd gotten away with it.

"Oh, Kevin didn't catch on, but I was watching you when you slipped the clerk the money." Little did we know.

"Hey, it's a gift for his first girl and he really seemed to think she'd like it. Just trying to help young love."

"Mr. Romance strikes again," was Beth's only comment.

We drove over to the Palace for lunch and then back to the house.

"So what would you like to do on a nice afternoon like this?" I asked as we got out of the Jeep.

Beth just took a couple of steps into the snow-covered yard and fell backward, "Snow angels!" I flopped down next to her and started flapping my arms along with her. After a couple of seconds, I rolled on top of her for a kiss.

"What's this? Obscene snow angels?" she giggled.

"Just remember the wet spots," I dead-panned.

That earned me a handful of snow down my neck. Being a firm believer in equal rights, I was forced to retaliate.

After a few minutes of fooling around in the snow Beth called a truce and we headed into the house. After getting our jackets off we realized how wet we were.

"How about a nice hot shower while our clothes dry?" Ever practical, that's me.

"Mmm, sounds good," said Beth as she headed for my room.

After we got out of our soggy clothes, I put on my robe, took our stuff downstairs and started the dryer. I was passing the bathroom door when I heard, "Psst. Want a good time, sailor?"

I slid into the bathroom to find her standing there, naked, "Taking a chance, weren't you. Kevin's just across the hall."

"That's okay, he's seen it all before," she grinned. I was beginning to think my "shy" girlfriend was turning into an exhibitionist!

After a nice hot shower we went back to my room and stretched out on the bed.

"So what now?" I asked.

"Will your desk chair fit under the doorknob, or do I have to chew on that awful-tasting giant marshmallow again?"

The chair did work as a door stop, but we kept it quiet anyway.

After I retrieved our clothes from the dryer we headed down to the family room to catch a movie. Kevin was already down there talking quietly on the phone. "Um, let me call you back from the other phone," he whispered when he saw us.