Day 1 - 12-13

“Here.” Joey handed Seto a wrapped gift at breakfast. “It’s the First Day of Christmas. Open it.”

Inside was the picture of a smiling, dark-haired man wearing a 1970s leisure suit. He was leaning against a tree with white blossoms. “What is this?”

“It’s a Partridge in a Pear Tree.” Joey grinned.

“A what?”

“Oh, come on! That’s David Cassidy. Keith Partridge? The Partridge Family? Geez, TV here sucks! He’s sitting in a pear-blossom tree.”

“I see.” Seto sipped his coffee. “Very cute. I guess you aren’t woolgathering every day.”

Joey grinned and poured himself a glass of orange juice.

Day 2 - 12-14

Joey arrived at the breakfast table with a birdcage-shaped package and a kiss.

“Your picture was quite popular yesterday,” Seto admitted. “Several people at the office thought it was very clever. What’s this?”

“On the second day of Christmas,” Joey sang, “my true love gave to me...”

“I have no idea.”

Joey whipped the cover off what turned out to be a bamboo birdcage. Inside were two stuffed birds. “Two turtle doves,” he sang loudly.

“I thought doves were white. Are those real?”

“Nah; they’re bogus. They look good, though.”

“Just so long as they don’t make a mess on my carpet.”

Day 3 - 12-15

Joey woke to an odd clucking sound. He sat up and looked around his room. “What. The. Fuck?” He dragged himself downstairs and found Seto arranging a quincunx of postage stamps. “Are there chickens in my bedroom?”

“Hens, actually.” Seto continued to read his Kindle. “French hens, to be precise.”

“And, yeah, there were three of them.” Joey grinned. “Do they have names?”

“I’ve been referring to them as Burgundy, Chablis and Merlot. Those are wines with which my chef will prepare them.

“Touch my chickens, and I’ll roast you.” Joey sat down. “I’m having fresh eggs from now on.”

Day 4 - 12-16

Seto woke to jets flying low over the house. He didn’t even pause to grab a robe, but simply followed the long-established security protocols.

In the safe room, he found a security guard holding a heavy coat. “This way, sir. Sorry.”

Outside, half the staff was looking at the sky. Joey was aiming a video camera up and filming as four SR-71 jets flew in formation over the house.

“Coffee.” Seto said to a vermicular staff member. He walked over to Joey. “Blackbirds?”

“Yup. Turns out that’s what a colly bird is.”

“How?”

“I know a guy.”

“I see.”

Day 5 - 12-17

Joey woke up early hoping to beat Seto to breakfast, but his dark-haired lover was there, sipping coffee as usual. In front of Joey’s usual seat was a very thick envelope.

“Go on.” Seto didn’t even look up from his current philately project. “Open it.”

Inside was a travel itinerary, tickets and visas. “The Golden Ring?”

“Five of them, at least.” Seto turned a page. “Yaroslavl, Vladimir, Alexandrov, Ivanovo, and Suzdal. Of, course, once we’re in Russia, we can stop in more of them if you wish.”

Joey grinned and nodded. “Pretty good. But you know tomorrow is geese, right?”

Day 6 - 12-17

Seto skipped breakfast, leaving for the office early. It had annoyed him to no end that he had been unable to obtain six actual geese - living or dead - and couldn’t think of a cohesive idea to do something clever.

His phone rang. “Coward,” his American lover snickered over the line.

“You haven’t delivered your gift yet.” Seto retorted. “I am not going to lose.”

The blond laughed and hung up.

Seto snarled as he arrived at his office building.

‘Laying For Charity’ the sign read. Beneath it, seven members of the Honorable Order of The Blue Goose lay.

Day 7 - 12-19

The swim trunks were hanging over Joey’s head when he woke. ‘Put these on and come down to the lake,’ was the entire note. He added a coat and boots and went there.

Seto was looking dapper in the crisp winter morn. Even from a distance, Joey could see the seven graceful swan boats floating in the water. Hianko was splashing and laughing loudly.