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The line for Santa is miles long and doesn’t seem to be moving. At the front, it appears there isn’t enough help to keep everything running smoothly. Suddenly you are tapped on the shoulder and turn around to find a woman dressed as an elf looking at you with panic in her eyes. “There you are! Where have you been? Why aren’t you dressed? Hurry up! We need more hands up there!” It appears she has mistaken you for one of the missing elves. Do you go along with it? Set her straight?
Derrick sighed as he held onto his little brother’s hand. He looked down at him, a bit annoyed at the situation he was currently in. They were currently standing in line, for. Santa. Seriously. Why were they even here? For some reason, his brother had insisted upon coming here. Derrick grimaced. “Uh Cole, why are we here for Santa again? Aren’t you a little too old for this now?” He asked, trying not to yell out that Santa wasn’t even real. His brother puffed up a bit, as though he were offended that his older brother would ask such a question. “If I don’t tell Santa the present that I really want this year, then I won’t get it!” He said, almost starting into a whine.
The line moved a bit and they took a few steps forward.
Derrick shifted a bit. “Cole, Santa only comes if you’re a good boy, and if I’m remembering correctly, you’ve been in a bit of trouble this year.” Not that his little brother could help it. Apparently, he had attracted some bullies, and as schools were bound to do, they decided to punish his brother when he tried to defend himself, rather than actually deal with the problem. Cole blushed from embarrassment. “Yeah but it’s not my fault! I don’t know why those guys pick on me! And I made sure to be extra good otherwise!” Derrick sighed. His little brother could be such a handful and sometimes Derrick wondered if there was a way to get rid of all of his energy. He seemed to be going everywhere and nowhere all at the same time. Once he was old enough, Derrick had decided that he would try to get him into parkour or some sort of other high-activity sport to see if Cole could burn off some of that energy.
Suddenly though, Derrick felt a tap on his shoulder, and he turned around to yell at whoever it was, when he saw one of the workers, dressed as an elf, looking at him expectantly. It unnerved him quite a bit. “There you are! Where have you been? Why aren’t you dressed? Hurry up! We need more hands up there!” Derrick blinked in surprise for a bit, before he sighed. “Lady, I have nothing to do with any of this, and you’re bothering my little brother and I.” He replied, his patience already worn quite thin. When the line cleared up a bit more, he took another step with his brother. The worker seemed to be getting a bit angrier. “What do you mean?! You are late for your shift.” Derrick rubbed his face with his hand. “Lady, I DO NOT WORK HERE! Why would I possibly be giving up a paycheck and saying no to you unless I DO NOT WORK HERE?!” By now he was yelling a bit, and the entire line was looking at the exchange.
The worker looked embarrassed, and slunk back to the others making sure not to catch Derrick’s eye. He sighed and turned around to see his brother looking at him with wide eyes. Oh shoot, forgot about him for a moment! Can’t let him know! “Uh… sometimes elves play tricks on each other to look like humans, and that’s why they can look like elves or humans!” Cole made a face that looked like an ‘oh’ realization, and he seemed to accept the explanation. Derrick sighed in relief. He would NOT be doing this again next year.
