Another wonderful installment in "The Guardian" short story series by my wonderful wife! As some of you may remember, "The Guardian" also happens to be the name of her work-in-progress novel. This particular story provides a glimpse into the lives of some individuals who work at a secretive agency called "Section 0" as they gather together for a Christmas celebration.
By S. J. Dracken
Miss Casper walked briskly down the brightly lit, flat grey hallway, eyes searching for a short figure and a mop of white hair. She was a taller than average woman with platinum blond hair, piercing blue grey eyes, and a smartly pressed navy blue suit covering her slender frame. Usually she could be found in her office long after her work day ended, but today was different. Today she wanted to catch her youngest co-worker, Tosh, before he slipped away to places unknown. Despite living near the base, he habitually disappeared after work in the evening during the winter, not returning to his apartment until late at night.
It wasn’t until she reached the sidewalk outside, where snow was just starting to fall in a multitude of large white flakes, did she spot Tosh. He stood on the sidewalk, silver blue ice skate bag slung over one shoulder, staring longingly at the sky.
Miss Casper would have thought he was a statue, except for the cloud of breath which regularly ascended into the sky in front of him. She approached quietly, her brown leather boots making a slight tapping noise on the scraped sidewalk.
Tosh looked back over his shoulder at her with mild curiosity, ice-blue eyes questioning her presence. “Good evening, Ma’am.” He said with an emotionless tone.
“Good evening Tosh.” She stopped a foot away. “I’m glad I caught you. Enjoying the snow fall?”
Tosh looked back out at the darkening landscape and the increasing amount of snow. He looked thoughtful, taking his time to respond. “Yes.”
She reached into a pocket, suppressing a shiver from the cold of the breeze, and pulled out a glittery red envelope with a gold bow drawn on the front under Tosh’s name.
“I wanted to invite you to the Christmas Party. It’s tomorrow.”
He took it and stuffed it into his coat pocket. “Um.. Thanks?”
Miss Casper was surprised to see genuine confusion on the youth’s face. His emotions were usually difficult to decipher.
She smiled warmly. “Be there at four please.”
Tosh nodded and turned, walking silently away. Miss Casper watched him go until she could no longer see him through the snow, then turned quickly back to the door.
Muttering to herself, she yanked the door open. “That’s the last time I go out without my overcoat. BRR!”
= = = = = = = = = = = =
Tosh walked up to the door of Miss Casper’s small cottage house the next day with some apprehension. He hesitated at the start of the sidewalk. Parties were not his thing, even when he was at home with his family. They always liked to go all out for Christmas, building elaborate snow sculptures for the community to enjoy and inviting in those without family.
Tosh could do without all the festivities, enjoying the peace and quiet of a solitary mountain lake to skate on.
A familiar voice rang out from behind a car parked nearby, causing Tosh to cringe.
“Hey!! You made it!” Called his partner (and roommate) Sylvester.
There would be no escaping now as the taller man dashed around and took Tosh by the arm, juggling packages precariously in the other as he dragged the young man along excitedly. One round package fell off of the top and Tosh caught it while worming out of Sylvester’s grip.
Tosh sighed, resigned to his fate. “Let me take some of those.”
The lanky, black haired agent handed him another package from the pile and adjusted the rest of the stack to a more stable condition. They walked up to the door together and Miss Casper’s secretary, Avalyn, opened it before either of them could knock. She was a smaller woman of Japanese descent with pin straight, deep brown hair and mischievous golden brown eyes.
“Come in!” She sang sweetly, stepping aside for them to come through the door.
Sylvester walked in and sighed gratefully at the warmth filling the front room of the cottage. Tosh cringed mildly at the heat and noted the wood stove in the corner. An old enamel kettle was steaming on top of it, letting him know where the source of the heat was.
“Where do I put these?” Tosh held up the packages he carried, looking at Sylvester questioningly.
“Oh! Those go under the tree, along with these..” Sylvester piled a couple more presents on Tosh, an animated smile on his face. “Annnd these go to the kitchen!”
He jerked around, looking for the entryway to the kitchen and darted off when he saw it. Tosh simply sighed and let Avalyn take some of the packages off of his hands. He walked over with her and put the last few under the tree, nodding a greeting at Brutus as he passed the couch.
Brutus Bahn was a large gorilla of a man with short cut black hair and deep dark brown eyes always set in a quiet, almost sad, expression. He was hunched over Miss Casper’s old wooden record player and appeared to be fiddling with some wires inside of it. Tosh suspected that those gathered would be hearing old Christmas records playing before the evening was out.
A commotion arose in the kitchen and Gyro, a tall, thin man with a slightly large head and oval wire rimmed glasses, and Sylvester came bolting out of the doorway. Each held the remnants of a freshly baked cookie and fled from the chastising deep voice of Brutus’ stocky little sister.
Tosh smirked in amusement as he walked over to sit in an overstuffed grey chair, the furthest seating from the wood stove he could find.
From there he could hear the chatter of Miss Casper, the team Doctor Heidi, and Brutus’ little sister Lacy as they finished the preparations of food for the party. Avalyn seated herself nearest to the wood stove and hummed ‘white Christmas’ to herself, eyeing Sylvester suspiciously when he plopped down on the loveseat beside her. He gave her an apologetic smile and focused on the last bits of cookie in his hand.
Gyro sat gracefully on the opposite end of the couch from Brutus and offered suggestions on improving the record player. Some quite absurd. Brutus simply nodded in acknowledgement of the suggestions, with the occasional ‘Hm’ thrown in, and appeared to completely ignore them. He twisted a red cap on a set of wires, and pushed them back into the innards of the player, then he gently started reassembling the case.
The women had just started bringing out food platters to set on the table to the side of the room when another knock came at the door. Avalyn popped up from her seat like it was spring loaded and scurried over to open it. Tosh was amazed at how fast the little woman could move, yet still maintain the utmost grace.
His amazement stopped short when he heard a familiar gravelly, accented voice at the door. Bitterness started to fill his stomach, but he quickly quashed it and put on a mild smile as Nilus (known as Number Zero to the agency), and his twenty-something year old secretary, Denise came in. Everyone sounded their greetings and ‘Merry Christmas sir!’ echoed a few times.
Tosh could see some barely concealed resentment in his co-worker’s eyes, especially those of Brutus and Gyro. The resentment faded as Denise bounced from one person to the other, greeting them each in turn and asking about their holidays in her typical bubbly fashion. When she was finished talking, she shoved a tiny, beautifully wrapped present in the person’s hand and bounded off to the next.
She was a blond beauty of average height, dressed in a 50’s style red dress and matching knee high boots. Her hair was done up in a cascade of loose curls and decorated with tinsel and tiny bells, which jingled madly as she moved. Tosh gave her a genuine smile when she got to him and asked about his holiday plans, in part because she was a sweet person, yet also because he could see the slightly jealous expression on Nilus’ face.
Eventually Denise settled into a chair by the Christmas tree and the balding, hawk-like Nilus had to content himself with a hot drink in a chair on the opposite side. Rich music began to play from the newly reassembled record player and the side table was loaded down with the last of the food and drinks.
Doctor Heidi, an athletic woman with fiery red hair, sat by Brutus with some eggnog and gave him a big smile, as well as a cup of hot cider, causing the giant to blush like a teenage schoolgirl. He took the cup with great care and sipped it quietly, trying to hide his shy smile.
There was stifled laughter and then Miss Casper called everyone to attention. “Thank you all for coming this evening. Feel free to load up a plate with snacks and when you’re all done with that, we’ll get to a couple of games planned for this evening.” She smiled quietly, gesturing towards the side table.
Sylvester was the first one up, leaping out of his chair as if he’d been launched. The music continued and everyone loaded up plates of goodies. Tosh lightly piled his plate with a selection of the snack foods, passing over the sweets, and gratefully accepted a mug of hot cider from Avalyn. He could smell a slight hint of brandy nearly covered over by the strong cinnamon scent.
Hum.. Spiked Cider.. Not very heavily though..I guess people do have to drive home.
As he sat back down and contemplated the flavor of the drink, Sylvester walked to the middle of the room, plate piled precariously high with everything imaginable, and started explaining the first game. It was a simple game where Sylvester challenged them to guess the name of a classic Christmas movie from a random quote.
Tosh had already suffered through a marathon of them and could remember most of the quotes. He was surprised to receive a mid-sized Christmas Carol snow globe as the prize for winning. The runner up got a candy cane.
The games went from simple, and relatively harmless, to an absurd level of ad-libbing and jokes which had the entire party roaring with laughter. Tosh found himself joining in the merriment, actually enjoying himself for the first time in a long time, despite his discomfort at the presence of Nilus.
There was just something about Sylvester’s wild, animated antics that was too funny to ignore and the smiles, laughter, warm drinks, and general merriment touched Tosh’s heart. He was surprised to find himself longing to go home and see his family, to take part in their quiet winter celebrations. Maybe they’ll let me help build a snow sculpture this year.. If I’m not too late.
Miss Casper noticed the longing, distant expression on Tosh’s face which faded into his usual detached mask as the party wound down.
Brutus and his little sister, Lacy, were the first to stand and bid them all good night, followed soon after by Nilus and Denise. One by one the party guests filtered out until it was only Miss Casper, Tosh, and Avalyn, who was busied about with cleanup. Tosh had been so lost in his thoughts of holidays past that he missed his cue to leave stealthily alongside Sylvester, who made quite the exit scene. Now, roused from his contemplative state, he questioned whether he should offer to wash dishes or hastily say good night and flee.
His thoughts were interrupted when Miss Casper sat down in the nearest chair with a heavy sigh.
“Well.. That was fun.”
Tosh raised an eyebrow and sank uneasily in his chair, feeling as if he was on the spot. “It was ... Interesting I guess. ”
Miss Casper chuckled lightly and leaned over the arm of the chair, pushing aside some decorative netting and lights to get to a red wrapped package underneath. She sat back up and held it out to Tosh with a smile. “It’s from the team. Merry Christmas.”
He blinked in surprise and took the box, the wrapping crinkling slightly under his hands.
“Thank you.” He breathed, barely above a mumble.
Miss Casper nodded. “Go ahead and open it.”
Tosh gently peeled off the golden bow and ribbon, then turned the box over and undid the tape with care. When he opened the plain brown box inside, he was surprised to find a leather bound Bible with intricate ice blue designs on the cover nestled among the packing peanuts. Inside was signed the name of all his teammates and a short message.
Tosh,
There’s a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
Merry Christmas!
Miss Casper, Sylvester, Gyro, Brutus, Avalyn, and Heidi
P.S. You still owe me 5 more movie
marathons for that special edition
Desert Drifters novel.
Sylvester
Stay tuned for more! Before Christmas I hope to get a good start on another short story for this month's writer's challenge. This month's theme is Winter Wonder, and there are going to be some strange antics going on in it.
As always, enjoy and read on!