Christmas on 4th Street (Fool's Gold #12.5)

Great, Gabriel thought, now his dad had a sense of humor. “Bones aren’t my thing.”


It was late, or early, depending on one’s frame of reference. His entire family was crowded into The Christmas Attic, working to make Noelle’s display as perfect as possible for the morning judging.

“Just have to get this power strip in place,” his father said. “Gideon, hand me that power drill.”

Gideon did as requested, then returned his attention to the laptop he and Carter had brought. Karen and Felicia were sharing another computer—or rather Felicia was working the keys while Karen pushed buttons on a remote-controlled robot, dressed to look like a Christmas elf.

When he’d put out the call to his family, he hadn’t known what to expect. But everyone had come through. They’d met at Gideon’s house a little after six to work out a plan, then had collected everything they would need for the window display and had descended on the store around nine. The idea was to combine an old-fashioned Christmas with high-tech innovation.

The tree was the centerpiece. There were presents, some wrapped, some unwrapped. But instead of a team of elves helping Santa, there were three small robots in jaunty Christmas attire. The background was a light show, synchronized to holiday music.

“Dad, where did you find these old songs?” Carter asked.

“They’re classics.”

“They’re not even from this century.”

Gideon typed on the keyboard, then glanced at the lights his father was mounting in rows. “Nothing good is from this century.”

“Hey, I was born in this century.”

Gideon paused to squeeze his son’s shoulder. “Okay, you’re right. You’re the one good thing.”

Karen held up a box. “Wrapped or unwrapped?”

Gabriel glanced at the make-your-own-plushy-elephant kit. “Weird, so we’ll leave it unwrapped.”

He glanced at his watch and swore. It was after four. Carter yawned.

“I’ve never been up this late,” the teen said with a sidelong glance at Felicia. “There’s no way I’m going to make it through classes today.”

She pressed her lips together. “Yes, I know. I should have made a bed for you in the storeroom so you could sleep.”

Norm climbed down the ladder. “You worry too much, woman. An adventure like this is good for the boy. I used to take my sons out in the middle of the night to look at a meteor going by.”

“Once we went into a deer blind and watched the does walk by with their newborn fawns,” Gideon said.

Gabriel remembered the stillness of the predawn hours and how the babies had been so delicate as they walked by. For once his dad hadn’t been yelling at him or complaining he wasn’t macho enough.

“That was a good night,” he admitted.

Carter and Felicia crawled into the window and began arranging the presents Karen handed to them. Gabriel and Gideon handed in the three robots, while Norm went outside with a walkie-talkie. He stood on the sidewalk, giving them direction on how to arrange the robots.

Gabriel and Gideon anchored the lights to the back of the window and tested the connection. When they all came on and stayed steady, Gideon plugged in his laptop and hit the enter key. Music played and the lights began to flash.

It took nearly an hour to get everything in place. Just as Gabriel was securing the window closed, someone knocked on the front door of the store.

Felicia hurried to let in the other woman.

“Patience!” she exclaimed.

Patience, a pretty woman with brown hair, held out two take-out trays with to-go containers.

“I heard you’d been at it all night,” she said. “So I opened up a little early to bring you your morning coffee. I have regular and decaf.”

“I’ll take the decaf,” Norm said. “Honey, you want the same?”

Karen nodded. “I’m going to try to sleep this morning.”

Patience passed out the containers. She handed one to Carter. “Hot chocolate with extra whip.”

“Thanks.” Carter flashed her a smile.

The rest of them took the regular coffees. Patience held out a bag of donuts. “Fresh from the bakery,” she said. “The window looks great.”

Karen took the bag and opened it. After drawing in a deep breath, she sighed. “I love this town.”

Her husband looked at her for a second, then turned to Patience. “Thank you for bringing this. I remember when I got up this early every day.”

“I’m used to it now,” she said with a laugh. “The first few weeks were tough. Now I need to get back to my store. I have a surprising number of regulars who are in line by five.” She started to leave, then turned back. “Oh, Police Chief Barns said to remind you to lock up before you leave.”

“Of course she did,” Gabriel murmured, thinking that was so like Fool’s Gold. Everyone looked out for everyone else.