The Yule Clause

Chapter Fourteen. Christmas in July.

        Scott and Mackenzie were watching Charlie's soccer game, when a little girl came up to the bench they were sitting on. She sat next to Scott; he moved away a bit. But she stood up and tapped his shoulder. "What?" he turned to her, she sat on his lap. "I want some ballets slippers." She told him. Mackenzie tried to not laugh but couldn't help herself because this little girl just assumed that an overweight man with white hair, wearing a red coat, was Santa Claus. Or maybe kids just had a way of knowing. The little girl then looked at Mackenzie. "Are you an elf?" she decided to play along, so the girl wouldn't ask something else, like 'Are you Mrs. Claus?'

"Yes I am." Scott turned to his niece with a raised eyebrow. "Then why are you so tall?" the girl asked. Mackenzie didn't even need to think about the answer because she already knew it. "I'm a south pole elf, and we're taller." Before the little girl could ask another question, more kids started lining up to tell Scott what they wanted for Christmas. He didn't want to pretend to be Santa, but he couldn't disappoint all the children that were standing in front of him with hopeful eyes.

Everything was going fine until Laura and Neal walked over. Scott picked the boy up from his lap, so he could stand. "This is bad." Mackenzie whispered to the elf girl next to her who nodded in response. "I'm not done!" the boy tried to stop Scott. "Fax me." The man replied, then put him down on the bench. He walked up to Laura and Neal while Mackenzie followed. "Hi, hey...I know this looks pretty odd, but these kids lined up all by themselves." Scott said hoping that they would believe him. "I think it's safe to say that you have taken this Santa thing to an unhealthy level." Neal said taking out his wallet. "Take my card, call me." He handed it to him. Scott took it and looked at it. "I really have to tell you, this is beginning to scare me, never in my normal dreams...but then this is you we're talking about." Laura said. "Honey, the point." Neal looked at her. "I never thought you would stoop to changing your physical appearance so Charlie will like you." She started, Scott sighed and looked down. "Did you ever consider what Mackenzie's parents would say about this? Or how dangerous it is to a little boy?" Laura asked. Tears rolled down Mackenzie's cheeks. "Whoa, whoa. Don't bring them into this! And how is this dangerous?" Scott asked angrily. Charlie walked up to his parents, confused about what was going on. "Come on, Charlie. We're going home." Laura took her son's hand and turned to her niece. "You're coming with us." She said but the teen shook her head because her aunt couldn't just take her from Scott because he had full custody of her, Laura pulled Charlie over to the car. She knew that she would have to save Mackenzie from her crazy uncle somehow. "You let him stay. I'll go!" Scott called. "If you don't get your act together, Scott. So, help me...I will..." She didn't finish. Mackenzie turned to her uncle. "You don't think, she'll go to a judge, do you?" she asked still in tears. "No of course not." Scott placed a hand on her shoulder. "Everything will be alright." He promised. She hugged him tightly.