Falling For The Christmas Thief

Chapter 1: A Random Act Of Kindness

[Note: Edited]

7.43pm
Wednesday
9th December 2015

She sat on the seat next to the car window, staring at the scenic view of the towering forest and dense shrubbery. It was the end of Autumn when they were to stay with their Aunt Tilda and Uncle Herald, that is if it were not for their parents going on a business trip to Canada, they would not be on their way to North Carolina. It had been 8 years since she last saw her aunt and uncle, an odd mismatched but loving pair.

"Miss, we have just arrived town," the driver said, his accent lilting. Kylie gave a small nod and glanced at her sisters whom were busy belting out Christmas carols.

Being the eldest was a tough job when it came to making peace after each and every row they hand and trying to keep them in line. It seemed, with the girls, there would never be a moment of true and proper peace.

Leslie bawled and whined in outrage when Carlia snapped,"Its not 'flying to town', it's 'coming to town'! If you don't sing well, then, don't sing at all!" With a brusque harrumph, Carlia turned away and ignored her teary sister.

"Enough, you two. Behave or I throw you out of the cab into the forest," Kylie chastised them and hug her youngest sister. "Hush now, no more tears. There is nothing wrong saying that Santa is flying to town. Remember the story about Santa flies his reindeer to send presents on Christmas Eve?"

Leslie nodded and glance at her elder sister with wide eyes. "Can you tell me the story again?", she pleaded.

"Of course." Kylie smiled. "It was a dark and foggy Christmas Eve when Uncle Herald was drinking hot chocolate in the living room and Aunty Tilda was busy baking cookies in the kitchen. Auntie had little flour and sugar then, so she asked Uncle to buy some from the grocery store. She gave him money and he was about to leave the house when an earthquake shook the town. The house shook violently and the huge sparkling star on the christmas tree fell onto the ground and shattered into pieces."

Leslie gasped in delight and awe.

"Uncle and Auntie were both afraid when they saw a big silhouette outside the kitchen window. Uncle quickly got out of the house and brought Santa in. Santa shivered and said, 'Sorry, folks for the terrible tremor. I am just too fat, like what my wife said. I am hurrying to a little girl's house and my reindeer flew into some thick clouds and we crashed behind your house.' Auntie cooed in sympathy and invited Santa in for some snacks before he leave and Uncle Herald offered his help with fixing his sleigh. Santa ate Auntie's homemade cookies but unfortunately, they were burnt. So Santa gave Auntie a paper with several recipes scrawled on it. He also took a shiny star from his pocket and put it on the christmas tree. Uncle mended Santa's sleigh the best he could."

"Uncle and Auntie were both happy to have Santa around but Santa had a job to finish, so he left after wishing 'Merry Christmas'. Uncle and Auntie went back into the house and found that Santa accidentally left his walking stick so they kept it. And there was no doubt that there were pretty presents under the christmas tree. The end," Kylie finished.

"A walking stick? Why does Santa need a walking stick anyway?" Sonnia asked.

"B-because Santa is old and fat?" Kylie guessed.

"Hah! You called Santa old and fat! You're not getting any presents this year! Santa won't leave any presents for you because you were naughty. You called him fat!" Carlia exclaimed. Kylie just shook his head and thought, Carlia is just too childish for a 12 year old.

"I am not childish!" Carlia snapped. Oops, must have slipped, Kylie thought and stuck a tongue at Carlia, Leslie did the same. Then, Carlia ignored them both and looked at her side of the window.

"Kylie," Leslie uttered, soft. Kylie looked down at her sister whom was smiling. "Do you think Santa will come visiting this year? Do you think he will come back for his walking stick this year?"

"I think so. Santa might come back and if he does, he would quietly slip into the house and leave presents when you are sleeping," Kylie replied.

"Why do you think Santa doesn't want children to see him when he comes to visit?"

"Maybe he just dislikes tiny FBIs or CIAs or even SWATs ambushing him while he does his job. We have to always remember that Santa leaves presents for us without us seeing him so it can be a surprise, okay?"

"Ohh," Leslie said. "And he doesn't want us to ruin the surprise until it's Christmas morning?"

"Exactly, you are such a smart girl," Kylie said, ruffling her sister's brown hair.

"Kylie?"

"Hmm?"

"What does Auntie Tilda looks like?" her five year old sister inquired.

"Well, Aunt Tilda has pretty auburn hair. She have a nice, friendly face and she loves children. She bakes cookies and send them back to our home every year because she knows that her nieces love chocolate chip cookies," Kylie said. "She bakes because she worked as a baker before she retired. You can ask her to bake cinnamon bread sticks if you'd like to."

"Oh, what about Uncle Herald? Is he like Aunt Tilda?"

"Sometimes. He loves Christmas very much and would decorate the house with lots of twinkling lights early every year. He can be grouchy sometimes when you do something wrong with his christmas decorations. Last I heard, he chased a gang of naughty children with Santa's walking stick."

"What did the naughty children do?"

"They had a snow fight a tad too close to the house. Made a ruckus and woke Uncle Herald. They launched an avalanche worth of snow balls and into the bedroom through an open window! If you're naughty, he'll chase you too." Kylie grinned jokingly at her sister.

"Oh, he sounds scary. I won't be naughty, I promise." She was interrupted by a big yawn. "Kylie, can I sleep now? I'm knackered."

"Okay," she said whilst patting her lap. Leslie lied down, her head on Kylie's lap. "Just close your eyes." Within mere minutes, Leslie was fast asleep.

Kylie was back to staring at the scenery. The trees were soon replaced by houses, shops, the town hall, schools, restaurants and all kinds of facilities. A lot had changed since she last visited. Even so, the peace and the warm atmosphere remained the same. There were people walking down the sidewalks; children playing in the playground; adults hurrying back home after work; families having roasted turkey and minestrone soup for dinner.

Something from the corner of her eye caught her attention as their driver drove into the neighbourhood which was still familiar. A boy, not much older than her, was staring at her from a window. The boy was oddly both familiar and unfamiliar. The car passed him before she could get a good look at him. They drove pass a few more houses and stopped.

"Miss, you have arrived your destination. I hope you enjoy your holiday," the driver said.

"Thank you very much. I hope you enjoy your holiday as well. Here," Kylie said, offering the cab fee, "keep the change."

"No, miss. I cannot. It is yours and I will only take the exact fee. Just hold on while I get the change for you," he said.

"No, take this. You deserve it. God said that we can change the world by simply doing a random kindness at a time. Merry Christmas," Kylie said, and carried her sleeping sister and flashed him her warmest, brightest smile. Smiling back, he nodded and tipped his hat to her. Carlia helped with the luggage and placed them on the the steps of the house. The cab drove off and the two sisters stared at the house in front of them.

"It looks more like a haunted house than some place Father Christmas would've visited." Carlia shuddered. "It's giving me the creeps. This looks nothing like the 'merry little cottage' you said it'd be."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~