Deck The Halls With Brand New Stories: Ho Ho Holiday Anthology

Little Mattie

"Fun? I'll show you fun." She tried to jerk her arm away so that she could go behind the bar and get the wooden baseball bat the owner kept there, then they could have some fun.

Louie shook his head. "Stop it! Or the next slap you get won't be across your little butt."

"Screw you." She fought harder but couldn't free her hand. It was no surprise, she was barely a hundred pounds while this goon easily weighed two hundred and fifty, and his friends weren't much smaller.

"No, screw you!"

Her heart raced and she broke out into a cold sweat. If she didn't get away from them, this situation was going to get ugly real fast and she had more than herself to think about. With her free hand, she punched wildly, connecting with the side of Louie's head. It didn't have the desired effect, quite the opposite, in a rage his eyes bulged from their sockets, and he yanked her towards him, nearly pulling her off her feet.

"You bitch."

She could barely keep her balance let alone strike him again. She was in serious trouble.

From the corner booth, the man with the scruffy beard shouted, "Take your hands off the girl. Now."

Laughing, Dewey shouted back, "Mind your own business, Santa Claus."

The old man stood up. "Santa Claus?"

"You heard him," Huey said, getting to his feet. "So, unless you want to eat your next meal through a straw, I suggest you beat feet out of here."

The man in the red coat took a step forward, his hands balled into fists. He was more sure on his feet than Mattie would have expected. He was also bigger and more fit than she gave him credit for when he was slumped over his whiskey.

"I have a better idea. How about you get the hell out of here, and I'll forget that you called me Santa Claus."

Huey broke his beer bottle on the edge of the table. "Fuck you, old man, it's your funeral."

Smiling, the man in red said, "I was hoping you'd do that."

Louie dropped her wrist. Flanked by Huey on one side and Dewey on the other, they advanced on Mattie's protector who didn't flinch, only smiled wider. Mattie scrambled behind the bar to retrieve the baseball bat, hoping to prevent the man from being stabbed to death. She need not have worried.

When Louie was three feet away, he cocked his arm back and threw a giant haymaker. The man ducked underneath it, popped back up, and punched Louie on the chin. Hard. It caught Louie cold, his eyes fluttered, and he fell backward, straight as a board. His head cracked loudly on the floor.

Using the distraction, the man pivoted and connected with an elbow to the side of Dewey's neck. He gagged and coughed and gagged some more. The man grabbed the broken bottle from Dewey's hand and jammed it into Huey's thigh.

Huey screamed like a stuck pig. He flailed and yanked it out, leaving shards of glass jutting out from his pant leg. The bottle clattered to the ground. As Huey continued to scream, the man punched him in the chin as well, before turning and slamming his fist into the spot right below Dewey's ear, both guys slumped to the floor next to their friend.

Mattie stood there dumbfounded, the bat hanging limply at her side. In a span of ten seconds, the man in red had succeeded in knocking the three drunk guys out cold.

"Do you want to get the door?" the man asked.

"What?" Mattie asked.

"The door. I'm going to take the trash out."