With Love From Santa

Post I

It was another chilly winter night at Memphis, it had been snowing virtually all day which was quite differing from what the weather man had announced earlier in the day-perhaps, the cold had gotten the better of them. The whole block was brightly lit with red and glowing lights from almost every house. The streets were packed with snow on either sides of the road which was cold and almost silent except for the laughter and noise that came from within the apartments that lined the block. The radiant moon sent sparkles of light across the empty street-or not totally empty.

"Stupid car..." Malcolm said, banging the door to his venerable car which had seen better days but tonight, it had made its decision to spend the night outside the garage-its own perfect getaway, come on, everybody needs a break at some point. He stared into the snow lined block as he pulled out his backpack and a brown bag from the seat behind.

"What a scene!!" he muttered, thrusting his arms into his coat "what could be more beautiful than Malcolm McGuire parking a dead car on the street and having a long walk home on a snowy night?!" He said to himself, letting out a puff of cold air escape into the atmosphere as he started off into the street. For the first few minutes, the only thing on his mind was getting home but the laughter from within the Christmas-lit apartments slowly drifted his thoughts, home's far from near he mumbled to himself after he had spent a moment watching the shadows from within a home as they made loud laughter while trying to decorate the Christmas tree. It was then it hit him, dinner was in less than 5 minutes and Vanessa surely wasn't a big fan of late meals. He picked some momentum, increasing his pace into the poorly lit block.

"Oh no, It's not what I'm thinking" he said to himself as he made his final turn, power had been cut off from his apartment and that was the last thing he could actually ask for at this point. This streak of jinx just didn't sound right to him, he had to be missing out somewhere but he still couldn't figure it out. The day was surely going to end the same way it had started-on a blip note with coffee spilling on his pants just as he pulled up at the office, the server had been painstakingly slow which had caused him to stay passed close of work just so he won't have any extra work to deal with tomorrow, he had spent lunch time at his boss' office to sort out a few things and what did he get in return? A free lunch which he was actually carrying now in a McDonald bag, the heavy traffic on his way home, the stupid car which won't just take him home and now, here he was, in front of his apartment-without power. It couldn't get any worse, he thought.

"Hey Honey" a thin female voice rang from the dining room; it was accompanied with the noise of clanging spoons and forks, "Think you could help me with that bowl from the kitchen!"

He hung his coat and kicked off his shoe, making his way barefooted to the kitchen with backpack in one hand and brown bag in the other.

"Thanks honey" she said, collecting the warm white bowl from her worn out husband. "You're late" were the words that followed her 'welcome home' kiss after she had placed the bowl where it should be.

"Yes, I know. I'm sorry" he replied nimbly, "Work just replicated, I'm sure you won't want me skipping that"

"Yeah sure, I didn't hear you drive in either" She said, taking off his backpack and making her way out of the dining room. He pulled out a chair; there was a heavy sigh as he fell into the dining chair then a split second of silence,

"It broke down, again"

"You'll have to change it now and that's something you know" she replied with a giggle as she sat opposite her husband at the dining table. They said a prayer and then served themselves to as much as they could. Dinner was eaten over talks about how their day went- which Malcolm's sounded quite hilarious to his wife- with the rich smell of beef and mushroom burgundy filling the apartment. It took a couple of minutes to finish dinner after which Vanessa did the dishes while Malcolm helped himself to a warm bath.

Where's T.J?" he asked as he sank into the bed close to his wife, her body smelt of Bombshell in love, the pajamas she had on was the one she had gotten this summer, it was a limited edition version and it sure felt like heaven when she unwrapped it.

"Sammy borrowed him for the night" She replied, drawing herself closer to him on the bed as he adjusted to smooth her curls as she laid on his chest. T.J was their 7months old Labrador retriever which was the only living thing in the house asides Malcolm and his wife and at this point in his life, it felt like an extension of their lives and so it would remain for a longer period than they could actually want.

"I'm surprised you haven't asked about the power!" She said with a gentle yawn

"Oh, what can I say?" He replied, thoughts of work racing through his mind. December often came with a whole lot of work load, especially for him as a sales reporter.

"We could get it fixed tomorrow, some guys could come over to check it out" Vanessa replied in a calm tone, never sounding like anything bothered her even if there was a whole lot of worries trooping through her mind. There was a moment of depressing silence which enveloped the room and for a second there you would think he had actually dozed off.

"I didn't budget for this much expense this Christmas" he said slowly, allowing every word to come out just as he wanted it to without ripping the meaning out of it.

"I know honey, but we can't possibly kick it off now that it's come up, Can we?" She said in that same old re-affirming we'll-scale-through note.

"I'm applying for a raise tomorrow." The words came with so much seriousness than it had come with 4 months ago. Vanessa raised an eyebrow as she still lay on his chest; a smile crept up her face at the thought of how much courage he must have mustered to be able to face James Watson, HR Manager, The Mall.

"Finally?" she asked with a slight giggle

"What's funny? And yes, I am really going to do it if at all we're going to stay afloat."

"Good luck with that honey" she kissed his hands.

The hush of the neighborhood was bliss, what more could one possibly ask for on a cold winter night, without power and after a long jinx filled day.

***Heyy, thanks for reading till this point, i'm glad you could join in on this. It was meant to be for Christmas but then....hope you liked it. Be sure to comment and vote**
I more post coming up :p