First he went to the town square to sit in the gazebo and listen to the carolers, then watched children sledding. He helped Angela take a load of presents for the town Christmas party to Eden, the community center.
He saw Holly, dressed
up as one of Santa's elves, gather up children and take them into one of the
smaller rooms for storytelling. Remembering what Angela had told him about
getting to know her, he followed her and listened. The children sure loved her.
The littlest ones fought to get to sit on her lap during the storytelling. He
helped distribute cookies to the children in the storytelling room and then
pass out presents. Lanie did a stint in the main room, performing her comedy
routine. Later her wheelchair basketball team did an exhibition in the smaller
gym. Maurice was impressed.
He was even more
impressed when walking through the lobby of Eden gave him odd vibrations
through his feet. He circled the floor until he found the spot, then stood
there, trying to figure out what he was feeling. While he didn't have magic,
obviously he could still feel where something magical had happened.
"Maurice?"
Jane paused in the doorway to Eden's office. "I don't even want to know
what's going on, but …" She gestured at the floor where he stood. "Do
you feel the residue from our fight this summer?"
"What kind of
fight?"
"Who're
you?" a big, wheat-haired, gray-eyed guy asked, stepping into the doorway
behind Jane. He rested a hand on Jane's shoulder and gave Maurice one of those
challenging glances guys understood and women thought were stupid.
"This is Angela's
Maurice," Jane said. "Maurice, this is Kurt."
"O -- o -- kay.
Who clipped your wings?"
"Furlough for
Christmas," Maurice said with a shrug.
That got a grin from
both of them. When he asked about the fight Jane mentioned, Kurt said they were
on a deadline. If he wanted to hear the story, maybe he wanted to help them
with an errand?
Maurice went with
them to drop off toys Kurt had made for the children at Neighborlee Children's
Home. The pride and affection in Jane's voice when she told Maurice that made
something ache inside him. Other than his parents, had anyone ever talked about
him with that sound in their voices, that look in their eyes?
On the way there and
back, Kurt and Jane told him about the interdimensional invader they referred
to as Big Ugly, who made regular attempts to either destroy the guardians of
Neighborlee or rip a hole through to Earth from another dimension. Now Maurice
was even more impressed. Neighborlee was no quiet little nowhere town where he
had to serve his sentence. It was a pivotal point holding closed one of the
dangerous weak spots between multiple dimensions. His respect for Angela
tripled.
He met a friend of
Angela's at the orphanage. Jon-Tom made his living as a carpenter and had
brought hand-made wooden toys for the children. Jon-Tom offered Maurice a ride
back to Divine's, which was convenient because Kurt and Jane were going to
Felicity and Jake's house for Christmas Eve.
Angela had a houseful
of guests, including Holly, Diane, Ken and Jo. There were people at tables in
four rooms, set with mismatched dishes and every chair in the shop. Everyone
brought a dish to share and they set up a long buffet table in the main shop
room in front of the tree.
Maurice was introduced
as a distant cousin of Angela's, and welcomed as if he belonged. He didn't mind
his total lack of magic as the evening passed in laughter and singing and
storytelling. Until he heard the clock strike the quarter hour. He looked up to
realize it was 11:15. Where had the day gone?
He hung back as
everyone started making their farewells, as if the chime was a signal. It
pleased him and humbled him, when almost everyone made the effort to find him
and say good-bye.
"Nobody asked
how long I was hanging around," he said to Angela, when she stood in her
open doorway, watching the last carload of guests drive away.
"I told them you
were only able to stop to visit today, but you would be back." She turned
to rest a hand on his shoulder. "Did you have a good day?"
"Yeah. It was...
I've never had a day like this. Thanks for the Christmas present, Angela."
He inhaled sharply as he heard the first bong of the clock chiming midnight.
"Merry
Christmas, Maurice." She closed her eyes, and a single tear trickled down
her cheek as silver magic sparks swirled around Maurice and swept him away.
"Merry Christmas, Angie-baby," he whispered, and opened his eyes to find himself back in his apartment hutch. He wore the same clothes but shrunken down, with his wings fluttering as if frightened by being separated from him all day.
He couldn't decide if looking ahead three months to another day at normal size, without magic, was a good thing, or more depressing than words could express.
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