Page 3 of Kenzi's Little Christmas Wish

Chapter 2

“Crap,” Kenzi swore, as she quickly slipped her feet into her ballet flats and then ran out the door. She was supposed to start working at the mall today and had promised Debbie she would make it in early when her roommate came in to wake her up. But as soon as Debbie had gone, she found she didn’t have the energy or desire to get up from her bed. By the time she remembered her promise to Debbie, she was already late. Luckily, her old and usually reliable Toyota didn’t disappoint her today, and started with just one twist of the key.

By the time she made it to the mall, she figured she was so late they already had time to send for a new elf from the North Pole. Nevertheless, she had made a promise to her friend and she was at least going to show her face. Finding a space in the parking lot, she quickly opened her door and ran towards the mall. The sounds of Christmas jingles started in the parking lot, and by the time she made it into the mall, it was like a full-blown Christmas commercial; everything red and white, everyone smiling and happy, and everyone shopping for Christmas presents at the same time, it would seem. Considering the fact that this was just the first week of December, Kenzi considered these people either anal or psychologically damaged. Realizing she was letting her general mood dictate her thoughts again, she took a deep breath and walked further into the mall. Her first clue as to how late she was would be the very long line of children waiting in front of Santa and his… elf. Elf, as in singular. That is, there was only one male elf flanking Santa. And if the outfit he was wearing was anything to go by, Kenzi got the feeling she may have to fight off horny teenagers and old men with an elf fetish. It was tight enough to double as ballet tights. Her second clue was when she felt someone yank her arm and drag her backwards.

“Hey…” she started to say, when she heard Debbie hiss as she pulled her into a changing room at the back of the mall.

“You are late, Kenzi. I kinda staked my whole job on getting you this gig. Why are you doing your best to screw it up?”

“I’m not trying to screw it up. I… got caught up in traffic about three intersections back.”

“No, you did not! I know because I’ve been asking everyone who entered through that door if there was any traffic. Since I could not figure any reason why my friend would want to get me fired, I started to imagine you behind the wheel in a ditch somewhere.”

Kenzi glanced at her friend. “Are you being dramatic now?”

“Yes, and still very, very mad at you. Now get into your elf outfit… and you better be the best goddamn elf this mall has ever seen, or you better sleep with one eye open tonight.”

“Okay, now I’m scared.” Kenzi said, with an exaggerated shiver as she took of her shoes and reached for the elf costume that had been laid out - a green tunic with a flared waist that came to just a little bit above her knees, and candy-cane colored stockings. She also put on the ridiculous pointed shoes that came with the outfit. When she was done, she took a look in the mirror. The dress showed no cleavage, but was tight enough that it wasn’t too hard to imagine what she carried underneath. Fiery red curls peeked from below the green stocking hat she wore, falling to just past her shoulders, and Kenzi wondered if she should take the time to braid her hair before going out.

“Okay, that’s enough,” Debbie declared, as she grabbed her friend’s hand and pulled her out of the closet. “Now get to work, and you better have a big smile when you take those kids to tell Santa what they want for Christmas.”

“And what about what I want for Christmas?”

“You can sit on Santa’s lap and tell him all about it after you’ve clocked out for the day,” Debbie joked. “Now get to work.”

As Kenzi quickly joined Santa and the elf in front of the mall, she forced a big smile on her face.

“Hi, I’m Jennifer. But you can call me Kenzi. Sorry I’m late,” she said to Santa and the elf, going for a slightly apologetic smile.

“Hi, I’m James. But I guess you could call me Jimmy,” the elf replied, his own smile almost as shy as hers. Santa, on the other hand, didn’t look too impressed, and the slightly turned down slash of his lips was still visible, despite the mass of white curls that framed them. He lifted a hand and beckoned to her.

“Hi, sorry for coming late.” Kenzi apologized as soon as she came within earshot of him.

“Good, well now that you have apologized to me, would you mind apologizing to the fifty kids you’ve kept waiting all morning?”

His voice was deep and low pitched, his tone stern enough to send shivers down her spine and harsh enough to raise her hackles. “I’m sorry, Santa. I promise I’ll be a good girl from now on.”

His reply of, “you’d better be. Or else,” was enough to make Kenzi even madder, and she found herself clomping back to her position on his left side, with him looking just a bit miffed. At the last moment, she remembered she was supposed to be a cheerful elf helping children meet Santa, and exchanged the disgruntled look for a beaming smile.

“Okay, kids.” Jimmy stepped forward with a smile, sweeping his hands theatrically. “Why don’t you come and tell Santa what you would like for Christmas.” Then, leaning forward, in a loud conspiratory whisper, he added, “And I hope your name is not on Santa’s naughty list.”

The kids all laughed and beamed, clearly taken in by his charm. So Jimmy worked the crowd, going amongst the kids and chatting with them, obviously enjoying himself. Meanwhile, Kenzi led each kid to Santa, and then back to their mothers, who stood off to the side of the line, eyes on their wards. Her smile remained in place, but barely, and it was clear from the imaginary daggers she kept shooting at Santa, she was definitely miffed at him.

If Santa was aware that one of his elves was mad at him, he apparently had enough Christmas cheer to overlook it. He smiled as she handed the kids to him one by one, all of his attention on them as he spoke in a singsong cheery voice and seemed to genuinely care about what they were saying. Which explained why he was spending two minutes more than the time they had set for each kid. When they’d used almost two hours, and the line seemed just as long as it did when they just started, Kenzi couldn’t take it anymore and walked up to him.

“You gonna keep us here all day?” she whispered to him. “Just do what they are paying you to and let’s get the hell out of here.”

“Really, and you have something better to do than put a smile on small children’s faces?”

“Sure, anything that puts a smile on my face,” Kenzi said, as she stalked back to the front of the line to resume her duties. Four hours later, they broke for lunch and Kenzi almost couldn’t feel her legs. While Santa and Jimmy took their time to talk to the kids before leaving, Kenzi made a beeline for the back of the store where the makeup aisle was, and found her friend advising a woman on what color lipstick would go with some kind of dress.

Kenzi waited until she was done with the customer before she spoke. “When do you break for lunch?”

“Right about now,” Debbie said, glancing at her phone to check the time.

“Good, because I think I need a break from this place.”

Debbie glanced at her friend with one brow raised. “Please don’t tell me you found taking kids to Santa annoying too. I mean, who the hell can still manage to stay mad while they are dressed in an elf’s outfit? A really cute outfit, by the way.”

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