Santa and the Missile Toad

Posted on Tue 26th Dec, 2017 @ 3:22am by Carlo Rienzi
Edited on on Tue 26th Dec, 2017 @ 3:51am

1,175 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: A Phaser as Deadly as a Candlestick
Location: Orchids & Jazz
Timeline: Concurrent with "Chestnuts"

"What do you think? Did we pull it off?" Serena asked her boss.

Jade looked around her normally placid restaurant. They'd closed early in the afternoon so Reon and the team he rounded up could hang garlands of replicated pine boughs, wrapped with red and white ribbons, all along the outside edges of the room. They were high enough that no one could reach them, but the multitude of tiny white lights carried plenty of illumination to see one's surroundings. Groups of 3 round red bulbs at intersections of boughs added a glow of warmth.

In the middle of the floor where people usually danced, Reon had placed a ten-foot tall Christmas tree. How he had managed it, Jade hadn't asked, but tall and slender, decorated with more red and white lights, it reigned over the gathering which had begun about half an hour before. Someone had tied at least two dozen white bows to the tree, mixing them with large red hanging ornaments.

"I really think we did," Lantz answered finally. "Christmas isn't something I grew up celebrating, of course, but it was something I adapted to quickly in my foster home. Our Christmas was never this grand," she swept a hand around to indicate all the table decorations, which included more white bows and red ornaments. "There was a rule in my foster home, though, and I think it might be why I'm so fond of this Earth holiday."

"What rule?" Serena asked when Jade seemed lost for a moment in memory.

"Oh, we had a little manger scene on the fireplace mantel, not unlike the one set up at the end of the cookie-plate station, though it was real, not holographic, and so was the fire. At some time during the week before Christmas, each of us had to do something truly kind, or compassionate, or perform some service for someone else. We would write what we did on a paper and fold it up, then put it in the cradle with the Baby Jesus. It was our gift to him."

Since Jade wasn't in the habit of letting bits of her own history out, Serena hugged this morsel of information close. "It sounds like a wonderful way to celebrate the religious importance of the day." She looked around the room. "I noticed there were no Santa Claus or elf images anywhere."

Jade smiled but didn't explain further. She took a long box wrapped in blue and silver from the bar and said, "I'm going to put this in a safe place and then mingle with our guests."

As the present giving and receiving bubbled away in the centre of the club, Reon had shut the main doors, leaving only a small entrance into the restaurant, one with a chain across it. He moved the podium to the side of that door, so he could monitor when people wanted entrance. Officially, Orchids & Jazz was closed for the night for the private party, though there were a few he would let in who were personal friends of Miss Lantz ... or of his. A small silver-wrapped box with a white bow was his gift, but he wouldn't be drawing from the hat for its recipient, so it sat on a shelf inside the podium.

Jenna walked over and stood beside the doorman. "So this is how the rich and famous celebrate Christmas."

"And a variety of other holidays ... Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Refarum, First Day, as experienced by multiple cultures, maybe Peldor." He glanced at her, but she was lost in watching the crowd. "But, yeah, kinda like that."

At the door, there came a tapping, as of someone gently rapping, rapping on the restaurant door. Opened, it revealed five girls with identical faces and neon-orange hair, wearing ao dai in red and white; behind them, another group of five with opalescent white hair and a different shared face, wearing red and white kimono with a motif of falling snowflakes. "Ho, ho, ho!" announced the girl in front.

The doorman opened the door wide and bowed the ten young women into the restaurant. "Ten women can't be wrong," he said. "Welcome to Orchids & Jazz and the Vanguard Christmas party. And ... ho, ho, ho to you, as well."

He'd never seen ten girls who looked exactly alike, and he wondered how they had managed such a thing. There must have been a basic commonality they had ... but how had they made themselves identical. It never crossed his mind that they actually were identical.

Carlo Rienzi turned the corner into the corridor leading to Orchids & Jazz and blinked in surprise at seeing all of the ladies from Pearl with a Chainsaw entering Orchids & Jazz from the side entrance. Their restaurant made the best pot-stickers on the station, as far as Carlo was concerned. He carried with him a Christmas gift for Reon, but he waited patiently behind the two sets of sisters, curious to see what they were up to. Maybe they were caroling?

"Ho, Ho, Ho!" the lead girl called out again.

"What my sister means to say," said the next orange-haired girl, shooting a speaking look at her jolly twin, "is that we heard you were having a Christmas celebration, so we brought Santa and the Missile Toad to distribute presents and kisses."

Jenna said, "Truthfully, I think you're just in time to save the day. Come on in." She nodded at Velasquez, and he stepped back to let the women pass him. Behind them, he saw Carlo waiting.

"The Missile Toad?" Carlo cracked up. "I'm afraid to ask."

One of the girls in kimono, the group with opalescent hair, turned back and smiled at Carlo. "Hello! Have you been naughty or nice this year?"

"Hello, yourself!" Carlo said with a smile. "I've been naughty when I could be and good when I wanted to be," he said, waggling his dark eyebrows slightly.

"Then here," the white-haired girl said, reaching into an oddly lumpy red flannel sack, "is your lump of coal!" She produced it with a flourish and handed it over. "And here," she went on, as the rear-most of the orange haired girls turned and came bouncing back, "is your kiss!" The orange haired girl bounced surprisingly high and licked Carlo's cheek, exclaiming, "Ribbet!"

Carlo laughed delightedly and offered the orange-haired girl a Japanese-style bow. "I will put this in a place of honor in my pub!" he said, lifting the lump of anthracite, "and anytime you feel in the mood for some Italian-style fun, come on in!"

Miss Pearl returned the bow politely. "And I know you enjoy our gyoza, so come in anytime."

Miss Ripper bounced over to her friend, and licked her cheek as she came up from her bow. "Ribbet!" she exclaimed. From the front of the group, they could hear a different Ripper sister exclaiming again, "Ho, ho, ho!" as she entered the festivities. Miss Pearl turned just in time to hear one of her sisters call, "Gods bless us, every one!"

 

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