Jack and The Christmas Tree - 1. Chapter 1

It was a cold day and school was canceled due to snow, I should be happy, but since dad has to work, I have to have a baby sitter, I’m 9 years old for peat sake, I think as I wait by the door. soon there comes a knock and I’m quick to open it and I see a rather small man standing there. I blink, he is smaller than me and then my dad walks up behind me and I turn to say something, when I’m distracted by something out of the corner of my eye. I turn to look and see the little man is not little after all, he’s a normal size man.

“What the F,,,” I say, almost cussing.

“This is Jack,” my dad says, “he’s from the babysitter service, “Tod was not available,” he informs me.

“But,,,,” “he was,,,“. “little,” I squeak out.

“Nonsense,” Jack says, “how can I be little like you young man?” He says with a twinkle in his eyes.

“Well I hate to rush out, but I’m running late,” he says as he puts on his coat, “you be a good boy and do everything Jack tells you,,” he says sternly, “oh forgive me,” he says to Jack, “this is young Robert,” he says as he points to me. “His brother Nick is still asleep up stairs,” he mentions as he pushes past us.

I stand there staring at this man, I know,, he grew, I think? I look him up and down looking for any sort of device to explain it. “I know you?” I say thinking that I have seen him somewhere before.

“You might, young Rob, you might,” he says with a wink.

“How do you know everyone calls me Rob?” I ask, eyebrows raised.

“I know all the good little boys and girls,” he says with a smile.

“Girls are yucky,” I tell him with a frown on my face.

“I agree, but little girls are just as important as boys,” he claims, “aren’t you going to invite me in, young Rob?” He asks.

“Oh,,,” “I forgot, please come in old Jack,” I say with a wide smile.

“You can call me Jack,” he says as he seems to float through the door.

“Just Rob, not young Rob,” I tell him closing the door behind him.

“Ok, just Rob, now where is your Christmas tree,” he says looking all around.

I giggle because he said I “just Rob,” and that’s very funny “we don’t have a tree,” I say looking down, “my mom died last year on Christmas Eve and ever since then we have been a sad family,” I say.

He lifts my chin and looks deep into my eyes and says, “we are here to change that.”

“We?” I ask, “I don’t see anyone else here,” I tell him as I look around, thinking maybe this man is crazy and strange.

“Oh I’m not crazy or strange,” he claims, “and I know exactly what your thinking,” he informs me, “so don’t try to fool me,” he states.

“Whaaat?,” I stammer, “how,,, did,, you,,” I start to say.

“Know what you were thinking?” He finishes my question, “I’m an elf don’t you know?” He asks with a surprised look on his little face.

I just then realized that he is only 7 inches tall. “Cooooool,,,,,how did you do that?” I ask looking up and down and all around, there must be some sort of trick going on here, maybe a mirror or something, I think to myself.

“It’s no trick and there are only the mirrors in the bathroom,” he tells me, now if you will kindly go wake up your brother, and make it quick,” he says as he starts to jump up on the sofa, “ we don’t have much time, much to do,, much to do,” he says as he eyes everything in the room.

I race up the stairs with my heat beating out of my chest with excitement. I fling open the door to our room and leap on my brothers bed. “NICK,,, NICK,,,” I scream at the top of my lungs, “WAKE UP, WAKE UP,, THERE’S AN ELF DOWN STAIRS,” I yell in a night pitched voice.

“Whaaaat?, “ he says sleepily, “it’s not Christmas yet, is it?” He asks in a hopeful way.

“No, silly,” I say, “but there’s a real live elf downstairs,” I claim, “I saw him grow and shrink,” I tell him, “you have to come see,” and I jump off the bed and tear downstairs afraid he might be gone.

“Ahh there you are Just Rob,” he says looking up from a big red bag on the floor.

“Where did that come from?” I ask looking all mystified.

“Direct from the North Pole, of course,” he says with a nod, “Prancer was just here and made a special delivery,” he claims.

I run-to the window and think I can still see something in the sky, “was that,,?” I start to say and just stare with my mouth open.

“Prancer,” he finishes for me again, “he said to say sorry, he couldn’t stay any longer, he is urgently need in Hong Kong,” he claims with a jump and a kick.

“Awwww,,,” I proclaim, “I wanted to pet him.”

“Holy,,,,, Cow,,, “ Nick screeches, “you are an,,,” he starts to say pointing and jumping up and down.

“An elf?” Jack states, “”I’m glad at least one boy in this house recognizes me,” he says looking at me, “after all The times you came to visit the big guy at the mall every year, I was always there by his side,” he says, “now,,” he says” “we have much work to do and not much time to do it,” he claims, “your dad will be home in just 7 hours,” he informs us, “so where is your tree?” He says, “Rob tells me you have not gotten it yet?” He asks Nick.

Nick is staring at the red bag on the floor and seems to get it right away, he points and says, “it’s in the bag?” He questions with pleading eyes.

“Very good Nicholas,” Jack says, “can I call you Nicholas?” He asks him, “I am rather fond of that name, that’s the big mans name, don’t ya know?” He says with a giggle in his voice.

“Hey, that’s right,” he proclaims, “that is my name,” he says as he dances around the room.

Jack opens up the red bag and gets a sad look on his face, “oh my!” He says with sadness, “it seems Prancer has forgotten to pick out a tree, whatever shall we do?”

“I knew it was too good to be true,” Rob says sadly, “dad always says if it’s too good to be true,,,,”

“Hush,” Jack says interpreting me mid sentence, “be careful what you say around me,” he tells us in a hushed voice, “things can come true, if you really believe them to be true,” he says in a whisper, “even bad things,” he warns.

I put both my hands over my mouth and stay silent looking between Jack and Nicholas, “sorry,” I say, “I’ll be more careful,”

“See that you do, Just Rob,” he says very seriously, “now where were we,,,?” He asks us both, “ahh yes, the tree, you have to have a tree,” he claims, “Just Rob, why don’t you come over and see if you can pick out a tree,” he says holding the red bag up, “there has to a tree in there somewhere,” he says as the bag sparkles.

“But,, that bag is,,,” I start to say.

“NOOOOO,,,,,!” Nicholas screeches, “you can’t say that,” he says very loudly, “you have to believe,” he says as his face turns red as he realized he just yelled at me.

I cover my mouth with my hands and start to giggle, “ops,,” I say, “I almost forgot,” I admit, “let me look,” I say as I reach for the bag. “It’s a lot lighter than I thought,” I say as I take the bag from Jack. It seems to get bigger as I hold it and I open it up and look inside curiously, as I reach inside I feel branches and quickly pull my hand out grasping as hard as I can and before my eyes an enormous tree spills out on the carpet.

I fall back and land on my butt, I hear laughing from both Jack and Nicholas. I look at them and start to laugh with them. “Ok boys,” Jack says, “we need to decorate it now,” who wants to pick out the decorations?” He asks as he holds up the bag. We both raise our hands and rush the poor elf who disappears under two rambunctious boys.

“Ughhhh,,,” I hear from a small voice, “get off me,” I hear as I move away looking down at the elf.

“Ops,,,” I say, “sorry, I forgot you were so small, did we smash you?” I ask as I start to giggle.

Nicholas starts to laugh and soon Jack is laughing as well, “you think that’s funny?” He asks, not serious at all, “well it won’t be funny if the tree is only half decorated when your dad gets home,” he claims.

“Yes it would,” Nicholas and I say at the same time and start laughing together once again.

“Well never mind,” Jack says, “let’s get to the decorating,” he says with a smile on his face, “carefully this time,” he says with a wink. We spend the next hour or so decorating the tree and it looks magnificent, “now for the rest of the house, “ Jack says. He looks around the room and says, ”now where did I put my machine gun?” He asks with a sly smile on his face.

We both start to look around and it occurs-to me, he doesn’t have a machine gun and that an elf would never come armed. I think about this as Jack looks at me and nods his head, “I found it,” I say as Nicholas looks at me from under the coffee table, I raise my arms and make a POW, POW sound and before I know it, I’m shooting streamers of red gold and all the pretty colors out my fingers. Nicholas crawls out from under the coffee table and joins in and soon even Jack joins in and before we know it the entire house is so full of Christmas colors we can’t even see the floor.

“STOP,” Jack says in a commanding voice, we both stop mid aim and the streamers coming out of our fingers dwindle to nothing, “that’s quite enough,” he says, “we must leave some ammo for all the other boys and girls.”

“Awww, just a little more,” we both say to him.

He looks around at the mess and simply says, “MAY YOUR CHRISTMAS BE MERRY,” in a loud and booming voice and everything starts to swirl and spin and all the colors are mashed together, before long it is a Christmas wonder land in the living room, a perfect decoration.

“WOE,,, I mean wow,” I say as I stare in fascination, Nicholas is just spinning around trying to see everything all at once and keeps going faster and faster and soon falls over on his butt laughing all the way.

“Right,” Jack says, “I guess my job is done here,” he proclaims as he starts for the door.

“Wait!” I plead, “it looks really nice and we had ever so much fun, but what about dad?” I say without hesitation, “he is really sad,” I say, the excitement wearing off, “how can we be happy if he is sad, isn’t there a way we can make him happy too?” I ask crestfallen.

Jack stops and turns and looks directly at me and says, “well there might be a way,” he says very slowly, “but it will take a lot more work and a sacrifice,” he says with a warning in his voice.

“I don’t care, we will do anything,” I say for the both of us, “Christmas will never be happy if dad is sad,” I say with conviction, “isn’t that right Nicholas?” I ask him, or rather tell him.

“Yeah,” he says, “I don’t even want any presents or a tree or anything if dad is sad,” he proclaims, “I’ll give anything to see him happy like it used to be,” he claims.

“Ok, just so you both agree,” Jack says in a very serious voice.

“WE DO,” we both proclaim together.

“So,,,, shall,,, it,,,be,” Jack says in a strange voice and the he promptly disappears. We both stare at the empty space where Jack was just sitting with open mouths.

I’m the first to speak and just simply say, “what happened?” As I look around our shabby house and realize that the tree and the decorations are all gone. There is not a clue that Jack was ever there.

“Where did Jack go and where is the tree and all the pretty stuff?” Nicholas asks.

I realize what we said, I rush over and cover his mouth, “don’t you realize what we said,” I ask him and he has a blank look on his face, “we said we would give up the tree and our presents and all the decorations if dad would be happy?” He still looks at me blankly, “we gave it all away, no tree, no decorations and no presents,” I tell him with a heavy heart. He looks down at his feet and begins to cry softly realizing what we said and remembering Jacks warnings.

“It’s almost time for dad to come home, let’s wait for him in hall way,” I say as I lead him by the hand. Just as we get to the door it opens and in walks dad.

“Merry Christmas, my darling boys,” he says merrily, “what’s with the long faces?”

“Jack is gone and the tree and the decorations,,,” I start to say and Nicholas interrupts me mid sentence,

“It’s nothing,” he says in a whisper, “we were just playing,” he claims. I stare at him thinking dark things in my mind when I hear a bell jingle from somewhere out side and see a small man in the distance.

“Well you two need to get dressed right away,” he proclaims in a happy voice, “we have much work to do and not much time to do it,” he says with a wink. I look at Nicholas and he looks at me, “hurry up,” he says and with a smile.

We run up stairs and get dressed as fast as we can and rush back downstairs and see dad smiling at us from the hallway, “I have some news boy,” he says as he leads us to the old station wagon, “I got fired today, but it’s ok,” he says with a smile and a wink, “I just know something better is just around the corner,” he claims. I look at him and start to say something, but Nicholas puts a hand over my mouth and shakes his head and I stay silent.

“I know you will find the best job in the world,” Nicholas says and winks at me. I smile a knowing smile and look to see dad humming a Christmas tune.

“Jingle bells,,, Jingle bells,,,,,,” we all start to sing and as my heart fills with joy, I realize that as long as we are all happy, it doesn’t really matter if we have a tree or presents colorful decorations or anything, as long as we are together and happy nothing can ever compare.

We are headed out to find a Christmas tree and a few decorations and maybe a present or two, but I wouldn’t trade this Christmas for all the riches in the world and as the song comes to an end I hear a small voice in the background say, “may your Christmas be merry.”

I look at Nicholas and he looks at me and we both start to laugh and laugh and soon dad is laughing as well.