CHAPTER 10
The next day is much like the first. I walk to the mall from school, Don gives me a glacier mint, and I go to do my homework in my dad’s office. I try to keep my mind off the nasty Santa. My dad is right. I have enough on my plate right now, what with school and getting rid of Seth that I don’t have time to worry about some creepy man playing Santa for a month. I simply won’t go near his spot in the mall, won’t take Pippa to see him, and let him get on with it. Dad is right, there are plenty of security guards and people around, they’d stop him before he got a chance to rob anyone blind.
After I finish my homework, I pinch Dad’s hat again and go for another wander around the mall. I’m determined to stay away from the nasty Santa, but at the same time I’m curious about what he’s up to. I decide to peek down his alley, just for a look. Everything is empty when I get there though. The grotto, if you could call it that, is all set up, but it’s empty apart from a chair where I assume the nasty Santa will sit to meet the children. There’s no sign of the nasty Santa or any of his accomplices though, so I creep away, hoping that Dad wasn’t watching from the security cameras. I wander back towards the main part of the mall. As much as I love this mall and love the fact that my dad works here and I pretty much have the run of the place, I kinda wish I was curled up in my armchair watching rubbish TV and waiting for Mum to come home with Pippa.
I wish there was no Seth, no divorce, no anything different from how it’s always been. Things are quiet at this time of day as most people are at home making tea now. It’s almost the close of business and some of the vendors are outside sweeping the storefronts or fixing their window display after a day of customers picking things up from it. I know most of the long-term vendors and shopkeepers here, although there are a few new shops springing up here and there, things tend to be pretty traditional and unchanging around here. On the one hand, it’s boring. Nothing new or exciting ever happens, and on the other hand it’s comfortable and familiar and safe. I mean, I’m ten-years-old and I get to wander around the mall freely. And yes, my dad is watching every move I make from the monitors in his office, but I know that in a bigger city, a bigger town even, I wouldn’t be allowed to do this. The same as the way Mum lets me walk Harry in the mornings. Everything is so close and familiar around here that it feels safe. It wouldn’t be like this in a bigger town, and while sometimes I feel like it’s all so boring, I also appreciate the freedom that feeling safe gives me.
When I get back to the main square of the mall, I see the nice Santa is there, decorating his grotto. It’s not even half-finished and already it looks so much better than the nasty Santa’s one. There is tinsel everywhere, lamettas hanging over the door like a sparkly curtain, fake felt snow, which Santa is nailing to the roof, and sparkly fluffy looking fake snow that a girl is tossing out of a bucket into realistic looking piles on the floor. I stop and stare for a moment. The girl looks about my age, maybe a little older, but her hair is what stands out the most—it’s a very bright, almost electric red with chunky white strips on either side. I would kill for my parents to let me dye my hair, any colour, but especially that colour. Come to think of it, her hair perfectly matches Santa’s suit. I have no idea how long I’m standing there, but when I next look up, Santa is turning around on his ladder and beckoning me over.
“Well, hello there again, Kaity,” he says kindly.
“Hi,” I say suddenly feeling shy. I walk over and end up standing near the girl with the bucket of snow, and I feel so dreary standing next to her. My dull and limp hair is hanging in frizzy rats tails after it got wet in the rain at lunchtime in school, and her perfectly straight bright red beautiful hair is parted in the middle and hanging all shiny and pretty down her back.
“I was hoping I’d run into you again today,” Santa says. “I brought someone to meet you. This is Blizzard,” he indicates towards the girl beside me. “She’s going to be helping me out while I’m working here but we don’t know anyone in town and I thought maybe you could both use a friend.”
“Blizzard?” I say, stunned from my shyness.
“Blizzard,” she nods as I turn towards her. “And you’re Kaity, right?”
“Yeah,” I nod. Even my name sounds dull and boring compared to hers.
“Hi.” She pulls her hand out of the bucket of snow and thrusts it at me.
I shake it, surprised by how cold she is.
“Oops, sorry I’ve got snow all over you now,” she says as we drop hands.
“It’s okay,” I say, dusting my hand off on my trousers. “Who doesn’t like a bit of snow?”
She grins at that.
“Kaity’s dad works here,” Santa pipes up from where he’s gone back to nailing the felt snow to the roof. “He’s the one who came by to see us earlier.”
“Oh right,” Blizzard nods. “Seems nice. It must be cool to have your dad running a place like this.”
“Well, he doesn’t exactly run it,” I say. “Just head of security. But yeah, it’s pretty cool.”
I suddenly remember I have his hat on my head and I feel stupid. Blizzard is beautiful and everything that I wish I could be and I know that just by standing next to her for all of three seconds. I bet my parents would never have got a divorce if I was like Blizzard. I take the hat from my head and stuff it into my pocket, noticing there’s still glitter on my hand from where I shook hers. I’ll have to remember to brush Dad’s hat off before I give it back to him. A security guard with a glittery hat just doesn’t work.
“So what do you think of the grotto?” Santa asks.
“It’s awesome,” I say.
“We’re going for the gingerbread house look,” Blizzard says. “I made fake sweets to stick to the roof when he’s done,” she points towards Santa on the ladder.
“Now now, give an old man some time, girls.” Santa grins in our direction. “I can only do one thing at a time.”
“The snow is supposed to look like sugar too, that’s why there’s so much glitter in it.”
“Did you make that too?” I ask, half sarcastically.
“Of course I did,” she says completely seriously. “I can’t leave it to Daddy, he’d blow the house up.”
“Now now, I do have my uses,” Santa winks at her.
“Oh,” I say, suddenly falling in as I glance between the two of them. “Is he your father?”
“He is,” she says. “That’s why I get to be his helper all month.”
“Well, you’re the one who says I’d burn the place to the ground if left to my own devices,” he says good-naturedly.
“Parents!” Blizzard says to me and rolls her eyes.
I grin.
“So do you need any help?” I ask. Why did I ask? I don’t know, but something made me. Something about these two, about this girl, makes me not want to leave, but I don’t want to stand here like a lemon making small talk either.
“Oh Kaity, that’s very nice of you to offer,” Santa says. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I don’t have anything else to do,” I say. “I’m stuck here until Dad finishes his shift anyway so if there’s anything I can do then I don’t mind. I love Christmas. Somehow helping Santa get organized sounds kind of fun.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t bet on it,” Blizzard says, but she’s smiling and I know she doesn’t mean it.
“This is always the best time of year,” Santa says.
“Well, yeah Santa would say that, wouldn’t he?” Blizzard says to me.
“You know you love it, honey,” Santa smiles at her fondly. “You know, I don’t think I have enough snow here to do this roof. Why don’t you two girls go and get some more from Rudolph for me?”
“No problem,” Blizzard says. “Follow me.”