The Ghost of Christmas Present

By the time all the families had arrived at the Children's Emergency Shelter, they almost outnumbered the children who were staying there. Tommy, of course, took charge to Andreu's consternation. However, he did relax when he saw all of the adults smiling including Mr. Edgar Walker the Director of the shelter.

"Ah, yes, young man, you must be the world renowned Tommy Haines and instigator of this invasion. Now, am I right?" Mr. Walker deftly turned the tables on Tommy with his question.

Tommy, though, just took everything in stride and without a stutter or break in his step, walked right up to Mr. Walker and introduced himself.

"Mr. Walker, my name is Tommy Haines, and I am here with my family and friends to make this a Christmas that the children who have to be here will never forget. We have lots of presents and clothes for each and every one of them. Now, can we cut out the chitchat and make some kids very happy? I thought so. Now would you kindly lead the way so we can get started?" Without pausing, Tommy shook Mr. Walker's hand and then began leading him back into the shelter.

While Tommy was busy talking to Mr. Walker, the rest of the folks were busy unloading all of the vehicles crammed with bags of gifts for the children. Luckily, Mr. Walker had been forewarned, and before he and Tommy had reached the entrance, several staff members emerged pushing laundry carts and other conveyances to bring everything inside. This shelter was one of the few that actually had a cafeteria large enough to hold all of the children and the invading horde. Of course, it was actually a multipurpose room as it served as Gym and Auditorium when needed. Right now it was in cafeteria mode; Mr. Walker led Tommy and Andreu with their bags to the stage area where they could start separating all of the gifts into the appropriate groups.

Dropping his bag on the stage and giving Mr. Walker and Andreu their orders, Tommy then left to hurry the rest of his troops along.

"Hurry up now; daylight is a burning and Christmas will be over before you slowcoaches even get in the door."

Amy, the ever irrepressible teenager, just gave him a salute and cheekily replied, "Yes, Sir, Right Away, Sir, Three Bags Full, Sir!"

Then before Tommy could figure out what she had just said; she was past him and on her way to the stage.

It took several minutes to get all of the gifts inside the shelter and onto the stage; everyone was busy helping, including the staff. Everyone that is except for a certain Captain Neal Lennox, who had gone off on some mysterious errand. Some intelligent staff member had closed the curtains on the stage, so that they could begin bringing the children in to the cafeteria with none of them being the wiser as to what was going to happen.

While all of the gifts were being brought in and sorted, several of the staff members were busy bringing all of the children into the cafeteria. Several of the younger children had to be woken up as they were taking their afternoon nap. Soon the cafeteria was abuzz with the sounds of children's voices. Everyone was asking the same question basically, "What was going on?", no one had an answer. Finally, Tommy asked Mr. Walker to tell the children something to settle them down before they blew the roof off with all their questions.

Carefully sliding his way through the curtain Mr. Walker walked onto the stage and slowly the din in the room became a quiet buzz and then silence.

"Okay, everyone, can I please have your kind and quiet attention?" All of the kids sat up a little straighter and all of the whispered conversations ceased as well.

As Mr. Walker was making his way toward the stage, Robert's cell phone went off.

"Robert, it's Neal and I need five more minutes, please stall the festivities that long and what ever you do, do not let Tommy on stage until after I get there. I will explain everything when I get there. Bye, I need to hang-up before I get a ticket for talking on my cell." Before he could even respond Neal had closed the connection. Espying something in the corner of the backstage, Robert moseyed on over to Jeff and had a quickly whispered conversation with him.

Jeff nodded his head and with Robert's help they began moving the piano onto the stage in front of the curtain, surprising Mr. Walker, who had just begun explaining what was about to occur.

"Okay, everyone I know that you are all wondering what is going on and why we dragged you all away from your TV and games. And yes even why we woke you up from your naps." His last words brought smiles to the younglings.

"Today we have a very special.........." He had to stop speaking as Jeff and Robert had appeared.

"Just a minute, folks, it seems that plans have changed. Let me go see what is going on." Ed then walked over to Jeff and Robert and was quickly informed of the change of plans. As soon as that was done, Robert headed back to corral his youngest son.

"Well, as I started to say, today we have a very special surprise for you in just awhile, but while we are getting that ready for you, we have another surprise. The gentleman over by the piano whose name is Jeff is going to play some Christmas Carols for you, and his mother-in-law, Carol, is going to lead you in a Sing-along. So without further ado here are Jeff and Carol.

Luckily, Carol was close to the curtain and snuck onto the stage just as Mr. Walker finished his introduction.

"Okay folks, the first song we are going to sing is 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town.' Are we ready?" The response to Carol's question nearly brought down the roof and the whole shelter with it.

While Carol and Jeff were entertaining the kids, and some of the staff, rousingly, Robert had Tommy separating the younglings' gifts out so they could be first. Of course it was taking a bit longer than it should have because Amy and Andreu kept mixing the gifts up, to keep Tommy busy.

"Well, since that song went over so well and was such fun, I think we will try a very special Christmas Song made famous by Peter, Paul and Mary. The song is called "A Soalin' " and it has a special meaning for this day, this place and what will happen later. For those of you who don't know the words, here they are:

Peter, Paul & Mary A Soalin' Lyrics ©PPM

Almost everyone was surprised at the reaction to the song, the reaction was overwhelmingly positive. It seems that unknown to the powers that be, there were quite a few children in the shelter who were of the Jewish faith, and who had felt out of place. The song gave them hope and warmth and they sang with a renewed sense of self and purpose. When the song finished, the entire cafeteria/auditorium was on its feet applauding and thanking Jeff and Carol for uplifting their spirits. Some of the older children actually felt better than they had in a long, long time. Having someone do something for them and asking nothing in return was amazing to them.

"I think we all owe Jeff and Carol a big round of applause for their wonderful performance. And I have just been informed that we are now ready for the main surprise and here, to explain everything and get the ball rolling, is Master Tommy Haines." To say that Mr. Walker was shocked when Robert came on stage and not Tommy would be a massive understatement.

"Sorry about that Mr. Walker, but I need to explain a few things before Tommy comes out. By the way, he has a surprise for you as well." Robert turned to look at Ed as he finished before turning back to face the eager faces of the children.

"I am sure all of you are very curious as to what is going on and why all of the mystery. On top of that, you probably also want to know who all of the strange people are; well, let me see if I can answer a few of those questions before turning the festivities over to the aforementioned Tommy Haines. First of all, my name is Robert Haines, and all of the people here this afternoon are either my family or very close family friends; even though I work with some of them." His last words brought a few smiles and laughs to some of the children.

"I would like to introduce my wife, Carol, and my Son-in-law, Jeff, to you and if everyone but Tommy would please come onstage, I will introduce them as well." Everyone but Tommy soon joined him onstage making the stage a very crowded place to be. Andreu, Amy and Darryl stood next to him and they were soon joined by Jeff and Carol.

"Okay, now, let me introduce my immediate family, well, at least the ones you haven't met already. The blushing young lady is my daughter, Amy, the white haired young man is my oldest son, Darryl, and in case you haven't figured it out, Jeff is his husband." With those words you could have heard a pin drop, if Robert had given the pin time to hit the floor.

"The shy teenager trying to hide behind my wife, Carol, is our newest son, Andreu. We adopted Andreu yesterday and he is one of the reasons we are here today. Oh and before I forget, today is Andreu's sixteenth birthday." When he had said that, Andreu tried to hide even more, but Carol reached behind her and pulled him forward. Darryl then grabbed him and pushed him in front of Robert who quickly wrapped Andreu up in his arms.

Andreu blushed even more, if that was possible, when the cafeteria erupted into a rollicking version of Happy Birthday Andreu.

"Okay, now that you have met my immediate family and embarrassed Andreu even more than I could; let me introduce the rest of these folks." Robert proceeded to introduce everyone and as you would expect there were a few gasps when Judge Reynolds and Captain Lennox were introduced. By now, the kids were in such a state of shock that they didn't hear Mike being introduced as Judge Reynolds' husband.

"Now that all of that is out of the way, I will get on with the explanation of why we are all here and what is going to happen..." Robert was interrupted by Andreu trying to pull his head down so he could whisper something into Robert's ear.

"Okay, folks, my newest son says he wants to introduce his younger brother. But before that happens, I need to say that everything that has happened and is going to happen today is because of Tommy, and Andreu and their sister Amy. We adults had nothing to do with anything but offer support and, of course, as you will find out, our credit cards. Now here he is, Andreu Jonah Haines. Robert then lowered the microphone to Andreu's height.

"Thanks, Dad, now go check on my younger brother and make sure he is ready." Andreu paused for a sec and then continued speaking. "Yes, folks, I was only adopted yesterday and that is a long story, but let me tell you my new family is awesome. I still can't believe everything that my younger brother did for me so I could become his older brother. But that isn't the most amazing thing he did or the reason why we are here; and like Dad said, this is all Tommy's and our idea. In fact the adults tried to talk us out of what we wanted to do. Before you hiss and boo them, they did it only to make sure that we really wanted to do this." Thankfully, Andreu added the last bit, or there would have been a lot of hissing and booing.

"Now, to the reason we are all here, after we finished opening all of our presents this morning, Tommy asked a question about what would have happened to me if they hadn't adopted me. When he found out that I would have been sent here and that I would have missed celebrating Christmas and probably would not have received any presents, he became very upset. He decided right then that was unacceptable and that if he had anything to do about it he was going to fix it. He then volunteered to give all of his presents to you the residents of this shelter. Jeff and Darryl volunteered to double all of his presents if he really wanted to give his away. After making sure that that was what he wanted to do, our Dad said he would match Jeff and Darryl as well. Well then Amy and I volunteered our presents as well. And let me tell you Dad and Mom weren't too happy with me, but I explained to them that I had everything I needed with them as my family, plus I had two big brothers in Jeff and Darryl to buy me anything I wanted. They finally gave in, and before we knew it, Tommy had made a whole bunch of phone calls and finagled all of our friends and their families to join us. So here we are and without further ado, here is my brother, Tommy." Andreu then turned around and pointed at the curtain. As he did the curtains opened and Tommy came walking out as Jeff played 'Here comes Santa Claus', why that song you may ask. Well Tommy came out dressed as Santa Claus saying Ho Ho Ho in as deep as a voice as he could.

"Merry Christmas and a belated Chanukah to the rest of you as well. For those of you who celebrate Chanukah, I apologize in advance for not getting you the appropriate gifts. However, I will have a word with Uncle Jens and in the future, so you won't feel out of place. Just because you are here in this shelter is no reason that you can't practice your religion or be shunned by it. So those of you who celebrate Chanukah, please accept what is going to happen in the spirit of love and caring in which it is meant. And now let's get this party started." With those words, the curtains opened fully and the mountains of gifts on the stage could be seen.

"Now comes the fun part as we give out your Christmas Gifts, and unlike some of the presents you have gotten before, I can guarantee you will actually like these. How do I know that? Well, a lot of them are things I wanted and like. For those girls in the crowd, if you don't like anything, you can blame my sister Amy as it is her fault." Tommy had to pause as the roar of laughter made it impossible to speak.

"Okay, now that you have gotten that out of your system we can begin distributing your presents." Those were the magic words and the place rocked to cries of joy and happiness. All of the guests and some of the staff began the joyous task of making children happy. Within moments, there were even more cries of joy and there were lots of hugs and kisses being handed out.

Just as the last present was opened and almost all of the clothes had been tried on, a door opened and in walked a staff member and a disheveled teenager. When Tommy saw the new kid he was taken aback, as there were no presents left to give him. Jeff saw the new kid at the same time and saw that he looked frightened. Jeff then headed over to talk to him.

"Hello there, my name is Jeff and I am part of the craziness that is going on here today. I am sorry we didn't know you were here or we would have had some presents for you. However, if you tell me your name and how old you are, I am sure that we can come up with something for you, if not, I will just have to take you shopping." Jeff then put out his hand to shake, but the teen just hid behind the woman.

Andreu happened to be looking over that way and when he saw what was happening he began making his way over.

Meanwhile, the woman began introducing herself and her teenage charge.

"My name is Dr. Lisa, and I am the Intake Psychologist here, and this gentleman is Noel, and we are very glad to meet you. As to you not knowing that Noel was here; that is because he arrived just before you folks did." Lisa stopped speaking as she saw Andreu approaching.

"Well it is very nice to meet both of you, and, Noel, we will do everything we can to make sure that you get the same things as the rest of the children here. Like I said earlier if not I will take you shopping and get you close to that and a few other things you might need. Our family wants everyone here to have a wonderful Christmas..." Jeff was interrupted by Noel shouting at him and trying to punch and kick him.

"I am not going anywhere with you! You are just like the rest of them perverts and just want to use my body because I am young and gay." Just then, Andreu arrived and pulled Noel from Jeff.

"Stop hitting and shouting at my Brother, he won't hurt you, and in fact, he can really help you. I know you don't know him or me from Adam; but he saved me from being beaten to death by a cop. Don't say a word until I have finished; not only did he help his father-in-law save me, but his father-in-law adopted me into his family. Now Jeff is my Big Brother and no one in their family cared that I am gay. In fact the funny thing is Jeff and that guy over there with the snowy white hair are married to each other and we have one big happy family. So Jeff will really try and help you and he would never hurt you. In fact, he and my little brother Tommy are my lawyers and they are really, really good." Andreu stopped talking long enough to catch his breath.

"Noel, honey, see I told you things would get better for you, and yes being a gay teenager isn't going to be easy, but it doesn't have to be terrible either. There are accepting and caring people in the world and you just found a whole bunch of them. So please apologize to Jeff and let him and his family try and help you. Dr. Lisa gave Noel a hug and then watched as Andreu began tugging on Jeff's arm to get his attention.

"Jeff, Jeff, pay attention; I think you are in big trouble."

"Why am I in trouble, now?" A confused Jeff asked.

"Because our little brother is cooking up something and I think you are the goose who is going to get cooked! [The waterfowl, not the lovable dragon, Jeez©!]

"What do you mean, Andreu?" Jeff asked, while a confused Dr. and patient looked on curiously.

"Well, first, he went and talked to Jens Younger and then they went and found Judge Reynolds. They talked for a bit and now they are talking to Mr. Walker and they are looking over at you now. So I think they are planning something and it involves you. But let's not worry about that; let's see what we can do for Noel, before we have to leave. So Noel how old are you and what is your last name?" Andreu explained things to Jeff and then asked Noel.

"Well, my name is Noel Primero and I am fifteen years old and before you ask; no I don't have a boyfriend yet. And I am not really looking for one yet, but I could use some good friends."

"Well, Noel, thanks for confiding in us and as for friends, I am sure that before we leave today you will have quite a few. As for finding a boyfriend, well, I will leave that up to you and Andreu. I am sure that you and he will do just fine without my help." Jeff began making small talk with Noel and Dr. Lisa. Because he was concentrating on Noel, he didn't see Andreu get called away.

Andreu hurried over to where Tommy, Judge Reynolds, Jens Younger, Mr. Walker and now his dad were meeting. When he arrived, Judge Reynolds began speaking to him.

"Andreu, we have a problem with finding a place for Noel to stay and we think we have a solution. Do you think we could place him with Jeff and Darryl and have Jeff be his Foster Parent?"

"Yes and no..."

"No, why wouldn't you want Jeff to be a Foster Parent, Andreu?" His father surprisingly asked.

"Because, I think Noel needs a Dad not a Foster Dad. I get a really strong feeling that his life was even worse than mine; and that he really needs stability of a permanent dad not a temporary one. He said he needs friends, which means he really needs loving and caring. Having him move from place to place would probably cause him problems; plus it would make finding and keeping friends very hard..." Andreu's answer was interrupted by loud cries from Noel.

Upon hearing Noel start crying loudly, everyone's attention was shifted to Noel and Jeff. Dr. Lisa left Noel sobbing in the comfort of Jeff's loving and caring arms. Darryl started making his way in that direction but he was cut off by Dr. Lisa who dragged him along with her.

By the time she arrived at the meeting with Darryl in tow, the decision had pretty much been decided. It was all but over; the only thing missing was the shouting.

"Andreu's right you know, we need to make Jeff his Dad not his Foster Dad!" Tommy expressed his feelings very strongly while looking first at his Uncle John and then his Uncle Jens.

Jens Younger was the first to answer, "John, you know I can only do temporary placements without a background check and a court hearing. Only you can cut through all of the red tape like you did for Andreu."

"Okay, Uncle John, the ball is in your court," Tommy told his Uncle while Andreu moved over to give the judge a hand.

"Alright, Tommy, since you asked for it, I am going to play Devil's Advocate. What kind of character does this Jeff person have and what are his finances like? Will he be able to provide financially and emotionally for Noel? Does he have stable employment? Now, give me some answers that say Jeff can do the job." The Supreme Court Judge looked Tommy right in the eye and then said; "the ball's in your court now, kiddo."

"Judge Reynolds, Your Honour, the Jeff person, as you called him, is actually Jeffrey Smythe Burroughs Cummings IV, and has been in a stable relationship with his partner for over five years now. In fact he and his partner have owned their house for the last four years free and clear. He has stood by his partner through thick or thin even when it seems his partner's father was going to disown him. He has also been a wonderful and caring Big Brother to me, when Darryl was busy or not available." Tommy had to stop and catch his breath before continuing, all the time looking directly into his Uncle John's eyes. Of course, that meant he missed all of the smirks and smiles going on around him. He also missed the eyes wide open shocked stare from his new big brother.

"Because of that, I know he can be there for Noel emotionally, plus he has lots of love to go around. As to the financial side of things, he and his partner paid cash for their house. In addition, I know that he has almost as much if not more than my father in the bank and has several not just one very good retirement plans. Just one of those plans will take care of him and his partner very well in their golden years. In fact, both of them could retire tomorrow and never blink an eye. Regarding his employment, that is definitely stable as he is The Senior Vice President of the Cummings Commercial Bank, Real Estate Division. One of the largest Commercial Banks in the nation, which is owned and operated by his father. The Real Estate Division is one of the largest and most profitable divisions of the bank. If that wasn't enough, both he and his partner are the owners of Haines Acquisitions, one of the most well known and respected Real Estate Acquisition Companies in the state. In fact their company has enough financial backing and assets to purchase my dad's company outright without a noticeable drop in their reserves or liquidity." Tommy's last words did cause Dr. Lisa's jaw to drop a bit and caused Mr. Walker to pay even more attention.

"Judge, if those facts aren't enough, then consider this; he has also served as an Officer of the Peace. In fact he has just recently performed in that capacity during the rescue of an at risk youth, whose life was in danger. To answer the question you didn't ask, he also has the education to make sure that Noel will grow up very well educated. He has a degree in Criminal Law he has degrees in Business and Real Estate Law. In fact he taught me all I know about law and I proved to you last night how much I have learned..." Before Tommy could add any more points, he was interrupted by his Uncle.

"Tommy, I surrender, go get your Uncle Mike and tell him I need my briefcase and seal. Tell him I will also need him to be an Officer of the Court again as well. I will get the ball rolling with your Uncle Jens and then when you get back you can help me draft the appropriate decrees; that is, once you have gotten all of the appropriate information from Noel. Andreu and Robert, you get to break the news to Jeff and Noel. Andreu, then you can bring Noel to where Tommy and I will be working. Any questions?"

"Not a question but a statement of support and assistance; I came over to tell you that Noel is in a very precarious situation. He definitely needs lots of stability and love, he definitely should not be put into the system. He has bonded very well with Jeff and they shouldn't be separated at this time. I can certify that if he was placed into the Foster Care system, he would have to be placed on the Suicide Watch. If you will let me go to my office after checking in on Noel and Jeff, I will write up my professional assessment. That assessment will add weight legally to your decision and decrees." Dr. Lisa threw her hat into the ring.

"Shouldn't we ask Darryl what he thinks of our solution? Wait a minute where is my son?" Robert inquired looking around for his son.

Jens was the first to answer;

"The answer to both your questions is over there." Jens then pointed to where Andreu was leading a smiling Darryl over toward Noel and Jeff.

"You're right, Jens, that does answer my questions; I guess I'd better get myself over there to help Andreu." Robert was on his way as soon as he finished speaking.

"Okay, everyone, I guess we should get on with our assignments. Mr. Walker can we borrow your office, a printer and your Fax Machine?" The Judge responded and then asked Edgar.

"Right this way, Your Honour, I would be honoured to offer any assistance that I may." Mr. Walker replied quickly with a smile.

As everyone headed off on their assignments, two ghostly dragon forms flew off into the night with their very happy riders. All they left behind was a faint scent of cinnamon.

Author's Notes:

I knew I said in the previous chapter that the Christmas part of the story was finished and that the story would continue in a different direction. Well, that was true at the time and is essentially still true. The story will continue with the same characters, but in a different direction. See Robert's dream for some hint. The reason I wrote this chapter is the same reason I wrote several of my stories and several chapters of those stories. Jeff and Noel wouldn't let me sleep and they demanded that I write this chapter. Well, since I need my sleep, I surrendered, and here is their story. I hope that you have enjoyed it.

TSL

Comments welcomed at The Story Lover

Legal Notice:

Any and all characters not my own have been used by the consent of their creator. [Either before or after the fact, grudgingly or willingly or because of large bribes. Any issues see 'Goos']

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza, Buon Natale, Feliz Navidad, Happy Kwanzaa, Holy Ramadan, Frohe Weihnachten! ,Christmas Alegre! ,Joyeux Noel!,God Jul! , Glaedelig Jul! , Nadolig Llawen , Gledelig Jul , Nollaig Shona Duit , Mele Kalikimaka

Mid Atlantic Editor's Notes:

Very nice. The only complaint I have is the missing cliff hanger at the end. Jeez©. I am a sucker for a happy ending and so I loved this. Hopefully more chapters will come and maybe sooner than next year at this time. Well, Merry Christmas to all.

Str8mayb

If I had held out I could have been bribed? I'll remember that in the future.

Midwest Editor's Notes:

I loved this chapter, too. I tend to like happy endings, myself. I am very happy to hear that there will be further adventures from these people in the future. I would hope that it will be sooner than later. I am sorry that it took me as long as it did to get this edited, and therefore caused it to be delayed. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas or whatever you might be celebrating, and also a very happy New Year.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Comments appreciated at The Story Lover