by Zack Zombie
Just then, a loud shouting noise came from outside followed by the honking of a car horn.
“Is anyone coming to get this tree with me or not?!!”
It was Mr. Lurker. He was obviously in the car and ready to go.
Mrs. Lurker jumped for joy and ran to fetch her coat.
I began to take my scarf off until Lucy grabbed my arm.
“What are you doing?” she asked with a look of confusion on her face.
“Well, I was thinking I might stay here. After all, there are plenty of trees in the garden for me to look at. I don’t see how coming with you guys to get another one will be too exciting.”
“Ah! That’s where you’re wrong!” Lucy replied, grabbing the end of my scarf and wrapping it back around my neck. “A Christmas tree is a special thing and picking out the right one is even more special. Come on!”
Mrs. Lurker opened the front door and I followed Lucy through to the porch. Her Mom closed the door and the three of us joined Mr. Lurker in the family car.
Mr. Lurker grunted as the last car door slammed shut. Then, he threw the car into reverse, almost running over a stray cat that was walking by.
Mr. Lurker then crunched the gearstick and we moved away down the street in the opposite way to the town. Soon, all civilization seemed to be behind us. I wondered where this special tree was going to come from.
After we drove for around ten minutes, Mrs. Lurker came up with a suggestion.
“Why don’t we all sing some Christmas carols?” she said with delight.
“Why are we singing songs about Carol again?” I whispered to Lucy. “And where’s Charity? Is she coming?”
Lucy just looked at me with the normal confused look she gives me.
Suddenly, without further discussion, Mrs. Lurker burst into song.
“Deck the halls with ‘boughs’ of holly...”
Lucy quickly joined in, as so did Mr. Lurker.
It was the first time I’d heard Mr. Lurker come close to anything that sounded joyous. But, even with his best try he still just sounded constipated.
Since I had no idea why they were singing about ‘bowels,’ or what a ‘Falalalalalalalala’ was, I just looked out the window as we drove along.
The snow had stopped and up ahead I noticed some lights rising into the quickly darkening sky. It seemed we were almost there.
Within a few minutes, Mr. Lurker made the announcement.
“Well, here we are!” he exclaimed. “Terrance Toptrees’ Tree Lot.”
He pulled the car into the almost empty parking lot and switched off the engine.
As the engine stopped it sputtered and coughed. It didn’t sound healthy at all and I was concerned that it would never start up again.
“It always does that.” Lucy whispered, noticing the worry on my face. “Dad’s had this car for as long as I can remember. He’s too cheap to buy a new one.”
“Good evening, Lurkers!” said a jolly man who came strolling out from a small hut to greet us. “How are you all on this Christmas Eve, eve?”
“We’re good, Terrance,” replied Mr. Lurker, shaking the man’s hand. “We’re here to find our tree.”
“Well, you’ve come to the right place,” Terrance chuckled. “All I have here are trees... and afresh hot cocoa in my hut!”
Either the wind was blowing too hard or I just heard him say he had fresh hot cocoa in his butt.
Terrance led the way through some gates to a huge area filled with nothing but pointy trees. I took a look around. They all seemed exactly the same to me.
“We really want a big tree this year,” Mr. Lurker said to Terrance as he walked over to see some trees.
“I think a medium one will do,” Mrs. Lurker whispered into Terrance’s ear when Mr. Lurker looked the other way.
Terrance showed us some of his best trees. Then, Mr. Lurker picked one out and Terrance pulled it from the line and dragged it towards the car. With Mr. Lurker’s help, Terrance lifted the tree onto the roof of the car and took some money from Mrs. Lurker.
“Can we get in the car, Dad?” Lucy asked, rubbing her arms. “It’s freezing.”
Lucy was right. As the sun disappeared the temperature had dropped suddenly with it. We climbed into the car, and I only hoped the heating system at their house would be fixed by the time we got home. Someone was supposed to be coming while we were out, so hopefully we’d be returning to a warm house.
I climbed into the back of the car with Lucy as Mr. Lurker took the ropes from the trunk, threw them over the tree and tied it in place on the roof. Then, he jumped in and turned on the car. It sputtered, spat and even coughed. But it finally started, and we headed home... singing more Christmas songs on the way.
As we got home we could see the boiler repair van backing out of the drive. Lucy gave me a high five. It appeared that the heater was fixed.
The moment the car pulled up, we jumped out and ran into the house. The place was warming up nicely, which was great because Lucy and I were almost frozen.
“Herobrine, can you go outside and help Lucy’s father get the tree in? I’ll get the hot cocoa,” said Mrs. Lurker, taking off her coat and boiling the kettle. “Lucy, you can bring the decorations in from the study.”
I wasn’t too happy about going outside again because it was so cold outside and I was warm and toasty inside. But I knew it was the right thing to do.
When I went outside I could hear Mr. Lurker moaning and groaning, and saying words that I really didn’t know the meaning of. It seemed that getting the tree down from the top of the car was not as easy as it looked.
“Hey Blockhead! Come here and help me get this tree in the house,” Mr. Lurker said, frustrated.
“You push on that side and I’ll pull on this end,” Mr. Lurker said as he walked to the other side of the car. As Mr. Lurker walked over, I noticed that because my hands and arms were really cold, it gave them more sharp edges.
I used one edge of my arm to see if I could cut the ropes off the tree. It worked. The tree fell right over. Unfortunately, the tree fell right on top of Mr. Lurker. From all of the strange words he was using, I don’t think he was very happy.
After Mr. Lurker dragged himself from under the tree, we picked it up and headed for the door.
“You push and I’ll pull,” Mr. Lurker said as he stood in front of the doorway. But no matter how much we tried, we couldn’t fit it through the door.
“Let’s switch places,” Mr. Lurker said. So I stepped in front of the doorway and he got on the other side. This time it was harder than before. I kept pushing like he told me, but I didn’t understand how Mr. Lurker expected to get the tree in that way.
Humans are so weird, I thought.
After twenty minutes, we decided to switch places again. This time, it worked. I figured it was a better idea this way, but I didn’t want to offend Mr. Lurker by saying so.
We dragged the tree into the living room and pulled it in front of the window before dropping it on the floor.
“Careful not to drop the pine needles everywhere, dear,” Mrs. Lurker said, spotting a trail of small, green tree needles on the floor between the hall and the living room.
“I can’t stop them dropping off the tree, you know,” Mr. Lurker replied with more frustration.
“Hey, Blockhead!” Mr. Lurker said as he began to lift the pointed end of the tree into the air. “Help me lift this tree into the holder.”
In front of the window was a wide tube with four legs jutting out from it. We lifted the tree into the air and thumped it inside. Then, he stood back and looked.
I stared at the Lurkers. Mr. Lurker put his arm around his wife and daughter and they all smiled.
To be honest, the whole thing was really weird. I didn’t see the point i
n staring at a tree in the living room when there were plenty of trees in the garden. Plus, the ones in the garden were bigger too, so the entire situation made no sense at all.
“I guess it’s time to put the ornaments on,” Mrs. Lurker said.
Then, once they had taken in the sight of the tree, they each opened up some old boxes and pulled the treasures out.
There were treasures of all kinds. Silver and gold shiny balls and jewels of all different shapes and sizes, and they were all really glittery.
Lucy handed some lengths of silver string to me.
“What’s this?” I asked, thinking I’d struck it rich.
“That’s tinsel. You hang it on the tree,” she said. “It’s good fun.”
I took the tinsel and started placing it on the tree. All I could think about was how much I could trade it in for back home in Minecraft.
Once the tinsel was on, they hung the shiny balls and placed all the little jewels on the tree too. Finally, it appeared to be finished.
“Just the star now!” Mr. Lurker said, pulling the newly bought star from the packaging.
He handed it to Lucy and lifted her up. She placed the star on the top of the tree and then the entire family stood back as Mrs. Lurker dimmed the lights.
The fairy lights on the tree glowed, sending sparkles flashing off of the tinsel and shiny balls.
Mrs. Lurker had tears in her eyes. I thought it was probably because of all the money they were throwing away by putting all their treasures on a dumb tree.
Humans are so weird, I thought.
I helped Lucy put the empty treasure boxes away as Mr. and Mrs. Lurker brought out dinner. Then, it was off to bed. I knew I needed to get a good night’s sleep. I was going to be helping out at Mr. Windup’s toy shop early the next day and I had a feeling it would be harder work than it sounded.
Chapter 4
Christmas Eve
I woke up to the sound of Mrs. Lurker clattering away in the kitchen. I looked over at Lucy’s bed. She was fast asleep. She was obviously more used to the early morning commotion than I was.
I stretched, threw on my clothes and headed downstairs.
“Good morning, Herobrine,” Mrs. Lurker said as she cleaned the best plates and prepared them in a pile for Christmas dinner the following day. “Happy Christmas Eve!”
“Thanks, Mrs. Lurker,” I replied, before heading to the refrigerator to get some cake. As I pulled out a slice, I looked out the window and noticed a thin layer of snow that lay on the ground which made the yard look like the winter biomes back home. However, there was something in the yard that caught my eye. It was a strange looking statue that I hadn’t seen before.
I took a bite of cake and strolled over to the back door. I opened it up and looked at the statue. It looked like some sort of gnome or elf, with a pigs face. I hadn’t noticed it before and it looked out of place. I hadn’t seen Mr. Lurker get it down from the attic, but I assumed it must be something they had put out there at some point yesterday.
“Will you shut that door, Herobrine! You’re letting all the warm air out,” Mrs. Lurker said, rubbing her arms.
I closed the door, finished my cake and thought no more of it. I went to the front door and put on my scarf and shoes.
“You’re heading out early,” Mrs. Lurker said, craning her neck around the kitchen doorway to see what I was up to.
“I’m helping Mr. Windup in the toy shop today,” I replied. “I’m going to be in charge of making the toy orders that come in at the last minute.”
“It probably won’t be too busy,” Mrs. Lurker shouted as she vanished back into the kitchen. “Most people put their orders into Mr. Windup weeks ago. Everyone will just be collecting their finished toys today.”
I opened the front door hoping Mrs. Lurker was right. The idea of hanging out in a toy shop on Christmas Eve seemed like a good idea…as long as there wasn’t any work to do.
I closed the door behind me and looked up at Lucy’s room as I headed down the street. Her curtains were still closed. She was obviously enjoying a good sleep in. It was Christmas Eve after all, so I guess that was allowed, especially as I’d heard that everyone gets up super early on Christmas Day.
As I approached Main Street the town was beginning to get busy. Cars were driving up and down, and people were shouting “Merry Christmas!” to one another across the street. The signs that hung in the store windows were being spun from ‘CLOSED’ to ‘OPEN’ and there was a really strange but magical feeling in the air. I hadn’t felt anything quite like it before.
Soon, I made it to the toy shop. People were beginning to mill around on the sidewalk outside, but the store was still closed, so I made my way through the growing crowd and knocked on the double doors.
A scrawny looking teenager opened the door slightly and stated they were closed.
“I’m Herobrine,” I replied, pushing my square foot inside the door before he could close it. “I’m here to help Mr. Windup. I’m working in the store today.”
The scrawny kid looked me up and down, opened the door halfway and then pulled me in and slammed the door closed behind me.
“We have to be careful at this time on Christmas Eve,” the boy said. “People will be piling through those doors in a few minutes, and it’ll be a race to get the best toys that are left. We have to be careful not to let anyone in before 9am!”
The boy glanced at the clock on the wall and then turned and vanished down a long aisle of toys before turning and moving out of sight.
All of a sudden, Mr. Windup appeared by my side as if from nowhere.
“Good morning and a happy Christmas Eve to you, young Herobrine!” Mr. Windup bellowed, causing me to jump. “Are you ready for a fun day?”
“I guess so,” I replied.
“I should hope so! Everyday is fun here at my toy shop.”
I smiled as I took off my scarf. After all, the toy shop was much warmer than it was outside.
Just then, Mr. Windup glanced at the clock on the wall.
“One minute until opening time!” he said. “When those doors open it will be a stampede in here. Let’s get you to safety.”
Mr. Windup led me quickly to a desk that had a sign hanging above it saying ‘TOY ORDERS HERE!’
“Now, just stand behind this desk and take any orders from people who want to have toys made,” Mr. Windup said, patting me on the shoulder. “I’m not really expecting anyone to place any orders today because it’s Christmas Eve. But, if they do, you’ll be the one to make them as the workshop staff has the day off.”
With that, the clock struck nine and Mr. Windup dashed to the double doors to welcome the customers. I stared at the doors as they opened. Mr. Windup was right. A stampede had begun.
The doors were flung open and a crowd of people came streaming into the shop. Luckily, none of them seemed to be heading my way.
There were parents and grandparents rushing to every toy aisle I could see. They were pushing and shoving to get the last remaining toys from the shelves. A long line began to form at a desk on the other side of the store where people waited to collect toys they had ordered days and weeks ago. Then, one particular woman caught my eye. She was a heavy set woman with horn-rimmed spectacles and really red lipstick. She was looking around and then seemed to be making her way towards me.
I assumed she needed help and was ready to point her in the direction of the information desk. However, before I could get the first words out of my mouth, the rather scary looking woman leaned over the desk towards me and spoke.
“I need robot soldiers!” she stated.
“Err… robots are in aisle twelve,” I muttered, looking at a map of the shop floor on a sheet of paper on the desk.
“I don’t think I’ll find what I’m after out there,” the woman contin
ued. “That’s why I’ve come to you.”
It was becoming difficult to hear the woman as the noise in the store intensified.
“Have you even looked?” I asked.
“How rude!” the woman replied. “What I require I certainly will not find on the shelves of this toy shop,” she insisted. “I shall need to order them.”
“But it’s Christmas Eve!” I replied. “That means we’ll have to make your order today.”
“Exactly!” said the woman. “You’d better get on with it. I can’t be hanging around in here all morning.”
I grabbed a pencil and looked for some paper. There was none on the desk, so I turned over the map of the shop floor and scribbled on the back.
“I require toy robot soldiers,” she stated again as I wrote her order down. “They must be 1 foot high.”
I was in such a panic to write down her order that I pressed too hard on the pencil and the tip broke. I tried to continue to write. I took the small tip that broke off and tried to write with that, but my square fingers made it really hard.
“And I need six hundred of them.”
I scribbled away… robot soldier, 600, 1 foot tall…
Just then, a man walked past carrying a toddler. The toddler was holding some juice and the kid squeezed the carton, and the juice shot out all over the paper. I rubbed my arm across it to clean it off. I could still just about make out the scribbles, but the paper was now wet and soggy.
“Have you got all that down?” the woman asked, adjusting her spectacles. “I’ll be back to collect them later on. They are for the poor children of the town, so don’t mess this up!”
I frantically tried to scribble her order down again but the paper was wet and ripped as I pushed the pencil over it.
“What’s you name?” I asked, looking up, but the woman was gone. I caught sight of her rather large behind disappearing out through the double doors that only just accommodated her.