February Novel Essential Information

Novel Title: Frigid Revenge

Time Setting: 2018

Genre: Thriller

Minimum Word Goal: 120,000

Timespan: November–December

Locations: Banff, Canmore, & Calgary, Alberta; Cranbrook, British Columbia; Copper Mountain, Colorado

Main Characters: Oakley Lyzaniuk, Alidia Tennfjord

Background Information:

Born the middle child and youngest son of three children, Oakley actually arrived six weeks before his due date, but few would guess that he was born so early.

He's always been an avid lover of the outdoors, no matter what the weather, and it seems that his additional love of physical activity — and maybe his father's height genes — gave him strength and robustness beyond what the doctors had initially prognosticated.

As a child, his love of the outdoors was fuelled by two things: quiet isolation from his bothersome older brother, and one-on-one time with his incredibly athletic father, whose trophy case and athletic prowess prompted Oakley to dream of being just like his father.

When he was eight, things changed. Everyone except his father was in the family car when it was T-boned, with his brother bearing the brunt of the injury. Soon it was realised that Oakley's father was seeing the physiotherapist, and his parents' marriage collapsed.

Devastated by his father's lack of care for the family, he willingly stayed with his mother, especially when she moved into her parents' house, as her parents operated a campground much closer to the mountains than he'd lived until then, which gave him the biggest playground he could've ever asked for.

However, his mother also took to eating almost constantly, and within a year of the divorce she was twice the weight she'd been before, which prompted her and her children to be kicked out of her parents' house.

When he was eleven his sister suffered a severe asthma attack and died, which only prompted his mother to eat more and gain even more weight.

Three years later his brother graduated — a year early due to taking two grades in one year in elementary school — and so their mother decided to take them on a trip over Christmas to celebrate, the destination and activities to be of his brother's choosing.

His brother chose to go to Vancouver due to his personal interest in technology. This excited Oakley due to Vancouver's proximity to Whistler. Being an avid athlete, Oakley had taken up snowboarding, and he hoped to get to Whistler and do some riding.

Researching things beforehand, Oakley discovered that there was a competition going on at a Whistler resort around Christmas, and managed to enter himself into it without his mother's knowing. He then brought his snowboarding equipment along and got himself to Whistler via transit, where he competed in the competition and won the prize of some $1,000.

After the competition he met a man who wanted to know who he was, and he ended up confessing that he wanted to compete professionally, but didn't have a coach. They exchanged names and numbers before the police picked him up and brought him back to his mother, who was upset at his disappearance, until she found out he'd won money.

Obstinately, Oakley refused to give her the money, spending it on new snowboarding equipment and other things he'd always wanted so that she couldn't steal it from him.

The man he'd talked to soon contacted his mother and told her that he'd like to be Oakley's coach, and eventually, when she got her sister in Calgary to agree to hosting Oakley for the school year, his mother agreed to the arrangement.

Oakley suffered through the three years of high school staying with his aunt and going home to his mother for the summers before finally moving into his coach's basement upon graduation. 

All the while he's been snowboarding avidly in competitions across the world, and doing quite well at it, with the aim of getting to the Olympics.

Born the youngest child and only daughter out of four children, Alidia's family has always been outdoorsy, as her father skied professionally, and he wanted all of his children to know how to ski as well.

Having only brothers for playmates resulted in Alidia quickly becoming rougher and tougher than most of her female peers, and preferring to play whatever the boys were playing during free time — and doing quite well at it.

As her brothers got older, they all got their own coaches, helping them hone their skills in their chosen field of competition in either skiing or snowboarding, and she hoped to do the same herself.

She hoped to do this, in part, to make herself stand out, as she was frustrated by the fact that, for some reason, few people knew her name, they always identified her by her father or her brothers, not even the fact that she had an unusual given name in Alidia seemed to help.

Seeing as the boys in her family got noticed, she started doing what she could to look more like a boy — except that her mother wouldn't let her have her hair shorter than shoulder length, so she grew it out long enough to keep it in a braid so it was out of her way — and started using the masculine nickname of Charlie, derived from her middle name Charlotte.

So far, nothing has helped, not even the fact that she chose snowboarding — something none of the girls in her extremely winter-sporty family have chosen to do — as her discipline of choice.

Making headway in snowboarding did take some time, though, as she rejected female coaches, and instead sought a male coach with male students for her to keep up with; which was a task more because most of the male coaches with only male students weren't sure they wanted to take her on.

She has, however, finally found a coach and has put an exceptional effort into keeping up with his male students, and has proven herself to be an adept snowboarder, but yet still people don't seem to remember her for anything she's done, which is what she wants people to remember her for, not because of who she's related to.

Considering that she's finally old enough to compete internationally at the top levels, Charlie hopes that she'll be able to do well there so as to prompt people to see how good she is, and cause her to gain a notoriety that is all her own.

Pronunciation:

Lyzaniuk: liezahneeuk

One Small Wish: Day 15

Word Total: 90,001

Year to Date: 90,001

Summary of Events:

Fancy arrived home from work and had an argumentative discussion with Grandma over the value of news as presented in newspapers. Vaughan arrived at the Maple home and told Eirenna who he really was before getting confronted by Fancy and then giving a lengthy explanation of why he'd granted Eirenna's wish; Fancy then barraged him with questions . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

""So then are people who aren't Christians, but do nice things, actually unknown Christians?" Miss Maple asked.

"No," Vaughan replied. "And, oftentimes, people who aren't Christians will do nice things to try and get something back. Real Christians are the only people who have the ability to give without expecting anything in return because God gives them the ability to, as no one has that on their own."

Miss Maple looked sceptical.

"I gave you what I did out of my own pocket, with no expectation or desire to be reimbursed, because God has given me so much more, and it pleases Him to see me give similarly," Vaughan said. "I did not do it to in any way upset you, or to show you up, I did it to help, somewhat, but more so even to show you that someone cares."

"If you care then why are you associated with those people?" Miss Maple challenged.

"Because God only recently showed me they were wrong through the persistent witness of my Grandpa," Vaughan replied.

Everyone startled at the sudden sound of music. Vaughan pulled his phone out of his pocket. In slim, white capitals it announced to him that it was time for him to get going to Chelsea's, as she'd invited him over for dinner.

"Yes, yes, yes, shush," Vaughan said to his phone, swiping the screen to silence the alarm. "Unfortunately I have an appointment to keep, but I'm pretty sure you're not done asking questions, and I'm more than willing to come by and talk more with you."

"Your appointment's that important?" Miss Maple asked.

"It's a good thing to be a person of your word," Vaughan replied.

"Then go," Miss Maple said, waving dismissively before stalking off toward the house. . . .

. . . Shifting his jaw, Vaughan contemplated another thought: if it weren't for Eirenna, none of this would have happened.

She'd had the courage — much less the ingenuity and perseverance — to travel ten miles all to make one small wish, and that one small wish had changed a lot of things, and that was thinking only in terms of his own life.

He'd sunk well over a hundred dollars into a family he didn't really know just because he had the money to do it. As much as he hated to admit it, he never would have done that a month ago.

In addition, he'd listened to Grandpa's correction, and not tried to distract himself from it to avoid the bad feelings Grandpa's correction always gave him.

To top it all off, he'd actually said something. He'd stood up, spoken out against the wrongs that he'd seen before him, and he'd forsaken those who practised them. Unless he was in physical pain he didn't typically speak out against anything.

Vaughan could hardly believe it now that he thought about it. He'd undergone an incredible change in just a month, all because of a little girl who'd decided that a voluntold actor at a church ten miles away was her best chance at getting the Christmas she'd never had."

Next post will be January 31.

One Small Wish: Day 14

Word Count: 84,012

Summary of Events:

Chelsea came over to Vaughan's apartment and they had a rather lengthy discussion about his future in the apartment. Fancy was wearied by the rather large order she was arranging, and got upset when the woman who'd ordered it claimed she'd gotten it all wrong. Vaughan was getting a makeup artist friend of Chelsea's to do him up in St. Nicholas makeup again so he could go tell Eirenna that he hadn't done what he had for her as St. Nicholas, he'd done it as himself . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"With their conversation apparently finished, Vaughan let his mind wander back to what he would be doing in about an hour's time.

He hadn't yet returned the St. Nicholas costume to TwoCities from Christmas Eve, mostly because of what had happened on Christmas Day and his moving into the apartment after that, so he'd head home and put that on as carefully as he could once this was done.

Being as it wasn't too tight-fitting Vaughan was hoping he'd be able to put the costume on over some clothes so that he could change out of his costume as well as remove the makeup before her eyes without being picked up for public indecency.

Then, because he was pretty sure it would be late enough in the afternoon by then, he would go to the Maple home and hope that he'd be able to find and approach little Miss Maple before he encountered her mother.

After all, even though her mother had accepted money from him to get home, he still had the black eye from her reaction to his gently touching her shoulder in an effort to get her to stop.

In fact, he'd had a time and a half explaining away the black eye as something of an accident in the moving process to Chelsea when she'd first seen it. He hadn't been sure how to explain that he'd been slugged in the eye by a woman he hadn't even been thinking about hitting on to Chelsea, seeing as she seemed to be exceedingly possessive of him in the presence of other women.

He was pretty confident that little Miss Maple would believe him when he removed the costume and makeup and showed her that he was just someone who'd been pretending; he hoped she'd also understand what he meant when he told her that he'd been forced to do it, and that he hadn't wanted to.

From what little he recalled of his encounter with her — lost in the haze of a hectic month — she had seemed an intelligent and perceptive child, especially considering her youth, so he was pretty sure she'd understand it, or that he'd be able to figure out how to explain it to her in plain language she could understand.

Being as he had little unscripted interaction with kids on his résumé he wasn't entirely sure how that was going to work. He was hoping it would be just as easy of thinking of how to explain legalese to a layperson, which he was pretty skilled at doing, but part of him wasn't wholly sure it would be.

There was, too, the potentiality that Miss Maple could interfere with his efforts to talk with her daughter, including preventing him from finishing — much less starting — to tell her what he wanted to, but he at least wanted to put in the effort of telling little Miss Maple for herself."

One Small Wish: Day 13

Word Count: 78,016

Summary of Events:

Fancy walked to TwoCities and observed the whole neighbourhood around it to be unpleasant due to its lack of trees; she was also unnerved at the lack of people she saw as she approached and entered the church — where she gratefully took earplugs due to the music volume. Vaughan saw Fancy come in, only to be treated like she was unwelcome by someone else, he chased her down and told her the truth before she could leave. Fancy thought about everything on the way home, incredibly appalled at it all. Vaughan stayed at the church purely to call them out for their treatment of Fancy that morning, and their behaviour otherwise before leaving the church in an uproar. Fancy described her brief experience at the church service to Grandma . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"Grandma looked at Fancy like she thought Fancy was exaggerating.

"Once the song finished the woman beside me tried to shoo me out like I was some sort of an animal that belonged outside," Fancy went on. "I stood up to her, so she backed away from me like I had the Plague. I'm not lying to you Grandma, that's actually what happened."

"What a wretched place," Grandma said. "And they call it a church?"

"Apparently," Fancy replied. "I left after that, but a man followed me out and told me he'd done all this for us out of his own pocket, and he'd only gone back to that place today because he'd figured I'd show up, and he'd wanted to tell me that he'd done it by himself and that I should get away from that place as fast as possible, much less that I should never let Eirenna go back there ever again."

"It mustn't be a real church then," Grandma said.

"Well it calls itself a Christian Assembly," Fancy said. "Does that mean that it's fake?"

"It would certainly seem to me," Grandma replied. "I certainly hope that there are still good churches, though."

"I really don't care," Fancy said. "It's not like I'm going to go to one anytime soon."

Grandma sighed. "I'd like to know why that man associates himself with that church if he was wanting you to leave it."

"Apparently he was the actor behind the St. Nicholas character," Fancy said.

"As in they hired someone from outside to play the part?" Grandma asked.

"I don't know," Fancy replied. "Personally, though, I'd like to know why he did this."

"What do you mean?" Grandma asked.

"Well, he certainly seemed to have everything he could possibly want," Fancy replied.

"Meaning?" Grandma asked.

"He had really nice clothes, perfect hair, everything," Fancy replied. "He looked like one of those models on the billboards without a single thing out of place. Why would he care about us, especially if the rest of the people there didn't?"

"I wouldn't know," Grandma replied. "But I would be grateful that he did. Didn't you ask him?"

"No," Fancy replied. "I wasn't turning around and going back, even though he gave me more than enough money to take transit back here because I refused to let him drive me."

"He gave you money for transit?" Grandma asked.

"He said it'd be warmer than walking, not to mention it'd get me away from the place faster," Fancy replied.

"Did you thank him for that as well as for this?" Grandma asked, nodding at the Christmas tree.

"No," Fancy replied. "I didn't."

"He still deserves to be thanked even if he's associated with horrible people," Grandma said. "He certainly seems to be nice enough, after all."

"I don't care," Fancy said. "I should've been able to do this for us, and not had to depend on someone associated with such abhorrent people as those ones.""

One Small Wish: Day 12

Word Count: 72,024

Summary of Events:

Fancy, Grandma, and Eirenna arrived home from the movie theatre to find the food, tree, and presents Vaughan had left them and Eirenna confessed everything to Fancy. Vaughan, set off by his aunt's gift for him, had something of a mild nervous breakdown and left his parents' house to stay with his grandparents. Fancy decided she'd like to go thank the church for giving Eirenna her wish, and decided to do it on Sunday. Vaughan discussed going to TwoCities on Sunday just in case someone in Eirenna's family came there on Sunday, so that he could tell them the truth.

Excerpt of the Day:

""What's gravy?" Eirenna asked.

"It's a sort of sauce for potatoes," Fancy replied.

"Is it brown?" Eirenna asked.

"Usually," Fancy replied.

"Is there a chicken?" Eirenna asked.

"No, there's a turkey, though," Fancy replied. "It's like a chicken, except bigger."

"Where is it?" Eirenna asked.

"In the sink," Fancy replied.

Eirenna looked at it, she seemed rather excited, almost like she was going to explode with it. Fancy felt more disconcerted at the idea someone had gotten into their house to put all of this here.

Suddenly Eirenna raced off to the living room. The light came on and a shriek split the air.

Fancy raced to the living room, only to stop short in astonishment.

Standing where, before they'd left, there had been nothing was a fully decorated Christmas tree, under which sat three presents.

Eirenna was visibly shaking as she stared at the tree. She turned and looked at Fancy.

"He came! He came! He came! He came!" she cried, getting louder with every repetition, as well as jumping closer to Fancy.

"Who came?" Fancy asked slowly.

Eirenna's elation seemed to dissipate as fast as it came on. She bowed her head and clasped her hands in front of herself, looking rather ashamed.

"Who came Eirenna?" Fancy asked.

"I didn't tell you the truth Mama," Eirenna said contritely.

"About what?" Fancy asked, just hoping her question would get answered.

"I wanted it to be a surprise," Eirenna said, looking up at Fancy earnestly.

Fancy decided she should maybe just let Eirenna say things and if she thought there were any gaps she could ask questions once Eirenna was done, after all, Eirenna didn't seem to be answering her questions.

"When we went out of the yard when we were playing, we did it to find money to take the bus and the train to go see St. Nicholas," Eirenna said. "Because he's the real Santa Claus. And when I went to Shelena's to play one time, we actually went on the bus and the train to go see St. Nicholas, and I wished for all this. We went with Deon, so we had a grown-up, but he wanted us to pay for it, so we looked for money. And I wanted to find out when St. Nicholas would come and give what I asked for, so I asked Deon to read the paper because I was scared you'd figure it out, and he told me St. Nicholas wouldn't give it to me, which was why I was crying. Miss Simonson and Alyssa didn't say anything about St. Nicholas not delivering trees. But I wanted it to be a surprise."

Fancy glanced over her shoulder at the kitchen, then glanced back at the tree — resplendently beautiful in spite of the fact that the lights weren't on — finally she looked at Eirenna.

Her daughter looked genuinely contrite, although her excitement at actually having her apparent wish come true looked to be causing her efforts to remain contrite to become shaky."

One Small Wish: Day 11

Word Count: 66,036

Summary of Events:

Fancy was making supper when Shelena's dad came over and gave her three tickets to go see a new kids' movie in theatres, which she accepted. Vaughan accompanied his grandparents to the home of his only maternal aunt and uncle who also lived in Portland for their Christmas gathering and got introduced to his abundant and largely unknown side of the family. Eirenna was wondering what she should do to make bedtime show up faster when she was informed that they were going to see a movie, which she had never done before. Vaughan, with the aid of Shelena's dad, delivered everything Eirenna had asked for and set up the Christmas tree . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"Finally, Vaughan set the three presents, labelled in Grandma's neat cursive, on the skirt underneath the tree.

He crossed his arms and looked at the tree with satisfaction. For being the first Christmas tree he'd ever decorated, he thought he'd done a bang-up job. He was glad there were no women immediately present to critique him on it, though. Even if they didn't like it, he did, and he wanted to be able to bask in that for as long as he could.

"That's it?" Mr. Bain asked.

"Yes," Vaughan replied.

"Well then let's get out of here," Mr. Bain said.

Vaughan put his coat back on, reaching in the pocket to double-check that the note little Miss Maple had stuck to the front door was still there. The indomitable hope and optimism of children in its purest form was in that note, and Vaughan intended to keep the note for awhile, at least, to remember this.

Mr. Bain locked the door while Vaughan walked to his car.

"Thank you very much for your help Mr. Bain," Vaughan said. "I hope that you have a Merry Christmas."

"You too," Mr. Bain said, shaking Vaughan's hand.

Vaughan slipped into his car and started it before slowly and carefully reversing out of the driveway as Mr. Bain watched him.

He wasn't sure if Mr. Bain trusted him all that much more than he had when he'd first stopped by, but he was pretty sure Mr. Bain did trust him a little bit more, and that he'd genuinely meant his reciprocation.

And, even if he'd had to be tortured with the visits of what he was told was more than a thousand spoiled brats for the past month, and even though he'd had to deal with the costume, makeup, film crew, and other annoyingness that had been the delivering of the other gifts earlier, Vaughan had to say, this was probably one of the best Christmases he'd ever had.

Sure, he hadn't had a present at Uncle Joseph and Aunt Theresa's, but he'd been an unexpected guest, and sure he was probably just going to get more ties, watches, wallets, cell phone covers, or other things that looked remotely prestigious and lawyerly tomorrow — much less having to deal with the dysfunctional family that was Dad's side — but Vaughan really didn't feel like that mattered.

In fact, he could see what had been meant by whoever had first spoken the adage — which may well have even been Jesus — that it was better to give than to receive. He felt like nothing could ruin this Christmas because of the fact that he knew he'd given something that could well be considered the world to a little girl and her family who really, truly, genuinely deserved it. Even suffering through all that tomorrow would bring, he felt, wouldn't really be all that bad because of what he'd just done."

One Small Wish: Day 10

Word Count: 60,087

Summary of Events:

Fancy had to take something downstairs, which unnerved her, before she talked to Eirenna about the suspected lie, which Eirenna explained wasn't a lie. Vaughan went to look at the house Eirenna called home and ended up meeting Shelena's dad, whom he solicited help in granting the wish from. Eirenna and Shelena discussed how St. Nicholas would get in through the window Eirenna was going to leave open for him without stepping on her bed, much less how all the Santa Clauses were phoneys. 

Excerpt of the Day:

"Sitting at yet another red light, Vaughan pulled out his cell phone and dialled Grandma and Grandpa's home number. He put his phone on speaker and set it on his lap.

After a few rings Grandma answered: "Hello Vaughan."

"Can I ask a favour of you Grandma?" Vaughan asked.

"What sort of favour is it?" Grandma asked.

"Well, I just realised that I'm pretty much booked solid until Saturday morning," Vaughan replied. "So to go buying a Christmas tree, decorations, gifts, and Christmas dinner fixings for the wish could be difficult, and I could end up missing out on important things; besides, I don't even know what goes into a Christmas dinner."

"So you want Grandpa and I to go track it down?" Grandma asked.

"I'll pay you back for it," Vaughan replied. "But, yeah, considering you guys have time before Saturday."

"We could do that," Grandma said.

"I'm sorry to bother you," Vaughan said.

"Nonsense Vaughan," Grandma scolded. "I understand completely, and I know your grandfather will too."

Vaughan edged his car forward as the traffic ahead of him hurried through the green light, bringing him closer to the intersection, but not fast enough for his liking.

"How many people does the dinner need to feed?" Grandma asked.

"Three," Vaughan replied. "An older woman, like, your guys' age or something, a woman probably closer to my age, and a six year old."

"Alright," Grandma said. "Considering there's an older woman involved I can buy real potatoes, not dried ones."

"Why?" Vaughan asked.

"An organisation our church supports does a lot of work with families in St. Johns and they've found that there are few people, especially younger people, who know what to do with a potato because it doesn't have instructions on the package."

"Oh," Vaughan said. "That's kind of weird."

"If you were never taught how to cook," Grandma said.

"I guess," Vaughan said.

"Any other particulars?" Grandma asked.

"Um, the girl specifically requested an angel topper for the tree," Vaughan replied as he was forced to stop without getting through the intersection again.

"Considering their financial state we're buying an artificial tree?" Grandma asked.

"I like real trees," Vaughan said.

"But if they can't afford to buy their own Christmas decorations, do you really think they'll be able to afford their own real tree next year?" Grandma asked. "And if they can't, then what's the point of giving them decorations?"

"I guess," Vaughan said.

"What about for the gifts?" Grandma asked.

"She asked for new slippers for her grandma and a new blanket for her mom," Vaughan replied.

"What about for her?" Grandma asked.

"She said having a Christmas tree and a Christmas dinner would be enough for her," Vaughan replied.

"Hm," Grandma said. "That is incredibly selfless of her, but I think she deserves a little something. I'll find something for her. When will you pick everything up?"

"Probably really no sense in bothering until Christmas Eve," Vaughan replied. "That's when I'm going to deliver it, after all.""

One Small Wish: Day 9

Word Count: 54,023

Summary of Events:

Vaughan and Chelsea went ice skating after having breakfast together again on Saturday morning and Vaughan tried his hand at a figure-skating manoeuvre, and did pretty well, considering he'd never tried figure skating before. Fancy began thinking about the explanation Eirenna had given for her tears the night before and how it couldn't possibly make sense, which left her worrying that Eirenna had lied to her. Vaughan went over to his grandparents' house for breakfast before sitting down to talk with his grandpa, the purpose of his visit; he started by conceding that it was up to him to grant the wish, and not the church . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

""Good," Grandpa said. "But then why are you here? I thought you wanted advice."

"I do," Vaughan replied. "Advice on how to . . . leave."

"TwoCities?" Grandpa asked.

"Yeah," Vaughan replied. "Like, should I just drop it cold turkey right now and leave them in the lurch for the final week? Or should I stick it out until the end of the St. Nicholas thing and then run for the hills?"

Grandpa sat silently and stared contemplatively at the floor beyond them.

"I mean, I, I guess I'm kind of reluctant to drop things now," Vaughan added. "Not because I've come to enjoy this whole St. Nicholas thing — because I haven't — but, yet, well, I guess I kind of want to anticipate how things are going to fall out and kind of outthink Mom and Dad in a way too, and stuff."

"What do you mean?" Grandpa asked.

"Well, um, I, I really only attend TwoCities because Mom and Dad have told me that if I want to live at their house I need to attend their church," Vaughan replied. "So I do; they also somewhat mildly threatened to kick me out if I didn't play St. Nicholas."

"Am I correct, then, to understand that you would like to have a place of your own secured before you do anything too drastic?" Grandpa asked. "Or at least something that would be interpreted as drastic?"

"Yeah, I guess," Vaughan replied.

"You aren't in any way reluctant to leave TwoCities?" Grandpa asked.

"No," Vaughan replied. "I mean, I'd be willing to drop it as fast as I can, after all, I've kind of alienated some pretty high-profile people in the church already."

"What do you mean?" Grandpa asked.

"Well, Pastor Rich's son, Quentin, the Children's Pastor, is in charge of reviewing all the entry forms," Vaughan replied. "So I gave the form for that girl who approached me to him, and he wanted to stop reading it as soon as he saw her address put her in St. Johns, but I made him read the whole thing, and then he made a jab at me for having only gone to law school, and, you know, not being a full-on practising lawyer yet, so I turned it back at him and called him out for not even having gone to Bible school, and yet, somehow, still having the authority to preach and stuff, and he threatened to hit me with a chair."

"Oh my," Grandpa said.

"I'd made a comment about how they aren't exercising honesty and integrity and thus could get fleeced by lawsuits because they have nothing written down," Vaughan said. "Then he made the jab at me, as if I couldn't authoritatively tell him what the law said without being a lawyer, so I basically insinuated that he isn't qualified to tell me anything about the Bible considering he hasn't even gone to Bible school.""

One Small Wish: Day 8

Word Count: 48,008

Summary of Events:

Shelena asked Eirenna if she'd heard whether or not she'd won and they speculated as to how St. Nicholas might deliver the wish. Vaughan presented the entry form to the Children's Pastor, only to get resoundingly rejected and rather frustrated. Fancy arrived at work and was informed by her employer that some arrangements she'd made had gone over more than favourably. Vaughan got home from another night as St. Nicholas and called his grandpa to arrange a visit for advice on how to proceed. Eirenna wanted to find out when St. Nicholas would deliver the presents so she could leave a window open for him to get in; she found the ad again in the paper and decided to ask Deon to read it for her because he'd helped her make her wish . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

""Well what are you wanting me to read?" Deon asked.

Eirenna startled and quickly drew the folded paper out of her pocket. She unfolded it and pointed at the ad.

"I'm not taking you back," Deon said firmly. "You blew your one chance."

"I don't wanna go back," Eirenna said. "I just want you to tell me if it says when the presents are delivered."

"You didn't see him," Deon said.

"I did, I snuck in, and I saw him, and I made my wish, and I made Shelena's wish," Eirenna replied. "And he said he'd give us our wishes."

Deon looked impressed, but somewhat unconvinced. He snatched the paper from her and held it closer to his face.

"One lucky child will win their entire wish, to be personally delivered by St. Nicholas on Christmas Eve," Deon read aloud. "That's all it's got."

Eirenna accepted the paper back and folded it up. "Thank you."

"I doubt he's gonna give you your wish," Deon said.

"Why?" Eirenna asked.

"'Cause that's a rich people's church," Deon replied.

"But St. Nicholas was rich, and he gave money to a man to pay for all his daughters' weddings," Eirenna said.

"If St. Nicholas existed he died before Columbus found America," Deon said. "This is just some guy in a costume, and the church he's at is the one giving the presents, and I know some people from that church and they're absolute–"

Deon looked at Eirenna, gathered his lips and moved them around, and then sighed.

"They're bad people," Deon said. "Terrible people. Mean people. Even though you got the right colour skin they don't care about you because you don't have a dad and you don't have any money."

Eirenna didn't know what to do or what to think. St. Nicholas had been so nice, even if he was someone playing pretend. He'd listened to her, and she was pretty sure he hadn't forgotten her wish. Why did it matter if she didn't have any money, or a papa who lived at her house?

"Sorry to crush your hopes like that," Deon said, although he didn't sound like he meant it. "But somebody was going to have to eventually."

He slipped back into his room and closed the door.

Eirenna stared at the door, which was plastered with signs she couldn't read, especially as tears blurred her vision.

She hurried out the back door and back home. She did her best to be as quiet as she could going into the house and returning her shoes to the closet, but once that was done she ran to her room, leapt onto her bed, and burst into sobs.

St. Nicholas had to come! He couldn't be a meanie! He'd looked so nice! Surely if Santa Claus didn't care whether people had a mama and a papa or not, or even if they had a Christmas tree or not, St. Nicholas couldn't care! Even if he was just someone pretending!"

One Small Wish: Day 7

Word Count: 42,088

Summary of Events:

Vaughan was setting up to spend a lonely Sunday afternoon waiting for it to be time for him to play St. Nicholas when Chelsea called; she came over and they got talking about him moving out of his parents' house and getting a place of his own. Fancy and Grandma were invited outside to attend a make-believe tea hosted by Eirenna and Shelena and Grandma declared they should have a real, indoor tea party the next Sunday. On his lunch break Vaughan went to the elementary school in the St. Johns neighbourhood to see if he could get enough information to fill out an entry form for the girl he'd encountered in the hallway . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"Vaughan himself flipped over the back of the photo and looked at the name: Eirenna Maple. He turned it over and looked at her face again.

She was an incredibly beautiful child. He wondered what her mother looked like.

Starling, he shook his head. Why did something like that matter?

"What do you need for your entry form?" the receptionist asked, thankfully distracting Vaughan.

He drew out the blank form he'd managed to snitch before starting his double-shift of torture yesterday and unfolded it.

Taking up a pen, the woman looked between the screen and the form. She neatly copied down Eirenna Maple and put a six in the age category before stopping and looking up at him critically.

"I trust that this is given in confidence?" she asked.

"After the contest period closes on Christmas Eve all forms are destroyed," Vaughan replied. "Confidentiality is one of the St. Nicholas program's top priorities."

Including, he wryly thought to himself, confidential destruction of forms for contestants arbitrarily deemed undesirable, with about as minimal care and forethought to the action as Hitler and the Nazis had used when rounding up and killing Jews, Gypsies, mentally handicapped, and more. As unjust as it was, the topics of Hitler, the Nazis, and the war crimes of the Second World War had been one of his favourite classes, and he'd done extensive further research on the topics — part of what had contributed to his run of ninety nines in that class.

Bringing himself back to the present, Vaughan watched as the receptionist filled out the form neatly, clearly, and with the efficiency of someone who'd filled out a lot of forms over the years.

According to the form little Miss Maple lived on North Swenson Street, her birthday was in September, and she lived in a single-parent household.

Vaughan wondered if the fact that single-parent versus two-parent had to be indicated on the form was a determiner as to which forms got shredded. If it was, his guess was that the single-parent kids got their forms shredded, considering that the program discriminated against poorer kids.

"Here you are Mr. Ashbaugh," she said, holding out the form to him.

"Thank you very much," Vaughan said. "Hopefully I can convince the people who do the name-drawing of the prizewinners to grant her wish, even if her name isn't drawn. She's probably the most deserving contestant I've encountered over the course of the campaign to this point."

"I think it would make a lot of difference to her," she said, putting away the pictures he'd looked through. "Not that she's a sad child, but, having known her mother when she attended here, I know that family well enough to know the poor people can't hardly catch a break, it seems."

Vaughan nodded.

"I mean, few of the families whose children come to this school can," she went on, putting the pictures back into the drawer. "But the bad breaks for the Maple family aren't the same sort of bad breaks everyone else gets.""

One Small Wish: Day 6

Word Count: 36,070

Summary of Events:

Fancy got up early and enjoyed the fact that the whiteness of the snow caused it to look brighter outside, but then ended up thinking about dead people and so started making breakfast loudly to distract herself. Vaughan was woken up before his alarm went off by recalling the girl who'd made the wish to him as he was going to get changed out of his costume a week before . . . 

Excerpt of the Day:

"What are you going to do about it? . . .

 . . . He felt like the question being asked of him was the wrong one. The better question to ask was could he do anything about it?

But, in order to answer that question, another had to be asked: had she filled out the forms?

With her appearance being that of an unaccompanied child, he had his doubts, but it was probably still worth asking.

On the other hand, with her appearance being that of a child with means much more limited than that of most of the children who were brought through the front doors of the church by the campaign, it probably wasn't.

The target audience of the campaign was middle-class, which was about what TwoCities was smack dab in the middle of, being in the suburban outliers of Portland, not to mention its proximity to Beaverton — caused expressly by the growth of the two centres in the last sixty years, if not even more recently than that.

That girl probably hailed from a lot closer to St. Johns than TwoCities liked their contestants to be. Other contestants that had been driven to TwoCities from the St. Johns area would sometimes be allowed at least a visit, as he'd seen a few kids wearing more out of fashion clothes, but he was pretty sure it was their applications that he heard going through the paper shredder in the office every night as he left.

Something had to keep the field of contestants down, after all, they limited their prizes to only thirty five over the course of the month — one nightly prize each night, a weekly prize for each of the weeks leading up to Christmas, and then the three main prizewinners — and they didn't want kids who looked frumpy or had messy houses winning the prizes, they wanted immaculate, clean-cut images for the Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages, much less the videos posted on the church's YouTube account.

All of that considered, Vaughan wondered if he should bother. He was pretty sure that if he approached the church, even if she'd filled out a form, with an endorsement for her to win the grand prize, he'd probably get turned down.

And then there were the further ramifications of granting that wish particularly: goodness knew there was probably at least a hundred kids in Portland — and most of them likely concentrated in St. Johns — that had the same wish. Would it be fair to grant only one?

Of course, how would he find out about the others anyways? He was lucky he knew there was even one kid in all of Portland who was likely to go without a Christmas dinner this year for reasons he couldn't begin to guess.

And even if he found every single other child in Portland who had the same sort of wish, the finances it would take to grant all of their wishes was probably not going to be given by the church."

One Small Wish: Day 5

Word Count: 30,124

Summary of Events:

Vaughan met Chelsea for breakfast and spent most of the time talking about how her father, brother, and grandfather disliked him, and how he felt it was compromising their reputations more than his. Fancy, although exhausted by the work, put together an order of fifty centrepieces before the shop was closed and she was allowed to head home in the snow that had started to fall while she pondered its ethereal quietness . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"In fact, soundlessness seemed to be what snow was all about, as it seemed the more and heavier snow fell, and the more it accumulated, the quieter the world became, as if the snow sucked all the noise out.

Considering that the phrase peace on earth was closely associated with Christmas, Fancy wasn't surprised that someone, long ago, had chosen to put Christmas in the wintertime, because there was no time that the world was quieter than when it was wrapped in a blanket of pure, white snow that softened all the edges and glittered with a luminescence man was hard-pressed to recreate.

Fancy made her way home quietly. Aside from the inescapable sound of vehicles driving by there was really no sound, and as she got closer to home the sound of cars, much less their visible quantity, faded.

It wasn't that St. Johns was devoid of cars, no, there were other people that had the licenses to drive, and the vehicles to use, but it was just that most of the people who lived in St. Johns had only one vehicle to their household.

Even she and Grandma had a car. The only thing was that it hadn't been driven in years because something was wrong in the engine. Now Fancy was sure a lot more was wrong with it, as the tires were flat and every time she peeked in the window the passenger end of the front bench seat was missing a little more stuffing, likely purloined by a mouse to keep her young warm in a nest somewhere else in the car.

Fancy walked in the side door of the house and stomped the snow off her shoes before untying them and carrying them across the kitchen to the closet, where she hung up her coat.

She returned to the kitchen, got out all the ingredients she needed so as to make supper, and set to work.

Hardly had she gotten the onion sautéing when she heard an elated cry and turned just in time to have her legs enveloped in an embrace by Eirenna.

"Mama, it's snowing!" Eirenna exclaimed.

"I know it is," Fancy replied. "I had to walk home in it."

"Can we go downstairs and find my snow pants?" Eirenna asked.

"After supper," Fancy replied. "I need to find my winter boots too."

"I wanna go make snow angels Mama," Eirenna said.

"That would be a lovely thing to do," Fancy said. "Now just let me make supper please."

Eirenna dashed off again and Fancy sighed. She wished such little things could make her happy as easily as they seemed to make her daughter.

She turned her attention back to the meal she was cooking. If her childhood wouldn't have been stripped from her too soon she was sure she would be able to take joy in things as easily as Eirenna did, but it wasn't like she could do anything about what she'd lost."

One Small Wish: Day 4

Word Count: 24,002

Summary of Events:

Fancy discovered Eirenna and Shelena had gone out to play and never came back inside, prompting her to undertake a search for them that proved mercifully brief, not that she was impressed with how far they'd wandered. Eirenna learned from Shelena that they were just $1.78 away from the $15 they needed to go see St. Nicholas and asked Fancy again what she wanted for Christmas. Fancy finally decided she'd take a new blanket for Christmas. Eirenna and Shelena searched for $1.78 and Eirenna found a quarter, only to have it stolen from her by a bully; a man walking his dog saw the exchange and gave her $2. Eirenna and Shelena arrived at the church with Deon only to find out that doors were closed for the night, but Eirenna slipped in when a family left and found St. Nicholas . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"Running feet sounding behind him prompted Vaughan to stop and turn around. He wasn't really sure what he'd expected to see, but a little girl in a royal blue jacket wasn't it.

She stopped short of him, looking breathless and awed. The blue of her coat caused the colour of her eyes to pop; in fact, her eyes looked like they were practically the same colour as her coat — which looked like it'd seen better days.

Rich, dark blonde hair — especially for a child — was woven into two braids that flanked her chin, poking out from her hood.

Her jeans looked faded and worn, on the cusp of developing holes in the knees; her shoes looked to be falling apart too. Considering what he knew of the filtration system the church used, he was surprised that she'd been let in.

"Mr. St. Nicholas sir," she said, her expression earnest. "I wanna make a wish."

Vaughan crouched down and looked at her. "And what is your wish?"

She looked at him, and then at the floor, in thought, then back at him in earnest.

"Can I make a wish for my best friend?" she asked.

"Of course you can," Vaughan replied, so long as it didn't take long he didn't care.

"She wants a brand new dress that's all her own that nobody's ever worn before," she said. "With  sequins and ruffles, and she wants it pink, with a black fur Spanish jacket, and new shiny black shoes, and sparkly earrings."

Vaughan nodded. "And you?"

She straightened and clasped her hands in front of herself, looking at him very seriously. "I want a real Christmas, with a Christmas tree that has all the decorations, and an angel on top, and a dinner with the big chicken, and the potatoes, and the brown potato sauce,  and all the other Christmas food, and presents for under the tree. Grandma wants new slippers and Mama wants a new blanket."

"And for you?" Vaughan asked.

She opened her mouth, but then closed it, her gaze turning away from him, as if she'd suddenly lost her courage.

"I don't know what I want," she replied. "Other than a real Christmas."

"Well, that's a very fine wish," Vaughan said. "Now may God bless you with a very, merry Christmas."

She stared at him as he straightened. He moved the fingers of his right hand toward her in a subtle shooing motion. She turned and hurried back down the hallway.

Vaughan turned and resumed his trip to the dressing room. All he could say was that he was glad another night was over; and he was even more glad because he got to spend the morning tomorrow with Chelsea. About the only unfortunate thing about it all was the fact that he couldn't spend all day with Chelsea, which he would've much preferred over a double-length shift as St. Nicholas."

One Small Wish: Day 3

Word Count: 18,049

Summary of Events:

Eirenna got up for school and drew a picture of what she hoped their Christmas would look like. Vaughan endured a long wait before the fourth day's visits got underway because the printer ran out of ink. Eirenna and Shelena got Deon to agree to help them go see St. Nicholas, on the condition they fronted the money for bus fares. Vaughan got called by his girlfriend on his way out to his car and arranged to meet her for breakfast on Saturday instead of being able to go to supper with her that night. Eirenna and Shelena went out looking for loose change in order to get the $15.00 they needed for three round-trip fares according to Deon . . .

Excerpt of the Day:
""Have you found any more?" Eirenna asked.
"No," Shelena replied. "What about you?"
"I found eight," Eirenna replied.
Shelena's eyes went wide. "Where?"
"In the pizza place," Eirenna replied. "They had a jar that said if we needed pennies we could take them, so I took them."
"We had seventy four, now we have seventy five, seventy six, seventy seven, seventy eight, seventy nine, eighty, eighty one, and eighty two," Shelena said. "Maybe we'll find all fifteen dollars today!"
"We should find some more pizza places," Eirenna said.
"Yeah," Shelena said.
They looked down the line of stores, but found no others sold pizza — or any food, for that matter — and even when they peeked in the windows of those establishments they saw no containers with coins in them that they could investigate.
Shelena led the way to another block of buildings where they kept scouring sidewalks and peering through store windows to see what they could find.
After awhile they found a restaurant that stood all by itself and had a drive-through window in the side.
"There's got to be lots of money there!" Shelena exclaimed.
Eirenna hurried with her over to the window and they found quite a bit of coinage, including some dimes and nickels, but no quarters. By the time they'd counted it all up they had two dollars and thirty six cents.
"I wanna go inside and see if they have one of those penny jars," Shelena said.
"I'll wait out here," Eirenna said.
Shelena ducked inside and Eirenna watched through the window as she approached the counter. A lady greeted her and they talked a bit before Shelena came out, her face glowing.
"What?" Eirenna asked.
"She said the jar of pennies is for people who need one or two to make exact change, so she said I couldn't have any if I wasn't buying anything, but she gave me a whole roll of pennies when I told her we wanted to take the bus to see Santa Claus and needed money," Shelena replied.
Eirenna's eyes widened. "How much is a roll of pennies?"
"I don't know," Shelena replied, turning the roll over in her hands.
"It says fifty," Eirenna said. "That's a lot."
"Yeah, that means we're at three dollars, right?" Shelena asked.
"I don't know," Eirenna replied. "We'll have to ask Deon."
"Maybe we should go back and ask at all the stores we passed if they'll help us get money to see the real Santa Claus," Shelena said.
"There was nobody at the pizza place," Eirenna said. "Do you think they'd make us give those pennies back if those are for making change?"
"I don't know," Shelena replied. "We wouldn't have to tell them. Maybe I'll go ask there, but let's go back and ask at all the stores for money."
Eirenna nodded and followed Shelena back the way they'd come. If they got all the money they needed today then it would be worth lying to Grandma. In fact, it was already worth it."

One Small Wish: Day 2

Word Count: 12,051

Summary of Events:

Vaughan left the family Thanksgiving gathering to start getting made up as St. Nicholas. Eirenna browsed through the catalogue of toys but wasn't finding anything that she wanted at all. Vaughan sat for his first night of wish-taking, which was not an enjoyable experience. Fancy went to get Eirenna ready for bed and discovered her with the catalogue, but was glad to see that Eirenna hadn't circled anything inside it, lest she be made to feel guilty that she couldn't give them to her daughter.

Excerpt of the Day:

""That's very good," Vaughan said. "Now what–"

"Mommy and Daddy say that I'm better than my brother," she interrupted again. "I don't like him at all and he's mean. Mommy and Daddy should've only ever had me and they wouldn't have half the problems they do."

Vaughan nodded, not really sure what to say about that. "Now–"

"Granny and Gramp call me a princess too, and they always get me pretty princess dresses for my birthday and Christmastime, and even other times when I've been a good girl," she continued. "Everybody loves me, but everybody hates my brother, but he's such a bad boy it's not surprising."

"Look, Lily, dear child, I appreciate your tendencies to the side of extroversion, but would you be so kind as to allow me to finish my sentence?" Vaughan asked.

"I'm not olive oil!" she snapped.

"I didn't say you were," Vaughan replied.

"You called me extra version!" she snapped. "Mommy uses extra version olive oil in the kitchen and I'm not olive oil!"

Vaughan sighed and closed his eyes — considering Jessica had told him in no uncertain terms that his face was off limits to touching for the duration of his makeup wearing — he could see how extroversion could sound like extra-virgin, but this visit was taking longer than it was supposed to.

"Lily, I would like to ask you what you would like for Christmas," he said, opening his eyes and looking at her.

"I want all the prettiest princes dresses, and some angel wings, and pretty princess shoes, and pretty princess makeup, and pretty princes crowns and jewelry," she replied with an arrogant air. "And pretty princess shawls, capes, stoles, coats, and everything that has to do with princesses. And I want only the most fashionable princess dresses, with layers and layers of skirts, not the pretend dresses in the dress-up stores."

"And that's–"

"And I want an iPhone, an iPod, an iPad, all the princess movies, all the princess books, and only the finest chocolates," she interrupted. "You will be able to do this for me of course?"

"Indeed I will put in a sincere effort," Vaughan replied.

"I don't want merely an effort," she replied. "I want a guarantee."

"I guarantee it," Vaughan replied.

"Good," she said.

"Now we'll have a picture taken," Vaughan said.

"Oh!" she said excitedly.

Instantly she struck a pose and Vaughan contrived a smile that looked genuine enough for him not to get glared at over the top of the camera by the photographer before the shutter was pressed.

The 'nun' then came back and guided the girl out the other half of the double doors, which actually had a dividing wall between them that caused the girl to be led out to a different area where her parents collected her — and the photo — and then left from."

One Small Wish: Day 1

Word Count: 6,108

Summary of Events:

Eirenna arrived home from school and had some fresh-baked cookies before noticing an ad promoting a visit with the real Santa Claus in the newspaper her grandma was reading. Vaughan got a call at work from the church receptionist informing him that they wanted him at the church at three in the afternoon daily to get his makeup on; unimpressed, he talked to the senior partner who likes him about getting a letter from the firm telling them he wouldn't be available to be there that early — after all, he doubted it took for hours to do a little bit of facial makeup. Eirenna and her best friend, Shelena, read over the ad and discovered that they could win what they asked for if they went to the real Santa Claus, and started to plan how to get there . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"Eirenna shifted her jaw. "You really think Deon would help us?"

"Yeah," Shelena replied. "He'll do anything for his baby sister."

"Do you think he'd give us the money?" Eirenna asked.

"Maybe," Shelena said, her own face lighting up with eagerness. "Then we could go right away on Thanksgiving!"

"We could be the first ones!" Eirenna exclaimed.

"Do you think that means we'd win?" Shelena asked.

"I don't know," Eirenna replied

"But even if we only won one thing, that'd still be good too," Shelena said.

"Yeah," Eirenna said. "What would you ask him for?"

"I want a special dress all my own," Shelena replied. "A brand-new one, not an old one that Kiana wore a long time ago, or one that's been bought from the used-clothes store. A sparkly one with sequins and ruffles, and a bow, and maybe even diamonds. I want it to be pink, with a black fur Spanish jacket, and pink sparkly earrings, and shiny new black shoes."

"That sounds really pretty," Eirenna said.

"What about you?" Shelena asked.

"Well, I would want a Christmas tree with all the decorations and lights, and a Christmas dinner with the really big chicken and the potatoes and the brown potato sauce and . . . and all the other food people at at Christmastime," Eirenna replied.

"What about for presents under the tree?" Shelena asked.

"Well, I think Grandma would like some new slippers because hers are all worn out, and Mama . . ." Eirenna trailed off to think.

"What about you?" Shelena asked.

"Mama and Grandma need presents too," Eirenna replied. "And I think Mama would like a cell phone, but she says they cost money all the time, not just when you buy them, so she might get upset at getting one too. Mama needs new shoes, though, too, but I don't know if she'd want them for Christmas. But she could get two presents too."

"Do you think she'd like an iPod?" Shelena asked. "It's kind of like a cell phone."

"Maybe," Eirenna replied. "But I don't know. Maybe I should ask for Mama to get a pretty dress too, not quite like what you want, though. But I don't know that Mama would like that either. She wouldn't have any parties to wear it to. I think I might have to ask Mama what she'd want for Christmas."

"So what about you then?" Shelena asked.

Eirenna fell silent. She wasn't really sure, to be honest. She felt like having the Christmas tree and the Christmas dinner would be all the present she'd need.

"Don't you want anything?" Shelena asked.

"I don't know," Eirenna replied.

"Don't you look at the toys at the store?" Shelena asked.

"No," Eirenna replied. "Mama says there's not enough money to buy plastic toys, I only get what toys Grandma can sew out of old clothes."

"Tomorrow I'll bring the toy magazine over and we can look at it together and you can pick some things you'd like to get for Christmas," Shelena said."

Pronunciation:

Shelena: shaleenah