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
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