Christmas with the Calvins

Chapter Thirty-Six

As his son-in-law was locked away in a tin man's prison, the real Santa had arrived home from his date with Carol and was about to fight a war of his own. Charlie, who had waited up that night for his dad to come home, started an argument the second Scott walked through the door.

"But how could you pick her?" He complained.

"I didn't pick her!" Scott countered. He had barely taken his coat off when Charlie picked his fight.

"You don't care anymore!"

"Charlie, I care more about you and your sister than anybody else!" Scott hug his coat on a hook by the door and walked into the living room. "But it's a two way street!" He called over his shoulder. Charlie followed after his father and leaned on the doorframe, sulking. "What am I suppose to do if you don't confide in me?"

"Alright you want it?" Charlie snarled. It was the first time in his life he was mad at his dad. He was tired of all the secrets, of all the lies. He was tired of always having to guard how he really felt about his life. "All right, here it is!" Charlie continued, raising his voice.

"Shhh." Scott said putting a finger over his mouth. The last thing he needed was for them to wake up Neil and Laura and have them get involved. "Alright, talk to me." He invited. At the same time he guided Charlie to a chair in the living room.

"Ok, I don't live a normal life." Charlie explained. his voice still louder than a typical speaking tone.

"You live a great life here..."

"No, no, just listen to me! My friends get to go around saying, you know, my dad's a plumber! My dad's a pilot! My dad's a dentist! Well you know what? My dad is the best thing of all and I can't tell anyone about it!" Tears were filling up in Charlie's eyes as he spoke. It felt so good to get things off his chest after so long that he couldn't have stopped talking even if he wanted to. "And you have no idea how hard that is walking around with that secret for years! I had a sister who I saw almost every day. We were so close, but now I only get to see her once or twice a year! And when I do see Jessie, we can't go out anywhere because then people might find out what she is. And now on top of everything, you're going out with Principal Newman? I mean, and you don't even tell me about it!" Charlie started to cry. "My whole life has become about secrets and I hate it!"

"I'm sorry." Was all Scott could manage at first. He knew it was hard for Charlie to know so many secrets, but he hadn't realized it was this hard for him. He, Jessie and Bernard had always tried their best to be there for Charlie, but as years past'; they hadn't realized the weight their classified lifestyle had carried. Maybe it was for the best that Scott gave up his job. They could always find another Santa. And they would have to, it was almost Christmas eve and he was out of prospects and out of magic.

"Forget about Principal Newman." He decided. "Forget about Santa. I'm done. My time's up." The minute he realized it, Scott thought about Jessica. What would happen to her and Bernard? She'd have to stay at the North Pole with him. She wouldn't be able to visit them anymore. In fact, Lucy, Laura, Neil, Charlie, even Scott would all forget that she ever existed.

"Who cares anymore?" Charlie sniffled before going upstairs to bed.

Things were quiet at the Miller's house the next morning. Neil and Laura both noticed the tension between Charlie and Scott at breakfast, but neither thought it would be a good idea to mention it. Lucy noticed that there was something wrong too. Only she didn't had the same reservations as he parents. So after breakfast, when Charlie went outside to shovel the yard, his little sister followed him out.

"Hi, Charlie." she greeted him nicely.

"Hi, Lucy." He tried his best to be kind to his sister. It wasn't her fault his life was falling apart.

"What are you doing?" She questioned innocently. Lucy found that people were more likely to talk to you if you were really nice to them first.

"Just shoveling."

"Oh." Lucy nodded. She knew that already. "Charlie, is Uncle Scott Santa Claus?" Charlie looked up at his sister suspiciously.

"No." He told her. "Of course not. Why would you think that?"

"I don't know." Lucy shrugged. "How come Uncle Scott was so sad today?"

"What makes you think he was sad?" Charlie asked, returning to his shoveling.

"I asked him to stick a straw in his nose and blow bubbles in his milk, like he always does, and he said no."

"Whatever." Charlie huffed.

"Can you talk to him?"

"I don't think so, Lucy."

"Did you have a fight?" She frowned.

"Sort of." Again it wasn't Lucy's fault, but Charlie was getting tired of his sister's constant questioning. It almost reminded him of how he used to talk to Jess. Since she was so much older than him, Charlie would ask her questions all the time. Remembering Jess only further reminded him that if Dad wasn't Santa anymore, he wouldn't see Jess or Bernard anymore. This only made him more angry about all of Lucy's questions.

"Are you gonna make up?"

"I don't know!" He snapped at his younger sister in frustration.

"Are you gonna be mad forever?"

"Lucy, These are really hard questions."

"No they're not." Lucy, who was a lot more like Neil than she even realized, insisted. "They're easy! And you can't be mad at him forever, Charlie! He's your Daddy and you love him!" Leaving her brother with that final thought, Lucy wondered away to play in the snow.