Twelve Days of Christmas

Day Six

ᎾN ᎢᎻᎬ ᏚᏆXᎢᎻ ᎠᎪY ᎾF ᏟᎻᎡᏆᏚᎢᎷᎪᏚ YᎾᏌᎡ ᎪᏌᎢᎻᎾᎡ ᏚᎪYᏚ ᎢᎾ YᎾᏌ... Ꮖ ᏔᏆᏚᎻ YᎾᏌ Ꭺ ᎷᎬᎡᎡY ᏟᎻᎡᏆᏚᎢᎷᎪᏚ!

***

"Wake up! Wake up!" Sniper exclaimed. "It's Christmas!"

Race groaned and rolled over, pulling his pillow over his head. "It's too early for this." His voice came out muffled, but Sniper could still understand him.

The boy in question chose to ignore Race and continued trying to wake up the older boys. "C'mon Buttons! Get outta bed!"

"Let me sleep!" Buttons exclaimed.

When Sniper tried to wake up Elmer, the boy didn't even move. He was dead to the world.

Sniper huffed and leaned against the wall, then slowly sunk to the floor to begin the wait for the others to wake up.

He didn't have to wait long, he seemed to have woken Jack and all the boys listened to Jack.

Jack rubbed his eyes, then slowly sat up and jumped down from his bunk. "Let's get up, boys."

"What?" Mike complained.

Jack stretched his arms and yawned before pulling a shirt on over his undershirt. "Get up. It's time to celebrate."

He was met with several protests but nearly all of the boys got out of bed, even if some of them were moving slower than slugs in molasses.

A few didn't, Albert being one of them. He was left alone until the last minute. He was grumpy most of the time and it wouldn't hurt to give him an extra twenty minutes of sleep.

After everyone was cleaned up and dressed it was decided that breakfast next would be the best plan. The boys treated themselves to breakfast at Jacobi's that day. Hot oatmeal along with coffee, all of them agreed that despite the rough start, it was turning out to be a pretty great Christmas.

"Boys, hurry up," Jacobi warned. "Soon I'll have paying customers! Shoo!"

"We heard ya the first time!" Finch rolled his eyes.

"Ya can't give us a break on Christmas?" Race complained.

"Customers don't stop coming just because it's a holiday!" Jacobi warned.

Henry's eyes widened and he tried to finish his oatmeal before they were kicked out. He'd been trying to savor it, he'd even added honey and cinnamon to it! Henry had been taking his time, enjoying every bite, and now he was shoveling spoonfuls of the oatmeal into his mouth.

The sounds of spoons scraping the sides of bowls filled the room as the boys tried to get every last bit of the oatmeal they could before heading back out into the cold.

It was almost sad, the way that warm oatmeal could have such an effect on them. Anyone else would have felt pity, but the boys counted themselves lucky. They had food, clothes, and each other. What else was needed? A positive outlook on life was half of what made it worth living.

And so the boys finished their meal and thanked Mr. Jacobi, he was kind enough to put up with all the trouble they gave him. Then they headed out into the streets to find a way to fill their day.

"I say we go see Miss Medda!" Crutchie suggested. "I'm sure they're doin' something to celebrate!"

"Nah," Finch shook his head. "We can Miss Medda anytime we want. I think we should go skating at Central Park! There's only a couple months 'til it melts. Besides, usually we're too busy and the lake is crowded. Today it'll be empty and we can stay as long as we'd like!"