The Great Divide

25. Man in the Dark

As the days in December wore on, my sentence to help decorate the football field for the annual Christmas Tree Sale arrived. Apart from selling trees, a small light show occurred on the evening of the last day of classes. It wasn't anything noteworthy, which was a large part of my discontentment for having to do the interviews and story. Dearing, clever as she was, knew this full well.

Wednesday afternoon, our punishment commenced.

James was already on the field when I arrived with a huge container stuffed with Christmas lights tucked in my grasp. It weighed a ton, and I dropped it with a loud thud as I emerged on the field. James, who was in the middle of directing a few other students volunteers on where to arrange some of the standing Christmas themed lights, snapped his attention towards the sound. He offered me a crooked smile. James always had a knack for bossing people around to get things done efficiently.

Just then, one of the volunteers started playing Christmas music through a boombox for the rest of us to hear.

"Ugh, no! Haven't those things died out yet?" I exclaimed, stepping nearer to James. "I don't celebrate Christmas, but I like the holiday – really, I do – and I'm not ready for full on music yet. Especially since we're going to be down here every night for a week and having to listen to it nonstop for hours."

"Yeah, me either." James whipped his head around towards the source of the music. "Hey, Logan!" Logan jumped five feet in the air. "Turn that off. You're here to work, and it's distracting." He turned back towards me just as the music faded. "Better?"

I nodded. "Better."

"So, what did Dearing send you with?"

"A box of rocks for all I know," I said, glancing to the huge plastic tote.

"Those'll look festive around the field."

I laughed. "She knows how much I loathe this."

James nodded. He had also helped out last year, and I knew he found the event as dull as I did. "You liked the Fall Harvest Festival," he said matter-of-factly.

"Well, yeah, because people bring different produce each year and there's a competition – actual writing material, not" – I spread my arms dramatically across the field – "boring, run-of-the-mill interviews about people buying Christmas trees."

"You complain too much. Anyone ever tell you that?" James stated. A smile flickered across his mouth at my narrowing eyes.

"And you boss people around too much. Anyone ever tell you that?"

James nodded. "Yep. You. Every day." He then walked towards the tote, bent over, and picked it up. "Go help Jules with the candy canes."

"Fine," I said, rolling my eyes.

James shot me a final smile as he walked by, tote in hand.

An hour later, the sun had nearly settled behind the horizon. The sky was turning a velvety blue and a few stars were scattered across the sky. A brisk wind swept through the field, and I shivered even while wrapped inside a huge puffer coat. Many of the volunteers had left with the fading sunlight, which left James, me, and another girl, Veronica, on the field.

James and Veronica were currently finishing setting up the lighted outline of a snowman with a bowler hat, and I was on the first level of the stadium stringing lights around the railing. My eyes had been darting to James all night, watching his long form reach places I could only ever dream about. He was currently fiddling with the orange lights of the snowman's carrot nose, when he shifted his face towards Veronica and started to laugh.