Page 74 of How My Neighbour Stole Christmas
“It’s cute that you’re trying to threaten me.”
“I’m being serious.”
“Yeah?” he asks. “What are you going to do, Storee?”
“I’m going to…well…” Nothing comes to mind, so I cross my arms and huff, “You’re just going to have to wait and see.”
He grins. “The anticipation is already eating me alive. Merry Christmas, Storee. May your days be not so merry and bright.”
And with that, he heads toward his house, where Max steps out holding another bin of lights.
Crap.
I rush up to the porch, where Taran is still measuring and Aunt Cindy is nodding off in her chair.
“We need more lights,” I say in a hushed tone, careful not to wake Aunt Cindy.
“I told you, twenty boxes are all we need,” Taran says.
“No, we need more. Trust me, Taran. If we’re going to win this…we need so much more.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Storee
Green and red, all wrapped in a bow—
Cole’s house was lit; it was entirely aglow.
While next door, the display was not so bright,
because twenty boxes of strands were far too little light.
Did that stop Storee? No way. She simply said,
“If I can’t win this one, I’ll get revenge instead…”
“I told you, Taran. Ifreaking told you twenty boxes aren’t enough,” I say as I pace the living room, the evening just a few hours away, meaning that the competition will soon be judged.
“Twenty boxes are enough. They’ll appreciate the straight lines and well-manicured display.”
“No, they’ll think,Wow, they should have purchased more lights.” I press my hand to my forehead. “I knew I shouldn’t have listened to you. Twenty isn’t enough!”
“Twenty is perfect,” she shoots back. “Look how beautiful they are.” She points to the window, where we can see the bright white of the lights beaming. I’ve gotta hand it to her—the new LED lights with their large bulbs really do burn the retinas, but I wish we had five times as many. We could have lit up the entire town of Kringle from Aunt Cindy’s house.
“You just have them on the rain gutters. You didn’t do anything special.”
“We didn’t need to,” Taran says. “We’re letting the lights speak for themselves.”
“And they’re screamingwe’re boring,” I yell and then flop onto the couch.
“What’s all this ruckus?” Aunt Cindy says as she slowly makes her way into the living room with her walker. Taran helps her the rest of the way and into her chair.
“Storee thinks the light display isn’t good enough,” Taran says.
“Because it’s not,” I say. “Did you see Cole’s? They made a bow on the roof out of lights. His house looks like a freaking present. And here we are with a basic dad-light display.”
“Basic dad-light display?” Taran asks with a crinkle to her nose. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
