Page 78 of How My Neighbour Stole Christmas
I take in the rest of the strands, knowing what a monumental task it would be to take them all out.
I don’t have enough time for another, so this will have to do. I gently set the bulb back in its socket but don’t connect it all the way, and then, out of sheer panic, I sprint toward the fence.
Unluckily for me, I trip over my scarf and fly headfirst into the fence, creating a loud bang that echoes through the night.
“Mother…Christmas,” I groan as I blink a few times, questioning my consciousness and sanity.
I hear Cole’s door open, and even though my brain is fuzzy and my head’s throbbing with pain—and I have snow in every orifice of my jacket now—I get up on my elbows and slither through the snow toward the gate.
“Did you hear something?” I hear Cole say, which puts a little pep in my slither.
Pushing through the snow, I army-crawl through the thin opening, my face soaked, my jacket soaked, and my scarf nearly choking me to death.But when I drag my body through the fence, surprisingly undetected, I carefully close the gate and then roll to my back, letting myself catch my breath as I listen in.
“It sounded like something fell,” Max says.
More like something slammed, that something being my brain into a wooden plank.
I hear them move off the porch and then…
“Fuck, look, a strand of lights is out,” Cole says.
“Shit, and Peach and Paula are headed our way,” Max says.
“We’re not supposed to be outside when they’re judging,” Cole replies in a panic.
And despite the brain damage I just suffered and my probably frostbitten fingers, I inwardly cackle becauseah-ha!
Don’t mess with us if you can’t take the heat—or something like that.
Either way…muahahaha.
Cole
“Quick, try to fix it,” I say to Max as I glance toward the end of the street. “They’re not here yet. Martha and Mae are talking to them.”
Max moves to the end of the porch and crouches down to examine the offending lights. “Is it plugged in?” he asks.
“If it wasn’t, the entire house wouldn’t be shining right now.”
“I mean into the other string of lights it’s supposed to be attached to,” Max says quickly.
“Oh, let me see.” I get down on my knees beside the porch to find the plug. “It looks fine.” But just to be safe, I unplug it and then plug it back in again. Nothing. “Is it one of the bulbs?” I ask.
“Possibly,” Max says as he glances over his shoulder. “Shit, are they getting closer?”
“Looks like the convo is ending.”
“Quick, hop over the railing—get to the other side of this bush and help me look at these lights.”
Not even second-guessing, I hoist myself over the rail and land flat in the snow…the disturbed snow.
What the fuck? I look around, my eyes trailing across the tracks and then a giant flattening of the snow near the fence.
“Max,” I shout-whisper.
“Did you find it?” he asks.
“No, but look.” I point at the tracks in the snow.
