Page 144 of Merry Christmas, You Filthy Animal
“Good idea,” he says as I snap a picture, and we move down the aisle.
“From the small ideas I had today, one of the things I thought about was having an overarching theme for the cottages. Like... the Candy Cane Cottages, something like that.”
“Cole and Storee would enjoy that idea,” Atlas says with an eye roll.
“Why do you say that?” I ask, confused.
“Do you not know what they’ve done with a candy cane?”
“No,” I say on a laugh. “What did they do?”
He leans in close to my ear and whispers, “Sexual things.”
“Oof.” I clench my legs together. “Wouldn’t that burn?”
“You would think, but they at least had the intelligence to do it with a pineapple-flavored candy cane. I didn’t ask for specifics. All I know is that it’s something they have done more than once, the first time being in the reindeer barn, and that it gets... sticky. So yeah, they would like your Candy Cane Cottages.”
I sigh, thinking about it. “Ugh, does it make the idea weird now?”
“No.” He shakes his head. “They made it weird with pineapple candy canes. You can keep it classy with the classic peppermint. Plus, you could find a lot of cool stuff here to help decorate. Not to mentionCandy Cane Cottageshas a really nice ring to it.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” I say, feeling giddy about it. “And I actually took a look at my cottage’s brand, and they have smaller versions that are made from logs but painted in red.”
“I like that,” he says. “I really like that actually.”
“They’d pop beautifully against the trees, and with some lit paths with red and white lights, it could be a really pretty place to stay.”
He smiles down at me. “I could not agree more.”
“You mean that?”
“Listen, I won’t lie to you. This idea is awesome and something we need in this town. I want you to succeed, so I wouldn’t lie about thinking you have a strong idea.”
That brings a smile to my face, because I want to succeed too.
We keep walking down the aisles, picking out some things that could possibly work for the main house, such as decorations and signs. Sherry lets me know she has no problem putting some things on hold for me until Uncle Dwight gets back, so I place a few sold stickers on some signs that I think would be perfect, one in particular for the hot tub area I’d love to set up.
When we reach the back, we head into a separate room that must be the new one Sherry was talking about, because it’s decked out in toys and gifts, and a life-size cardboard cutout of Michael Jordan.
“Christ, I’m surprised that’s here and Ansel hasn’t purchased it yet,” Atlas says, pointing to Michael. “He’s a huge fan of Michael. I was more of a Shaquille O’Neal kind of guy.”
“Because he’s tall like you?” I ask.
“Well, Shaq has quite a few inches on me, but yeah, I was center on my team and towered over a lot of my teammates and opponents.”
“Were you any good?” I ask as I pick up a clarinet withKenosha Kickersengraved on the side. I set it back down, wondering who would want someone’s used clarinet. Those things are slobbered on.
“I was all right. I think I still hold the record at the school for most rebounds.”
“Ooo, stud,” I say with a wink and then move over to an old plastic case with a snap button. I open it up to find a collection of Micro Machines, all dented and looking like they’ve had better days. “Looks like someone either got their collection donated or donated it themselves.”
“Felix used to collect these,” Atlas says, picking one up. “He had a whole lot of them. Ansel would fuck with him and hide one every once in a while. Drove him nuts.”
“Ansel seems like a troublemaker.”
“Yeah, to say the least.” Atlas sighs and then picks up a snow globe. “Hey, look at this.” He shakes it up and brings it toward me. In the center is a red cabin with large candy canes on the side of the house. “If this isn’t a sign, I don’t know what is.”
“Wow,” I say taking the snow globe from him. “This is... this is exactly what I envisioned.”
