Eager Beaver

Chapter Forty-Six - Rudolph

Liam and I rushed back to the volunteer area, where Charlie had finished making the boxes for the donation items. He was grumbling under his breath and recklessly spread out the baby supplies he had been carrying. Toys, pacifiers and baby lotion filled the table. I put the diapers on the other end.

"What's his problem?" Charlie asked me. I went to reply, but Liam went ahead and filled him in without waiting.

"Nate was bothering us!" He seethed, slamming down a baby bottle on the donation table. He looked really angry. I was surprised. Nate hadn't really messed with him at all.

I looked at them and blinked shyly, before I gave a little nod. I shivered. My bum was still damp and cold and twisting to look over my shoulder I could see that there was a large damp mark on my cargo pants.

Charlie frowned at me sympathetically, but before we could get into a whole explanation for him one of the adults came over to us with a clipboard. It was Garett's mom - from Halloween!

"Cooper?" She asked, looking unfamiliarly over the three of us.

"That's me." I confirmed.

She made a check on the clipboard and held out her hand, her tired frown perking up into an encouraging smile. "I'm going to take you to get into your outfit, Rudolph!"

"O-Okay." I stuttered and let her take my hand.

Garett's Mom led me into the school, which I was thankful for since it was pretty cold outside - even with my thick puffy parka. The whole school had been transformed into a winter wonderland since it was being used for the Christmas festival after the parade. There were dozens more tables set up in every room just like the one we had outside, an army of volunteers setting them up with decorations, fair games, Christmas treats and sugary drinks. We walked through the halls to the Kindergarten classroom where a bunch of outfits had been hung up on various clothing racks on wheels.

Playing in the Corner was Garett and Harper. I was a little surprised to see that they were both sitting in a kind of temporary playpen like a pack n' play. Garret seemed perfectly content at first, chattering breathlessly to his sister about the matted brown teddy bear he was cuddling under his chin, but he clamped right up when he saw me - his ears going bright red. He dropped the stuffed bear as if it were a poisonous snake and started to climb over the playpen wall - but he hadn't gotten very far before his Mom took notice.

"Stay in your playpen like I told you, honey." She said calmly, leading me up to one of the clothing racks.

Garett puffed up his red embarrassed cheeks in protest, still trying to scramble over the side. "But I want out!!" he pouted, before pointing at me. "And I know him!"

"No Gare-Bear!" His Mom said much more firmly. Garett froze with his leg in the air like a puppy about to go potty. "You must be mistaken. Cooper is an older boy from scouts."

"No! He's Laurie's friend from the party!" Garett explained, his voice rising up to a high pitched whine.

"Stay there. You don't want to be on Santa's naughty list do you?" His Mom asked. The warning caused Garett to collapse onto his bum in the playpen beside Harper. "No Mom." He relented, and picked up his teddy - hiding his face behind it.

Garett's Mom turned to me now that her son was settled. "Arms out Cooper." She instructed with a gesture holding her own arms out. I did as she asked and she took out a tape measure. "You're a little on the shorter side for an eight year old."

My face flushed a deep red. I was used to being short for an eleven year old. "I-I guess." I mumbled to her. Garett let out a snicker from the playpen.

"Don't worry, we have plenty of outfits lent to us. There is something that will fit." She browsed through the outfits on the racks. There were a surprising number of reindeer costumes. I supposed they used them every Christmas. She eventually settled on one of the smallest outfits and looked at it with dissatisfaction. "You're going to be Rudolph in the parade and the pageant?" She asked me.