Chapter 76

“They’re your costumes!”

“Refresh my memory?”

“It’s just a little something for the kids.”

“Which kids, now?”

Exasperated by the need to explain, Colin essentially strung his next fifty words into one. “This is my family’s first Christmas without my Uncle Mac, and he was always Santa, but my auntie asked me if I would do it this year, and Santa needs reindeer, and since wild reindeer who know how to act don’t randomly roam the streets here, my reindeer are you.” Here he reached into his sack again and withdrew two headbands adorned with fabric antlers, which he distributed.

“We can’t act either,” I said.

“Speak for yourself,” Joaquin teased.

“Maybe not,” Colin said. “But you can take direction. All you have to do is stand around and act reindeer-ish. You know: eat hay, fly, that kind of thing.”

I rolled my eyes with my laugh. “You got hay in that bag?” I asked.