A Christmas Tree for Santa

An Original Christmas Story
Daniel 'Chip' Ciammaichella

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"Well Mr. Talbot, it seems that Charlie had a sudden emergency, but I'm sure he'll be right back." Before she could continue, Bob the loan officer leaned over Talbot's shoulder and whispered in his ear. Talbot's eyes grew wide as he listened. "Call 911 now," he instructed before turning back to Shannon. "Ms. Smith, Bob says that Charlie tried to extort money from this bank, and flew into a rage when Bob called his bluff."

"Mr. Talbot, I don't think Char...""There's no time to discuss this, Shannon. I think Charlie is going to come back with a gun and rob us. You know as well as I that men who fall on hard times, like Charlie, often get depressed, suicidal and violent this time of year. I want you to help escort all of the customers out of the bank. Bob is calling the police now. With any luck they'll catch Charlie outside before he comes back."

Shannon opened her mouth to protest, but Talbot turned and began to walk away before noticing Wendy and her grandparents sitting on the couch. "I'm sorry folks, it's closing time now. It is Christmas Eve after all, and we'd like to get our employees home to enjoy Christmas with their families. Thank you so much for coming, and Merry Christmas."

Shannon felt helpless as Talbot ushered the Garcia's to the door. Then the door opened and her heart lifted, only to be disappointed when instead of Charlie, Police Chief Stan Sandoval and two SWAT team members burst through the open door. Despite her worry, she couldn't help but giggle at the serious looks on their faces. The giggle turned into a laugh a few moments later as Charlie walked nonchalantly through to door, unnoticed by anyone but her, balancing a tiny Christmas tree in his right hand. He walked right over to the Police Chief, still unnoticed by anyone as they exchanged frantic words. He tapped the Chief on the shoulder. "What happened Stan, somebody rob the place?"

"Not yet Char lie... CHARLIE!" Every eye in the room turned to Charlie. Talbot turned white, and almost fainted when one of the SWAT officers leveled his M16 at Charlie and hollered, "FREEZE AND DROP IT SCUMBAG!" Charlie gave the young cop a momentary look, then turned to Chief Sandoval. "You think you could call off your hound dawg there, Stan? Does he think I've got a gun hidden in this itty-bitty Christmas tree...or does he just have some kind of sick Santa/Rambo thing goin' on?" Chief Sandoval had an amused, but pained look on his face as he turned to his young officer.

"Carl, put the darn gun down. You ain 't even bright enough to realize I never gave you any bullets for that thing." He turned to Charlie and rolled his eyes. "Kids." Charlie just grinned. "So what's going on here, Stan? Why all the hardware?" Sandoval looked at Charlie seriously. "Mr. Talbot says you got into a mad rage and stormed out, threatening to come back with a gun and kill everyone." Charlie laughed a belly laugh that would make the real Santa proud, then looked over at the still ill-looking Talbot. "Hi, Frank! Funny I don't remember you even being down here with the rest of us peons all day, let alone talking to you. Where did you get such a fool idea? I just ran home to get this little Christmas tree. I promise it won't hurt you, unless you're allergic to little fake trees? Perhaps someone spiked your eggnog...you don't look so good."

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