Shine Bright (Part Six)

Shine Bright (Part Six)


Part Six: Not enough money

"You young ladies will have to hurry," the store owner said, as he watched them load up a basket of Christmas tree ornaments and other decorations. "Seventeen dollars," he said firmly, as he stood there waiting for them count out their change. "That is what this comes to."

"We don't have enough money. Eight dollars?" Mandy asked sadly. "We are going to have to put some of this back."

She looked at the basket, trying to decide what to return to the shelves. "I should not have bought that cook book for my gran," she thought. "If I had not spent that money, I would have enough money to decorate the tree."

"By the way, just so you know....." the store owner said, "Everything that you have in your basket is going on half price tonight, so I will give it all to you for half price right now. We are closing very shortly anyhow."

He quickly tallied up the total for them.

"Eight dollars and no tax," he said, smiling at them. "And you both have a blessed and a happy Christmas. Wish your dad and mom a Merry Christmas for me too."

The girls could scarcely believe what had just happened and smiled happily at him, as they left the store with a huge bag of decorations. The store owner had even tossed in a huge red candy cane for each of them.

"Thank you!" they hollered as they went back out into the cold. "Merry Christmas to you too!"

They did not stop to explain that Mandy's parents had gone to Jamaica and had left her with a virtual stranger for the holidays.

"Oh no, we don't have a star to put on the top of the tree," Mandy realized, as they trudged homeward. "We should have bought a star too. We were not very smart."

"We'll figure something out," Hannah reassured her, as they walked on. The temperature was dropping rapidly and it was getting much too cold to be outside, as the wind was picking up too.
"I think we might just have a white Christmas after all."

Hannah was generally very upbeat and fun to be with, as nothing ever seemed to be too difficult for her. No problem ever seemed to be too much for her to solve.

Mandy on the other hand, was easily upset by the smallest things. Not having a star to put on the tree was just the final straw.

"What a crazy day this has been," she confided in Hannah.

"Where is your Gran?" Hannah asked Mandy, as they put their new found treasures on the floor, in front of the tree in the family room, a little while later.

"Doing her granny thing, I expect," replied Mandy, still wondering what to do about the star for the tree. "I guess it is too late now to go back to the store. Besides that, we are both broke too."

They decided that star or no star, the tree that they had brought home and put up, really did look quite good. With the decorations that they had bought, they knew that it would look even better. They quickly decorated the tree together.

"Let's get the mess tidied up before Gran gets back." Hannah said, pulling the vacuum cleaner out of the closet. "I found more presents," she hollered at Mandy. "A whole bunch of them in the closet. Wonder what is in all these other boxes?"

"Those are for Grandma," Mandy hollered back. "You hungry?"

"I have to go home for supper soon," Hannah answered. "But I am going to vacuum up all of the needles first, ok?"

"Great," replied Mandy, laughing as she spoke. "I never did like work, much less vacuuming." she said to herself. "I will get rid of all the boxes."