Christmas Eve. The day most men wait for to do their Christmas shopping. And handsome, dark-haired Special Agent Kenneth Aida was no exception to this.
It was a cloudy day. The sky looked like it could snow at any minute. But the weather forecasters on the TVs displayed in an electronics store window that faced the street said it would snow in Hell before it snowed in Washington, D.C.
“Yeah, right,” Aida muttered as he walked past the window and wrapped his jacket tight about him against the cold. “And since when have you guys ever been right? We’ll probably end up getting a blizzard.” He then walked into a jewelry store.
He looked at the display cases, and found the ones with the rings. He then stood there for a while, looking them over, and over, and over. He stared longingly at a particular diamond solitaire ring.
“$3500,” he thought sadly. “I wish I could afford it. Becky would love it. I know she would. And she deserves such a beautiful ring. But we federal agents don’t get paid diddly for all our hard work.”
A salesman walked over to Aida.
“May I help you, sir?” he asked.
Aida shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. Not unless you can lower the price of this ring down some.”
“How low did you have in mind?”
“Say…to about $500?”
“Uh…no, sir, I’m afraid not.”
Aida sighed. “I thought as much. Well, thank you, anyway.”
Aida walked off, muttering to himself. “There’s no way I can afford $3500 for that ring. Not since buying my Mustang. But…I really, really want to get that ring for Becky. But how?”
He walked down the street, to where he’d parked his red Mustang covertible in the only available parking space at the time: the side of the road a block down. He stood there, staring at his car. “I hate to say it,” he said to himself, “but the only way I can afford to get that ring is if I sell the Pony. So, which is it going to be, Aida old boy? The sports car? Or Becky?”
It took him no time to decide. And in even less time, he was driving around, looking for a car lot.
Aida came to a stop at a stoplight. As he sat waiting for the light to turn, he saw a pudgy old man with long white hair and beard running down the sidewalk in a hurry. He seemed frantic about something. Aida had a feeling something was up, so he pulled the car to the side of the road and go out.
He hurried up to the old man’s side. “Hey!” he said. “What’s wrong, old man? Can I help you?”
The old man slowed to a stop and looked at Aida appraisingly. “Yes,” he said after a moment. “I believe you can help me, Agent Aida.”
Aida stared at him in shock. “How…How do you know my name?”
The old man ignored his question. “I’m chasing after some punks who robbed me.”
“That so? Well, then. I can certainly help you with that. Which way’d they go?”
“Down this street. They turned a corner up here somewhere.”
“All right. Let’s go!”
Aida and the old man hurried down the street. The old man pointed out the corner the thieves had turned down, and they turned there.
The corner was a deadend alley. Aida and the old man came to a stop in the middle of the alley.
“What now?” the old man asked.
“Well,” Aida said as he looked the alley over. “I see three possibilities.”
“Possibilities?”
“Yes. There are three doors facing the alley, and no fire escapes. So, they had to have ducked into one of the doors.”
“Ah. I see. Yes. Very astute of you, Agent Aida.”
“Thank you.” Aida paused. “Hey! How do you know who I am?”
The old man ignored him. “Well, which door shall we check first?”
“Well, how about the closest one?”
“All right.”
The two men then opened the door directly to their left...and looked in surprise at a brick wall.
“Hmmm…I don’t think they went in here,” Aida said.
“No,” the old man said.
“I guess they built over this doorway.” Aida shut the door. “Okay, then. Next!”
They walked down and across the alley to another door and opened it.
A naked man and woman on the floor, in the middle of…business…looked up at them, startled.
“AAAHHHH!!!!” the woman screamed as she tried to cover herself.
“HEY, YOU JERKS!!” the man yelled. “DO YOU MIND???”
“Uhhhh….”Aida said, blushing madly. “You two didn’t happen to see…Umm…Nevermind. Sorry.”
Aida shut the door. “Third time’s the charm?” he said.
“Apparently so,” the old man said.
They walked to the door at the end of the alley and opened it. Two young boys peering inside a big red velvet bag looked at them.
“YOU!” the old man said. “Give me back my bag!”
“Uh-oh,” one boy said. “Run for it!”
The two boys abandoned the bag and ran off. However, since the only way in or out was the door, they had to go through Aida and the old man. Aida easily grabbed hold of them.
“What do you want to do with them?” Aida asked the old man.
“Let them go,” he said. “They’re just kids. And it’s Christmas, after all. The season of love and forgiveness.”
“All right. If you want. It’s your stuff they stole. If you don’t want to press charges, it’s your prerogative.”
The old man nodded, and Aida let the two kids go. Then the old man retrieved his bag.
“Thank you for your help, Agent Aida.”
“It was no problem, sir. Just glad I could help. By the way, could you PLEASE tell me how you know my name?”
The old man ignored him and reached inside his bag. “Here. Take this as a thank you.”
He handed Aida a small square box wrapped in Christmas paper. The tag on it read: Merry Christmas, Kenneth Aida. From Kris
He looked up from the package. The old man and the red bag were gone without a trace.
“Kris?” Aida said. “No. It couldn’t be.”
He tore the wrapping from the package, revealing a ring box. With wide eyes, he opened it. Inside the box was the ring he’d wanted to get Becky.
Aida fainted.
Outside, it began snowing.
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Christmas morning, Aida went to the apartment of his partner and lover, Special Agent Rebecca Rogers. Nervously, he knocked on her door.
A young, pretty redheaded woman answered the door and smiled at him.
“Good morning, Kenneth,” she said. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas, Becky,” he said with a smile in return.
He followed her inside and to the living room.
“I brought you a present,” he said as she sat down on the sofa and reached over to the coffee table to pour a cup tea.
“Oh, that was sweet of you, Kenneth,” she said. “You didn’t have to, you know.”
“Of course I did. It’s Christmas. So, do you want it or not?”
“Silly! Of course I do!”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, wrapped box. He handed it to her.
Excited, Rogers opened the present. She gasped as she saw the ring.
“Kenneth! It…It’s beautiful!” She took a second look at. “It…It’s an engagement ring!” she said in surprise.
“Yeah,” Aida said. “I know. So, will you…”
“Yes!” she said, jumping up to hug and kiss him, not even giving him time to finish the question.
The most difficult thing that two humans can attempt is to communicate. No, not talk, communicate! Most relational problems are either caused by or aggravated by a failure to communicate properly. Learn how to do just that, communicate. See how much
Ninety-Nine Novellas, Part II (1,125 book pages) is a collection of 99 popular Jay Dubya stories and it is the companion e-book to Ninety-Nine Novellas (1,600 book pages).
