Emerson paused as he passed Lewis' cubicle. His catalog editor wrote furiously on a yellow legal pad in red, blue and green ink.
"Lewis, it's Christmas Eve. I thought I told you to go home two hours ago?"
The bespectacled man of thirty-five, turned in his seat to peer up at the boss.
"You said you had most of your Christmas shopping left to finish. What's the hold-up?"
"Uh, I needed to get the list right. Can't start wandering around Manhattan without a good list, you know. I'd never finish."
Lewis showed his list to Emerson whose eyebrows arched in surprise.
"Lewis. This looks like the theory of relativity. The long version. How can you make any sense of that?"
"He, he. Just like any brilliant thinker, boss, I've got an algorithm. I have so many people to shop for, I need to make it a science," Lewis said.
"Aren't you single and an only child? Who the heck are you buying all that for."
Lewis straightened himself up in his chair and pushed his glasses back up onto the bridge of his nose.
"Mr. Emerson. That's not very, um polite. Why, I've dozens of cousins and many friends and neighbors whom I care deeply about. And they for me."
Emerson held up the palms of his hands toward Lewis. "OK,OK. Easy there Lewis. I didn't mean to imply you had no one to celebrate the season with, I just..."
Lewis stood up and faced his boss nose to nose. "Well what exactly did you mean, then?"
"I just meant, I meant that the rest of us have wives and kids and you...uhm. You see what I mean, don't you?"
"No, boss. I don't and that saddens me. But you'll see what I mean. Someday." Lewis turned back to his cube and gathered up his things. He pulled on his coat and grabbed his list.
"Look, Lewis," Emerson said.
"Merry Christmas, boss. See you in 2012." Lewis swiftly left the row of cubes and made the turn to the elevator.
Davis emerged from an office across from Lewis' cube. "What was all that about, Tom?"
"Hmph. Lewis is delusional. Remind me to stay out of his personal biz next time, will ya?"
"Yeah," Davis said. "Let's get a drink at the hotel. There's mistletoe hanging all over that bar."
Lewis struggled into his basement apartment with the last armload of packages. He tipped the cab driver well. He couldn't have managed it alone.
Once he had it all sorted and wrapped and tagged, it was nearly 9pm. Lewis sat on the floor amidst the piles of gifts and shreds of paper and tissue. He attempted recovery, but his soft, 140 pound body had no reserves of energy to call upon. He needed rest and food.
He looked aorund his sparse apartment and Emerson's words rang in his mind.
"He was right, you know that," he told himself. "I have no family or friends. Any relations I do have don't know how to find me and probably have no cause to try."
Lewis crawled over to his fridge. Kneeling, he pulled open the door. Mostly empty shelves stared back at hime. The condiments outnumbered the food. He closed the door. He lay his chin to his chest and closed his eyes. Maybe just a short nap.
A persistent knocking thumped away at his front door. Lewis snapped out of his trance. He got to his feet and took shaky steps to the door. He worked the locks and opened it a crack.
"Lewis," a bearded man said, "You're not dressed? We don't have time for this! Let me in!"
He opened the door and a burly man in his sixties blew in like a winter wind. His great wool coat billowing all around him as he spun left and right, inspecting the gifts.
"Well done, lad! No make yourself decent and let's be off! I'll start loading the gifts!"
Lewis gripped the handle of the ornate, sliding door. It was one of a pair of mammoth doors that separated the great room in two. Behind him stood a massive Christmas tree. It's single decoration was a star. The star of Bethlehem.
Petros placed his ear to his door. "They are getting restless out there. Oh! Stephan is speaking now. Get ready Lewis for our cue. We must pull the doors aside at equal speed, as we practiced, yes?"
"I'm ready, Petros."
Stephan's voice rose as he said, "When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy!"
"Now Lewis! Pull!"
The two men pulled the doors along their oiled tracks revealing the tree and the shining star at it's peak. All around the base of the tree lay hundreds of presents. When Lewis' door reached the end of the track, he peered around it. The children sat with mouths and eyes wide open.
"What patience the have," he thought. And a second later Stephan told the children who had nothing but the clothes on their backs to find their present.
A cheer went up and the children surged forward. Petros and Lewis stood clear for their own safety. They exchanged smiles across the sea of children. He thought he saw a tear roll down the big man's cheek.
"My list might be a science," Lewis thought, "but this part is all magic."
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