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Black Friday In Laurel Ridge
11/24/2023
Ryan was sweeping up around the food trailers as the sun came up. The streets department had been at it since the early hours. Hanging more decorations, testing the piped-in music and cleaning up had kept them hopping until sunrise.
Earl walked up with a big thermos and a sleeve of cups. “Hey, Ryan. Take five.”
“I’m just about—”
He poured a cup of coffee. “Really. Let’s take a moment.”
Ryan accepted the cup and waited for Earl to pour himself one.
“I’d like to share this with you, Ryan.”
“Sir?”
Earl nodded toward the glowing horizon. “A lot of people don’t get to have this. Lots of reasons for that, but few of us really get to have this.”
Ryan tipped his cup back and watched the sun climbing over the wooded horizon. “Plenty of times I didn’t. Not just because of—”
“Detours. Gotta keep your head down and maintain focus when you’re on a detour. This isn’t that.”
Ryan nodded and took another swig. “This definitely isn’t that.”
Earl looked around at the golden morning light spreading over the Christmas village. “You’re part of something good here, and it’s good because of you. Remember that.”
“I will, sir.”
“That being said, no good deed goes unpunished. You sweep up, but it gets messy again. You keep a smile, but people get selfish and grumpy. The cheerful music keeps playing, but it’s going to get tense and crowded and hectic. When it’s like that, I want you to remember that.” He pointed his cup at the rising sun. “And I want you to remember all this.” He waved around the park. “You made this nice and they can’t take that from you with their selfish attitudes, their hangups, whatever stress they bring with them from someplace else.”
Ryan studied his boss.
“A lot of them will bring their troubles with them. Thanks to you and the good you did here this morning and the good you’ll keep doing for the rest of your shift, some of them will go home happy.” Earl patted his shoulder. “Keep up the good work, buddy.”
Ryan finished his coffee. He watched Earl trudging down the hill. The morning sun twinkled on the garland and decorations in his wake. He nodded and got back to his sweeping.
“That doesn’t look very warm.” Jeb said. “Maybe you ought to put that awful sweater back on.”
“If Carol wants me to.” Paul shrugged. “This is my winter uniform. WisTech came up with an awesome thermal lining.”
“You’d never catch me in a body stocking like that.”
“We’ve each got our own take on superhero costumes. I was a comic book nerd like Lucky. It took a lot of design concepts to get here, but I’m happy with it.” He looked down at his uniform.
Jeb smiled and took a sip of his mulled cider. “It’s attention-getting. I’ll give you that much.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t worry about it. Have a good day giving autographs. I’m going to go find something for Aundrea.” Jeb raised his cup and wandered away.
Paul turned around to see what Jeb had been looking at. He found Sarah hiding behind her clipboard. She turned and scurried away.
“Megaman! Can I have your autograph?”
He turned to find a little boy in a Megaman baseball cap and parka holding his mom’s hand. “Well sure, buddy.” He knelt down beside the child. “Looks like you’re my number one fan around here.”
Carol strolled around the park. Everything seemed to be going well. She jotted notes on some of the choke points.
Maybe next year, she’d spread some of the more popular stands around to ensure more foot traffic for everyone.
“You done good, kid.”
She rolled her eyes. ‘Kind of early for schmoozing, isn’t it?’ She took a deep breath and turned to find Nathan.
“Nathan Anderson, what in the world are you wearing?”
“I thought the color of the day was Christmas Cheer. No?” He had a knee-length green frock coat with lavish ermine trim and cuffs. His chocolate Homburg bore a tidy wreath of natural greens on the brim and a circlet of LED candles. He had highlighted his upturned mustache and arrowhead goatee with silver and gold.
“You have definitely cornered the market on Christmas cheer.” She laughed.
“Your smile is the only prize I hoped to win this morning, my dear.” He tipped his hat and offered her his elbow.
‘If only he meant it.’ She hooked her arm in his and strolled around the park with him for a while.
Ryan squatted down to pick up a greasy paper plate. He had no claim on Carol. He had broken off with her years ago. Even so, it made his guts twist to see her parading around with that, whatever that was.
He crunched up the plate and tossed it in the trash, looking around for anything else but the happy couple or that nosy little redhead.
“You’ve got some stones, showing up here.”
“Tom.” Ryan grabbed his broom and scanned for something in need of tidying.
“What are you doing here?”
“My job. You mind?” Ryan spotted some litter.
“Your job, huh?”
“Yeah, Mr. Townsend said I was doing good.” He headed for the mess.
“Well, if Earl vouches for you, you must be a saint.”
“I didn’t say that.” Ryan knelt to gather up some cups and napkins.
“Well, what he don’t know won’t hurt you. Right?”
“He knows enough.” He put the litter in a trash can. “Hired me anyway. Don’t need to be a saint to hang decorations and pick up trash.”
“Your PO knows about all this?”
“Yes, sir. Pastor Greg arranged it. It’s just for Christmastime. They’ll find me something else after we pack all this stuff up.”
“I’ve got my eye on you, Doyle.”
“You’ll see me doing my job and not bothering anybody.”
“Guess we’ll see.” The Chief crossed his arms.
“Excuse me, I’ve got to sweep up some spilled popcorn over there.”