20 years ago:

A group of children are standing around a snowy tetherball pole. “If you hit Greene in the face Santa won’t bring you anything but coal!” “Santa? He’s a myth, loser! Think about it! There’s no way one man can deliver presents to over 2 billion children in one night. Let alone care about little Timmy Greene” Vince says to the audience of children as he’s throwing the ball into Tim’s face. “Tell you what, Christmas is a few days from now, when I get presents and not coal, I’ll be sure to let you know.”

Vince Bel was a tough kid. Everyone knew his family was much more comfortable financially than the rest of the students. It gave him a sense of superiority which turned into aggression towards the other children. His home life was very different from his at school persona though, he had a lot of respect for his father. His father owned his own music shop, Bel’s Music, and has always done very well. Vince watched his father work hard every day, coming home after a long day of finding the perfect instrument for the people of the community and fixing them when they broke, and loving him and his mom with everything he could. Around the town his father was known as Silver Bel. Taking after his father was important to him. He did his chores without being asked or without asking for compensation for his work. One day the shop would be passed on to him and he had to learn as much from his father before that happened.

5 years ago:

Vince is now the owner of the family’s shop, unfortunately this was at the cost of his father. He wasn’t able to learn as much as he wished before the shop was his. His mannerisms have changed since his grade school days and he has since humbled. That didn’t change the community’s perception of him though. In middle school every other week he seemed to be in the principal’s office for bullying another kid, though people that meet him now would never be able to tell.

The town being the size it was: everybody knew everybody. The local community loved gossip and as so, he knew everyone in the town either personally or through rumors. He never let that affect his judgement on others before he met them though. He worked hard to provide everyone who stopped in with the instrument best suited for them. He even got good at repairing them after a while. If it was made of wood, he could fix it.

1 year ago from the day:

The demand for instruments was down, and as so he couldn’t afford to give his usual Christmas season prices. Even though it is exactly a month before Christmas, when the store is usually packed, it sat empty on the corner of the small town. A young lady no older than 10 came in with her parents. It was the Greenes. Vince knew them from school back in the days. Now they were a family that wasn’t very well off but always volunteered for community events. The father would even help Vince occasionally transporting instruments from the shop to the events for selling or entertaining purposes. They were adamant about leaving soon but the young lady wanted to find something to ask Santa for. Her face lit up when she found a ukulele, the perfect size for her, stained in bright pink and white. The look on her face is why Vince originally wanted his father’s business. She told her parents that that indeed is what she wanted for Christmas and would ask Santa when she saw him.

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Christmas eve the little girl’s father came into the shop looking to buy that ukulele, it’s all she was able to talk about her father kept saying. At the register, he had a few different credit cards but all of them declined. It didn’t take a detective to see they were in deep debt, but still, he was still trying to get this expensive instrument to make this a Christmas his daughter wouldn’t forget. Vince found something about that very admirable. The father looking defeated asked if they could work out some type of payment plan. Times were tough for Vince; he couldn’t really afford to do a payment plan. He told Mr. Greene that and he started to walk away but something came over Vince, “just take it” he said with a stammer in his voice. Greene froze and asked him to repeat what he said. “Take it, give your daughter the best Christmas you can. Tell her Santa was watching out for her.” Mr. Greene was almost in shock, it wasn’t just a cheap throw away instrument. He thanked Vince and left the store with the look of joy that Vince loved so much on his face.

Vince watched him walk out and saw a man standing in the accessory section looking at capos and guitar straps, he didn’t even hear the old man come in. “we are closing in 10 minutes but is there anything I can help you find?” The old man just stared straight forward and said in a low voice “that was a very nice thing you did just now.” Without saying another word he started walking towards the door and left.

Present day:

Vince was locking up on Christmas eve, all around him were signs saying “going out of business sale.” and “Closing December 24th” accompanied by emptied shelves in the windows. People no longer needed instruments. Everyone was too caught up with the excitement of the times to be bothered to learn or play one. Walking away from his father’s shop one last time, he was flooded with memories of his father. He turned around to give one last look to the business that was no longer his, with a tear in his eye. Knowing he had to move on though, he wiped his tears with his mittens and turned around.

When Vince opened his eyes though, he wasn’t able to see the town anymore. A gust of snowflakes clouded his vision. A storm must have come suddenly, he thought. He started walking but couldn’t even see his hand in front of his face. It was so dark and snowy. He tried to find the door of the shop to hold up in and wait the storm out, but it was nowhere to be found. Next thing he knew he fell on some ice and must have gone unconscious.

He woke up in a strange room, warm with a large Christmas tree in the middle. He was there with 24 other people of all sizes and nationalities. They asked if he wanted some cocoa or gingerbread cookies, but he declined and was confused by it all. Hearing footsteps from outside the door, they stopped right before entering the room. Right then, the door was thrown open and the sound of Christmas carols flooded the background. A large man walked in dressed in red, no beard, and something serious about his demeanor. “Listen up and listen well, I am only going to say this once, you’re at the north pole” the group of men started getting rowdy demanding to know what the mysterious man meant by that. He raised his voice “I said I am only going to say it once! Now wait here, enjoy the cookies, we had them made special for you all” as he left the door closed behind him and the carols grew quiet. Nobody knew what was going on.