Christmas Wishes (cont).

Felicia looked up from her work and, during a lull in all 'conversations', remarked, "Hope you didn't catch anything from being outside. Take a nap if you need but won't you be back for some Christmas fun before bed?" He was tempted to quip, "What fun?" but pressed his mouth together and nodded.

Amber considered jumping up too, but she wondered how it would look. So, she bided her time till Debbie finally released her. She stretched and gave a surprised little noise before noting to her mother a bit of school reading for the break she'd wanted to do. Felicia was skeptical. What kid shrugs off Christmas for reading? But Amber was quite insistent, going on about just doing a little and being back for the "fun" later. After a lingering look, she nodded and said, "Okay. And check on your brother." Before Amber had even left, Felicia and Mike scooted together and stepped up their work.

It didn't take Amber long to find her brother plopped down on his bed. She folded her arms and accused him, "You just left me…" He gave her a sigh and said, "Sorry…So, you think our wish will come true?"

Amber plopped on the roll-out bed next to him and gave a quick shrug. "I dunno. I hope you can trust a winter sprite. But I haven't heard of them before."

Denny rested his arms behind his head. "Me neither. But he was pretty cool..."

The two of them wasted as much time as they could. When they returned, there were a few carols which almost came close to being fun. And they each got to open a present…of school clothes…from Aunt Debbie.

Once it was time to turn on the TV to play movies which no one objected to, the main events were over. Amber hung over by the tree and watched the lights slowly undulate from one side to the other. She crept over to the window as the early segments of It's A Wonderful Life played in the background. The snow was mostly gone from the warm evening. Just some icy bumps remained of her little birds. She leaned her arms on the sill and breathed frost onto the glass. For a moment, as she looked out at one of the larger patches of remaining snow, she thought she saw the winter sprite again but the form moved so quickly it could have just been a squirrel.

Denny and Amber both went to bed early, before anyone else. Felicia looked at them and admonished, "Don't go waking everyone up at 3AM just because you're excited for Christmas now." They both promised.

Amber's bed creaked beside her brother's. Eventually, feet shuffled outside the door. The house sounded so still even at so early an hour that Amber wondered if she might be able to hear the bells on Santa's sleigh chiming in the air. In the last year or two, her suspicions about Santa had grown due to mistakes made by her parents. Like sneaking around with large packages, staying up really late last Christmas, and especially when they "called Santa"…Amber thought she could hear the sound of the 411 operator. But all that changed with the winter sprite. She'd held it. It had talked to her.

Quietly discussing this thought with her brother, he answered back, "I dunno…I…guess it's possible." Pulling her covers up closely around her head, she pondered all the possibilities and tried to let herself drift off to sleep.

----

Denny woke to shaking and an excited girl yelling at him, "It's CHRISTMAS MORNING! Wake up!"

Blearily, he opened his eyes. He furrowed his brow and asked, "What?" The face looking down at him almost seemed like his sister, Amber. But her red hair was so much longer than Amber's and super curly, like Mom's. Her eyes were bright blue like hers too.

Scooting up in his bed, the mysterious girl raised her thin eyebrows and looked at him before announcing, "We gotta open presents!" Denny brushed at his face a little and caught a bit of hair. No way that should happen…

He felt around his head and found more and more hair. It was long enough he could look at a full lock. It was red like usual and crinkly. Not quite as much as Amber's but still it seemed to twist as far as it went and it went a long way. Down his neck, around his back, and to his pink nightgown…

Denny jerked up in bed and brushed at the nightgown like it was a spider which had landed on him. Looking up at the girl, he asked, "What…what did you do?"

The girl raised her eyebrows and shot him a look. "What are you talking about?" She plopped her arms down on the bed.

Pushing his covers aside, Denny saw the full horror of what he was wearing. It was cute! It had frills and satiny little bows. It was girly…totally girly.

Leaning closer, the girl asked, "Why are you being so weird, Denise?"

Denny stared at her with his mouth open. Then, it struck him about what Amber had said to the winter sprite: More girls her age.

Denny mouthed, "Oh no…" to himself, and jumped off the bed. All he needed was a minute in his bathroom to know for sure. The girl waited by the door with her arms folded. Denny screamed and the girl plugged her ears as she remarked, "If you don't want to open gifts then that's more for me!" She stuck out her tongue and scampered off.

When Denny finally staggered out of the bathroom, Denny's sister ran into the room from the hallway. Amber looked Denny over and offered, "Hi…uh…sis…"

Denny focused a harsh glare at her sister with arms folded. "You just had to wish…'I want more girls my age' didn't you? And who was she? New sibling?"

Amber bit her lip. "The girl who just ran out? Oh…uh…that was mom. I think…"

Denny's eyes widened. "WHAT?!"

Grabbing Denny's hand, Amber explained, "Yeah…and that's not all." She dragged her down the hall. The screeches and yells were fairly ominous. Denny stopped in the hallway at a girl sitting on the floor.

She was on her stomach with some paper. She had on a yellow top and red leggings with glittery black shorts. She kicked her legs about and was writing with a pink pencil. She had a few freckles and long hair in twin ponytails at her neck.

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Denny had a hunch, since yellow with red was one of her father's favorite color pairings. As well, he used to wear weird stuff with glitter in old photos of him back in the 80s. Leaning over, Denny asked, "Dad?"

The girl bent her head. "Huh? Noooo…I'm Mikayla, silly! And I'm making changes to my writing. I'm gonna give a story after Christmas supper!" She went back to her work, kicking her legs in the air. Amber led on to where the noises were coming from, the living room.

They both had to stop and stare for a moment. So much going on…

A girl dressed in a red-and-green tree outfit (like Aunt Debbie's) with a long, dark ponytail of hair was pinching another girl's cheek. The other girl, who had long, dirty blond hair, pouted. She hugged a soccer ball to her chest and wore matching pink shorts with a top.

In one corner with a coal-eyed dolly wrapped up in her arms sat a girl with a soft mop of brunette hair resting on her shoulders. She was dressed in a crisscross patterned outfit decorated with lilies. She said softly, above the din, "I love you, Jenny and we'll be together forrrrever."

Another obvious person was the one with little black cat ears on a pink band in her long, black hair. She was twirling around in a gown which blended white, black, and brown in mottled tones. Her hair whipped around her while she held a pink, wrapped package.

A girl with long, brown hair sat in front of one of the couches. She wore a pink top with blue jeans. She had a big green marker and a book before her on the floor. She slowly counted to herself on her fingers.

And then there was the girl with what seemed to originally be brownish-red hair, but it had been tinted green and blue with braids and little flowers through it. She was listening to music and eating an apple. She had a long outfit more like a poncho with braided colors.

Skipping around and digging through presents was a pale blond whose hair almost looked white. She sung softly to herself and wore a pretty purple outfit with stars on it.

Lastly, sitting on the couch curled up and napping was a really young-looking girl with dark hair and a polka-dotted gown.

It didn't take long for the girl with flowers in her hair to see the two of them and announce, "Merry Christmas, Denise and Amber! You're late. We already started on presents, but I'll help you get yours, okays?"

She tugged them both by the hand before they could say anything. She sat them by the tree, which looked about the same, and went digging under it for gifts.

Asking as casually as they could without sounding crazy, the flower girl revealed her name still to be Harmony. Felicia had just gone to her room to open a gift. Debbie was over there pinching and teasing Clare. Geri had gotten a dolly she named Jenny for Christmas. Emma had gotten some pretty new dresses but not the baby kitten she had hoped for. Regina had gotten a math book and her very first slide rule. Harmony had politely waited on her own gifts until Denise and Amber got up. Issy got a bunch of music tapes. Cara hadn't opened anything yet because she was still napping.

After explaining all that, Harmony smiled and passed two gifts each to Amber and Denise. Despite all that had happened, they looked at them curiously and began to unwrap the packages. Amber got a game with dice and a notepad where one had to use images to come up with stories. She was quietly intrigued by it and noticed Felicia looking up from around the corner at her with a little smile. Denise got a little pink robot thing which danced when she talked. Issy hopped over and advised her, "You need to sing!"

For the second gift, in both cases, it was clothes, which left Denise much more bothered than Amber. Aside from the gifts were plenty of candy and cookies. Some of it definitely looked like it was made by a child's hand, since the green trees were so lumpy. But they were still tasty. As they ate and Harmony fluttered around spreading cheer, Amber got a notion in her head. She glanced out the front window and scanned the street.

The amount of snow was even less than the day before. What there was more of, however, were little girls playing on scooters. Some were crafting critters like Amber had done. Grimacing as she looked out, Amber hurried to the TV in the corner and flicked it on. Denise soon joined her with a nudge in the shoulder, stuffing her new clothes back into the wrapping.

The first station was news. All little girls telling the local news. The topics were even fluffier than usual with the conclusion of a tea party and what your kitty is thinking when he meows coming next. A national station had a bunch of prettily-dressed girls shouting at each other and saying, "Noo! Poopie-face!…My plan is better! You're dumb!" Amber wondered if it was some sort of political debate which her dad would watch from time to time. Old movies were fairly simple and all were also acted by little girls. Sports didn't change much, if anything, Amber found some of them even more brutal. Denise folded her arms, grimaced, and asked, "What if it's stuck like this?"

Flipping around a little, Amber paused on a news item about cutely-named countries which recently didn't want to talk to one another because each thought the other was "a meanie stuck up prissy pants". Resting her chin on her hand, Amber put on a Christmas movie which looked more like a grade school production.

Finally, Amber had to shrug and answered Denise's question, "I dunno. I guess it isn't…horrible…if it is. But the winter sprite promised it was only for Christmas."

Denise glared. "And you trust it? What if it lied and it's messed up everything?!"

Rubbing her neck, Amber sighed. "Maybe it'll be okay. I mean…we wanted this…"

Shaking her head, Denise noted, "I wanted all boys! Not all girls. And I certainly didn't want to become a girl."

Giving a glare of her own, Amber asked, "And what is so wrong with being a girl for a day?"

Denise slapped her feet on the carpet. "Would you like to be stuck as a boy for a day?....Or longer, if the winter sprite makes it that way forever?"