***
Coming out of church, everyone seemed anxious to get to the well to pull their secret name and shop one more time in the Christmas Time village. The regular shops were still there, but a few abnormal shops appeared overnight.
Cassie lagged behind the others, as she reluctantly approached the line of people waiting for their Wishing Well poles. She didn’t know many people in town, so she wasn’t interested in fishing for a name of a stranger, not knowing what to buy them. But most of all, there wasn’t anything she wanted, or needed . . . so she thought.
She decided to turn back and go home, when she saw a folded piece of paper lying in the snow. She walked over to it and picked it up.
“This must be some kind of mistake,” she said out loud, after she saw the name. She looked around, but no one was paying any attention to her. She thought about throwing it back down in the snow, but then she smiled and put the paper in her purse. She started toward the shops, but stopped at the confused look on Chris’s face.
“Is something wrong, Chris?”
“Yeah, some things just don’t add up.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know! But its Christmas and I need to be with my family right now.”
Cassie watched, as Chris stomped away. She felt a little quilt, as a rush went through her body. She hadn’t said anything to Chris the whole week and he was staying away from her, but she decided to stay and watch the proceedings. As she walked toward the wishing well, she could see Cinder and Blister guarding the well. The well was more beautiful than she imagined, as she felt another pang of guilt about Chris.
One by one the men and women took their fishing poles and dipped it into the well. The well would choose the name and stick the name to the end of the pole. For the women, it was fun and they each seemed pleased, but when the men looked at the name, most of them groaned.
Mr. Figg seemed quite satisfied with the name he received and whistled as he walked toward the shops.
Sara’s pink pole seemed to take a little longer, choosing a name for her; however, when the pole came up, she grabbed the folded paper and smiled, laughing out loud. She started looking for Skye, who already caught up with her.
“So, who did you get?” Skye smiled expectantly.
“Young lady, you’ve forgotten the rules already. No one is supposed to announce the name they’ve drawn. Now, I don’t want to know who you got and I will not tell you the name I drew. Okay?”
“Oh, absolutely, I’ll never ask such a silly question again. So, are we going shopping one more time?” Skye giggled.
Sara just laughed and rolled her eyes.
Cassie walked down the sidewalk slowly, trying to think of the perfect gift for the person on her slip of paper. She noticed Joey sitting on the bench, in front of the little chapel, so she sat down with him and smiled.
“So, are you really here or not?”
“Yep, kiddo, I’m here in the flesh.”
“Aren’t you worried someone will find you out?”
“Nay, no one really pays attention. They all have their own agendas. Who did you get?”
Cassie pulled out the name and Joey laughed out loud.
“You know what you gotta do . . . right?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Okay, then beat it, doll face. You ain’t got all night.”
Everyone finally found the perfect gift and started for home. As the last person walked past the wishing well and the two new restaurants, the rest of the village slowly disappeared behind them.