"What shall we name this store you want to open?" Ali asked.
"Behind Clothes Doors or Behind Closed Doors?" Bee replied.
"Clever twist on words and their meanings. Is that the sole reason for choosing that?"
"No, I saw a store for women's wear and adult toys in Northern California's Gold Country in Grass Valley when I was there one summer. The name has had many encounters with me over these few years."
Ali asked, "Encounters? Like in the movie, 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind?' Like near brushes with death? Do miracles occur around you? What do you mean?"
Bee said, "Listen, Ali, if I tell you this you have to promise you will not think I am crazy and promise me you will never mention it to anyone. I have had twelve years to accept it and I still have a hard time doing so until December-24th each year when I am pleasantly reminded."
Ali detected the big shift in Bee's demeanor when Bee replied. Ali realized something important was about to happen between Bee and her.
It was now twelve years after that December-24th. Ali and Bee were Christmas shopping for their significant others when this little revelation was related to Ali. She was not prepared, nor could she have been vetted for the story Bee told her about Behind Santa Claus's Clothes Closed Behind her Closet Door, the Christmas Eve after her18th birthday.
Bee had been out on a date with her girlfriend, Jo, and opened the closet door so she could hang her coat. When she swung the door open, she saw a pile of fur and velvet stuffed in the corner behind her suitcases. The colors were distinctively those of Santa Claus, complete with the red velvet and white ermine trim.
Bee reached in and drug the pile into the entry hall. She also found a pair of boots to retrieve. When she picked up the pair of boots, she saw a small box and a card stuffed in the right boot, and an iPhone box in the left boot.
She closed the closet door and was startled to see a fat, ruddy-faced, white-haired and bearded, sparkling blue-eyed, naked man standing at the bottom of the stairs. She was at first startled. Then she was someone else. If she had looked down first, she would have seen a hard cock pointing at her.