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Working on Christmas Eve was bad; working a double on Christmas Eve pretty much sucked. The steakhouse where Carmen bussed tables rotated the holiday shifts, and everybody worked at least one of the four major ones (Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, New Years Eve, and Valentine's Day); in fact, this was the only holiday Carmen had pulled this year.
The one big advantage to working Christmas Eve is that staffing was slim; there was never enough wait staff, so Carmen got to serve and bus, which meant she drew a significantly larger proportion of tips. That almost made up for the fact that three of the people that were supposed to work the second shift called in "sick." Luckily, they planned to shut the doors at 7:00 PM, which would ensure that they would be empty by 8:30 PM.
Of course, this was also the first time that Carmen had been designated M.O.D. β Manager of the Day β which meant that she was the last one who could leave. Normally, the manager never would have let someone who normally busses be in charge, but the alternative was dragging his lazy ass in on Christmas Eve to close, and he had rationalized that there was probably not going to be a whole lot of business anyway. Besides, there had been a lot of grumbling lately about the fact that none of the Spanish speaking staff had any responsibility, so this was an opportunity for the restaurant to show how "enlightened" it was.
By the time Carmen prepared the bank bag and tossed it in the safe, it was 9:30 PM. Exhausted, she dropped into the chair behind the manager's desk, kicked off her shoes, and stretched her aching legs out across the top of the desk. She sighed; Hector was probably already well on his way to being sauced. She'd heard that it might even sleet β the closest they'd get to a white Christmas β so the walk home from the bus stop would be just miserable. Merry Fucking Christmas.
She hadn't realized that she'd drifted off until the sound of a heavy thud out in the main dining area startled her awake. She rose, disoriented, and crept over to the door that opened out onto the dining room. Peering out into what she hoped was a deserted room, she took a quick inventory. Everything looked like it was where it belonged, so she pushed the door open wider and stepped out, glancing from side to side. Nothing out of the ordinary presented itself.
She realized that she'd been holding her breath and let it out. Something had probably blown against the wall outside, or maybe a chair shifted; whatever it was, it looked like she'd gotten worked up unnecessarily. She walked deeper into the room, her confidence increasing with each step. By the time she'd reached the center of the room, she was convinced that she'd overreacted.
The chuckle came from directly behind her, deep, rich, enveloping. In another setting, she would have been totally taken by it, but all alone in the restaurant it made her blood run cold. Its owner close enough to warm her ear with his breath, and her body went rigid with fear.
"Who the fuck's there?" she asked quietly, straining to keep the telltale tremor of fear out of her voice. When she was nervous or excited her accent became more pronounced.
"Such language!" the voice admonished, chuckling again. "I guess won't have any trouble at all telling who's naughty and who's nice." He placed a hand on her shoulder and her heart dropped out of her chest and into her stomach.
"Do something!" her mind screamed. "Don't be a victim!"
She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and swung her balled fist back as hard as she could manage. Without waiting to complete her swing she catapulted forward, diving under the nearest table and scrambling upright on the other side.
Dumbfounded, she observed that the space where she'd just been standing was empty, but further back - a good ten feet or so back - stood a very large (hell, fat) old white guy dressed like Santa. And the fucker was smiling and wagging a finger at her!
"One sure way to end up with a stocking full of coal is to whack ol' Santa in the nuts."
Fucking great, she thought. I'm trapped in here with a goddamn crazy.
"Look Mr., I don't want any troubleβ¦"
"Santa," he corrected politely.
"Sureβ¦Santa," she agreed, backing away slowly. Her mind was racing; if she screamed, no one would probably hear her, but if she could get to the phone on the back wall...
"So if you're Santa, where are your elves?" she asked, trying to keep him distracted.