Christmas Lights

Christmas Eve. It was already getting dark out when Boomstick headed through those dark woods, keeping Jack Spaniels on a lead so he didn't go running off. A cold chill made its way through the way, making his arm hairs stand on end.

Earlier that day, he'd spent some time with Wiz and Ringmaster, having the Christmas lunch at work. Boomstick had volunteered to cook the turkey and felt that he'd done a good job with it. Who cared if it was slightly more cooked than it should have been normally? Well, okay, slightly was a gross understatement, but they ate it all the same.

But he couldn't stay for the office party that Ringmaster had insisted on having, despite Wiz's protests. Much as Boomstick would have liked to take part, he'd already arranged something that night with his mother. After all, it had been years since they'd last been in contact with each other and it only felt right to spend Christmas together again to celebrate their reunion.

Boomstick had to put in some extra effort to convince his mother to come into town to see the Christmas lights. She'd been concerned about the squirrels outside her trailer, and had said it would be better to spend time at home. But ultimately she'd relented and simply gotten to work fixing up traps to sort them out with.

As he made his way through the forest, Boomstick could recognise the trailer that his mother resided in. It did have a line of traps filled with squirrel carcasses after all. Making his way round them so he didn't made the mistake of stepping in one of them, Boomstick went up to the door and swiftly knocked on it.

"Mama! Out here!"

He stepped back to let Mama Boomstick open the door. Fortunately she hadn't blasted it open with her shotgun like she'd done when they'd met back in October. She still had it on her person though, along with a tatty plastic bag.

"Sure, I'll be comin', booby."

Boomstick knocked his fists together with a nervous grin on his face. "Okay, it's probably gonna take some time to get there, but hopefully we won't be too late." He started to head off, believing that Mama Boomstick was following him already.

"Wait, hold on a sec," Boomstick stopped and turned round to hear what his mother had to say. "You’re NOT going into town like that. You’ll catch your death of cold. Here, I’ve got something that should sort that out."

She went back into the trailer, before coming out with a thick red woolly jumper. "Knitted this for you especially. Hope you like the design on it.”"

Boomstick held it out before his eyes. It was ridiculously tacky. There was a lurid yellow robot on the front with two giant shotguns in an X-shape in front of it decorated with Christmas bells and holly. Plus, it was a size too big. Even Boomstick had to admit that it was not up to quality standards at all, but at the same time he found something oddly endearing about it. He let out a small chuckle before putting it on. Sure, the ends on the sleeves flopped over his hands, but he could easily roll them up. And it actually felt comfortable. No itching sensation whatsoever.

"So, we ready to go?"

"Sure. You lead the way."

***

It took some time for the two of them to walk into the city, but they finally made it. The city was abuzz with people getting their last-minute Christmas shopping done and a jazz band playing a rendition of "Wonderful Christmastime".

It wasn't what Boomstick had hoped for though. There were Christmas lights, sure, but they looked generic. They weren't anything crazy like a giant squid or even an asteroid. It was mostly just sheets of lights saying Merry Christmas.

"Well, my daughter will probably like this," Boomstick muttered to himself. "She wouldn't care what they looked like anyway." Of course she wouldn't. She was all about the city anyway.

Mama Boomstick simply looked in the window of a winery that they'd happened to pass.

Both were pretty out of place here. They were just two country rednecks with barely any proper familiarity with the city. They were the types who couldn't afford to rent a flat in one of the high rises or get their shopping in one of the fancy department stores with the nice window displays.

As they walked up the street, Boomstick couldn't help but doubt his choice. Thinking about it, it would have made more sense to take her to the nearby shooting range. That would have suited their tastes much more and then they could bring drinks and get smashed at the same time. He wondered whether the shooting range was even open at the moment.

His thoughts were interrupted by his mother's voice.

"So, you mentioned something about having a daughter."

"Yeah," he nodded. "Name’s Dynamite, but we often call her Dynah for short." He clapped his fists in delight as he said the next bit. "You might even say that she should be called Lil’ Boomstick."

"You get on well with her?"

"She’s a sweetheart. But I’m kinda worried about her. I mean, she’s super boy-crazy – she’s obsessed with this basketball guy Steve at the moment."

"A real dreamboat, huh?"

"I mean, she says so, but I don’t trust that chump one bit. Too good to be true, if you ask me. I bet it’s all a hoax designed to lure innocent girls in."

"Yeah, I get what you mean by that."

"And she’s got a milkshake addiction as well." Boomstick almost let out a laugh over the ridiculousness of it, but ultimately didn’t. "She claims she doesn’t want to become an alcoholic by drinking beer, but I mean, seriously! She chugs down about thirteen of those monsters a day! Think of the sugar intake!"

"Don’t worry. She’ll get over it, I’m sure."

"But aside from those problems, she’s really shaping up. She’s getting better with her fightin’ skills and was real helpful this year when I got stuck in that depressive funk over Dad. Can be a little overprotective though. Only yesterday, there was some asshole from her school who called me a tramp, and she instantly fights her with sticks of dynamite!" He broke out laughing remembering that.

"Oh, I’m sure the brat got what was comin’ to her," Mama Boomstick said, chuckling in response.

"Indeed. She’ll probably live. The ambulance might have turned up in time. I didn't stop to check myself. But the important thing was that Dynah was fine."

"Good to know. Wouldn't want anything bad happening to her."

That was probably the most interesting part of the night so far. Talking with his mother. At least there was that bright spot.

"So how've your friends been?"

"Oh I had Christmas lunch with them earlier on today, and now they're having a workplace party." Another chuckle. "Marshall's the best at holdin' parties like that - that's just the kind of person he is."

He thought about it, and then tried to hide his disappointment. Surely something crazy would have happened at the lab by now. Wiz would probably be complaining about something Ringmaster did that he didn't approve of and Ringmaster would probably have had some accident involving the special effects he planned on bringing to spice things up. Hell, maybe there was a fight happening there right now?

Nothing of that calibre was happening where Boomstick was right now, for all he knew. His mother wasn't threatening to shoot anyone who looked at her son all funny and he wasn't threatening to do the same to anyone who looked at her all funny, and Jack Spaniels wasn't threatening to bite anyone who looked at his owner all funny. No crazy hijinks, no potential fights, just two people and a dog walking down the street with nothing else to do but look around and see if there was anything worth calling "interesting".

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed intern Jocelyn and two other women who appeared to be her gal pals happily chatting one another as they came out of the city mall together with heavy shopping bags. He tried not to pay attention, but it was hard to do when a sense of jealousy came over him. THEY at least appeared to be getting up to something together. Not walking around the high street with nothing to do.

Even going into the backstreets, where Boomstick had gotten into an intervention with an abusive dog owner some years back, didn't provide something worthwhile. There were just more Christmas lights decorating the street lamps and houses.

There needed to be something else to this night out. Boomstick had an idea.

"How 'bout we do one of those Christmas pub crawls for old time's sake?"

"I...don't have any money on hand," Mama Boomstick stated regretfully.

"That's fine," Boomstick replied. "I was planning to pay for us both anyway."

He paused suddenly, having gained an odd feeling, before briskly checking his pockets. Nothing in them.

"Shit!"

"There a problem?"

"My wallet’s gone again! I can’t find it!"

"Stolen?"

"I don't know! Either someone nicked it or I left it behind!"

Great. Just when it seemed that things had finally been looking up, now they couldn’t go in for a drink. Sure, nothing had stopped Boomstick from just walking in and snatching the drinks in the past, but something didn’t feel right about doing that this time.

Boomstick slumped down on a nearby brick wall. It was all hopeless. He'd so badly wanted to share Christmas quality time with his mum now that they were together again, but nothing was working out. It had all been so uneventful. And now that his wallet was gone...

"Mama..." Boomstick could feel a lump form in his throat and his eyes prickling. "I'm sorry this hasn't worked out. I tried, but-"

"What d'ya mean, 'hasn't worked out'?" Mama Boomstick questioned, confused by her son's apology. "It's workin' out fine!"

"But it wasn't perfect."

Mama Boomstick came and sat down on the same brick wall next to her son. "So what? We're together. We've gotten to see some good Christmas lights. We've gotten to talk with each other. Who cares if its not completely 'perfect'?"

"How was it in any way eventful?"

"Gettin' to meet up with you was eventful. That's all I really wanted to do tonight."

Boomstick felt somewhat touched by this. It was nice to hear that from his mother, even if everything else wasn't working out.

"Yeah, I guess I’ve always been a bit of a perfectionist." Boomstick looked at the ground and sighed. "That was probably why I wanted Dad back in the first place too."

"What, after the way he treated you?!"

"Well...I thought that if he returned, we could be a complete family again. Y'know, like everyone thinks a perfect family should be."

"Yeah, they all seem intent on shoving that idea out in the media." Mama Boomstick rolled her eyes.

"But then when I met up with you again, I realized we were already complete. 'Cause when I thought about it, you're kinda like a father too." Boomstick was able to muster a slight smirk as he turned to face her. "And a better one at that too."

Mama Boomstick was greatly amused by this. "Maybe next time, I should ask people to call me Papa Boomstick as well!"

Mother and son both laughed over this absurd proposal before Mama Boomstick continued.

"Anyway, what I'm tryna say is that you needn't worry. We're together again and we've gotten to spend time with each other again, and really that's all I could ask for. It's just like the Christmases we've had together before and I like it that way. Even if it's not 'perfect', it's fine by me."

Boomstick nodded his head in response, starting to feel a bit better. "Yeah, I agree."

They sat together in silence for a bit, looking at the lights above them. Even Jack Spaniels stopped to get a glimpse at them. Boomstick started to get a warm fuzzy feeling inside. Mama Boomstick was right. Nothing needed to be perfect at all. As long as things were decent enough, and as long as they had each other, everything would be fine. It made him happy to think that, perfect or not, they would be having their first Christmas together in several years.

As he smiled, a single teardrop trickled down his cheek. Mama Boomstick took note of this.

"You okay there?"

"Oh I'm fine." Boomstick let out a slight chuckle as he wiped the tear away with his sleeve. "In fact, I feel great. I'm just glad you're here." He proceeded to wrap his arms around him and hug her tight.

Mama Boomstick hugged him back. "And I'm glad you're here too."

After spending some time hugging, they went back to looking up at the lights together. Jack Spaniels panted happily at the sight of one that resembled a Christmas turkey.

One of the houses behind them had the radio on. Someone on it was mentioning something about playing "Silver Bells". The first notes of it started to play.

Boomstick's feet started fidgeting in excitement as he turned to his mother. "You gonna sing your own version, mama?" He remembered that she'd done a recording of it for a music box he owned, but now that she was right next to him...

"Well of course," she replied, letting out another chuckle. "What other version did you think I was going for?"

She wrapped her arm round him and began to sing. Boomstick closed his eyes and found himself singing too.

“City sidewalks, bloodied sidewalks,
Streets are coated in blood.
There's a feelin' of bloodshed.
Hear 'em screamin', watch 'em dyin',
See death rain from above,
And on ev'ry street corner you'll hear…

Silver guns, silver guns
It’s murder time in the city.
Bang bang bang,
Here them bang,
Just in time for Christmas Day.”

Needless to say, they got some rather odd looks from the one person that passed by. Not that they cared. Or even noticed, for that matter.

Once they sang the final note, Mama Boomstick got up from the wall. "Well. We better be gettin' back then. Over to your place."

"Wait, mine?!" Boomstick was shocked for a moment. "I thought we were headin' back to yours!"

"Why did you think I brought the pajama bag in the first place?" she said as she helped Boomstick up. "Plus it's got your gift in it."

Well that was unexpected, he thought. But I'll be fine with it.

"Sure, we'll do that." Boomstick grinned. "What are we waitin' for?"

***

It was getting close to midnight by the time they got back to Boomstick's shack. Without stopping, Boomstick threw the door open.

Inside was Dynamite, who was pretty startled by their sudden arrival, moreso by Mama Boomstick's appearance. She'd just been in the middle of using her phone and had two milkshakes on the side table next to her.

"Oh, hey, uh-" she spluttered as she struggled to pick her phone up again from her lap.

"Dynah, you're binge-drinkin' the milkshakes again," Boomstick said as he shook with head with an exasperated grin.

But just then, he stopped. He couldn't believe what he was looking at. There was the Lazer Robot that he'd received so long ago when he was a kid. He'd lost it in the house for a while, something that had broken his heart, but now it was there next to the milkshakes.

Boomstick felt his heart soar. "Y-you found it! But where did you-"

"Oh it was in that pile of scrap metal in the corner of the room," Dynamite replied. "You know, the one you haven't sorted out yet? I had no idea what it was doing there, but it looked cool enough so I got it out."

Boomstick gleefully grabbed it and planted a small kiss on it, before showing it to his mother. "You remember this, don't you Mama? The Lazer Robot you made for me when I was ten?"

Mama Boomstick chuckled once again. "I sure do son."

"I thought I'd lost it sometime ago, but here it is again!" Boomstick was practically shaking it in his ecstasy.

The Lazer Robot proceeded to fire its eye lasers again. They smashed through one of the windows, spooking out a squirrel that had almost made the mistake of pawing its way onto it. Jack Spaniels himself started yapping like crazy when he saw the lasers.

"And the eye lazers still work!" Boomstick was practically shaking and laughing with excitement. "Oh this is awesome! So glad that the family's all here!"

"Yep, same here too, son." Mama Boomstick took Boomstick's hat and playfully ruffled his hair for him.

Dynamite was about to say something else, but then stopped herself and simply went for a warm smile.

"Yeah, it sure is."

Jack Spaniels simply panted with a sense of excitement.

With that, they proceeded to get the baked squirrel pie that Boomstick had been storing out and tuck into it. Christmas Eve with the family, he thought to himself with pride. And Christmas Day would be the same as well.