1. Mattie #2
She expected to see her brother’s silver pickup truck with an Oilers flag standing tall in the passenger window.
Robby was two years older, but they both had the same dark brown, almost black hair and eyes.
They had the same stocky build too. Neither was a fan of their lack of height.
Robbie’s complaint was that it made it difficult for him to fix overhead things in his job as a mechanic.
Mattie’s was that it was hard to find cute clothes that didn’t make her look like she had a linebacker’s shoulders.
The mysterious lemon-yellow camper van honked when she came into view, then continued lumbering down the driveway.
Things did not clear up when the driver emerged.
The good-looking, dark-haired man in a green Edmonton Elks T-shirt slapped a cowboy hat on his head and turned in her direction.
He was slightly taller than her, but not so tall as to be hunched in the driver’s seat of the van.
His chest, shoulders, and arms, however, were bigger than average; the muscles looked hard-used rather than gym-sculpted.
Mattie barely fought off the urge to drool.
Then she saw her brother appear from the passenger side of the van wearing the same T-shirt.
A faint memory sparked: her brother and the other guy in matching gear cheering on their team.
That’s when she realized the driver was Dave Magnusson, one of Robby’s roommates from when he was in trade school.
Mattie had only been introduced to Dave a couple of times over the years, but she was sure it was him. “Hi, Mattie,” he said.
“Hey, Dave. What are you doing here?”
“I’m playing chauffeur.” He hitched his thumb over his shoulder at her brother. “I was with Robby.”
“Why didn’t you bring your truck?” she asked Robby.
“It’s in the shop. Dave was driving me home when you called.”
“Well, this is embarrassing.” It was bad enough that she’d had to call Robby in the first place.
“Before you panic, I’ll take a look at your rental. Maybe it’s not that bad,” Robby said.
Mattie rolled her eyes. “It was smoking, Robby. I already requested a tow truck. I just texted you for a ride. If you were busy, you should have told me. I could have ordered an Uber.”
“Relax, Mattie, it’s no big deal. I can pick you up and drive you to the rental place, no problem. Robby and I will still have time to order a pizza before we watch the Blue Jays game tonight,” Dave said. “You’re awfully out of the way. What are you doing out here?”
Mattie pointed at the half-loaded trailer. “I’m transporting a shipment of Christmas decorations for work.”
Dave stared at the crystal arbour and froze. “That looks really familiar. Was it in a movie or something?”
Oh no, she thought, please don’t let this be an old horror movie set too. “It’s an old mall display,” she said quickly.
Just then, John’s forklift rolled out of the barn carrying two large wireframe snowmen. Dave’s eyes got even wider. “Moose Lodge Mall! I knew I recognized that arch! I was a photographer’s assistant there when I was in high school. Good times.”
Oh, thank goodness. “You seem awfully excited to see it again.” Mattie jumped onto the trailer, standing out of the way as John rested the forks on the back.
Then she grabbed the first snowman and carefully hauled it to an empty space in front of the wheels.
Mattie brushed a dusty arm against her sweaty forehead.
Despite being thirty-five kilograms apiece, it wasn’t the weight that had her struggling, but rather the awkwardness of the shapes.
The snowmen were hollow forms attached to plate steel bottoms. Like the reindeer and the lampposts, their “snow” consisted of clear crystals and pearly plastic beads embedded into a white, foam-like base.
Once she set the large pieces in place, they weren’t going anywhere.
“I was one of two elf assistants to Santa’s photographer.
I was Humbug, and my partner was Ginger,” he said with a faraway grin.
“We kept the kids entertained while they waited for their turns with Santa. It was a fun gig.” He hopped onto the trailer beside her and grabbed the second snowman.
“It sucked that I could only do it for two years.”
“Why? Did you graduate?” Mattie asked, curious.
“No, the mall shut down.”
The mall’s bad luck was her good fortune. “At least you had fun while it lasted.” She turned to John. “I know we still have the rest of the snowmen and all the lampposts to load, but will you excuse me for a minute? I need to follow up on that tow truck.”
“These lads can help me load the rest. Go deal with your ride,” the photographer said to her. “And you, young man,” he addressed Dave, “tell me the name of the photographer you worked with. I might know them.”
Mattie checked her inbox for a replacement notice from the rental car agency.
Then she checked her texts. Then she called Truck-o-Rama directly, only to discover why they hadn’t gotten back to her.
“But they rent vehicles. That’s their whole thing!
How can they not have a replacement?” she muttered to herself after the call.
Apparently, Truck-o-Rama did have an entire fleet of vehicles.
Unfortunately, they had also been targeted by vandals who broke over a dozen windshields on their lot.
They weren’t the only ones, either; two other rental agency lots had also been hit.
While Mattie felt sorry for them, she felt sorrier for herself.
There wasn’t a single pickup for rent in all of Edmonton.
From what the rental representatives told her, the few available three and a half hours away in Calgary would be all gone before she could get there. She was stuck.
Robby wandered over to her, brushing his hands on his cargo shorts. “It’s dead, alright.”
“Thank you, Captain Obvious.”
“When are they going to have your replacement ready?”
She sighed. “Sometime next week if I’m lucky.
” Suddenly, an idea hit her. Mattie scratched the back of her neck.
Then she batted her brown eyes at her brother.
“Unless the best big brother in the whole world lends me his truck for a few days. Two and a half. Three, tops.” She’d be mostly dead, but she could drive the trailer to Christmastown and have it back to him in three days.
She’d pay for her own plane ticket home after that if she had to.
“I’m sorry, Mattie. I’m leaving for Grande Prairie tomorrow morning. I thought you knew. That’s why I’m having my truck looked at today.”
She dropped her head into her hands. “I am so screwed! There will be a whole landscaping crew waiting for me at Christmastown on Monday morning.”
Robby looked at her, then over at Dave. Mattie followed his gaze. She didn’t know what Robby was thinking. All she saw was Dave talking a mile a minute while holding a loonie between his thumb and forefinger. Robby held up his hand. “I’ll be right back.”