10. Great Idea
ten
Great Idea
H elen leans in to whisper in my ear, “Dollar signs, honey. It’s all in your big black book. Just add dollar signs. Money talks, and they’re desperate for some.”
She sits and gives me back the floor.
“She’s not wrong, we could charge for all of this.
It could be free to all residents of Blitzen, and a fee for those coming in from surrounding towns, with discounts for kids and students and seniors, of course.
We keep it affordable, friendly and welcoming.
But if we draw in the numbers, we’ll make the money you need off of hot chocolate sales a heck of a lot faster than any car wash. ”
Pride consumes me as I get exactly why Helen and Aunt Josie made a great team. She’s a genius, and at this juncture, I’m not sure who’s crazier.
“Okay. As Helen said, we start with the already scheduled activities, we just charge and make it part of the Old-Fashioned Blitzen Christmas of yesteryear. Once we decorate, surrounding towns will catch on. There will be press and articles that suggest Blitzen is back and at it again, ‘just in time for Christmas’.”
“Give her the key to the storage with the lights, if she’s begging for it. Hell, let her do it if she wants to this bad. No skin off my back.” June rustles in her seat as her raspy voice declares me officiant of the Christmas lights.
“That’s absolutely not the spirit, June.” I try not to make eye contact with my new frenemy.
“Just remember, kid, what goes up, must come down. I assume you’ll be gracing us with your presence long enough to clean up— or will you be back in your windy city while we’re left taking the holiday shit show down?”
June’s a real peach apparently.
More rogue shouts produce from the crowd.
“Yeah. If she wants Christmas here again, let her do it! Let her put forth all the work and effort it cost us in the past.”
“But it’s your ultimate fundraiser, as Helen said. It would be earning you the firetruck,” I defend. My heart grows heavier in my chest, and I feel like I’m about to break out in a cold sweat.
“Tom, how do we even know if she could make us money like this?” A random man shouts from deep within the crowd and several other men and women second his emotion in rapid fire.
“Heck, we’ve already missed the first week of December by the time we end this meeting and get started. That’s more than behind. We’ve never pulled it off so quickly in the past, and that’s before we charged folks.” Another naysayer gets theirs in.
My head is spinning.
I feel like I’m back in the office at my ad firm—that Ivy league assistant who spelled my name wrong, staring me down and Archer hanging his head embarrassed for me.
“Wait a minute. You didn’t even hear her out. You all should be ashamed of yourselves.”
A voice I recognize all too well, given that he’s a practical stranger, silences the crowd.
Kourt stands and all eyes flock to him.
“No one else has come up with anything better. Ellis and I have been solicited for a fundraiser in a little friendly competition between the football team and my basketball players, but apart from that, I didn’t see anyone else signing up for this proverbial bake sale being tossed around.
And Helen’s right. It won’t be enough. Erika knows what she’s doing.
These are time-tested traditions the town has pulled off before, but this time they’ll achieve our fire truck.
It’s brilliant. Trust her. It’s what she does.
She already gave my team our idea for our fundraiser.
We’re going to have a play-off game that brings in more than just our town to enjoy. ”
Heat fills my chest and stomach as I hear Kourt, of all people, singing my praises.
I can’t even look his way as I stand staring at the Mayor and whoever Tom is, and a beautiful black woman in her forties wearing a blue velvet blazer at the end of the official’s table. Kourt must really want this truck to put his faith in me. I can barely drive a stick shift.
“That’s the ticket right there. It’s what Helen was trying to tell you.
You can’t have a fundraiser that bleeds the town dry.
If we all had the money, we would’ve donated it for the truck already.
We need some serious dough to pull this off by the new year, and Blitzen being the Christmas town it once was under Erika’s plan of outsiders coming in and paying affordably for their holiday enjoyment—you can’t get a surer bet than that. ”
Kourt’s basketball team stands and claps behind him.
More from the crowd begin a slow clap, and Helen winks beside me.
The gavel goes off as Kourt takes his seat.
It takes me a moment to realize I’m still standing like some sacrificial lamb.
Was this Helen’s idea or Kourt’s? Or was it all in my black binder from the start, I just didn’t realize how bad or soon they needed a fire truck.
This time Tom bypasses Mayor Harris’ gavel and stands.
“Erika, I think you’ve got yourself an Old-Fashioned Blitzen Christmas, and we’re delighted to have you here working on our behalf.
But—” Tom zeroes in on June and the rest of the crowd.
“You can’t do it all by yourself. Folks, she’s going to need each and every one of you to make this happen in time.
We’re already behind on decorating, much less pulling off the events and recreation for people to come and enjoy. ”
“That’s right Tom, how will we bring people in? How will they know?” The lady I thought I liked in the fabulous blue blazer throws the town another wrench.
“You leave that to me, Tom. I’m in advertising, that’s one attribute I can absolutely bring to the table. There’ll be a campaign launched at Fishers before noon tomorrow.” My voice rings of confidence as I look the blue blazer lady in the eye.
“That’s even better Erika, but you still can’t do this alone. Even if everyone in your notebook cooperates, you don’t know anyone or how to go about soliciting their help.”
“Tom, she’s got to have a right-hand person to show her the ropes and tell her who to call on for what. Hell, somebody to drive her around and keep that pour excuse of a Volkswagen off our highways.” Mayor Harris ignites in laughter and so does the crowd.
“He’ll do it!” Helen’s scream funnels through my right ear as her arm points across my face like an arrow shooting straight at Kourt.
“I nominate Kourt. He’s already making weekly stops to every business for the can drive.
He can take Erika along, and to whomever or wherever else she needs to get to. ”
The Mayor scans the rows of chairs and dips below his glasses to confirm. “Kourt?”
This has to work. I stare down at the phone tree chart from past Christmases the mayor gave me.
He might as well have directed me to the Blitzen phone book if there is such a thing.
I make a gallant effort not to sigh in defeat as I tuck the twenty-page list in my notebook and search for Helen in the exiting crowd.
Careful what you wish for. I have to do this now, and I know I can. Since leaving Chicago, the office… Archer, I haven’t looked back, and it’s served me. I’ve found a friend in Helen who makes me feel closer to Great Aunt Josie, wherever she may be.
God rest or fuel her antics.
I found a town that didn’t quite embrace me, but now they’re counting on me, just like I’m oddly counting on Christmas like it’s my damn job. And if I can’t do my job at work, I’m going to make this the most successful Christmas break ever.
I need this.
However, I don’t need to be a burden on anyone.
I search through the filtering crowd. Some make their way to the exit while most hang around visiting, as if these town folk are friendly.
You could’ve fooled me. A young couple turns to stare at me as I pass.
They must be on this list. Dreading my call or upcoming visit. They seem happy and bright.
Great. I’m already on track to becoming the most annoying person in town, meanwhile with a little effort on their part, my plan could save them. Well, partly Helen’s plan. She added the dollar signs.
The look on Kourt’s face when she solicited him— Ugh.
Talk about a holiday buzz kill. He was like a completely different person.
Magically repelled by me and all the Christmas I bring.
I don’t know much about Kourt, but signing him up to do a favor he doesn’t want to do feels akin to asking Archer to watch someone’s baby when he has a hot date, or just… ever.
Or asking Helen to volunteer at an old folks’ home in her best suit skirt and four-inch pumps. I can see her helping with crafts in a memory care unit while she’s trying to check her email and send briefs from her phone. It would be like finger painting with puppies next to a white sofa.
Speak of the devil . Devil number one and devil number two. These two are worse than me and Archer. Are they attached at the hip? I need to inform Helen, although grateful for our fast friendship, I don’t do threesomes. Not when it puts someone out or makes them feel obligated to me—
“Speak of the devil.” Kourt shoves his hands in his pants pockets and darts his eyes from Helen’s to mine as I approach.
“I couldn’t have said it better myself.” I did say it to myself.
I raise my arms to put my jacket on and Kourt’s eyes drift down my waist to my bare legs where my sweater dress must be riding up to show the better part of my thigh and hip-ass. Awesome. Now he thinks I’m too stupid to dress myself for winter.
“So?” Kourt’s voice is curt and forced. This is not the man who just stood up for me.
“So…” I repeat with bug eyes.
Helen steps between us. “Oh my God, you big babies. You both fought for this in there. Why are you suddenly acting like you lost the chance to go first on the playground?”
“What time tomorrow?” Kourt gets to the point.
“Umm. Tomorrow?” I’m shocked he wants to start so soon.
“If you don’t count the week of Christmas, we barely have three full weeks to pull this off, and each of those weekends our town should be open for business.
So, we have less than a week if you look at it that way.
” Kourt searches my face. He’s serious. Maybe he wants this fire truck as much as I want an old-fashioned Blitzen Christmas.
“Okay. What time is good for you?”
“I work, Erika. I’m not on Christmas break yet, and after teaching, I coach so—”
“Just let me know what time, Kourt. Yes, I do understand the concept of working, and I worked so hard, I’m on a much-needed break. A break I’m spending for your cause ultimately. So, you just tell me what time is best for you. What—do you need me to get down on my knees and beg?”
“I’d like to see you try in that dress.”
“Kourt!” Helen interrupts our shouting match.
“What did you say?” I heard him, but I need him to repeat it.
“I said, nice dress. I’ll pick you up at four thirty, and I’d wear something warmer than that if I were you.”
“Noted. I’ll be sure and wear my fake eyelashes as well.”