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“What are you doing after school today?” I asked.
She opened her lunch bag and took out a container of rice and meat. It smelled amazing. “Nothing. Why?”
“Want to visit all the undecorated houses in my neighborhood with me?”
“I can think of nothing worse.”
“Please,” I asked.
“Anything for you.”
Chapter 22
“What are you going to say?” Fiona asked after school as we headed out on our task.
I was nervous. If the town Scrooge was mad enough to sue, they probably weren’t going to take kindly to me showing up on their porch. I needed to do it anyway. I held a clipboard so I looked more official.
“A survey. I’m taking a survey,” I said. “About the Christmas lights.”
“If they’re the ones who are suing, won’t they see right through you?”
“I’m kind of hoping they do. That they admit to it. Talk about how much they hate the lights and the noise. Then I’ll know who I’m dealing with, at least, and we can go from there.”
“Okay, let’s do this,” she said, taking the first step forward. I propelled myself after her. The air felt extra cold today, and I looked up at the dark clouds overhead that had been teasing me all day, full of moisture they refused to drop.
We reached the front door of the first dark house, and I knocked. Several moments passed before someone opened it—a pregnant woman.
“Hello?” she said, looking between the two of us.
“Hi!” I said, in an overly friendly voice. “I’m conducting a survey about the neighborhood Christmas displays.”
“Have the neighbors complained because we didn’t decorate this year?” she asked, her smile dropping.
“No, no, not at all. It’s more about how you feel about the displays.”
“I love them,” she said. “But this year has been a lot with the pregnancy. My husband and I have been putting in extra hours because of the time we’ll take off work.” She rubbed her belly. “But I can’t wait for her to grow up seeing the lights.” She looked at my clipboard, probably noting that I wasn’t writing anything down. “Is that the only question? Who’s conducting this survey? The town council?”
“No, it’s a school project,” I said, not sure why.
“About Christmas decorations?”
“About inspiration,” I said.
Fiona coughed next to me.
“Oh, okay.”
“Um…” I looked at the blank page on my clipboard.
A single snowflake drifted down in front of my face and landed on my hand. I let out a surprised laugh. The woman laughed as well.
“It’s snowing,” I said.
“It’s supposed to be a big one,” she said.
I wondered if the forecast was right this time or if the snow was just teasing us and would dry up in minutes. “We better go.”
She nodded to my clipboard. “Good luck.”
