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“Please,” I said. “It’s important.”

“I don’t doubt it, but you couldn’t afford it even if I could do it.”

I glanced at William. “Well, how much is it?”

“Don’t know. Have to look at it. But it’s a rush order on a holiday. You ever heard of the mechanic’s triangle?” Al said. “Good, cheap, and fast. You can pick two.”

“Good and fast?” I said.

“Then it ain’t gonna be cheap.”

I let out a breath. “Hold on.”

I put the phone on mute. “How are we paying for this?”

“I’ll put it on my credit card.”

“What if they don’t pay you back?”

He paused only a second. “I’ll do it anyway.”

We stared at each other.

This could be thousands of dollars. I knew it. He did too. And he still wanted to do it.

I got back on the call. “Money isn’t an obstacle. We need it tonight.”

He let out an impatient breath. “I need to see what all’s going on with it.”

“The key’s on the back left tire of the trailer,” I said.

“All right,” he mumbled. “Let me have a look.”

William and I held each other’s gaze while Big Al muttered to himself as he walked around the trailer. “Got it,” he said. Then we waited another painful minute while he fiddled with the lock. We heard the click, then the metallic sound of a trailer door going up. And then silence. It went so quiet I thought I’d lost the call.

“Hello?”

“This is the sleigh,” he said.

“Yes, someone stole it last night and—”

“No,” he said. “This is the sleigh from Little Christmas.”

William and I looked at each other.

“Yeah…”

Another long moment of silence.

“I grew up watching this thing in the parade,” he said. “Every year, my parents took me and their parents took them. I took my kids.”

He stopped talking.

“I can fix this,” he said. “And I’m gonna do it for free. I’ll have it for you in a few hours.”

He hung up.

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