sunrise on Saturday morning. He turned on the Christmas lights and sat down with his coffee to admire the tree they’d decorated the night before. When his cell phone flashed a text message that Ralph and Chris were in front of the building, he ran downstairs.
He’d traded his morning with the boys for the afternoon so he could go to the flea market early. Dina had been fine with that. She wanted to clean the house and work on the boys’ costumes for the Christmas pageant before doing her shopping in the afternoon.
It seemed the rest of the city was sleeping in that Saturday morning. The traffic was light and Ralph soon had them across town to an open lot where tables and tents were set up. Julio was surprised at the number of shoppers already there.
“The serious collectors have been here for hours,” Chris informed him.
They walked among the assortment of used household goods, clothes, books, CDS, toys and collectibles, as well as a lot of junk, lingering over the jewelry cases. But, Julio didn’t see anything that he imagined Dina would like.
A chill wrapped around him and he hugged into his jacket, pulling his knit hat down around his ears.
“Maybe I should just get fake fireplace logs,” Julio mumbled to his friends. “Dina’s been wanting to light a fire but, you know, it’s not “environmental” these days.”
“You have a fireplace?” Ralph asked.
“Yeah,” Julio answered, “but it’s not like we can use it.”
“That’s it!” Ralph exclaimed. “You get her a fireplace candelabra!”
“Yes! It’s as romantic as a fire without all the mess,” Chris added.
“Great! Let’s go get it!” Julio announced sending them forth on a quest through the flea market.
They had walked only a few rows when a flash of golden light caught Julio’s gaze. It was gone in an instant, but he followed the direction it had come from, leading Ralph and Chris to a seller with just a few items set out on the ground. There it sat, bronze in color, graceful in shape.
“It’s beautiful!” Ralph said, kneeling down to inspect the candelabra up close.
“And it has twelve candle holders!” Chris noted. “For the twelve days of Christmas!” he and Ralph exclaimed together.
“But, how do you wrap something like that?” Julio asked.
Ralph and Chris looked to each other, then to Julio. They didn’t have to roll their eyes.
“You don’t,” Chris patiently explained. “You set it up in the hearth with some beautiful candles and
a big bow around it before she wakes up Christmas morning.”
They were all beaming as they drove out of the lot, the candelabra in the trunk.
“Can we stop at the drug store?” Julio asked. “I want you guys to help me pick out the candles.”
“No drug store candles, Julio” Ralph told him, heading for a gift shop he knew well.
“I guess we’re not through shopping yet.” Julio sighed.
To be continued December 18...
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Julio was up with the