Zachary's Christmas (also in audio)

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“Brother, is it ever tricky to break into this place,” Melody Anne Darlington plummeted into her sibling’s office chair. Then she had to scrape her hair out of her face; long hair and a thick parka complete with a furred collar and hood kept trapping her behind a blonde curtain. She’d never been good at being a woman of mystery.
Daniel would know of course, that his big sister was dropping in for an unannounced visit since the moment she’d hit the outermost layer of White House security. Not quite like the old days when she could drop unexpectedly out of the hayloft and scare the daylights out of him—a joke that simply never grew old—but there was still satisfaction to be had. And she’d come accompanied by her own personal White House guard, looking very spiffy in his blue uniform and white hat, just in case he didn’t welcome the surprise.
“Hey, Sister. Where’s your rifle, Anne? I assume you’re hunting polar bear in that outfit.” His lazy Tennessee accent was more diluted by Washington, DC every time she saw him and it made her feel even more alone than she already did, which at the moment was saying more than a thing or two. But his smile was warm as always and that helped some.
“You will not be insulting my parka. It’s never seventeen degrees on December First! Don’t you gentlemen pass laws and sign bills against precisely this kind of travesty?” The city was cloaked in ice and a recent snow.
It had looked magical from the airplane and the cab, with all the landmark buildings popping up out of the vast whiteness as if they themselves were formed of snow. And signs of Christmas had been everywhere, from a tiny wreath above baggage claim to giant fake candy canes on street lamps to the massive National Christmas Tree on The
Ellipse.
Once afoot though, the cold had cut straight to the bone. But if Daniel thought he’d be getting away with insulting her attire, he had another think coming.
Of course Mister Cover-of-GQ—the blond boy-genius turned White House Chief of Staff by the age of thirty— would never think of wearing a parka. His corner office glowed a warm orange with the setting sun. Her own little brother had a southwest-facing corner office in the West Wing—that was completely crazy. The only sign of Christmas from here was a massive wreath on the Eisenhower Executive Office Building across the street. The White House hadn’t been decorated yet.
“I’ll have them draft special legislation for you. Would you prefer a military escort with portable heaters?”
“Now that be sweet of you,” the Tennesseans’ way of calling someone a jerk in public, “though maybe if you selected a few particularly hunky ones, that would have some nice possibilities.”
“The coat remains ridiculous.” Daniel’s repayment for calling him a jerk.
She slapped her hand against her coat’s thick padding. “If the apocalypse hits tomorrow, this is going to be far more practical than one of your three-piece suits and designerRalph wool coats, City Boy. Besides, how am I supposed to hunt a decent bear, even a stuffed one for Christmas, when they’ve confiscated my popgun at the front gate.” She waved a hand at the guard who had escorted her through the last leg of her journey. “Do you think the spiffy soldier will lend me his sword if I bat my eyelashes?”
“He’s not a soldier, he’s a Marine, and I think he’d be crazy if he did.” Daniel looked up at the man in question. “We’re fine here, Jeffrey; you’ll want to escape while you still can. She’s a man eater.”
The Marine saluted and, in a flash of humor that she suspected was rare for a White House honor guardsman said, “Thank you for the warning, sir.” He did a neat turn on his heel and marched back out into the hall to his post outside the Oval Office, his boot heels sounding smartly against the hardwood flooring.
“Am not a man eater.”
“Are too.”
“Am not,” she looked up over his shoulder, “am I Mr.
President?”
Daniel startled to his feet and she belatedly rose to her own as Peter Matthews strode in through the side door of Daniel’s office.

Initial Publication: December 23, 2015
Print Pages: 204
Audio length: 5:05
Narrator: Read by Author