Christmas Lights

Christmas Lights


“I leave for ten minutes,” said his sister, “and when I come back, I find you still fiddling with those lights! You should have had them up and running by now.”
“Yeah, I know, but the darn things won’t turn on!”
“You sure they’re plugged in?”
“Of course, they’re plugged in.”
“You sure?”
“Hey, go check for yourslef if you don’t believe me.”
“I think I will.”
Frustrated, Jeremy watched as his sister and partner in their two-person seasonal business (Lights Up) trudged through almost a foot of snow, heading for the side of the house where the outlets were.”
“Yep, you’re right,” she said, after returning to where her brother, still standing halfway up the ladder, was waiting, “they’re plugged in alright.”
“I told you so.”
Looking up at her brother, she asked, “And you tested all the bulbs? None of them are loose or broken?”
“Yep, checked them all.”
She shrugged. “Then I don’t know what to tell you.”
He sighed. “I just hope I don’t have to bring them back.”
“I’ll tell you what; let me get up there and see what I can do.”
“And how the heck do you think you’re going to get them to work?”
She shrugged. “Can’t do any worse.”
With a heavy sigh, he descended the ladder then watched as his sister climbed to where she could reach the lights. As he looked on, she touched some of the bulbs, and tugged on the wires. To his utter amazement, the lights came on.
Staring at his sister, Jeremy exclaimed, “What the heck did you do?”
“Nothing. I just tugged on a few things.”
Shaking his head, he ordered, “Well, come on down, so I can put the ladder away.”
Slowly, she descended the rungs, jumping off the last one and landing with a soft crunch in the snow. Then moving out of the way, she watched as her brother grabbed the ladder and pulled it away from the house.
The lights went out.
“What the heck!” he growled, as he let the ladder fall back against the edge of the roof. The lights came back on.
“What is going on!” he said angrily, as he stared at the once again glowing lights.
Suddenly, his sister put a gloved finger to her lips. “Shush, did you hear that?”
“What? I didn’t hear anything.”
“There it is again! It sounded like someone laughing.” His sister turned to look towards their truck. “Okay, come on out,” she ordered.
A young boy in his middle teens stepped out from behind the truck. He had something in his hand. “Was that you fooling with the lights?” she asked him. Looking down, the boy nodded.
“What’s that you have in your hand?” Jeremy asked, as he began walking toward the boy.
“It’s a security remote,” explained the boy. “I wasn’t sure it would work, but I guess it did.”
By this point, Jeremy had released some of his previous anger. “You guessed right,” he replied.
Looking a bit contrite, the boy said, “I hope you’re not mad at me.”
“No, that’s okay,” Jeremy assured him with a smile.
Then the boy said, “You want to come inside and have some hot chocolate? We also have some Christmas cookies!”
“Sounds great!” replied Jeremy’s sister.
As they started to walk toward the garage, the Christmas lights on the house went out. “This time it’s not me,” the boy hurridly assured them.
Once inside, they discovered a switch in the main electrical box had tripped.
“I guess my parents left too many lights and stuff on,” remarked the boy, whose name was Gary. After shutting off some of the lights, and at least one small personal heater, and then flipping the switch in the electrical box, all three headed for the kitchen.
“These cookies are great!” Jeremy said later between bites. “Did your mom make these?”
The boy announced proudly, “No, I made them!”
Nodding, Jeremy replied, “You did good, kid. You did good!”