Christmas Caper
written by Christy Park
illustrated by Allen Belk & Kyle Puttkammer

Act I
The soft sighing of snow surrounds Stanley Quest as he walks down Main St. The warm glow of Christmas lights glitters off the white powder as the last of the day's shoppers make their way home. Wrapped purchases in a shopping bag, he mumbles to himself. "I miss you, Amelia. I know Suzie misses you too. I wish you could be here for Christmas, it's not the same without you." He laughs ruefully to himself, his breath fogging the air in front of him, "and you know how helpless I am when it comes to shopping . . ."

His eyes lift from the sidewalk in front of him as he hears the crash of shattered glass around the corner in front of him. "What? . . . " he hurries towards the sound.

Peeking around the corner wall, Stanley spies a man in black with a ski-mask on stepping into an electronic/toy store through a newly broken front window. The soft sound of laughter mixes with the tinkling of still raining glass and the crunching of stepped on window bits. But even those sounds trail away as the crook moves into the store. Not wasting a moment in thought, Stanley ducks behind a nearby dumpster to change into his alter ego, Galaxy Man. Quickly, Galaxy Man enters the store the crook now lurks in, using the same broken-window entrance. Galaxy Man stands, regal and bold, knowing the sight strikes fear in the wicked, as he looks around for the masked intruder. As he spies his foe, Galaxy Man calls out, "Stop thief!"

The crook looks over at Galaxy Man and laughs, pressing a short sequence of buttons on his PDA. "You're too late, Galaxy Man, already there are thousands of my little toys in houses around the city. You can't stop what I have done, you can't even stop ME!" His voices ending with a high-pitched laugh as he presses a last button. A chorus of, "Must Destroy Galaxy Man," erupts around him as a shelf full of toy robots comes to evil life.

"My clever minions will make short work of you Galaxy Man. While I make my way through town, collecting the presents my Destruct-O-Bots will bring me from under every tree in the city!" Galaxy Man was beginning to find the crook's high-pitched laughter annoying.

Of course, with Destruct-O-Bots hanging off of every bit of him, Galaxy Man found himself more than annoyed. There were so many of them, as soon as he would throw one off, two more would latch on, and though they couldn't do much damage to him, Galaxy Man found himself slowly losing ground to this endless wave of robots.

Act II

As Galaxy Man struggles under the massed weight of Destruct-O-Bots, the crook slinks towards the exit.

But he is unable to leave without a last parting shot, "And know this, Galaxy Man, nothing can keep me down, theCrook654 rises from the ashes again!"

Concerned as he was with mocking the overwhelmed hero, the Crook didn't notice the elderly gentleman walking down the sidewalk as he stepped out. In a spectacular display of inertia, both the Crook and the gentleman ended their collision rather unceremoniously dropped to the pavement. The Crook sprawled face first, his PDA skittering across the ground away from him.

Blinking a few times and shaking his head, the old man regained his wits, his bag of purchases still clutched in his hand and his rather substantial weight across the Crook's legs. The sight would have brought a smile to most faces, the old man with his beard disarrayed and his blue eyes looking around for the cause of his misfortune, a masked crook pinned under him.

Meanwhile, Galaxy Man had been struggling with the Crook's Destruct-O-Bots and had managed to remove enough of them from him to make his way out of the store. Galaxy Man gets to the broken window to find the Crook pinned by a merry looking older man. Somewhat taken aback by the fortuitous capture of the Crook, Galaxy Man stands there looking bewildered for a moment.

"Say there, young man," the sprawled jolly gentleman calls from his patch of sidewalk. "Might you give me a hand up? I fear I've gone and stumbled all over someone again." A smile lights up his face and causes his eyes to dance with inner light as he holds out a hand for assistance.

The Crook, being well and truly unconscious from his fall, says nothing and makes not a move as Galaxy Man assists the elder fellow. "There you are sir, are you all right?" Galaxy Man inquires solicitously as he lends his aid.

"No, quite all right, but I think this poor young man may need some assistance." Turning concerned eyes to the Crook. "It's such a cold night to be laying about on the sidewalks like that."

At this point both look up as they hear sirens approaching. "It looks like help is on the way sir, but thank you for helping me stop this criminal," Galaxy Man offers a hand to the accidental good Samaritan.

The gentleman smiles as he shakes Galaxy Man's hand, "Well, always up for a good deed, I suppose, though I think next time I'd rather not end up on the streets next to him, if you don't mind."

Smiling, "Of course, of course," Galaxy Man replies, batting away a persistent Destruct-O-Bot.

As they exchange pleasantries they don't notice the Crook groggily regain consciousness. The Crook inches away, towards his PDA.

Act III

As Galaxy Man and the jolly old man talk on the street corner, waiting for the approaching police car, the Crook reclaims his PDA. A wide and malicious smile curls his lips as he sends new commands through the PDA to his Destruct-O-Bots. A new wave of "Must Destroy Galaxy Man!" is heard, not only here, but also throughout the city as Destruct-O-Bots tear through wrapping paper from their boxes under trees where they wait for Christmas morning.

The Crook shrills his laugh again and Galaxy Man rolls his eyes at the melodrama of it all. "You can't stop theCrook654!" He rants as his Destruct-O-Bots move towards Galaxy Man.

"Oh enough of that already," Galaxy Man boldly takes the two steps to the Crook and wrenches the PDA from his hand. "I've had about enough of this," and crushes the PDA in his super-strength grip.

The lights fade from the Destruct-O-Bots' eyes and they slump limply to the ground. "Noooo! Not my Destruct-O-Bots," the Crook yells as the police pull up and cuff him, reading him his rights.

"Thanks again Galaxy Man. You always save the day. This time you even saved Christmas!" One of the officers gushes. "Don't thank me Officer, this man here did all the real work," Galaxy Man indicates the older gentleman next to him, who is surprised at the praise in the middle of smoothing down his beard.

"Well, thank you both, on behalf of a very happy city." The officer replies as he gets into his patrol car to take the Crook away.

Galaxy Man and the cheery old man watch as the car pulls away, then Galaxy Man again turns to the old man, "Well, it's time for me to be going, thank you again . . ." trailing away, aware that he hadn't gotten this stranger's name.

Holding out his hand, "Nick, it's nice to meet you Galaxy Man. Oh, and here," He reaches into the shopping bag he's still carrying and pulls out a package. "For your daughter. But make sure to hide it until tomorrow morning. You know how kids can get. The top of your bedroom closet should do." Nick winks as he taps the side of his nose, eyes twinkling. "Merry Christmas, Galaxy Man."

Looking at the present in his hand, "But how did you . . ." his voice trails away as he looks up and notices he is alone.

Galaxy Man flies away, only to return moments later to pick up his clothes and his own packages and again assume the simple mantle of Stanley Quest, boring astronomer and father of Suzie Quest, the light of his life.

Epilogue
Stanley Quest hurries home, presents in hand. Still wondering about the strange man on the street, he almost bumps into Nanny May as he comes in. "Oh, sorry Nanny May."

"Dinner's waiting for you in the kitchen, Stanley, and Suzie's already tucked into bed. Of course, she's not asleep yet, but no child sleeps on Christmas Eve. Now go on, put up the presents, give her a kiss goodnight, and get some food into you boy, I won't have you wasting away, just because Amelia's away for a bit." Nanny May's stern attitude and take-no-nonsense manner has Stanley quickly following instructions.

Remembering Nick's words, Stanley heads to his room to store the presents in the top of his closet. Opening the closet door, he starts sliding the bag up onto the top shelf. He meets resistance; there is something else already on this shelf.

Curious, because he knows he doesn't store anything there, Stanley puts the packages down and finds a chair to climb on to peer onto the shelf. There he sees a worn old shoe box with the name, Amelia Glenn written on it. His throat catches as his eyes mist up. Slowly and reverently he reaches out and takes the box down. Stanley moves over to the edge of the bed, sits, and opens the box.

As he moves that bit of a cardboard lid, a wealth of memories comes flooding out of the box. Pictures he had forgotten, the love letters he had written his missing wife while they were dating, the silly little key chain he gave her, their daughter's first booties . . . all memories lovingly stored by his wife Amelia before the fateful journey from which she hasn't returned.

A soft sound at the door startles Stanley into looking up, for an instant hoping to see Amelia framed by the doorway. Suzie stands there, eyes wide as she looks at her father. Wordlessly she moves over to the bed and gives him a hug. Not needing to say anything.

They spend the rest of Christmas Eve together, looking through that box of memories and remembering Amelia with love, wishing she were there, and knowing that with this box, a piece of her is.

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