nick hands michael a candy cane with just a smile and no explanation.
His eyes go wide, and he stares between Nick and the offered candy, pinned in place by sheer delight. Christmas is his favourite time of year. Everyone is happy! They get to go to the big mall at Salt Lake and pick out decorations and gifts! All the animatronics get a hat, and a special bow, and he gets to choose Spring Bonnie's scarf! They'll put up the tree and he'll hang his slowly-growing collection of ornaments with the solemnity due them. Baby Evan will, invariably, knock one over, but it's usually one of the unimportant ones, just a bauble. They'll sit and they'll watch cheesy movies that run on TV from Thanksgiving all the way up to the night of, when his mother will insist that he go to bed, because Santa will not come to boys who are still awake! And his father will sneak in, knowing he's too impatient for that, and slip him something small. A coin. A little toy he fashioned out of wire. A candy cane, like this one. He warps his tiny fingers around it and begins to wiggle with excitement, finally digesting enough of his happiness to move. He looks up at Nick with rapture written into every line of his face. He should say something. Say thank you, say Merry Christmas! Instead, he says, "My Daddy is getting alcohol so he can set the pudding on fire."
