Christmas Shopping

By Mark J. DeGregorio, a.k.a.- Lucky

“Hey Nonie, Keebler called, they want to know if you can start work in their little hollow tree.” Patricia laughed as she stretched her hand over to where Nonie stood, grabbing a large pointed ear now sticking out from the side of Nonie’s head.

Stephanie grinned, “I always knew this Superhero-ing would get you in trouble.”

“Hey, if you wiggle your ears…” Patricia teased, “…Maybe you could fly like Dumbo.”

Nonie’s face began to turn as red as her hair, not embarrassment, but fuming with anger. Clenching her teeth, Nonie stretched her fist across the room and slammed it into Patricia’s face. Alan ran and ducked behind the bar and shouted, “Here we go again!”

Stephanie was sitting on the couch sipping her coffee and shouted, “That’s right chicken-little, hide there behind the bar.

”Patricia wrapped her arms around Nonie and slammed her into the bar.

Penny ran into the room and tried to break it up, only to get tangled in the rubber twin’s limbs. When James entered the family room and saw the fight in progress, Penny shouted, “Hey muscle-man, a little help here!”

James walked over to the bar and lifted it and the girls in the air. Alan scurried back as James shook the twins off the bar. Penny and the twins fell to the floor. Then they heard a knock at the door, and everyone jumped up and got into a normal position as Penny went to answered the door.

Two small men wearing a red and green suit were standing at the door. The man’s friend was shorter and plumper than he was, stood behind him. The two had one feature that made them standout in a crowd, large pointed ears.

“I was told that Nonie now lives here.” He said.

Without looking back, Penny shouted, “Nonie! It’s for you!”

Nonie stretched her neck to the door and saw a familiar face “Jasper.”

A short time later, everyone was sitting in the family room as Jasper said, “I came here tell you about the honorary elf clause,” Jasper gets a good look at Nonie’s ears, “but I see you found out on your own.”

“Elf Clause?” Nonie began to think back to last Christmas,

…All the elves were there waiting as she approached. Jasper proclaimed, “You have done us a great service, and we would like to make you a honorary elf.” He held out his hand to Nonie.

She accepted by shacking his hand. To her surprise, there was a little tingling sensation ran through her hand in that shake. She just brushed it off as a little “Christmas magic”.

“Buy Honorary Elf Cause,” she said through clench teeth, “Do you mean, me becoming an elf-girl.”

Jasper tugged at his muffler as he nervously responded, “Well…uh…yea…” He was cut short as Nonie stretched her torso, wrapping it around Jasper’s body.

Nonie left her arms free to pound him, asked, “How long will this elf-thing last.”

Even more nervous than before, Jasper cried, “Permanently.”

The other elf that came with him said, “I told you, you should have told her about the honorary elf clause, but nooooooo!”

Nonie was getting ready to beat the crap out of Jasper when Patricia laughed, “Oh boy, this is too precious, maybe you can work in Santa’s sweat shop making toys for the rest of your life.”

Nonie shut her eyes tight and clenched her teeth, and then she got an idea. She brought her face to about an inch from Jasper’s face and said, “If you want to keep yourself from getting pounded, you turn her into an elf, understand.”

Jasper nodded and Nonie let go of him. She turned to the others and said, “This is Jasper, and he’s an elf in Santa’s workshop.”

Nonie pulled Jasper over to Patricia and said, “Jasper, this is my twin sister Patricia.”

Jasper held out his hand to shake hands with her. As Patricia reached for his hand, Jasper said, “Honorary elf.”

Patricia felt a little tingling sensation run through her hand, and then pulled it away and snapped, “What was that?”

Nonie began to push Jasper and his friend out the door, “Well, it was fun, guess you got to be leaving now, give my regards to Santa, bub-bye!”

As Nonie slammed the door, Patricia felt all tingly. She felt her ears being pulled as Nonie said, “Guess what,” and stretched a hand to the mirror hanging on the wall, “we’re twins again.”

When Nonie held up the mirror, Patricia saw that her ears had become large and pointy. Patricia belted Nonie in the jaw and both girls resumed fighting.

* * * * * * *

Stephanie drank her second cup of coffee and went into the garage to go to work. To her dismay, her car laid in pieces around the garage. Across the garage, Alan had a part of her car, working on something. Stephanie stormed to where her no-good brother stood, grabbed him by the shoulder and roared, “What did you do to MY CAR!”

“Yo boss, I can explain…”

Stephanie’s face was redder than Nonie’s hair. He could see that vain budging on her forehead. Stephanie growled through grinding teeth, “I don’t care how you do it, if MY car is not put back the way YOU found it, by the time I get back from work,”

“You’ll kill me?” he asked.

“Worse!” she snapped, and went back into the house to see if Penny could give her a ride to work.

* * * * * * *

After she dropped Stephanie off at work, Penny took the rubber twins to the comic book store. Both girls were still mad at each other and Penny had to separate them. She had Patricia running the register while Nonie worked on the sales floor. Patricia had to clip her ears to the back of her head and covered it with her long dark hair. Nonie’s hair was to short to do that so she had to wear a wool cap on her head. Each time they passed each other; they would sneer at the other.

Two o’clock came and Penny told the girls that she was going to take a two-hour lunch. As Penny went into the back room, Patricia sighed, “So, how come SHE gets a two-hour lunch?”

Nonie grinned at Patricia’s annoyance and egged on, “She IS the boss, after all.”

Patricia noticed a slip of paper in Penny’s purse. She stretched her neck down to get a closer look. It had all their names on it, with some scratched off. On the top of the list was the two words printed on it. “Christmas list.”

Nonie heard this and stretched herself to where Patricia stood and saw Penny’s Christmas list. They heard Penny coming out of the back room. Both pulled back into position as Penny grabbed her purse and pulled out the list and glanced at it before placing it back into her purse.

“I’ll be back at four,” Penny turned to the twins and said, “Patricia, you’re in charge.”

“What?” Nonie cried.

Patricia gave a large smile and said, “You heard her, Nonie.”

Annoyed, Nonie asked, “Why her?”

“Because I’m better than you.” Patricia replied.

Penny was beginning to wish that Alan had not taken Stephanie’s car apart. She would have placed the tech-head in charge over the rubber twins. Between Nonie and Patricia, Patricia was a little more intelligent one. Penny would not tell Nonie this so she said, “Patricia is older.”

“Only by a few minutes.” Nonie gripped as Penny left the store.

“Do you know where Penny is going?” Patricia asked.

Nonie smiled and replied, “To lunch.”

Patricia could not believe how she could have both beauty and brains, while her twin lacked in those areas. “She’s going Christmas shopping you idiot.”

Both girls tried to imagine what they would get for Christmas. They did this for the two hours Penny was gone. When Penny returned, she decided to close-up early. As they approached Penny’s car, the twins did not see the presents in the car. They went to pick Stephanie up at work.

* * * * * * *

They pulled into the driveway and the girls got out of the car and went into the house. Stephanie got out to see if her lunk-headed brother got her car together. James came out and he went out with Penny.

Stephanie stormed into the garage and was genially shocked; her car was in one piece. It did not look different, no crazy things sticking out of it.

“Yo boss…” Alan grinned as he cleaned off his hands, “Got it fixed has you wanted.”

Stephanie was astonished. She did not think he could do it. She approached her car to inspect it more closely as Alan bragged, “It’s as good as new, in fact, it’s better than new.”

Stephanie popped her head up. “Better than new” as she glared at her brother and growled through grinning teeth, “What did you do to MY CAR?”

Alan moved to the other side of the car keeping it between him and Stephanie. He pleaded, “Wait, hear me out…”

Stephanie moved around the car, Alan moved to keep the car blocking Stephanie’s advancement, “I repeat, what did you do to MY CAR?”

“If you give me a chance, I’ll explain…” Alan wined as he looked for a way out of the garage.

Stephanie changed direction and Alan compensated by also changing direction still keeping the car between them. Alan made a dash for the door with Stephanie tailing after him.

* * * * * * *

Inside the house, the rubber twins were searching the house for their presents. As the two stretch all around from room to room, finding nothing. “We looked everywhere, and no presents.” Nonie gripped.

Patricia pointed at one room they had not looked, James’s study. “We’re not allowed in his study.” Nonie insisted.

Patricia smiled, “And that would be the best place to hide them then, wouldn’t it?”

“But if we get caught in there,” Nonie said, “we could get in trouble.”

“Oh, don’t be a worry-wart…” Patricia snapped, “James and Penny wont be back for hours. We’ll be in and out before they get back.”

Nonie walked to the door and jiggled the knob and said, “It’s locked, so we can’t get in.”

Patricia smiled and said, “Oh, that wont be a problem.” Patricia shaped herself into a massive slingshot.

She then grabbed Nonie and catapulted her down the hallway and smashed her flat onto the wall face first. She walked down the hall to where Nonie was stuck to the wall. Grabbing Nonie by the top of her head Patricia pulled Nonie off the wall and said, “Now all you have to do is slide under the door.”

“Hey!” Nonie growled, “Why is it that I’m the one who has to be flattened out?”

Patricia laughed, “Because I thought of it first, now get in there and open that door.

Nonie rolled down in front of the study’s door and proceeded to push herself under through the thin space. As her flattened head came through she looked up to see the study for the first time. It looked like any other study you would see in the movies. There was a large oak desk, a couple of recliner chairs, a bookcase, posters of wrestling matches of James’s career, and the oddest thing in the room was a shield hanging on the wall. For some reason, it did not quite fit-in to the room.

Patricia yelled, “Will you stop goofing around and get in there!”

Nonie pulled herself more under the door until her stomach had passed all the way through. Nonie rolled her flattened upper body up and braced it with her arms. She proceeded to pull her little flattened butt through until her knees had passed under the door. Nonie twisted her flatten form and unlocked the door.

As soon as Nonie’s feet slipped under the door, Patricia opened the door and entered the study. Nonie had already begun to inflate herself to normal as Patricia started to search for the presents. When she was fully three-dimensional, she too, helped with the search.

After a few minutes, they heard the clatter of someone coming and both girls hid. Alan scurrying into the room with Stephanie close behind as she bellowed, “There’s nowhere you can hide now!”

Alan turned to run and got clipped on the back of his head. He fell against the desk and Stephanie grabbed him by the shirt and said, “I told you NOT to do anything to my car, but you did anyway!” and she slammed her fist into his stomach, sending him across the room and into the wall. As he stumbled up he bumped the shield and the bookcase slid open revealing a secret passage.

The rubber twins, Alan and Stephanie were flabbergasted as they looked at the hidden passage. “Look! The bookcase opened!” Nonie gasped.

Stephanie saw the twins and asked, “Nonie, Patricia, what are you doing in here?”

The twins responded, “Nothing.”

Alan walked to the passage and asked, “Where do you suppose this leads to?”

“Only one way to find out.” Stephanie answered and the four entered the passageway.

Inside, they found themselves moving down a flight of stairs and into an underground tunnel. “I wonder if there’re any Morlocks down here?” Alan asked.

“Will you get your head out of the comic books?” Stephanie snapped, “there’s no such thing as super-beings!”

“Well…” Nonie stated, “except for us, all the aliens, the Amalgamation, the undead creatures, or all the villains we’ve battled. Yeah, It’s all just a comic book.”

As they reached the end of the tunnel, they came to a large room. They entered it and found an enormous computer, tons of weapons and gadgets, costumes, and vehicles. Alan had his mouth opened, drooling at the very sight of all this. He had died and went to heaven as he exclaimed, “Yo boss, tell me this isn’t a comic book.”

Patricia and Nonie looked at each other and shouted, “COOL!”

Even Stephanie was impressed until Alan ran over to the computer and began to kiss it. She strolled over to her brother and snatched a hand full of his hair and yanked him away form the computer and yelled, “Will you stop acting like idiot!”

Then Alan pointed at Nonie, who had transformed her lower half of her body into a spring and was bouncing around the room. Stephanie shook her head and muttered, “Alright, both of you are acting like idiots.”

From across the room, Patricia found a door to another corridor. The four passed through the corridor until they came to a security locked door with a combination lock mechanism. Alan pushed himself ahead of the others and said, “Stand aside, SUPER GEINUS coming through.”

As Alan pulled out a cable from a pocket on his cargo pants, Stephanie commented, “Super Genius my ass!”

Alan smiled as he placed one end of the cable into a port under the lock, and said, “Oh ye of little faith…”

“Oh HE of little brains…” Stephanie retorted.

Alan placed the other end of the cable into his data port and grinned, “Open, says me.”

The door slid open. Alan held out his hand, pointing it through the newly opened door and said, “Ladies first.”

The girls walked through followed by Alan. They found themselves in what looked to be a laboratory. Across the lab, stood a blue, ape-like creature. It was standing with its back towards them. Nonie’s face perked up as she shouted, “Beaker!”

Beaker fumbled with some beakers and test tubes, keeping them from spilling, or worst, blowing-up. When he got everything settled, he spun around to face them, “What are you guys doing here!”

Nonie smiled and replied, “We found a secret passage in James’s study, and so we followed it here.”

Beaker paused a moment when he noticed the large pointed ears on Nonie and Patricia, and then asked, “What happened to you two?”

Patricia pointed at Nonie and answered, “Oh, this numb-skull turned us into Christmas elves.”

“I did not, Jasper did.” Nonie retorted.

Patricia glared at her twin and gripped, “And you made him do it to me!”

Nonie coyly replied, “Well then, maybe you should’ve kept you’re big fat, mouth shu…”

Nonie was cut short when Patricia’s fist collided with her jaw, sending her head and neck stretching twelve feet. After she pulled her neck back, Nonie knocked Patricia to the ground. Alan ran over to stop the fight, and was thrown into Stephanie. She and Alan stumbled into a table and Stephanie felt a sharp pain in her rear.

“Ouch! Ow-ow-ow” Stephanie yelped as she moved away from the table.

She reached her hand behind her and felt something stuck in her butt. Stephanie pulled it out and held it so as to see what it was. She was holding a syringe in her hand. Stephanie turned towards Beaker, who had a shocked look on his face. His mouth was hanging open and his eyes were in a wild take as he said, “That syringe had alien DNA in it, I don’t know what that’ll do to you.”

Stephanie looked at her brother and the rubber twins and said, “No, but I do know what I’m going to do to THEM!”

Nonie, Patricia, and Alan ran out of the lab with Stephanie close behind. They ran the same route they entered until they reached the study. After leaving the study, they knocked Penny over as she came down the hallway. Nonie ran into something massive, and then Patricia squashed Nonie into the obstruction. Alan then squashed Patricia into the massive barrier. Stephanie stopped in the hall when she saw that James had stopped her prey. Alan stepped back as James pulled first Patricia and then Nonie off his chest. After the twins fixed themselves, He demanded, “Now, will someone tell me, what were you all doing in my study?”

Beaker exited his study and James rolled his eyes as he said, “Beaker, oh, this should be very fascinating.”

Stephanie grabbed her brother and pounded him, as the rubber twins pondered what they would say.

Beaker informed James of what had happened, and Stephanie explained about the car incident, and chased Alan into the study. James questioned the twins.

Patricia thought up a good cover story, too bad she would never get to use it, as Nonie blurted, “We were looking for Christmas presents and Patricia said the study would be a great place to hide them because we’re not suppose to be in your study.”

The next thing the rubber twins remembered was two not-so-little words…

You’re Grounded.

* * * * * * *

After Nonie and Patricia were sent to their room, Alan showed Stephanie what he did to her car. “I know you’re going to love what I did to it.”

“Some how, I seriously doubt it.” She retorted.

Alan got into the driver’s seat and Stephanie got into the passenger’s. Alan started the car, Stephanie didn’t hear or see anything different, until he flicked a switch on the dashboard. The car lifted into the air and was hovering some ten feet above the ground. Alan smirked, “Now this will be great when traffic gets heavy.”

Stephanie looked at her brother with amazement and said, “I have to admit; this is a great idea you had.”

Alan took the flying car for a spin and brought it back. He then landed the car on the driveway and said, “Now say it. This car kicks ass!”

“It sure does,” she responded and noticed another button on the dash and asked; “…So what does this button do?” and she pressed it.

Stephanie found herself catapulted fourteen feet into the air and came down with a thud when she hit the ground face first, in the wet grass. Alan answered, “Oh, that’s the ejector seat button.”

Stephanie got off the ground, spitting out the grass in her mouth. She then ran to the driver’s side of the car and grabbed Alan, pulling him out of the car and started to beat the crap out of him.

* * * * * * *

Nonie sat on her bed sulking. Patricia said there were presents hidden in the study, and now they were in trouble because of her. Patricia was morphing her clothes, trying to pick out something to wear. Nonie looked at Patricia and asked, “Where do you think you’re going?”

Patricia did not stop what she was doing, answered, “I’m going to that new club that just opened.”

“You mean the Star Gazer!” Nonie jumped from her bed, then remembering the events of today, “…wait, we’re grounded, remember.”

Patricia gave that sneaky smirk that she had use to do in high school, “Oh, I already have a plan to get out of the house.”

Nonie raised an eyebrow and asked, “So, how will you accomplish that.”

Patricia gave a large smile and answered, “I tell them that I still need to go Christmas shopping, and when I get out of the house, I go to the club.”

“A suggestion to your plan,” Nonie added, “is that WE go to the club and party.”

Patricia furiously said, “What is this “We” crap, you’re not going with me.”

“I will,” Nonie smiled, “or I tell James and Penny about your plan and no clubbing for you.”

“You wouldn’t dare!” Patricia frowned.

Nonie stretch a huge smile across her face and said, “Try me.”

Patricia knew she had her, gripped, “Oh alright, we’ll both go, but when we get down there, keep your big stupid mouth shut. I’ll do all the talking, understand.”

Nonie nodded in agreement, then asked, “Are you sure this plan of yours will work?”

“It’s a perfect plan, what could go wrong?” Patricia gloated.

The two girls went downstairs to talk to James and Penny. Patricia explained the situation about needing to buy Christmas presents for everyone. Both girls gave puppy-dog eyes and pouted. James glanced at his wife, and then said, “Alright, you may go out to finish your Christmas shopping…”

The rubber twins gave a large smile, until…

“…With the condition that either Penny, myself, or Stephanie has to accompany you on the shopping trip.”

When they heard that, the smiles fell off their faces, as they squeaked, “Uh.”

“The chaperon will take you girls there, stay with you the whole time, and then bring you home.”

As they left the room, Nonie asked, “What just happened back there?”

“I think they’re a lot smarter than I thought.” Patricia said.

Nonie looked at her sister and asked, “Now what are we going to do?”

“I’m thinking… I’m thinking,” she replied as they went back upstairs.

* * * * * * *

Beaker had taken Stephanie back to his lab to run some tests on her, and see what that alien DNA will do to her. James was explaining the secret passage to Penny in his study, who was upset at the fact that he never told her about it. The rubber twins were upstairs trying to figure out how to ditch the chaperon. That just left Alan, who was sitting in the living room. He had gotten pounded by his sister not once, but three times in one day. He sat on the couch and decided to watch some television.

“What…” he wined, as he looked for the remote, “where is it?”

He started to feel around the cushions, but could not find the remote. Alan sat on the couch wondering how he was going to turn on the television set, mumbled to himself, “I could always get off the couch, walk over to the TV and turn it on.” Then he began to laugh.

Alan started to feel for the remote under the couch, but it was not there. Frustrated, he glared at the television and sighed, “I want to watch TV!”

The television turned on. Alan turned to see who had the remote control, but he was the only one in the room.

He thought to himself, how did that TV get turned on? I wonder?

He looked at the television set and concentrated on channel 13. To his surprise, the channel changed to 13. He tried 27, and the television changed to 27. Alan smiled and said, “My head is a remote.”

He was going to have to tell Beaker about it, but first, Baywatch.

* * * * * * *

Penny took Nonie and Patricia to the mall for Christmas shopping. They came up with a few ideas on how to ditch Penny at the mall. Unaware of the fact that, James did not trust them and was keeping a close eye on them in disguise.

The mall was decorated for the holidays. It reminded Nonie of last year when she was Santa’s elf helper, which turned into a catastrophe. Now this year, she was a real elastic elf. They passed the food court, which reminded Nonie of Melvin Butter-ball, that fat little brat, and how he almost, single-handedly, destroyed Christmas last year.

After getting something to eat at the food court, the girls hit the stores. They entered JCPenney. Patricia walked over to the perfume counter and tried some free samples. Penny joined her and when the sales associate began explaining the different fragrances, Nonie and Patricia slipped away. They only got as far as the juniors department when Penny saw them and moved at super speed to get back to them.

“You know you girls are to stay with me, don’t you?” Penny said.

Patricia replied, “We were just looking here in the juniors wear for gift ideas.”

As they left JCPenney, Nonie mumbles to Patricia, “Now what, she too fast to run from.”

Patricia mumbled back, “We’ll just have to trick her.”

A short time later, they passed by Waldenbooks. Patricia suggested on going in and looking at the books. Penny became suspicious at them wanting to spend any time in a bookstore. The three entered the bookstore and looked around. The twins went to the back of the store and got out of Penny’s sight. Patricia stretched her neck up to look down the aisles and when they could not see Penny around, Patricia whispered, “Okay, now is our chance, I don’t see her anywhere in here.”

They began to stretch their way through the store, keeping low behind the rows of bookshelves.

Nonie asked, “I wonder, where is Penny?”

As both sneaked out of the store, they were stunned to see Penny standing outside the bookstore waiting for them, as she asked, “Are you finished looking in the bookstore?”

Both sighed, “Yeah.”

The mall began to get hectic as people were getting off work and came to get some Christmas shopping done. The rubber twins moved into an ocean of shoppers with Penny close behind them. Penny found herself drowning in the mass of customers. She pulled herself to out of the crowd and realized that she lost the girls in the crowd.

James appeared and Penny said, “I don’t know how they did it, but I lost them.”

James replied, “I didn’t see which way they went, we better start looking for them before they get away.” And the two began to search for the twins.

In the front of Mervyns, the rubber twins stretched their necks to see if the coast was clear. They had flattened themselves and hid in the thin space where Mervyns’s glass doors are stored. When they did not see Penny around, they both came out of hiding. They gave each other a high-five and shouted, “Yes! We did it! Party time!”

Nonie and Patricia made their way to one of the mall’s exits. As they crossed the mall, Nonie heard a familiar voice called, “My Nonie, what have you been doing?”

Both turned and Nonie squeaked, “Santa?”

“Oh-oh-oh! Merry Christmas!” he shouted, “Why it’s been a whole year since we made our Christmas run together.”

“Christmas run?” Patricia questioned.

“Long story,” Nonie responded, “tell you later.”

Santa asked, “So, where you two off to?”

“We’re going to that new club, the Star Gazer…” Nonie answered before Patricia hand wrapped itself around Nonie’s mouth.

“We’re Christmas shopping, and we have a lot of presents to buy.”

Santa gave a skeptical look and uttered, “I see…”

“Well,” Patricia smiled, “we have to be going now, need to get ready for the holidays. Bye.”

The two girls left Santa, Patricia yelled at Nonie, “Nonie, what were you thinking?”

When the girls were out of the mall, Santa made an announcement over the mall’s public address system for James and Penny to come to Santa’s house.

When they arrived, Santa asked, “Do you know where Nonie and Patricia went?” Both looked at other as he continued, “They told me that they were going clubbing at the Star Gazer.”

“Oh Really.” James grinned and turned to his wife and asked, “Say Penny, would you like to go to that new club that just open?”

“You mean the Star Gazer?” Penny responded.

James smiled, “The very one I was thinking about.”

“Yes, I would very much like to go to that new club that just opened, the Star Gazer.” She answered.

As she and James walked away, Santa hollered, “Oh-oh-oh! Merry Christmas! And catch those naughty girls for me!”

Penny turned and shouted back, “Will do!”

* * * * * * *

By the time James and Penny got to the club, the two girls had already got inside. James had no problem getting himself and Penny in, due to the fact that the bouncer recognized him as the Atomic Crusher. James asked the bouncer if a couple of girls got in, but he did not remember anyone with that description. It would be hard to forget a skinny redhead with pink bands, or two girls with large pointed elf ears.

James turned to his wife and said, “They must have already slipped into the club.”

They entered the dance floor and started to scout around the room. The lights dimmed and a spotlight shined on two couples. The guys were mediocre dancers, but the girls were moving in ways that seemed inhuman. The others in the room were cheering them on. James whispered to Penny, “There are our girls.”

Penny smiled, “Let’s cut in on them.”

James moved to the guy who was Nonie’s partner, grabbed and threw him across the dance floor, and then started to dance with Nonie. Penny ran at super speed and grabbed Patricia’s dance partner. She moved him to the other side of the club and ran back to dance with Patricia.

The two girls had no idea of who they were dancing with. Nonie hollered to Patricia, “This was a great plan you had Patricia!”

Patricia shouted, “Yeah! It sure beats sitting at home!”

“Yeah! Ditching Penny at the mall was a stroke of genius!”

“Young ladies! You are SO BUSTED!”

Both girls stopped dancing and turned to the voice who said that. Penny was standing next to Patricia. Then they heard, “Excuse me…”

Both turned to see James standing behind Nonie, “but, aren’t you two suppose to be, say, Christmas shopping.”

James and Penny grabbed both girls by their big pointy ears and pulled them out of the club.

* * * * * * *

Epilog:

James and Penny stood at the kitchen door sipping eggnog. They were pleased at the method they chose to punish the girls for their futile attempt to trick them and go against their original punishment.

Nonie and Patricia were on their knees, scrubbing the kitchen’s floor. They had been doing it since they got back from the club, which was about two and a half hours.

“That was a “great” plan you had Patricia!” Nonie mocked.

Patricia looked up at Nonie and replied, “Well at least I had a plan; you ruined it!”

“Uh, you missed a spot right over there.” James said as he pointed to an area they had already scrubbed.

“How did I ruin your plan, it was ruin before we even started!” Nonie gripped.

Patricia snarled, “You stupidly told Santa where we were going, and he told them!” and she pointed at James and Penny.

James smiled, “Less talk; more work you two.”

“Chop-chop” Penny added while clapping her hands.

“Oh, that was a “great” plan you had Patricia!” Nonie mocked again, “Oh, let’s lie and tell them, we want to go Christmas shopping, then we sneak to the club…”

Patricia threw a wet sponge at Nonie’s face.

The End!