Merth and Tommy's New Home for Christmas

Prologue

.

Ever since Merth arrived at Mr. Pupten’s toy store he had heard of this magical holiday, called Christmas. Each year at Christmas Merth wished extra hard for a new home. He really wanted to know what the Christmas Holiday was about first hand.

This year Merth just knew that he would get a home. He knew it right down to the bottom of his little dragon tail.





CHAPTER 1

Mr. Pupten’s store was in a very old section of New Orleans. Not many people ever came to visit. The store was small but was full of wonderful toys. Many of the toys were one of kind. Mr. Pupten had dolls that sang, walked and talked. He had toy soldiers, policemen and firemen with a fire engine. Mr. Pupten even had a special little village that he kept lit at night so the toys could see.

Merth the little dragon had many friends at Mr. Pupten’s store. There was Sally a talking, walking doll that loved to read the books in the store. Mr. Snowy a big white owl. He was very smart and all the toys listened to him.

Merth’s best friend was Tommy. Tommy was a brown Great Dane puppy with a clock in his tummy. Tommy’s job at the toy store was to sound the alarm and wake up all the toys before Mr. Pupten arrived at the store.

It was December 21, just 4 days before Christmas. The chances of getting a new home for Christmas did not look good. Mr. Pupten’s store had not received many visitors this year. The toys had heard Mr. Pupten talking about a new toy store opening on the other side of town.

It was supposed to be huge with all sorts of new hi-tech toys. This made Mr. Pupten very sad.  He was sad because he knew that most of his special toys would not have homes for Christmas. As the days passed Mr. Pupten became sadder and sadder.

At 5’oclock Mr. Pupten started to close up the shop. He turned off all the lights, except for the little town lights under the Christmas tree, and locked the safe. Then he put on his hat, coat, and scarf so that he’d be warm on his way home. Then all the toys waited for Mr. Pupten to say, “Rest up my children, tomorrow is the day you get a new home.” Tonight Mr. Pupten did not say goodnight to his family of toys. He shook his head, looked around and locked the door. He went home looking very sad.

The toys realized that this year they would not have new homes by Christmas. The new toy store across town had taken all Mr. Pupten’s business away. This made all the toys just as sad as Mr. Pupten. They all had been dreaming of a home for Christmas all year long.

Usually every night after Mr. Pupten left the store; the toys would play and tell stories.  Tonight they were just too upset to play and many of them did not want to talk. A few of them talked about the new toy store. They wondered what the store looked like.  How many toys did it have? They thought of a zillion questions. Finally they all fell asleep.





CHAPTER 2

They hadn’t been asleep too long when some of the toys smelled something funny. Sally was the first.

“I smell something” she said in her singsong voice

. Then Todd the tractor said “Ah, you’re just a silly doll what do you know? You just smell yourself and the stuff you girls wear” he wasn’t very nice. He could be so mean at times.

“That stuff is called perfume” stated Sally, “It smells pretty.  I smell something yucky”.

All of a sudden the Fire Chief of the toy fire station said “I think Sally is right, it smells like smoke” The Chief started looking around for the smoke. He kept looking and looking but could not find it. “Help me look everyone,” He said.

One by one all the toys started to look. The smell was getting stronger. Now all the toys smelled the smoke.

Willie the Assistant Fire Chief yelled, “I found it! It’s coming from the little town under the tree.”

The toys became scared; they had never seen or smelled smoke before. The smoke became thicker and thicker. Flames began to form. Tiny flames were coming out of the windows of the buildings in the little town.

The toys began to cry.

The Chief yelled above the fire “everyone calm down and listen to me!”  Everyone became quiet. He continued with his instructions “all of you get on the floor and crawl to the mail slot”.

Mr. Pupten’s toy store door had large mail slot in the bottom of it. You bigger toys help the smaller toys through the slot. You will be safe once you are outside” The Fire Chief had just finished giving everyone his instructions when they all heard a cry for help.

“Help me, Please help me” cried Merth. He seemed very frightened. “I’m up here”.  They looked up and saw Merth the dragon on the very top shelf. He could not get down. I know what you’re thinking if he’s a dragon why can’t he fly down? Merth’s dragon wings were small for his body and he could not fly at all.

The Chief told every one except the firemen to leave the store.  Willie, the Assistant Fire Chief went to go get the fire truck. It had a ladder on it that may be able to reach Merth on the shelf. Willie was back in a flash and he began to raise the ladder. Merth was sitting on the little shelf watching everything that was happening below. He was so scared. Then it happened, the ladder had been raised all the way up but it was to short. There was no way to get Merth off his shelf. Merth started crying.

“Don’t worry Merth we’ll get you down I promise. I have an idea” yelled the Chief. He went off to find Willie. “Willie I need you to go out side and get all the toy soldiers” he told him.

Willie ran to the slot. “I need all toy soldiers in the store now! ON the double men it’s an emergency.” Willie never yelled so loud before. The toy soldiers crawled back through the slot. “Boys” continued Willie “the Chief needs your help if we are to rescue Merth. He is trapped on the top shelf. Will you help us?” All the soldiers yelled in unison “YES!” Willie led the soldiers back into the store through the thick smoke till they reached the chief. All the soldiers gathered around the chief waiting for his instructions.

“Do any of you have a parachute in your pack?” asked the Chief.

One of the soldiers stepped forward and said that he had one.

“I need it,” said the Chief. Then he yelled up to Merth. “Hang in there Merth we’ll have you down in a few minutes. You have to do exactly what I say okay?”

Merth nodded his little head and shouted, “Okay, just please hurry. I’m scared.”

Merth was not fond of high places. The Fire Chief then took the parachute from the soldier.

“Ok Men, I need you grab hold of the parachute. Shape it into a circle then pull it tight. DO NOT let go under any condition!” instructed the Chief. When the soldiers had the parachute pulled into a circle the Chief yelled up to Merth. “Merth I want you to jump into the parachute. We will catch you.”

“I’m scared!” Merth yelled down.

“Just do what I tell you, everything will be all right. Now jump!”

Merth closed his eyes and jumped. It felt like he was floating.  Then he landed with a small plop in the parachute.  Merth slowly opened up his eyes. He crawled to the edge of the parachute and one of the soldiers helped him down.

“See Merth I told you it would be okay,” said the Chief.

Merth gave the chief a big hug and thanked all the toy soldiers for helping him.

“Now everyone hurry before we can’t get out,” yelled the Chief.  Everyone ran to the mail slot and slipped through without a moment to spare. When they got outside everyone started to cheer. Because of the Chief’s good instructions every toy was accounted for. No-one even got hurt. 

Tommy, Merth’s best friend was the happiest to see him. Tommy ran into Merth and nearly knocked him over. He gave him a great big hug. 

“I’m glad you didn’t turn into a fire breathing dragon” said Tommy laughing the whole time. 

While the toys were rescuing Merth a team of Real firemen had showed up and were getting ready to put out the fire in the store. The toys stood silent in the alley out of the way. The Chief was looking for Willie and couldn’t find him.  All of a sudden he heard the little toy fire engine. Willie had waited for one of the firemen to break down the front door of the store. Then he drove the little truck out of the store. Everyone began to cheer again. When Willie pulled up and everyone was done cheering the Chief and Willie announced that they were leaving. They had done their job and they were going to find a new fire to put out. The Chief and Willie drove away in the little engine with the siren wailing.

Now with all the excitement over for the moment all the toys were standing in the alley silent. They did not know what to do next. They watched as flames started coming out of the store.

The first to speak was Mr. Snowy. Mr. Snowy was a big white owl with a booming voice. He was also the oldest and wisest of all of them.

“My Fellow toys” Mr. Snowy bellowed in his low gruff voice “listen to me.” All the toys turned toward Mr. Snowy. No one spoke. They all knew that if Mr. Snowy was speaking it was important because he didn’t speak very often.

Mr. Snowy continued, “I think we should all stay here. We should wait for Mr. Pupten to come and take us to our new home. I am sure that when he hears about the fire he will get here as fast as he can.”

Sally was the first to speak as she always was.  “Mr. Snowy, will we have new homes for Christmas?” asked Sally sweetly. Mr. Snowy thought for a moment and then very slowly he answered her question. 

“My dear toys, I’m afraid that I must say that we will not have new homes this Christmas.” Some of the toys began to cry.  Mr. Snowy continued, “Mr. Pupten’s store has been very badly damaged. I am sure that he will take us somewhere for the time being. It will be quite a while before he can reopen the store. Then again he may decide not to.” Mr. Snowy sighed heavily and looked very sad.  The toys were unhappy. They wanted Mr. Pupten to open the store again.  They were upset that they would not know what Christmas was and that they would not have new homes.

Sally was crying and through her tears she asked, “Mr. Snowy we have all waited so long isn’t there anything we can do?”

Mr. Snowy answered her gruffly “No, Sally there is not anything we can do.”

Merth listened very carefully to Mr. Snowy’s speech. He could not believe that there would be no Christmas for them. Merth had made up his mind he was going to find a new home for Christmas no matter what. He knew from the bottom of his little dragon heart that he would experience Christmas this year and have a new home.

Mr. Snowy had begun to speak again but Merth wasn’t listening. He was busy thinking of a way to find a new home. Who would he take with him? Tommy? Which way would they go? There were so many things to think about.

Tommy noticed that Merth was not paying attention to Mr. Snowy. He trotted over to him and tapped him on the shoulder with his paw. Merth was so deep in thought that he didn’t hear Tommy and he jumped when Tommy tapped him.

“Don’t do that!” cried Merth “You scared me!”

“I didn’t mean to.  What were you thinking about? You looked like you were a million miles away.” asked Tommy.

Merth didn’t answer Tommy right away. “I was thinking” he said kind of wishfully “About how wonderful it would be to live in a nice warm house with a little boy or girl to hug me.”

“Well quit dreaming “Tommy said angrily. “That won’t happen this year with Mr. Pupten’s store catching fire.”

Merth wasn’t ready to give up just yet.  He wanted to find a home in the worst way. Merth turned to Tommy and thought a moment then he asked him “Do you want to go with me? To find Christmas and a new home or do you want to stay here and wait for next year to roll around?” He saw the look of fear on Tommy’s face. Merth continued “If you go with me now we stand a good chance of finding a home for Christmas. If you wait here well, Mr. Pupten might decide NOT to open his store again.” Merth took a deep breath and then continued. “Then where will you be? Besides it will be a great adventure. You know like the stories Sally was always reading about. This is our chance to actually see what an adventure is.  Are you coming with me or not?” Merth waited.

Tommy was struggling with his decision. He was having a very hard time making up his mind. He wanted to stay with his friends, but Merth was his best friend. He didn’t want Merth to be alone in the city and he didn’t want Merth to know that he was afraid.

Merth was impatient “Well are you going with me or not?”

“I’m going with you” Tommy said shakily. “After all it will be an adventure of a lifetime right?” Then in a whisper he said, “If I make it in one piece.”

Merth was so happy that Tommy was going to go with him that he gave Tommy the biggest hug ever.

“I’m so glad that you’re going with me. I was really hoping that you would. Now we have to tell Mr. Snowy and the others” said Merth. They gathered up their courage and went to find Mr. Snowy.  He wasn’t hard to find because he was standing with the rest of the toys in the alley. Merth and Tommy slowly approached Mr. Snowy.

“Mr. Snowy” said Merth meekly.

“Yes,” answered Mr. Snowy in his booming gruff voice. “What do you want?”

Tommy became scared and started to leave. Merth grabbed him by his tail. Tommy was squirming, trying to get away but Merth held on tight to his tail. 

“DON’T be afraid” Merth whispered to Tommy.

Mr. Snowy was getting impatient. “Well, boys what is it?”

Merth began to explain “Mr. Snowy, Tommy and I want to go find a new home for Christmas. We want to leave tonight.” Merth waited.

Mr. Snowy looked down at the boys and just said “Hmmm” then he continued in a slow careful voice “So you want to leave. Where will you go? It is a big world out there and you are just two little toys. The world can be very scary. Are you sure you don’t want to wait for Mr. Pupten?”

Merth didn’t hesitate. “NO. I don’t want to wait for Mr. Pupten. I don’t want to wait another year or two or maybe forever to find a home. I want to want a new home NOW.  I want a little girl or boy to hug me.”  Merth started to cry his little dragon tears rolling down his cheek.  His little heart was breaking. He wanted so much to have a home.  Tommy was standing there not saying anything.

Mr. Snowy now looked at Tommy and asked “What about you Tommy? Do you really want to leave all your friends?”

Tommy looked really uncomfortable. Then he took a deep breath and straightened up so he was standing tall and said as bravely as he could “I want a new home too. I think Merth is right. I think if we’re together we can find a new home.”

Mr. Snowy was a little surprised at Tommy.  Tommy was normally very shy and quiet. He looked at the both of them and then said, “If you two really want to leave, I will give you my blessing. I hope with every feather on my body that you find a new home.” Then very seriously he added, “I think you should get a good night sleep. It is going to be a very long tiring trip. I also want you to promise me that you will take care of each other,” Merth and Tommy agreed that they would take care of each other. They also agreed with Mr. Snowy and decided to start their adventure in the morning. They trotted off to tell the other toys of their big news.

         The other toys were heartsick to hear that Merth and Tommy were going to leave. However, they were also really excited for them.

It had gotten quite dark outside. The firemen were still fighting the fire. The police were keeping people away. The toys looked around and they did not see Mr. Pupten. Where could he be? Didn’t he want to save his store? Save them? So they waited. About an hour later the fire had been put out and the firemen were starting to pick up. Then they saw a car pull up. It was Mr. Pupten. He did care. Mr. Pupten did want to save them. Mr. Pupten got out of his car and walked over to the policeman that was near the front door.

“Thank you for getting all my toys out” said Mr. Pupten. The policeman looked at Mr. Pupten.

“We didn’t move the toys out. They were already out when we got here” said the policeman.  Mr. Pupten looked at the policeman in disbelief. Then the policeman continued. "We thought that you took them all out and then called us.”

“No,” said Mr. Pupten “I was out of town visiting relatives this evening. I just heard about the fire on the radio.”

Then the policeman said, “Well you know it is the time for miracles.”

Mr. Pupten agreed with the policeman. He stood there looking at his store that was now in ashes. What was he going to do with all the toys? He even wondered if he should think about re-opening the store. It was almost morning. The sun was coming up. The firemen and the policemen were leaving. After everyone had left Mr. Pupten turned to the toys and said “Come my children I will take you home with me.” He began to pick the toys up one by one. As each toy was put in the car they wished Merth and Tommy success in their quest. Merth and Tommy were hiding under a box that was in the alley so that Mr. Pupten couldn’t see them. Merth and Tommy started to cry they were going to miss their friends.

They decided that the box was a good place to rest for a few hours so they curled up together but they were so excited that they couldn’t sleep.







Chapter 3

Their adventure had begun. The sun slowly warmed up the cool winter morning. They had decided that when they got out of the alley they would turn left. They thought that the new toy store was in that direction. Now remember Merth and Tommy had never been out of Mr. Pupten’s store so they didn’t really know the direction that the new store was in. They were hoping they were right.

Tommy and Merth hadn’t been out of the alley very long when all of a sudden a huge toy car zoomed past. They looked at each other in awe. They had never seen a car move so fast or one so big or smell so bad. It coughed black smoke as it passed. They had seen Mr. Pupten’s car but it didn’t look that big.  The car was really noisy too. They couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

They had walked to the end of the sidewalk and were ready to step off the curb when another car whizzed by almost making them pancakes. Nobody had ever told them to look both ways before crossing the street. Merth and Tommy were totally in awe of the sights that were there. They walked a little further and they saw a Donkey. Not a stuffed one, but a real one. It was huge. The donkey was attached to a Carriage. There were several people sitting in the carriage.  The driver of the Carriage got into the carriage in the very front. Merth and Tommy were curious so they decided to climb into the carriage too. It might be fun to go for a ride.  They grabbed hold of the carriage wheels and climbed up. There was a little bench on the back of the main carriage and that’s where they sat down. They sat on the bench looking backwards. They were able to see everything. It was really cool because no one knew they were there. They had just gotten comfortable.

The driver got in the front and sat down. He yelled “Gitty up Clarabelle”. The carriage started to move with a small jolt.  As the carriage went past certain places on the street the driver would tell the people about the history of the place.  After about an hour the driver had Clarabelle slow down. Then he began to tell his passengers about the Wax Museum they had stopped in front of.

“This here place contains some of Louisiana’s history. All figures are portrayed in wax.” He took a breath and started to tell them more. “The figures of inside were made in Paris, France. They look so life like it’s scary. You want to touch them just to see if they are real people.” Merth and Tommy were confused. They had never heard of this so they decided to get off the carriage and go inside.

They walked into the museum unseen.  They walked through the exhibits looking at everything. The only problem was that Merth and Tommy couldn’t read, so they didn’t who they were looking at. They decided to stay where they couldn’t be seen and listen to the other visitors. By listening they learned about Louisiana History. They saw Andrew Jackson, the seventh President of the United States. They learned about the Louisiana Purchase. The Louisiana Territory was bought from France in 1803.  Everything in the museum so interesting and new to them. 

Then they went into the Dungeon. This was where the monsters were. They were so real looking that Merth and Tommy ran out of the room and found the closest door. They ran outside. It was late in the afternoon and they were tired. They decided they had better find a place to spend the night. Merth had suggested going back into the Museum and staying there. Tommy wouldn’t hear of it. He thought that the monsters might come alive after dark. While they were standing there trying to decide what to do Clarabelle came back. She had a new bunch of people in her carriage.

Merth and Tommy ran to the carriage and climbed back onto the back seat and waited for it to start up again.  They had just settled down for the ride when the driver went past a really busy, noisy street. The driver said that it was Bourbon Street and that there was a lot to see there. Merth and Tommy wanted to stay but they only had three days to find the new store so they couldn’t go see all the shops. So they sat there on the bench. They watched the people walking by. A while later the Driver stopped in front of a cute little store.

“This store sells the best Pralines in the city” he informed all his passengers.

One of the passengers asked, “What is a praline?”

The driver described to everyone what a praline was “Well, it’s a round piece of sugar and cream with pecans in it. They are ex-cell-ent!”

Merth and Tommy had never seen one of those either so they thought they would go in or see what they were. They climbed down off the carriage once again and went to explore. They walked into the shop and couldn’t believe how wonderful it smelled in there. It smelled like the Christmas cookies and candies that Mrs. Pupten would bring to the store for Mr. Pupten.

“You know Merth it really is sad that we can’t eat. I’d really like to try one of those” said Tommy.

Merth looked at Tommy and asked him “Have you ever tried to eat anything?”

Tommy thought a minute and said “NO.”

“Well maybe we can eat. I’d like to try them also.” They saw a little table with a plate of pralines on it. There was a little sign next to the plate.

“Well how are we going to get one? We’re too small to reach them.” Tommy thought. “Merth what does the sign say?”  Merth didn’t know. He couldn’t read. That’s one of the things that the little boys and girls teach you when you go home with them. So they waited till one of the customers said, “Free sample” and picked up a piece of the candy. Merth and Tommy looked at each other, they were free.

“How do we get one?” asked Tommy.

Merth told Tommy to stand by the table when no one was looking and he would climb up and get them one. It was pretty busy in the store. Merth waited until the lady at the counter couldn’t see them. He climbed up on Tommy’s back. They he climbed onto to the table. He ran over picked up a praline and ran back and climbed down. They sat under the table and tried their piece of praline. It was awesome. They found out that they could actually eat. They were surprised to find that they could eat because the only toys they that were able to eat were dolls like Sally. They stayed in the shop just a little longer it smelled so wonderful in there. It was nice and cozy in there too. They decided that they were going to get another sample of something called a donut so they went over to another table. Tommy helped Merth up. This time they decided to eat their donut outside. By now it had gotten darker and colder with a slight breeze. They needed to find a place to stay for the night. First they wanted to try their donut. They walked a short distance and found a nice little patio between two buildings. There was a nice bush in the yard. They decided to eat their donuts under it. Each of them had a different kind so they shared. Tommy’s was chocolate and Merth’s was glazed. They loved them. When they got done eating Tommy started washing his paws. Merth however had a problem. He had sticky stuff all over his fur. Merth was a stuffed dragon not a scaly dragon. How was he going to get it the sticky stuff off?

“What am I going to do Tommy?” Merth was upset. “I’m all sticky.” Merth knew if he wasn’t clean when they got to the new store no one would want him.

“I saw a puddle with some water in it. You could try that.”

Merth nodded in agreement. They went over to the puddle.

“It was a good idea but the water is cold” Shuddered Merth. “I’ll have icicles for paws if the water stays on them.” Tommy was looking around.

“I saw a lady wipe her little boys face off with a piece of cloth. She threw it over there. You could use that.” Tommy went to pick it up where the lady had dropped it. He dipped a corner in the puddle and helped Merth clean up. On the dry side they dried Merth’s paws and face.

“Thank you. Now I’m clean” Merth’s fur was as good as new. “We need to find a place to stay for the night.”  They started off. They hadn’t gone to far when Tommy saw a few little houses in between the buildings. They picked one that had a porch. They looked around and found a small hole. They crawled under the porch. It was warm and dry under there. They talked for a while. Finally Tommy curled up and Merth lay next to him with his little wings covering them both.







CHAPTER 4

The following morning Merth was awakened by a loud, deep growling. He thought it was Tommy snoring. Merth rubbed his little brown eyes and yawned. He heard the growling again. It wasn’t Tommy it was a real live snarling, growling dog. He was black and brown and his teeth were huge.

“Tommy, Tommy, wake up,” Merth yelled in Tommy’s floppy ear. “We have company and it isn’t the nice kind.”  Merth started shaking Tommy. “Come on wake up.” Finally Tommy opened his eyes. They heard footsteps on the porch. They held their breath; the dog was still growling and showing his teeth.

“Blacky, you bad boy! Get up here and leave the kitty alone,” said the lady. “Come on; let’s get mommy’s baby some food.” They were saved. The lady thought that Blacky had cornered a kitty under the porch. Blacky trotted away to get his food. Tommy had missed much of the excitement.

“What’s going on?” He asked Merth.

Merth just shook his head and said “You are the soundest sleeper I’ve have ever met, but then again I haven’t met too many people or toys.” Merth told Tommy what happened.  “We were almost eaten by a really big dog. But I scared him away.”

“Wow” Tommy stretched, yawned and shook his whole body. “Since you scared him away can’t I sleep just a little longer? I’m still tired.”

“No! It’s getting late and we have to get moving. We need to find the new toy store.” Merth yawned and a little puff of smoke escaped, surprising Merth.

“See you’re still tired too.”

“No!” Merth grabbed Tommy by his tail and started to pull him. It was no use Tommy was much bigger than Merth.

“Alright, I’m coming. Just quit pulling my tail.”

The second day of their journey was off to a start and with only two days away from Christmas and they needed to find a new home.

Merth and Tommy crawled out from under the porch. It was chilly out but the sun had begun to shine. They decided to go to the left when the reached the sidewalk in front of the porch. They walked down the street and turned right at the corner. Then walked up a few blocks and they saw the strangest thing. There were people pretending to open doors, climb in boxes and all sorts of other things. Their faces were painted white and they didn’t talk. Merth and Tommy had never seen anything like it. They stopped and watched them for a while. Still they couldn’t figure out what they were.

“Mommy, what are those people doing? Why are they dressed so strange and why don’t they talk?” asked a little girl standing nearby.

This interested Merth so he listened to what the Mother had to say.

“These people are called mimes and they don’t use words to talk they use their hands, bodies and faces to talk.” She looked down at her daughter and asked if she understood. The little girl nodded her head and continued to watch the mimes.

“Tommy, did you hear that?”

”Hear what?”

Merth was a little upset with Tommy “You never listen to anything. The lady said that these people are called mimes.” Merth continued to explain what he had heard to Tommy.

Merth found out they were in what several people were calling Jackson Square. There were all kinds of things to see there. Merth and Tommy took turns helping each other see into the store windows that were too high. Still they hadn’t found the new toy store.  Jackson Square was full of really cool stuff; there were tap dancers, painters and people playing music. They could have stayed there forever and had so much fun. They couldn’t stay they needed to find that store. Shortly after leaving left Jackson Square, maybe two blocks away and they saw it. The store was huge. It was all they had heard it was. Merth and Tommy hugged each other and jumped up and down. However, as they got closer they saw a sign in the window. It said CLOSED. They knew what that meant. It was like the sign that Mr. Pupten put in his window when he went home for the night. Their joy left them like a deflated balloon. They had made it all that way and it was closed. They stood looking at the window, then they saw it, another sign it said it would open again at eight pm that night. They were happy once again. When they stopped jumping for joy they realized they had a problem. How were they going to get in? This would take some thought.





Chapter 5

They sat down for a minute to think. Then Merth said.

“Let’s walk around to the back, maybe they have a back door that’s open” Merth suggested. They got and walked around back. They found the door. Merth Climbed onto Tommy’s back and turned the knob. No use, it was locked. They didn’t know what else to do so they sat back down. They had walked so much today and they were so tired that they decided to take a little nap.

Vroom! The noise woke both Tommy and Merth up. They looked around to see what had made such a noise. It was a truck. Merth heard two voices. They were getting close to where they were napping. They decided to hide behind a box that was close by and watch. The truck drove up to the back door. Two men got out of the truck one went to the back of the truck and the other went to the door.  He rang a doorbell and waited. The door was opened by a very tall man.

“Hello Merv, you delivering the toys for tonight’s sale?” he asked the guy from the truck.

“Yeah, are you ready for them?”

“I’ll get the bay door for you and you can unload.”

Merth and Tommy couldn’t believe it. This was their chance. But how could they get into the store? They watched as the men unloaded the boxes from the truck. Then Merth got an idea. He noticed that some of the boxes were open. If they could get into one of those boxes, they could get into the store. They had to wait for their chance.

“Hey, Merv” called the other guy. “I need a break okay?”

“Sure we got time” So they went to the front of the truck to take a break. Merth and Tommy ran for the boxes. They found an open box but it was too big for them to climb into. Tommy helped Merth in by letting him stand on his head. Then Merth helped Tommy by putting his little dragon tail over the box edge. Tommy grabbed hold of Merth’s tail and he climbed up. No sooner had they got into the box and the men returned.

They were safe and they were going into the store.

The man from the store came out to talk to the men. “Since you guys were late getting here I’m not going to be able to look at them.”

“Sorry, the traffic was terrible,” explained Merv.  The box that Tommy and Merth had picked was placed next to the main door of the store. They could see the rows and rows of toys. They poked their heads completely out of the box and looked around. They didn’t see anyone. Merth put his tail over the box edge and let Tommy climb down. Then Merth stepped on Tommy’s head and climbed out. They walked to the door and looked around the corner. The coast was clear; there wasn’t anyone in the store. They stepped out onto the toy store floor. It was extremely shiny and slippery.  The size of the store surprised them. They never dream there were that many toys in one place.  They picked an aisle and walked down it till the found a shelf that they could climb onto. They found one not to far from the front window. They helped each other onto the shelf. Then they made themselves comfortable. Then they waited to find new homes. The store opened up a little while later. There were lots of people but no one looked at Tommy or Merth. Every one was asking for the high tech toys. Merth and Tommy weren’t high tech; they didn’t need batteries or electricity. They were just huggable.  It was getting late. Merth and Tommy were sure that they would not find new homes for Christmas; no one wanted them.

Right before closing a family came in to look for a last minute Christmas party gift. While the parents were looking in the next aisle the little boy and girl looked in the aisle that Merth and Tommy were in. The little boy saw Merth right away and picked him up and hugged him.

He said “I wish I could have you for Christmas I always wanted a dragon.” His little sister was standing next to him tugging on his shirt.

“Brother” she said, “I like the doggy. Can I hold him?” Her brother handed her Tommy. She gave Tommy a really big hug even bigger than the one Merth got. She told Tommy that he was the best doggy ever.

“Children” called their mother “Where are you?”

“We’re over here mommy.” They called back. Their mother walked over to them.

“What do you two have there?” she asked.

“A doggy” said the little girl “Isn’t he pretty?”

“How about you, what do you have?” she asked the little boy

“I have a really neat dragon. See.” He said thrusting Merth at his mom.

“Can we keep them?”  They asked together

“Sorry, Kids. I didn’t bring enough money. I only brought enough for Tammy’s present.” The kids put Merth and Tommy back on the shelf. The children looked brokenhearted. Merth and Tommy felt like crying. They thought they missed there chance to find a new home and find out what Christmas was.

The children ran back and gave Tommy and Merth another hug and then ran out the door. Merth and Tommy had gotten the best hugs ever. The store was closing. It would open again in the morning. Tonight Merth and Tommy would spend the night in the store and wait. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve and their last chance to find a home for Christmas.

Merth and Tommy said good night and tried to sleep.  Finally they fell asleep.



Chapter 6

The next morning the store opened at nine o’clock but it was only staying open to noon, because it was Christmas Eve. They waited and waited. It was eleven thirty and no one had come into the store at all. Merth and Tommy decided that they weren’t going to find homes for Christmas this year. Since no one had come into the store the Manager was going to close early. The manager was closing the door when the lady from last night ran in. It was the Mother from last night.

“Please, don’t close yet” She said. She was out of breath because she had been running. “Last night I was in here with my children and they fell in love with a little stuffed dragon and a toy dog. Do you still have them? That’s all my children talked about.”

The Manager looked at her and said “Ma’am most of our toys talk, walk and things like that.”

“Well I know I saw those toys here. The kids were holding them. Please help me look for them.”

The manager agreed, but was sure she had gotten the store mixed up with another toy store. The owner started at one end of the aisle the children were in last night and the mother started at the other.  Merth and Tommy had heard the mother so they moved closer to the edge of the shelf so that they would be found. The mother found them. She grabbed Merth and Tommy off the shelf. She carried them to the front of the store.

“These are the toys,” She said as she placed them on the counter so that she could pay for them.

The Manager looked at Merth and Tommy. “Lady I don’t remember ever getting these toys in, but I’m glad that they’ll have a new home for Christmas.” The Manger took the mother’s money and put Merth and Tommy in a bag. In the bag, Merth and Tommy cried they were so happy. They were going home.

The lady left them in the bag till way late that night. She took them out of the bag after her children went to bed. She tied little bows around their necks and carried them to the Christmas tree. The tree had a zillion lights and angels on it.

Before they went to sleep Merth said to Tommy “I guess miracles really do happen when you believe. Merry Christmas Tommy.”

“Merry Christmas Merth” said Tommy.