The Impossible Quest Of Hailing A Taxi On Christmas Eve (6 page)

Why,
what a lovely morning, he thought, and opened the window to let the
sun in. It was still wintertime but it was a dash warm. He smiled
and stretched and took in the fresh air.

His
neighbour saw him from next door. "Merry Christmas!" Scrooge
bellowed at him. The neighbour was surprised and closed his window
shut in fear.

Scrooge
looked around. "Such a gloomy house. I better get some
decorations," he said to himself and made coffee to start his
day.

Outside
his cousin's door, he rang the bell and waited. As soon as he
opened it, Scrooge hugged his cousin, or at least tried to get his
arms around the big man, and said, "Merry Christmas dear
cousin!"

The
cousin was surprised but hugged him back. "Scrooge? What are you
doing here?"

"Why I'm
here for the Christmas dinner!" he replied with a smile.

"That's-
Wow! Thats great. It's still early though, I need to get some
things."

"Excellent! Let's go together. We can buy some sweets and
chocolates for the kids at the hospital as well. Get that big red
sack of yours, we need to fill it up," Scrooge said, slapping the
big man's belly.

The
cousin was surprised. "Why, right away!"

Scrooge
shoved the wine he was carrying to his hands and asked, "Can I use
your computer to read my emails?"

"Of
course."

Scrooge
found the expense receipt Clara was filing every year, and located
her health insurance and the office's number. He got on his
web-banking account, sent a wire transfer paid to her name and sent
an email in which he personally guaranteed that the further
payments would be covered with no delays.

Then he
went off with his cousin to buy a bagful of sweets and
chocolates.

The
dinner was lovely, and Scrooge met his cousin's wife for the first
time in so many years despite them staying three whole blocks away.
She was a good cook, a delightful company and a wonderful
hostess.

When the
afternoon came, and the day gave way to night, his cousin asked,
"Hey, do you want to come with me to the hospital? Give away
sweets? Make kids happy?"

"I have
something I've been avoiding for too long. You go, I'll see you
tomorrow after work," Scrooge said in apology.

The
cousin studied his face. "I see. I get it, one step at a time.
Don't get too happy all at once and make your tummy hurt! Ho ho ho.
I'm off."

Scrooge
went to his office. He used the Supertaxi service of course, like
he always did. He was delighted to find that he was unbanned from
the service. He even made smalltalk with the cabbie, and then gave
him a 5 star rating!

There's
a first time for everything.

He
unlocked his office, turned on his computer and found the book
Marco had left for him in his drawer.

He found the update instructions again, and went through them
carefully. When he was done, the computer was showing a long
progress bar. The update to his, no, to
their
accounting service was being
applied at that moment. He made himself a cup of tea and sat down
on his chair, reading the book his dear old partner had left for
him.

When he
was done reading, the service had been updated as well. Scrooge
tried it out, it was nice and smooth, felt modern and was easy to
navigate. Marco had come through, once more. The upgrade would
demand a bit more in server cost, but he could negate that by
finding 7 new customers. Scrooge had done the balance sheet already
in his mind.

He
called Clara on her cellphone and cleared his throat.

"Yes Mr.
Scrooge? Merry Christmas Sir, how are you?"

"I'm
fine," he said spitting out the words, with his usual bleak tone of
voice. "I'm here at the office right now, and you know what I
see?"

"Sir, if
you wanted me to come to work I'd be there, but it's a day off!
It's Christmas Day sir..." Clara began explaining
herself.

"You
know what I see? I see an office, worn and broken down. An office
kept in excellent condition by my assistant, who is doing more than
her job description requires her to."

Clara
hadn't caught it, so she was still defending herself wearily. "Yes
Sir, glad to do all those things. My job is very important to me, I
need it. Just tell me what else you need me to do and I'll do it,
no problem."

"What I
need you to do is to stop being my assistant-"

"Mr.
Scrooge please, I need this job. My son, he needs those expensive
treatments, I can't possibly-" She was practically sobbing
now.

"-And
become my business partner. Heck, you pretty much do more than me
around here anyways."

There
was a pause. All Scrooge could hear was her breathing.

"A
partner?" she said in a whisper.

"Yes.
Fifty-fifty. This isn't a charity on my behalf, you'll get more in
salary but you will be taking on the equivalent amount of risk.
Also, we'll need to get seven more clients at once, I have
completed the upgrade and our monthly costs have increased. You can
run the heater as much as you like, since you'll be paying for it
out of your pocket too. What else? Oh, I've found some unpaid
health insurance bills lying around here. We can't have that. I
sent a wire transfer to take care of them out of the common
fund."

"Thank
you, Mr. Scroo- Sorry. I'm terribly sorry for calling you that,"
she said sniffing her nose.

"It's
fine, I'm getting quite fond of the name," Scrooge said, thumping
the old book under his palm. The pages felt nice. "We'll have to
get a contract and everything of course, but for what it's worth,
just say you agree and we are partners from now on."

"I
agree," she said quick and excited, as if the opportunity could
vanish away in an instant if she took too long. She was laughing
out loud. "I'll be there tomorrow, early in the
morning."

"What do
I care?" Scrooge said in mock strictness. "It's your company too.
Sink or swim, it's up to both of us equally. Oh and
Clara?"

"Yes Mr.
Scrooge?"

"Merry
Christmas."

The End

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