Holiday Affair Page #3

and waiting for me...

...but my stomach turned over

and screamed, "Please, bud, not again. "

I looked the butcher in the eye...

...told him to give me the biggest

porterhouse in the joint.

Wish I had a mink coat

for every time I wanted to do that.

That steak changed my whole life.

It was too big for me to eat by myself,

so I invited a friend over.

His wife was out of town.

While we sat there gorging ourselves,

he told me about a job.

He couldn't take it

because he was married.

It was a job on a boat

going to South America.

I asked for it, got it.

Since you wouldn't go looking

for a boat, a boat came for you.

Exactly. Anyway, that did it.

How can selling trains at Crowley's

help you to build boats?

Oh, the trouble with you

is you don't believe in happy endings.

I've got a friend I met in the Army.

He's got a little boatyard

down in Balboa, California.

It's not much now,

but it could be built into something.

I'm buying into it.

I take every job I can get.

Every time I get $ 100 together,

I send it to him.

It may never make me a million,

but for me it's more fun...

...than digging for oil in Texas

or coal in Kentucky.

My gosh, I've gotta start digging

for carpet sweepers at Gimbel's.

If you had told me that anyone could

keep me for two hours over hot dogs...

I'll help you make up your time.

I'll be your bachelor friend

and you'll be an interior decorator...

...helping me decorate my apartment.

- All right.

You always make people talk this much?

No. And I don't always like listening

this much.

If you've always got stuff to carry,

you ought to put me on the payroll.

I once had to carry a bowl of goldfish

on a Fifth Avenue bus.

I dropped one down a woman's back.

I think I saw the picture.

Well, it almost happened. Ha-ha-ha.

You gotta quit looking so happy.

People will think we just got married.

Steve, there's the bus.

We've gotta get it. Hurry.

- Oh, Steve.

- Hey, Connie.

Stop ringing that bell.

Hey, Connie!

Hey, Connie!

Oh. Will you take this a minute?

- Yes, dear.

Henry.

- Mabel.

- Steve.

Oh, Steve. Driver, let me out of here.

Driver! Steve!

Wow.

Oh, Connie. We wanted to have it finished

before you saw it.

The man said it wouldn't shed.

Timmy picked it out, after a double

hot fudge sundae to give him strength.

Well, it's absolutely the most beautiful

Christmas tree I have ever seen.

Mr. Ennis, you're a fine picker-outer.

Have you a kiss you don't know

what to do with?

- Lf he hasn't, I have.

- I'm sorry. It's spoken for.

- How's my baby?

- We wanted to surprise you.

You're home early.

Oh, well, I misplaced some packages

at, uh, Wanamaker's, I think it was.

I can't go back till I find them.

Mary? I wonder if there are any calls.

I let her go home early.

We're taking you out to dinner.

Oh, you're a very pleasant man.

- Do it again.

- Hmm?

- See what you do to me?

- Oh, you're crazy.

Oh, honey, why don't you change

into your gray suit for dinner, huh? Go on.

Did you tell him about us?

Told him that you asked me.

How did he take it?

Well, you know how children are, Carl.

They don't like changes. It scares them.

I remember we moved once

when I was about 4.

Mother threw away an awful lot of junk...

...and I worried that she was gonna

throw me away too.

I'm glad she didn't.

Honey...

...when we take down the lights this year,

let's not tie them into knots, huh?

I don't want to spend an hour next year

trying to untangle them too.

Have you got anything to ask me?

Anything romantic?

I'm all ready and I've got my new tie on.

Well, Mr. Davis,

long have I admired you from afar...

Maybe I should've come down

the chimney.

Where'd you go, to a matinee?

I looked all over for you.

It's the last time I ever pick up a girl

at Christmas.

- Here, let me help you with the packages.

- Oh, hello.

How do you do?

- This is Steve, uh...

- Mason.

Uh...

Carl Davis.

How do you do?

- The man from Wanamaker's?

- Crowley's.

- I lost her in the crowd...

- We met at Crowley's this morning.

- She got me fired and we tried...

- That's how we met.

Mr. Mason carried my packages

to the bus stop...

...and we got separated. In the crowd.

It happens in crowds.

It's warm in here.

I called your hotel,

they said you weren't there.

- Where'd you find me?

- It wasn't easy.

I forgot your address,

tried the phone book.

- It's a new phone.

- Yeah.

I couldn't take your packages

to Fisher and Lewis, so I called them.

But they never heard of you.

They never give out information.

They didn't have to act

like I was Jack the Ripper.

I went over to the store

and kibitzed around.

I wormed your address out of some

walleyed blond in the Payroll Department.

Brother, what a day.

Dear, why don't I get Mr. Mason a drink?

- Hey, this fellow's got it upstairs.

- I'll get us all one.

Looks as though we might have

a white Christmas.

That's right.

Never seems like Christmas

unless it is white.

That's right.

We don't seem to get the big snows

we used to when we were kids.

That's right.

It just comes down slush now.

That's right.

Probably got something to do with

the atomic bomb.

Hey, that's right.

Last year, it rained.

That's right. I remember.

They need rain in California.

Is that so?

I read it in the papers.

I'm from California.

- That so?

- Never rains.

Is that so?

I was in California one June.

Is that so?

Rained all the time.

Must have been about 10 years ago.

That's right.

Very unusual.

Is that so?

- Mind if I go on trimming my tree?

- No.

No, you go right ahead.

Thank you.

Guy?

Yeah.

Tim's a lot like him, Connie says.

Tim's her son.

I know.

She says he has the same habits

and everything.

He never knew his father, did he?

No. Connie talks about him all the time.

It's wonderful the way she keeps him,

well, sort of alive.

Is it?

After all, he's not alive.

Here, let me help you.

- Thank you, Carl.

- Here you are, Mason.

- Thank you.

- Well. Nothing like a good...

- Well, there's nothing like a good...

- Here's to a merry...

- Here's to a merry...

Christmas.

Oh, here's Timmy.

Come here, darling.

I want you to meet the man of the house.

- Mr. Ennis, this is...

- Hi, Tim, I'm Steve Mason.

Hi, Mr. Mason.

He looks like you.

- Do you think so?

- Oh, sure.

Everyone says he's the image

of his father.

Timmy, I've gotta ask

you a couple of questions.

I'm sorry, but it's a rule for grownups.

- Like how old I am, what grade I'm in?

- That's right.

When you grow older,

you have the right to be annoying.

Okay. Go ahead.

Um...

What do you like best at school?

The other kids.

Uh... What are you gonna

get for Christmas?

Clothes. That's what I always get.

Clothes.

You won't be able to wear

what I'm getting you.

A camera.

How did you know?

Because you asked me if I wanted one

a long time ago.

I don't think that sounds very nice.

Oh, he didn't mean it

the way it sounded.

Tim, if everything works out the way

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