Twelve Trees of Christmas Page #6

---

You know what?

You're right.

Maybe I can dream something up.

Shamrock.

Shamrock.

A shamrock.

It's... It's perfect!

Why didn't I think of this before?

Mack!

You are a lifesaver.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, thank you,

thank you, thank you.

Lifesaver... hm.

That's pretty cool.

I found it.

Check it out.

Ireland.

Irish.

Huh, like a certain matriarch.

Very clever.

Or, is it sneaky?

Maybe a little bit of both.

Ok, I'll admit at first I

was like cut to the chase,

give Mrs. Shaughnessy what she wants,

but then I started

researching and look at this...

Christmas is huge there.

Folk art, carols, ceremonies.

Trees.

How can you possibly create a tree out

of this in two weeks?

Why not?

Woven from oak straw,

each elaborate decoration

takes several days to create.

You still need to learn how to weave.

Well, I'm not going

to make the ornaments.

I'll find them.

This is New York, you

can get anything here.

Yes, we can, but it usually

comes with a price tag.

How are you gonna pay?

I'll beg.

I'll tell the owner that it's going

to help save the library.

I'll wheedle.

I'm an excellent wheedler.

You are that.

Where are you going?

I'm taking Emily to her

reading class at the library.

I think we made a mistake.

The tree?

Yeah.

Sweetheart, go get your mittens.

Look, Emily's been moping around

ever since we told her.

Look, we may not have

enough time to do all

of the things that we want

to do, or even enough time

to do half of the things

that we have to do...

But Emily loves that library.

And...

More importantly, we met there.

It's where we fell in love.

Cheri's right, we can't give up.

We have to at least try.

You're an amazing man.

I love you.

I love you.

Emily!

Guess who is back

in the Christmas tree

decoration business?

Really?

Yeah.

Really.

I can't wait to tell Cheri!

We gotta go before I'm late!

Emily loves that place.

Everything about it.

You know what?

Maybe that's the theme.

Huh?

You know, um, childhood,

children, uh, fairytales.

You know, everything

that is child-related.

Ok, I am going to go get some books

while Emily is in her class.

I can think of a dozen ways

we can go with this.

Yeah?

Maybe toys?

Yes, yes!

Emily's already outgrown

a bunch of her own toys,

and maybe her play buddies

can lend us some of theirs.

We can donate them to the toy drive

at the end of the night.

Okay, okay, great.

Um, okay, put a sticky on anything that

is even remotely interesting.

This just might work.

I think it will.

Okay.

I need to stop on the way.

Did you find ornaments for your tree?

I think so.

I found a book about Irish

crystal at the library.

There's a shop I want to check out.

Good luck, Cheri.

Fingers crossed.

I'm hoping that seeing a tree decorated

with memories of her life in Ireland

will help her remember her heritage.

Everything that her husband created.

I knew him, you know.

Mr. Shaughnessy?

Mmhmm.

They both were in my civics class.

We had to take it to become citizens.

Teddy had a vision and

he never let anybody

stand in the way of it.

That runs in the family.

Are you a friend of the family?

More like a foe.

Tony and I know each other.

Oh, that poor boy.

Did you know that his

father abandoned the family

shortly after his wife died?

I didn't know that.

I knew Tony was raised

by his grandparents,

but I wasn't sure why.

They kept things very quiet.

I don't think anybody

knows what really happened.

I do know it was

terribly hard on Rosaleen.

Ted could always jump

back into his business.

Which he did.

Sometimes when a man is determined

to accomplish something

big, the family pays for it.

It's ironic that his grandson's the one

tearing it all down.

Do you think you could help us?

I really need to

impress Mrs. Shaughnessy.

Come with me.

Irish crystal.

Most of it from before the war.

It's so beautiful.

It all looks so expensive.

Oh, they are.

Mmhmm.

I can let you borrow

them for the one night.

To save the library.

Really?

That's wonderful!

Just...

Don't tell my son.

He's very much into -

what does he call it -

oh! The bottom line.

How about I come by with some volunteers

on Christmas eve and pick it all up?

But until then...

not a word.

Zip.

Oh, um, I don't suppose

there's any chance that

it would all be sold by Christmas?

Oh, no.

We sell four, maybe five pieces a year.

Teddy would want this.

I feel it in my heart.

Coming!

Hi!

Hi...

Is this a bad time?

A bad time...?

You know, for shelf-building.

I didn't think you were serious.

Well, why wouldn't I be?

I'm very, very serious

about these kinds of things.

Oh, okay.

Well, then please, come in.

Thank you.

So, this is it, huh?

Yeah.

You really don't have to do this,

I was just joking.

Listen, I have you down in my calendar

for shelf-building, and if you cancel

without 24-hours notice,

I'm gonna be forced

to charge you for a service call.

That's just how it works, it's policy.

Ok, if you insist.

Can I at least get you a glass of wine?

Yes. Yes, you may.

Okay.

Okay...

You really are good at this.

Why is that funny to you?

I told you I did construction for years.

I specialized in shelves.

Wow.

You have a gift.

I wouldn't go that far.

It's more of a hobby.

I don't know, it's very

professional looking.

Okay...

Maybe carpentry is your calling.

Well, thank you.

No, thank you.

Cheers.

Cheers.

So, what is your deal?

What?

How did you come to be a librarian?

Well, actually, originally,

I thought I was going

to become a college

professor, like my dad.

But once I got to college,

I became this voracious reader.

Spent all my spare time in the library

and I decided to major

in library sciences.

Library sciences is not a real thing.

You just made that up.

It's a real thing.

You totally made that up.

No, I didn't.

Wow.

What'd your dad say?

Was he disappointed?

He wasn't.

He was actually incredibly supportive.

I think he probably would have liked it

if I'd followed his

path, but he was okay.

I got this summer job

as a library intern,

tutoring kids and working

on this literacy program.

I loved it.

I worked with this

one first-grader, Elie.

He and I worked together

for a week until one day

he read all of The Fly Went By to me.

He got to the last page

and he closed that book,

and he hugged it to himself, and said,

"this is the best book

in the whole world!"

And that was it?

That was it.

I found my calling.

That's cool.

Yeah.

It's nice that you know what you want.

Oh, come on.

You're the big hotshot success.

You keep saying that, but

it's not actually true.

Yeah, but this project...

Has taken four years.

Hasn't made a dime for my company.

I thought you were...

No.

No, I'm just a humble employee.

Until the deal closes.

Then I'll be less humble.

Well, I believe you can do anything

you put your mind to.

Takes one to know one.

You know...

Just because I didn't

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes