A Christmas Carol (BFFF style)

[littlepebbles1]

This Christmas story is (very) loosely based on the classic by Charles Dickens. And as usual, this is FICTION, so nobody post how "PK would never do that!", "that's not PK's character!", etc. Don't worry, he doesn't kill anyone or anything. And for all hockey players and fans, I hope the hockey references are a little bit accurate. Paul Kariya sat in the mens' locker room at Disney Ice after a practice with his hockey team, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Hockey was his entire life. He had even left home at age 15 to play hockey, and that had been the main thing ever since. Now ten years later, he was the captain of the Ducks.     It had been a particularly rough practice, but the team still needed work. Christmas was coming, but Paul wasn't doing anything special. Maybe he should call a few more prac-- nah, most of them would want to be with their families. He would call it on the 26th instead.     Paul had just changed into his street clothes when his friend Teemu Selanne walked up.     "Hey Paul, the old lady and I are having a party on Christmas Eve. We'd love it if you would come and bring a date with you."     Paul shook his head and said "No thanks, I'd rather not."     Teemu frowned and said "Okay, but if you change your mind, the invitation is always open." He then left the locker room. That guy really needs to get out, he needs more than hockey in his life. **That evening** Paul sat at his kitchen table eating the heated-up frozen casserole his cook, Robin, had left for him. She wasn't there, he had given her a break to spend with her family. His own family had invited him home to spend the holidays with them, but he had declined since it would have cut into his hockey training.     Afterward, he went into his den to watch TV. He watched for a while and at 10:00 he cut the TV off and went to bed. **1:14am** Paul sat up in his bed. He hadn't heard anything but something had woken him up. Maybe it was because the room had suddenly gotten a chill. Before he could think about it anymore, something appeared in front of him out of thin air. It took every bit of Paul's will power not to scream. "A ghost!" Paul thought in horror. This "ghost" was wearing full hockey gear including skates and carrying a stick.     "Hello Paul," the ghost said.     Paul gasped. "You know my name? Who are you?"     "I'm the ghost of Christmas Past."

[littlepebbles1]

Paul stared at the hockey ghost. The ghost of Christmas Past? "I must be dreaming, Paul thought and lay back down.     "Don't go back to sleep, come with me", the ghost said. He beckoned and Paul got out of bed and headed toward the bedroom door. "This way," the ghost said, and went out the window. Paul went to the window and hesitated, considering he was on the 2nd story. But the ghost, who seemed to be levitating right outside the window, grabbed Paul's hand and pulled him through.... ================================================== == Finally, Paul and the ghost stopped. Paul looked around and said, "What are we doing at home? And why is this furniture here? My mother got rid of this ages ago!" "Home" was Paul's home in Vancouver, Canada where he had grown up. The ghost said, "Just look". It was Christmas morning. Two adults and five young kids, three boys and two girls, were tearing into gifts. The oldest boy, wearing a red and white shirt and pink pants, was looking and grinning at the bike he had just received. His father, holding a camera, said "Say cheese, Paul!" Little Paul grinned into the camera as his father took the picture. Then he unwrapped a brand new hockey stick. "That was my best Christmas ever," Paul said, smiling a little bit.     "I bet it was," said the hockey ghost. "You loved to play hockey, but you also knew how to enjoy life."     Paul wanted to hang around and watch his younger self ride his new bike, but the hockey ghost pulled on his arm and said, "Come on, we have to go." And they were off.... ================================================== == **2:06am** Paul opened his eyes. He was in his bed again. "What a weird dream." He rubbed his eyes -- and noticed a hockey player standing at the foot of his bed and grinning at him. He was also dressed in full hockey gear, and he had about 4 teeth.     "Now who are you?" Paul asked.     "I am the ghost of Christmas present."

[Karin]

great job!!!...keep going!!!...

[mano]

Hello, like waiting rather impatiently for the next installments. Want to see what the ghosts of present and future has in store for the young couple. Remember, crispification is a very real thing here at BFFF heehee. Love the hot pink pants part and Teemu calling his wife "Old Lady." BTW, Littlepebbles, you might put Teemu in the Doghouse with a line like that, hehehe [mano with big grin].

[littlepebbles1]

"Another ghost? I don't believe this," Paul muttered to himself.     "Let's go!" said Hockey ghost #2. And off they went through the window.... ================================================== == Paul looked around. They were in Wayne Gretsky's house. He and his wife and kids were sitting around laughing and telling stories over egg nog. Paul smiled, it was kind of neat seeing his idol and one of, if not the greatest hockey player ever, being a plain old "family man". Before he could watch anymore, Hockey Ghost #2 whisked him away. In the next few minutes Paul saw quite a few people he knew, including many past romantic interests, including Miss Petticoat, Anu aka Miss Tropicana, and the girl he had liked but never pursued when he was 15. They were all with significant others.     "One of those guys with them could have been you," the Ghost of Christmas Present said, seeming to read Paul's thoughts. They went onward.     Finally, they were in a cold ice rink. It was empty, except for one person out on the ice. It was a very pretty young woman of Chinese descent with short black hair and sparkly brown eyes. Paul and the ghost simply stopped and watched her for a few minutes. She jumped and spun all over the ice, but Paul found he liked it best when she just skated in circles because she even made that look beautiful. Paul just whispered one word under his breath.     "Michelle."     "Remember when you met her?" asked the ghost. "Almost a year now. She seemed to really like you."     Paul did remember. It had been at the Mighty Ducks Fanfair. She had skated for the fans and afterward, the two of them had taken pictures together. Oh yeah, Teemu was there too. Paul had even helped Michelle to hold a hockey stick. She had given him her phone number afterward but he had never called.     "Looks like you really liked her too," the ghost commented, seeing the look on Paul's face as he watched her. Paul felt his face turn red.     A man in his 60's walked in and Michelle skated over to him and they talked for a few minutes and then she began skating a routine while some music played. The music was a song about kissing someone. "She has a competition up in Washington this weekend," said ghost #2. Michelle finished her routine and then took off her skates and grabbed a backpack and left.     "Where is she going?" asked Paul.     "She has class. She's going to UCLA full time plus skating, you know."     Paul was impressed. She had brains too.     "As much as I would love to see you stand here and drool at Michelle, we have to be going back now," the ghost said, trying not to start laughing.     "I have to get up early tomorrow. Are any more ghosts visiting me tonight?"     "One more. The ghost of Christmas yet to come." ================================================== == **3:25am** Paul woke up and looked around. He saw a figure at the foot of his bed.     "Let me guess," Paul said. "You must be the Ghost of Christmas yet to come."     The ghost, wearing all black hockey gear, except a white mask that made him look like Jason, nodded....

[Karin]

can't wait any longer!!!

[skatingfan]

Your story makes me feel so much better. I received a gentle reminder from IRS yesterday, nothing bad, but I tend to have a fit whenever I see mail from IRS. I was not in a good mood, and was thinking about writing something in BFFF about #9 tossing and turning and feeling miserable b/c 6.0 is in the state of washington, and she would be spending time in Seatle. Then I thought it is too mean to do that. Good story, more soon please.

[littlepebbles1]

A Note from the Author (sort of a disclaimer): Skatingfan, I feel bad about making you happy with this story because this next part isn't so happy. You might want to have a box of tissues handy when you read this. --lp "Well, let's go," said Paul. This time, he led the way out of the window. In a few minutes, they arrived at their destination.... ================================================== == It was a beautiful large house, one any person would love to live in. But the woman sitting on a couch looked anything but. Every few minutes she would go to a front window and look out. There was something familiar about her, but her long black hair obscured her face. An unspecified amount of time went by and then a little girl came and approached the woman.     "Mommy?" the little girl said. The woman turned to the girl. She was the same young woman from the ice rink -- Michelle. Except she was older.     "Is Daddy coming home tonight? He always promises to play with us and take us places," the little girl said, referring to herself and her brother. "And then he doesn't and if we say anything he gets mad and yells at us. Sometimes I think he hates us." The little girl's eyes filled with tears. Michelle picked the girl up and gave her a big hug. There were tears in her eyes too.     "I'm sure Daddy will be home soon," Michelle said after putting the girl down and wiping her tears. "And he loves you very very much even if he doesn't show it sometimes," although she was not sure about either one. "Now it's time for you to go to bed and you can see Daddy tomorrow." The two of them went upstairs.     As the older Michelle was coming back down a few minutes later, the door banged open and a man staggered in and slammed the door behind him. Michelle ran up to him, whispering "Hi honey, can you please be quiet, the kids are asleep--"     "Shut up, this is my house and I'll be as loud as I want!" the man shouted in her face. Michelle frowned and wrinkled her nose at the smell of booze on his breath. Then without another word, he shoved her out of his way, staggered upstairs and another door slammed. The older Michelle hung her head.... ================================================== == Paul was furious. How dare he treat her that way?! "That son of a...a...baboon!" he spluttered. "I can't believe he is treating her like that! If she was my wife, I'd treat her like a queen! What is she doing with that jerk anyway?"     Ghost #3 finally spoke. He had a deep, faraway sounding voice that was muffled by his mask.     "Michelle waited and waited for you to call. She even went to some of your hockey games, but you never tried to contact her. She finally gave up and started dating other guys. She went out with some guy from Seattle and some guys from UCLA. That lush," he pointed up the stairs, "she met at a frat party. He wined and dined her and treated her nice...until after the wedding, when it because obvious he was just after her fame and money. Then he started hanging at bars and messing with other women behind her back all the time. I'm surprised he hasn't started beating her and the kids yet."     Paul felt himself getting even angrier. He actually felt like he were the one that had been screamed at and pushed aside. He wanted to give her a hug and tell her she only deserved the best treatment, but of course he couldn't do that. He didn't think he could take anymore. "I'm ready to go back home," he said.     "Not yet," said the ghost. "There's one more place we have to go." And they were off once again.... ================================================== == "We're back at my house!" Paul exclaimed. "I thought we were going somewhere else--" Paul trailed off as Hockey Ghost #3 pointed.... A fire was burning in the fireplace. A man sat nearby in an easy chair, a cane leaned against the arm. The calendar on the wall said December 25, 2039. The man was old, maybe in his 60s or so. He was eating a frozen TV dinner on a tray on his lap. He turned to put the tray aside and a glimpse of his face showed. The man was Paul.... "It's me!" Paul exclaimed. "And I'm old. Why am I all alone on Christmas, eating a TV dinner?"     The ghost said, "Well, remember when you said you were married to hockey and you thought having a girlfriend would cause you to not be able to concentrate on your game? Well, you went on playing hockey and went on to win two Olympic gold medals and five Stanley Cups, but you had no one to share it with. People stopped calling you and inviting you places because you only wanted to concentrate on hockey. Then you got injured and you were unable to play any longer. Since hockey was the only thing in your life and that was gone, you had nothing in your life."     Paul was very upset. For all his hard work and training, he was going to end up with nothing. Sure, he was going to win gold medals and Stanley Cups, but he certainly couldn't appreciate it by himself. It wouldn't be so bad if he had someone with him, someone to play for, someone to carry on his legacy.     The ghost broke his train of thought. "There is nothing wrong with your devotion to hockey, but it shouldn't be at the expense of the most important things, friends, family, love, life. It's not too late to change, Paul. You can always fix things." With that, he slowly vanished.... ================================================== ==

[mano]

I'm laughing on the outside, but crying on the inside. ROFLOL on the picture you painted of Paul, serves him right for being so obtuse when it came to Michelle. But sobbing, crying, sniffing and finishing my box of tissues on the MK part.

[wonder]

Oh, LittlePebble, LOL. That is too much. I think we are going to 21th century, not 19th century. The story on Michelle's part sounds like the one that my great-grandmother might have and that was 100 years ago. I really don't want my life like that and it would kill me to even think that my daughter (if I have one) would have a slim chance of being abused and not able to stand on her own feet like those in the old sobbing stories(*shuddering*). On the other hand, poor Paul. That is something possible. I do worry they would end up watching TV alone. LOL!!!

[littlepebbles1]

I didn't mean to make anyone cry. If it were up to me, neither one of those scenarios would ever happen. I'm working on part 5 right now.

[skatingfan]

Oh, poor Michelle....., LP you forgot to add that #9 also had a lot of hints from the beefers, e.g. magenta sent him a book. Please hurry and give us a nice ending...

[littlepebbles1]

**6:00am** BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP Paul woke up with a start. He shut off his alarm and jumped out of his bed. He ran over to the mirror and let out a huge sigh of relief. He was still the same young man. "Just a dream."     Normally at this time, Paul would have been getting ready for his morning run. Instead, he did something he had not done in ages. He got back in his bed, reset his alarm for 8:30, and went back to sleep. It was the holidays, after all. **9:30am** Paul had just come in from his morning run. He took a shower and then put on a pair of slacks and a nice shirt. He had somewhere to go and a special person to talk to. Michelle Kwan had just finished her last final exam at UCLA. She was totally relieved. She just had the pro-am competition in Washington State and then she was free for the holidays. She was on the way back to her dorm when she saw a slightly familiar figure coming toward her.     "Paul?"     "Hello Michelle."     "What brings you around here?" asked Michelle, although she was very happy to see him.     "I asked around to see where you were. Your roommate said I would find you here. I...I wanted to asked if you were going to be busy next week," Paul said shyly. He had been so excited and ready to ask Michelle out that he had never considered that she might turn him down until the words were out of his mouth. "I mean if you're busy, that's okay....Or if you don't want to go, that's okay too."     Michelle smiled. "I would love to go, but where are we going?"     Paul felt like kicking himself. "Oh! It's a Christmas party Teemu and his wife are giving. So you'll go?"     "Sure. This was my last exam, so I'm free, except for a competition I have this weekend, but I'll be back Sunday." Michelle paused, and then said, "Would you like to join me for lunch?" Paul gladly accepted and they walked away, talking. **the next week** Paul and Michelle had a total blast at Teemu's Christmas party. They talked and danced and even played a few games and Paul reintroduced Michelle to the rest of the Mighty Ducks players. They both decided they needed a break, so they went to the kitchen to get some punch. There was no one in the kitchen, so Paul took the opportunity to tell Michelle something he had been wanting to tell her since the three ghosts had visited him.     "Michelle...I want to apologize for not calling you after the Fanfair. There was no excuse for that."     Michelle replied, "That's okay. I'm glad you invited me to this party. I'm really having a wonderful time."     Paul smiled. "Me too," he began and stopped. Michelle was looking up at the ceiling and smiling. Paul looked up also.     They were standing underneath the mistletoe.... THE END

[mano]

I love it LP!!! Great story and no cliff hangers, ahem, cough, cough. Now, here is the plan, we all go to Anaheim and meet with Yingshan. She can be the ghost of Christmas past, you'll be present, and I could be the ghost of Christmas future ('cause I like wearing black). We can haunt dear ol' Paul 'cause he is taking his sweet time in getting MK. I'm tired of being discouraged by all the rumours going around them both. It's time for action heheheh. So who's with me?

[skatingfan]

Wow, sigh of relief, so Mk will not be married to some UCLA guy who would turn out to be bad for her. Guys/gals, I still think we should save all these stories and print then out as part of our wedding gift to the royal ice couple.

[chemy]

Lilpebs, And BFFF writers out there, it's time to put out an anthology BFFF book.

[Sharon]

Just terrific...no long wait for the ending (HINT HINT MANO!), suspense, happy ending, loved it!

[Kara]

I just read this now, but that was REALLY cute! Thanks for entertaining me:)!