Author's notes: This is a short story that takes place about three years before "The Mystery of the Midnight Arrival". Warning: This story is self-edited :)

Christmas Shopping At Crimpers

by Chelsea

 

"I’m gonna ask Santa for a new bike!"

"I’m gonna ask him for a basketball goal!"

"Well, I’m going to ask him for an Nintendo 64!"

It was December 7 and 16 year-old Mart Belden and 15 year-old Diana Lynch were taking Diana’s eight year-old twin brothers, Larry and Terry Lynch, and Mart’s younger brother Bobby, also eight, to Crimper’s to meet Santa.

"Let’s take the elevator!" cried Larry Lynch as they entered the Crimper’s.

"Yeah!" chimed in Terry and Bobby.

"Okay," agreed Mart.

"I want to push the button!" declared Terry.

"No, I want to," argued Larry.

"Hey! What about me?" asked Bobby Belden.

"Hold it!" said Di. "Larry, you can push the buttons on the way up; Terry, you can push the buttons on the way down. Bobby, you can push the button that calls the elevator."

The boys seemed satisfied with this and Bobby went over and pushed the button to summon the elevator. They could all hear the elevator wheezing down the shaft, long before it appeared.

"They should really fix this thing," commented Mart as they stepped inside the elevator. Terry pushed the button for the third floor and they started up.

Crimper’s had added a third floor to their department store the past year. They had started carrying so many more new things that they had to add a third floor to their store.

Right now, the third floor was transformed into a winter wonderland. The boys ooohed and ahhhed as they stepped out of the elevator. A soft snow was falling as they walked through the doorway. In one part of the room, a miniature ice pond was set up where stuffed teddy bears pretended to ice skate. A train went around the lake and through a miniature village before looping back around. Batting was piled up to give the effect of piles of snow. Christmas carols played from the loudspeakers. Aisles of toys lined the walls of the room. And in the middle of it all, sat Santa on his throne.

Mart and Di herded the boys into the line to get to Santa and it wasn’t long before they were up at Santa. Repeating what they wanted for Christmas, they were soon done. Once they were done, they made a bee-line for the toys

"Can we buy Christmas presents, Di?" asked Terry.

"Yes, can we?" echoed Larry and Bobby.

Diana smiled. Mrs Belden and Mrs Lynch had anticipated this and had sent along money for the boys to do their shopping.

"Yes you may," she said, enjoying the happy expressions on the boy’s faces.

"How about I take Bobby shopping, and you take your brothers and we meet back in front of the ice pond in half an hour?" asked Mart.

"Okay," agreed Di. The boys all got hand-held shopping carts and started off to look.

"Okay, Bobby," said Mart, "Who’s first on your list?"

Bobby scrunched up his face in thought. "Reddy?"

Mart cracked up. "We’ll get Reddy’s present when we come upon the pet stuff."

"Okay," agreed Bobby. "Hey!" Bobby had found a whole rack of miniature teddy bears about six inches tall.

"This one would be perfect for Brian!" he said, showing Mart a mocha-colored bear wielding a stethoscope and a black doctor’s bag. "And this one’s for you," he said, showing Mart a bear that held a large dictionary in both hands.

"So it is," laughed Mart. "Do you see one for everyone else in there?"

"Yep!" crowed Bobby triumphantly. He picked up a bear wearing an apron. "Moms." After sifting through the pile for a minute longer he pulled out a bear with a tie. "Dad."

Suddenly, he picked up a bear with honey-colored hair and a flower behind it’s ear. "This one’s exactly like Honey! Please, Mart, can I get a bear for each of the Bob-Whites?"

Mart looked at the price tags on the bears. "I think it can be arranged," he said with a smile.

"Yes!" said Bobby, and he set about picking out bears for the other members of the Bob-Whites of the Glen. This club consisted of Mart and Di, plus Mart’s older brother Brian, who is 18, his younger sister Trixie, who is 15, 15 year-old Honey Wheeler, her adopted brother Jim Frayne, who is 17, and 16 year-old Dan Mangan.

Soon, he had a black bear with a logger’s cap and an axe for Dan, another bear with a flower for Di, and a bear with ski equipment for Jim, indicating his love of sports.

"What a about a bear for Trixie?" asked Mart when they were almost done.

Bobby frowned. "I haven’t found one that fits her yet," he said. Just when he was about to give up, he found a bear that perfectly fit his sister.

"Look, Mart!" he crowed. "A Sherlock Holmes bear! Isn’t it perfect for Trixie?"

"Perfectly," agreed Mart. "Are we done?"

"Almost," said Bobby. He picked out two bears for Larry and Terry. "All I need now is a present for Reddy."

Mart and Bobby headed over to a small section that had been devoted to pets and Bobby picked up a large bone for Reddy.

"Holy cow!" said Mart when he saw it. "That things got to be at least two feet long!"

"Yep," said Bobby proudly. "Reddy’s going to love it!"

"I’m sure he will agreed Mart. "Are you ready to go meet Di and Larry and Terry by the lake?"

"Yep! No! Wait! I forgot one present. Let’s go back to the bears for just a minute, Mart."

"Okay, but we’ve got to hurry. It’s almost time to meet the guys."

"Here it is!" said Bobby triumphantly, holding up a bear with a long, gray beard.

"Who’s that for?" asked Mart, confused.

"Why, Old Brom of course!" said Bobby as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

The twosome went over to the skating pond and sat down on a bench beside of it. It was about ten more minutes before Di and her brothers finally showed up.

"Boy," said Mart, as they sat down beside of him. " And I was worried about Bobby and I being late."

"Sorry," puffed Di. "Larry and Terry had trouble deciding what to buy."

"Are we ready to check out then?" Mart asked the boys. A hearty Yes! Was the answer. "And maybe," said Mart with a glimmer in his eye. "We can go down to the café and get mugs of hot chocolate and Christmas shaped sugar cookies."

"Yea!" cried the boys. They hurried to the check-out and when they were done, raced to the elevator. Bobby pushed the button again. The elevator whirled and wheezed and finally reached it’s destination.

"Maybe we should take the stairs," said Di hesitantly.

"Please, no!" cried the boys.

"Don’t worry, Di," said Mart, stepping into the elevator. "It’s been acting like this every since I can remember. If you really want to, you can take the stairs.

"No, that’s okay," said Di quickly, not wanting to look like a baby. She stepped into the elevator and the door creaked to a shut behind her. Larry pushed the button for the second floor and the elevator started to move.

They had barely started going moving, though, when the elevator let out an ominous groan and started to drop. Diana let out a shriek and the boys started screaming.

"Get on the floor!" cried Mart, shoving Bobby to the floor.

They fell for about 10 seconds before they stopped with a bone-jarring jerk that, although they were on the floor, sent them flying.

"Oh thank God!" cried Diana. "The safety breaks must have kicked in."

"Is everyone okay?" asked Mart, scrambling to his feet.

"I am," said Di, " I think."

"Oh my gosh! Bobby!" said Mart, rushing over to his brother. The jerk of their stop had sent him flying into the wall, thus cracking his head open.

Mart started examining his brother. "Of all the times for Brian to not be with us," he said weakly. He quickly took off is sweater that was covering his white t-shirt and placed it upon Bobby’s head, trying to stop the bleeding.

Larry and Terry has started to cry, and Diana rushed over to soothe them. "It’s okay," she murmured to them. "Bobby’s going to be alright."

Bobby started to stir. "What’s happening, Mart? My head hurts, badly."

"The elevator started falling and you fell and banged your head against the wall. You’re going to be okay though."

Bobby seemed to be little reassured by this statement though, and continued to cry.

Mart pulled Bobby onto his lap, keeping his sweater on Bobby’s head. "I know," he said with fake brightness. "We need something to pass the time. How about 20 questions?"

"Okay," murmured Larry and Terry. They played 20 questions for an hour before the little boys finally fell asleep.

"When do you think that they’re going to rescue us?" asked Di, stroking Larry’s hair.

"I don’t know," said Mart, running a hand through his close cropped hair. "Soon, I hope. We’ve been in this elevator for an hour according to my watch. So it should be soon."

"I hope so," said Di. "Oh how I hope so." She absentmindedly rubbed her left wrist.

"Is your wrist hurt?" asked Mart worriedly.

"Not bad," said Di quickly. "I think that I just sprained it. What do you think the rest of the gang is doing right now?" she pondered, trying to distract herself.

"Well, Dan’s probably chopping a good supply of wood," said Mart with a laugh. "And Trixie and Honey are probably helping Moms bring the Christmas decoration down from the attic. Jim and Brian, knowing them, are probably studying, even though it’s Saturday."

Di laughed. "I’d say that you’re right on all of that."

Suddenly, the elevator car wheezed to a start. Di started, waking up Larry and Terry. Bobby, too, woke up.

"Are we falling again?" asked Larry tearfully.

"No," said Mart, relieved. "We would already be at the bottom by now. They must be rescuing us."

"Hooray!" cried Larry and Terry. Bobby sat silent; his head hurt really badly.

Slowly, they started down the shaft. Finally, they arrived at the bottom. The doors opened to reveal a crowd of very worried people; Including the Lynches, the Beldens minus Brian, and Honey and Dan.

"Oh my babies," cried Helen, rushing forward to embrace her sons. "Oh gosh. Bobby! What happened?"

"He flew backwards, when the elevator breaks kicked in, and hit the wall," said Mart. "It’s not as bad as it looks."

A paramedic stepped through the crowd. "They all need to go to the hospital," he announced firmly. The Beldens and Lynches quickly agreed.

Bobby needed five stitches, but other than that, and some bruises, he was fine.

Diana had indeed sprained her wrist. She too, would have bruises, but was otherwise fine.

Mart, Larry, and Terry walked away walked away with nothing but bruises.

 

A week later

The Beldens and Lynches met with Mr Crimper and an engineer a week later.

"We found out what the problem was," said the engineer. He pulled out a drawing of an elevator.

"This is a drive unit," he said, pointing to a box at the top of the elevator. "It’s basically what makes the elevator go. Your drive shaft malfunctioned and stopped working, causing the drop.

"This," he said, indicating a funny looking piece of metal atop the traveling cables, "is your governor. It’s what made your car stop falling."

"And thank goodness it did!" said Mr Lynch reverently.

"You aren’t going to file a law suit, are you?" asked Mr Crimper.

"No," Mr Belden assured him. "We decided that it was really nobody’s fault and the children weren’t hurt too bad anyway. Besides, it’s Christmas time!"

"Thank you," said Mr Crimper. "I have gift certificates for the children for being such good sports about all of this."

"Thank you," said Mart as Mr Crimper handed him a gift certificate. He whistled at the sum. "Wow. That’s a lot of money!"

"Cool!" said Bobby as he pocketed his gift certificate. "I’m gonna spend this soon! Thank you Mr Crimper!"

"Yes, thank you Mr Crimper," echoed Di and her brothers.

"You know, Mart," said Bobby as they exited Mr Crimper’s office. "You never got us those cookies and hot chocolate."

"So I didn’t," said Mart. "We’ll get them now if it’s okay with Moms and Dad and Mr and Mrs Lynch." The parents nodded their consent.

"It’s fine by me," said Di, "but this time, I’m taking the stairs!"