Page 11 of Death By Llama
“I was doing this as a favor to our troupe director,” Saint Nicholas said, his deep voice booming.“But I can walk away right now.”
I glanced at Brandy who exchanged a look with me.
“Oh, the drama,” she said, shaking her head.
It was true.Sure, it was annoying to have a drunk Santa show up, but Saint Nick didn’t have the excuse of being drunk, so why didn’t he just walk away?
“Maybe you should go find Justin,” I murmured to her.
“I would, but he got a call from the station and had to leave.”She grabbed a plastic cup and pulled the spigot to pour some bright green Grinch punch.She offered it to me, and I considered taking it, but then shook my head.More drinking wasn’t going to help this situation.
That didn’t stop Brandy and Dave.They clinked their glasses before turning back to the scene still playing out.
Saint Nick continued to rant about how he was an esteemed actor, and he didn’t need to take a menial job like this.And he certainly didn’t need to deal with this ridiculous attack.
Dave leaned toward us and said quietly, “Let’s see how long it takes for someone to threaten to sue.”
Literally, the next thing not-so-jolly Saint Nick said was “I’ll call my lawyer if this drunk isn’t removed.”
Ashley tried to calm him again.“Just let it go,” she said.
“This guy does know he was just attacked by some old guy who is about a foot and a half shorter than him and three sheets to the wind, doesn’t he?”Brandy said, regarding the actor with a wrinkled nose as if she could smell the ugly scent of narcissism rolling off the man.She took a drink.Then made a more pleasant face.“Hey, this isn’t bad.”
I ignored her, watching the ongoing fight.
I didn’t know “Nick”, but I did know actors just like him.Ones who took even the smallest part very, very seriously.Saint Nick seemed like that type, for sure.
“Could you walk Jack around?We need more distraction,” Oliver asked as he returned from ushering some of the crowd away from the spectacle of the feuding Santas.Plenty of onlookers still lingered.
A llama was always a good distraction.
“Sure.”
Oliver smiled his thanks.“I would myself, but I have to go finish preparing the dining room for the dinner tonight.”
Oliver had been working so hard to be sure everything was ready and perfect for this whole weekend.
“Don’t worry,” I assured him.“I’m sure this will be the only snafu of the day.”
“I hope,” Oliver said, tipping his top hat with forced good cheer.He rushed off toward the inn.
“Dave, can you walk Jack around?”I asked as he was about to refill his own glass with the Grinch punch.
Mixing Elf-tinis and Grinch punch seemed like a poor choice, anyway.
He nodded readily, setting aside his plastic glass.He headed over to where Jack stood, nibbling some of the fallen baubles from Opulent Occasions’s garland.
I saw Brad trying to clean up the mess Peanut had created, although he wasn’t glaring at the round, little man who created the disaster.He was definitely glaring at Ashley and St.Nick.Then his attention turned to Dave as my droopy-socked employee caught Jack’s lead.
“It’s about time you got that wretched creature away from my booth.”
Dave frowned at him, perplexed by the man’s irritation.“You don’t like Jack?”
I appreciated that Dave seemed genuinely unable to comprehend the possibility that anyone wouldn’t like the amazing camelid.
“Do you really think that it’s appropriate to have a large, dirty animal around food?”
“Hey!”Peanut yelled, overhearing Brad’s comment.“You need to stay out of this.”
