Maggie Poteet lived alone in the big white house on the corner of Holly Lane. She was a small woman with short graying hair that frizzed close to her scalp. She wore black rimmed glasses that stood out on her pale scowling face. She always wore that scowl because Maggie Poteet was a very unhappy person.
Every year around Christmas she would stand on her porch, frowning at the lights adorning the other houses on her street. She had of course written letters to the city counsel to get them removed each year to no avail. This year had been no exception.
Emma and Sophie Davis were walking the family dog, a lab named Rosie. Maggie Poteet was there, on her porch, clutching her small chihuahua. Her small round eyes glared through them. "Keep your dog out my yard" she growled. "I know you've been letting it do it's business here, I've seen you. I'll call animal control and you won't have a dog anymore."
Emma opened her mouth to say they'd done no such thing, but Sophie grabbed her arm and whispered, "Come on Em, let's not get her started."
They looked back in time to see her throw her small dog into the house before she went in and slammed the door behind her. Emma reached down and pet Rosie as she said, "Poor dog."
Magie Poteet paced and thought, taking breaks every now and then to scold the small dog. He hadn't done anything to be scolded over, just the same as the people living near her had never done anything. Maggie Poteet was just filled with anger and that's just the way it was.
She suddenly stopped pacing and smiled an evil smile, "I've got it, I'll ruin their Christmas."
She grabbed a pen and notebook, swatted the tiny dog off the chair, sat down and began to write.
The next morning, she got dressed in one of her matching sweatshirts and pants. This one was pink with of all things, a heart on the front. She put on a black vest and her white sneakers then headed to her car.
She knew before she looked what she had stepped in by her car door. She looked down to see the produckt of some dog's dinner caked all around her once pristinely white shoe. "That dog will go today" she muttered under her breath as she tried to clean her shoe on the dead grass covering the ground to the side of her drive.
Maggie Poteet drove with her windows down, for it hadn't taken long before the smell had permeated through the entire car. She trembled with rage and the need to vomit.
She arrived at the bank just as a mother and small child were going inside. Maggie Poteet hated small children. She tried to ignore the happy jabbering of the child who was wondering around aimlessly in the lobby and withdrew some cash. After she received the small amount, she'd asked for, she turned to leave and noticed the happy toddler was waving a lollipop around. She plucked the lollipop from the child's chubby fist and as he stared at her with wide eyes, unwrapped it and popped it into her mouth. She walked out of the bank leaving the now wailing child behind her.
She immediately began putting her plan into action, this was the day before Christmas Eve. She knew she'd need to hurry to get it all done.
She stopped by the casino, put a couple of dollars into a machine and gambled it down to just a few cents before retrieving the slip and walking back out. Her next stop was the liquor store, where she bought a bottle of cheap whiskey. She then headed to the local grocery store. The one where Pam Morris worked.
Pam was a single mother who was barely able to keep a roof over her and her son's heads. She was, at this moment, excited because she would be getting a small bonus that would ensure her boy would have somewhat of a good Christmas. Maggie Poteet would change all that.
She grabbed a big, juicy steak and headed for Pam's line, pausing to take a chocolate bar. She ate the bar and folded the wrapper up. Pam was as kind as ever as she rang up and bagged the steak. Maggie Poteet stepped behind the counter just enough to drop the wrapper near Pam's feet. She flagged down Pam's manager of the way out and informed him that she'd seen Pam take the bar and eat it.
She heard Pam's manager say, "I'm sorry Pam, but this will be your third write up, you were late twice this month and now this. We're going to have to send you home."
Maggie Poteet rushed to get back to her neighborhood. There was still much to do, and she knew exactly what needed to be done because she listened. A person could pick up a lot just by listening.
She waited for the mail to be delivered and when she saw the mail carrier drive away, she went for a walk. She stopped at the Miller's mailbox. Little Ava Miller will be anxiously waiting for a certain envelope. An envelope containing an invite to what would be her first sleep over party. An envelope, Maggie Poteet thought, as she clasped it in her clawed fingers, she'd never get.
She went home to wait and around 5 pm she heard barking. Right on time she thought as she grabbed the steak. She crept silently to the gate in the Davis family's backyard, held out the piece of meat and said, "Come on Rosie."
Rosie, who had never known anything but kindness and thought everyone was a friend did not hesitate. She followed Maggie Poteet to her car and climbed right in to enjoy her unexpected treat. Maggie Poteet got into the driver's seat and quickly drove away to the animal shelter two counties away. She'd have just enough time to get there before they closed, and she couldn't wait because the meat must not have set well with Rosie as 15 minutes after she ate it, she had become quite gassy.
A couple of hours later, Maggie Poteet pulled back into her drive, opened her door and began to roll up her windows which she'd left down the entire trip trying to air out the smell of Rosie's sour stomach.
She saw Danny Foster pull into his drive. She watched as he pulled several packages from his car and walk away without locking his doors. She quickly poured the whiskey out of the bottle she'd bought earlier and grabbed the slip from the casino. She slipped over to the car, opened the door and put them behind the driver's seat, where Danny's wife, Tracey was sure to find them when she headed out to her overnight job at the hospital. So much for 1 year sober, she thought as she quietly shut the door.
She then went to her porch and waited for the aftermath. It didn't take long.
"Rosie, Rosie, come on girl!" The shouts of Emma and Sophie Davis drifted in the night air.
"I'm sorry girls" she heard their mother say, "I called the shelter, but they are closed for the holiday."
"But we can't have Christmas without her" Emma cried.
"Check the mailbox again mom" Ava Miller said to her mother while struggling to reach up to check for herself.
"There is nothing there sweetie, I'm sorry."
Tears streamed down Ava's face as she said, "I can't believe she forgot me."
Nothing much was going on around Pam's house. Maggie Poteet could only imagine the words that were spoken to her young son about why there would be no Christmas for him this year.
She slid to the edge of her seat as Tracey Foster walked outside of her house. She clasped her fingers together in anticipation as Tracey opened the back driver's side door to place her bag in the backseat. She watched her hesitate before going back toward the house.
"Danny, come here please."
Danny came out the young twins trailing behind him. Tracey held up the bottle and casino slip. "What is this? You said you'd stopped."
"I don't know where that came from."
"Likely story. Boys, get a few things you're staying at grandma's tonight. As for you Danny we'll finish this discussion tomorrow."
The boys went inside for a moment and came back with their bags. Crying, they hugged their father and got into the car.
Magie Poteet smiled as she noticed the houses remained dark. Not one of them glowed with the hideous light of Christmas. She went inside and scooped up her small dog. "Come on Scooter! Let's enjoy the un-Christmas!"
She set him down and began to dance around as she enjoyed the misery that she had brought to those around her. As she danced, she didn't notice where he had finally, with great relief, released that which he'd held all day. As she did a little twirl, her foot landed in the middle of it and slid out from under her. She climbed slowly to her feet as bits of it crumbled off the leg of her pink joggers. She roared with anger as she went to grab the frightened dog. Just as she grabbed him and stood up, everything went dark, as a sack was thrown over her head.
Scooter dropped to the ground and ran to Pam Morris' house just as it began to snow. He scratched on her door with his tiny paw. Pam opened the door, and he ran outside. She looked out at the storm and said, "I'm not going out in that. You can stay here tonight. We don't have much, and even less now than we did but you'll be warm and safe, for a while at least."
The next morning, she got dressed, picked Scooter up and they began the trek through the snow to Maggie Poteet's house. The door was open. She called out, "Ms. Poteet?" but there was no answer.
She poked her head in and saw the home was in disarray. Worried she went back to her house and called the police.
The detectives soon arrived, somewhat disgruntled at being called out on Christmas Eve. The searched the house but there was no sign of Maggie Poteet. A young officer by the name of Kenny Jones found the notebook Maggie Poteet had written in. When he picked it up an envelope decorated with candy cane stickers fell out. He read the book and used Maggie Poteet's phone to make some calls.
Soon, Christmas Eve on Holly Street became a flurry of happiness.
Pam's phone rang, when she answered the voice said, "I'm sorry that I didn't listen. We'd like for you to come back, and we'd like to offer you a raise."
Ava's joyful laughter rang out from down the street as she found the envelope tucked inside the door. She'd be going to her first sleepover party the day after Christmas.
Tracy Foster pulled into her drive. She and the twins rushed into Danny's arms and the happy family went inside.
Later on, Kenny Jones got out of his patrol car with a very excited Rosie and knocked on the Davis Family's door. When it opened, Rosie crashed through, into the waiting arms of Sophie and Emma.
Scooter found a forever home with Pam and her son, who proclaimed this to be the best Christmas Eve ever.
Now, for those of you that stuck with me through this tale that seemed to get longer and longer while taking on a life of its own, you may be wondering what happened to our dear protagonist. Well, I heard from somebody who knew somebody, that knew somebody who may have read on a conspiracy site that....
Maggie Poteet looked around the room at the small people dressed in green. It resembled a courtroom and her eyes drifted up to where one elf sat, who must be the judge.
"Maggie Poteet, for the crime of ruining Christmas, making innocent children cry and for wasting perfectly good whiskey, I sentence you to life in the toy workshop."
Two elves came forward and took her to a room filled with humans assembling toys.
"We got tired of doing all this work with no appreciation." One of them said, "So we decided humans can build their own toys. Of course, we are careful to only take the ones full of meanness and spite, the ones who won't be missed."
The sat her down in an empty chair and left the room. Maggie Poteet looked and with a defiant look thought, "I'm not going to build these stupid toys." She noticed the others were not looking up for from their tasks. She then noticed the people; they were dressed in clothing from different time periods! She gasped when she realized just how long "life" would be.
The elves gathered in a circle under the moonlight, as they began to sing, Maggie Poteet felt an overwhelming urge and picked up a wooden train engine and a small hammer to begin assembling the wheels. She never looked up from her task.
“The Greatest Pleasure In Life Is Doing What People Say You Cannot Do” Random Life Quote I Found On The Internet
