Free The Christmas House by Barry KuKes Page A

pull of his life. He put on a pair of gloves, grabbed hold of the cart handle and said to himself, “One, Two, Three ... Lift!”
         The refrigerator came off the floor as if it weighed nothing at all. Michael nearly lost his balance because he was not prepared for the lift to be so easy. As the refrigerator leaned backward toward Michael, the top cleared his field of vision and there was the face of the neighbor who had yelled at him 30 minutes earlier.
         “Well, I figured if you were going to be out here making all this noise, I wasn’t going to be able to sleep anyway, so..., I thought you could use a hand,” said the man.
         Smiling, Michael said, “Michael Carter. Nice to meet you.”
         “Jack Stevens, I live next door,” the man now dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt replied.
         As the two men walked the refrigerator down the ramp and into the garage, they set it down with a light thud on to the concrete sub floor. Michael walked over to Jack and extended his hand and said, “Thanks.”
         “Hey, I’m sorry about before. I was out of line. Are your wife and baby okay?” asked Jack.
         “Don’t apologize Jack. It was my fault. You were right. I was making far too much noise and wasn’t thinking about how it was a ffecting my neighbors. I didn’t realize how late it was,” replied Michael. “And yes, my wife and daughter are doing fine.”
         Suddenly from around the corner both men heard, “Dad?”
         David awakened from his nap and stumbled into the garage. “Why didn’t you wake me up to help you Dad?”
         “I did but you were too busy dreaming about your first garage rock band,” replied Michael.
        “David, meet Mr. Stevens from next door. He is being nice enough to give us a hand moving this stuff.”
         Jack, who was a towering man next to Michael, much less to a 10-year-old, stepped up to David and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you David!”
         “Wow, you’re a giant!” David responded.
         “No, not really David. I just look like I am at 4 in the morning,” Jack replied as he patted David on the head.
         “Well new neighbors, what’d ya say? Shall we get this over with?”
         “Good idea Jack. Can you help me with the washing machine now?” asked Michael as he walked toward the truck.
         “I will get the washing machine myself Mike. You and David start getting these boxes transferred from the garage to inside the house,” replied Jack.
         With that, Michael and David started to sort out the boxes as to where they should be placed once inside the house. Arianna marked each box with a black marker so distribution of the boxes would be quick and easy. As they each grabbed a box, they stopped and looked up at the truck. Jack picked up the washing machine as if it were an empty box. Without the assistance of a dolly, he walked the washing machine down the ramp and right past Michael and David. As he approached the door that led from the garage into the kitchen area of the house, he asked “One of you lads wanna get that door for me? My hands are kind of full.”
         David was in awe of Jacks’ strength and ran to hold the door open for him.
         Michael smiled and thought to himself, “ Yeah, and I was going to kick his ass. Me and what army?”
         Michael and Jack moved the rest of the furniture into the house and placed it in the appropriate rooms. David continued to bring in the lighter boxes and placed them in the correct rooms as well. As they continued to move the items, Jack and Michael talked about their lives and immediately developed a friendship.
          Jack was in his early 40’s and owned a freight company that he started with his father about 15 years ago. He was truly a giant. 6’7” tall, he had to duck each time he entered the house. He was married to a woman he described as “kooky” and had no children. Him and