Chapter Two

"There sure are a lot of people here," Aimes said, waiting for an old woman to come down the stairs before taking her turn. The staircase was wide, but she wanted to allow the woman some space to get through.

"It's that time of year," Pawson said, watching dozens of people hurry by in the aisles.

"What time?" Aimes asked.

"Holidays, you know. Christmas, Hanukkah, the Winter Solstice."

"Huh..." Aimes and Pawson had been off on adventures around this time for the past few years. She had forgotten about the holidays.

"Kwanza, New Year, Chinese New Year, Diwali, Las Posadas—"

"I remember that one," Aimes said, reflecting back on the year before. They sung carols. "They really should spread these holidays out more, I think."

"Probably true," Pawson chuckled. "But many of them are religious celebrations, so having them all at about the same time means everyone can celebrate together."

"Oh, that's nice." Aimes felt like it would be awful not celebrating anything when everyone else was celebrating something. When she was growing up, Aimes had celebrated Christmas. Aimes put her finger to her chin and thought about something for a moment. Then she nodded to herself and made a decision.

All the while, Pawson was still watching shoppers go by with increasing nostalgia. When the old woman had rounded the corner, Aimes and Pawson started up the stairs.

"This time of year feels kind of magical," Pawson said to his best friend.

"I thought you didn't believe in magic," Aimes teased.

"It's a different kind of magic," Pawson said simply. Without a better way to explain it, he said: "The lights glow a little differently, and it makes you think of home."

"Hmm... I see what you mean," Aimes said, staring up at the lights. They weren't any brighter than any other lights in any other department store, but they glowed a little bit more. She thought of the Christmas tree in her living room when she was younger. The green and red bows and wrapping paper. The feeling of Pawson in her arms. He was a lot bigger then. But before the two could fall into any deeper nostalgia, Aimes caught sight of the toy aisle and raced toward it, crinkling with every hurried step.

"You know you move much faster than I can, Aimes!"

"That's to help you learn to move faster," Aimes called back with a self-assured smile. Even though Pawson couldn't see it, he could hear it in her voice.

He followed the girl into the toy department, and it took him looking down three separate aisles before he found her: on her hands and knees, diaper up in the air, looking deep into the back shadow of the bottom shelf and mumbling to herself.

"What are you looking for, Aimes?" Pawson leaned down, looking at the adjacent toys - dolls and dollhouse accessories it seemed like - and tried to puzzle out the answer.

"Toys, obviously," Aimes dismissed, then got up to her feet. The shelves were massive, almost twice as tall as Aimes herself. They were also stocked with cardboard boxes and plastics in such an array of colors that the rods and cones in her eyes had trouble keeping up.

The nostalgia from earlier, staring at the lights, flooded her again as she remembered all the toy stores she went to as a little girl. She would climb on the shelves, two or three feet off the ground, just to grab at something she thought looked cool. Pawson always hated that. Nowadays, Aimes climbed so many things that he didn't mind so much. Unfortunately, every other space on the shelf was empty. Or, the item that should have been there was pushed so far back that Aimes had trouble seeing it.

She moved away from the dolls and into the next aisle, scanning over colorful wooden blocks, cut and shaped like animals. After that was puzzle after puzzle after puzzle, many made from pictures of places Aimes had been before. Some of them were imaginary, but Aimes still felt like she had probably visited once or twice. The next aisle was full of board games and tiny musical instruments. After that was a row of hard plastic animals and figurines. With a huff, Aimes doubled back to some earlier aisles and put her hands on her hips, the wings of her diaper crinkling.

"You can't buy anything big," Pawson warned. "We have to carry everything with us. Nothing heavy either."

"I know, I know!" Aimes huffed. Then she noticed something on the shelf and ran over to it. She was in the doll aisle again, shuffling through a few different boxes, when she finally found what she was looking for. Unfortunately, she only found a small paper tag.

"Shoot..." Aimes turned the tag over and held it tight in her hand. Pawson tilted his head to see it, but he couldn't read the writing all the way from the ground. Just then, a woman walked by the aisle wearing pressed slacks and a button-up shirt. She was talking to someone else.

"Just this way, and down this aisle! Thank you!"

Aimes raced to catch up to her, almost running headlong into the woman when she turned around. The woman took one look at Aimes, in her diaper and her adventuring attire very much not suited for winter, and didn't skip a beat.

"Hello, how can I help you?"

"I was wondering if you had any more of these?" Aimes handed the girl the little paper tag just as Pawson caught up to the group.

"Oh, hm..." The woman read the tag and looked at the ceiling, thinking to herself. "I swear there are some in the back..."

"Could I have one please?" Aimes asked, her eyes lighting up.

"I'll check for you," the woman smiled, just as someone down the aisle called:

"Excuse me, this is last year's model. Do you have this year's?"

"Oh, um..." The woman handed the tag back to Aimes and gave her an apologetic smile. "Just give me a few minutes."

The woman hurried to the customer she was helping and Aimes puffed out her cheeks. Waiting was never a hobby of hers.

"She said there were some in the back," Aimes said more to herself than Pawson.

"Oh come on," Pawson groaned. "She said she'd be right back."

"But it's a very busy store today," Aimes added. "It would be rude to continue bothering her, especially when we are quite capable of finding it ourselves."

"What if she goes to look in back and we're not here?" Pawson pleaded, hoping that reason might sway her, but Aimes shook her head with certainty. She answered:

"She probably won't even remember, Pawson. It's berry busy. And if she does, then we can meet her in the back and tell her we found it ourselves."

"But we're not supposed to be there..."

"That's just a recommendation! Like eating apples. It'll be fine, you worry too much."

"You don't worry enough," Pawson mumbled, deciding to ignore the apple comment for the time being. He had to pick his battles.

"That's why I have you~" Aimes said sweetly. Then she headed towards the wall of the toy department, looking for a door that might lead to the mythical area of every store: The Back.

Sure enough, The Back was marked with two large double doors and a sign that said "Employees Only."

"We are not employees," Pawson reminded Aimes in a last ditch effort to dissuade her.

"Well, we're employing... a... strategy to..." Aimes looked sheepishly at Pawson, who was not impressed by her feeble attempt at rationalizing.

"Fine, so we shouldn't go in!" Aimes admitted. "But I want to. And this is important. So... please?"

"Why is it important?" Pawson asked.

"I can't explain it," Aimes defended. "But you'll see. I promise."

Pawson looked at the sign on the door and then up at Aimes, who was pouting and giving him those cute sad eyes. He knew they should just wait for someone to be available to help, but he also knew they had a boat to catch in an hour.

"Fine," Pawson said reluctantly. "But you're sleeping with your pacifier all week, so I don't have to listen to you snoring!"

Aimes blushed a little and nodded her head. "Deal."