Sunday, Dec 22, 2021
When I returned to the office, I found Sara sitting in the big chair behind the computer. She looked at me the way only she could, as if she was x-raying me, and not in a see-through-my-pants kind of a way.

“What’s with the running back and forth to Kim’s? Why was it so important to send Sofie and Pete out together? What did you tell Pete just now?” she demanded.

“Oh, nothing, nothing. I just thanked him for helping out. And it goes twice as fast when they work together,” I said, and made my escape toward the coffee maker in the foyer.

Sara followed me there.

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Sunday, Dec 22, 2021
Dad came by around lunch time, to drop off the poster I had forgot to take with me when Sofie and I followed him to his secret storage. He had outdone himself again. This time he had obviously been inspired by National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, another late 80s classic.

It was a fantastic drawing of a man (who sort of looked like me, I could tell) dressed up as Santa getting electrocuted by Xmas lights. The Santa was on the roof of Atlas, with the sign glowing in the dark, and presents flying all around. On the bottom, instead of “Christmas Vacation”, it said “Christmas Movie Marathon.”

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Sunday, Dec 22, 2021
Dad had tried to be super casual about having a secret storage space but he also wanted to keep it secret, Sofie and I were not to say a word about it to Mom.

“It’s a surprise,” he said. He was probably right, it would’ve been a surprise all right, a real shock even.

The next morning, I headed straight back to Kim’s Basement. I had no time to lose, I needed to bring in the heavy artillery. A mixtape. Pete needed to give a mixtape to Sofie, and it had better be a good one.

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Saturday, December 21, 2021
The first leg of our Christmas movie marathon went without incidents, mostly because nobody came to it. Which was not a surprise, considering that most people who knew about the marathon worked at Atlas. 

A bigger setback for me was that Rexi had taken a liking to Pete and insisted that he stay in the projection booth with him and since Rexi was the king of the booth, Pete stayed there. I noticed it halfway through the movie when I sent Sofie into the theatre to watch the movie with Pete. Or so I thought. 

“Don’t you want to see Gremlins? Go on, I can stand here,” I told her. 

“There’s nobody in there. This is stupid,” Sofie said, and scrolled down the page on her phone. 

“Well, you and Pete can watch it together,” I said, casually moving some coffee cups on the side table. 

“He’s upstairs with that … man,” Sofie said. 

“Still?” 

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Saturday, December 21, 2021
Rexi stormed into the projection booth and when he saw me, spread his arms and dashed to the projector.

“Did you touch it?” he asked me.

“N-no. Of course not, I-I’d never,” I said. I was surprised to hear my voice shaking. Even after all these years of working together – “together” – Rexi still made me shake in my boots.

“Who’s the kid? Why’s he here? And why are you here, the first show isn’t until 6.30, right?” he demanded.

“Pete, he’s my … friend’s son. He’s going help us out a little. You know, during the Christmas movie marathon,” I replied and pretended to be looking for something on a shelf.

“The what?” Rexi asked me.

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