Zander and Marty’s Advent Calendar

by Jeff Baker

“Hand me the caulk gun, will ya?” Zander Black called down from the top of the ladder.

“Which one?” Marty Roths asked, looking up, glad they were both wearing hardhats.

“The only one in the back of the truck.”

“Sure. Comin’ right up.” Marty said.

He pitched the gun upward like the baseball standout he’d been on the D’Artagnan High team forty years ago. Zander caught it deftly and turned around, standing on the ladder, going back to adding a layer of caulk at the edge of the big block-glass windows on the old building.

“Hey, you remember Advent calendars?” Zander asked, not looking away from his work.

“Yeah,” Marty said. “We got my little Granddaughter one a few weeks ago, she’s all excited.”

“Uh huh,” Zander said.

“What made you think of that? I mean, besides the fact that it’s a few weeks before Christmas.” Marty said.

“And warm enough to play baseball,” Zander said. “Well, workin’ on these windows for one. I keep expecting one of these old glass blocks to open up and have a candy cane or a camel or Santa or a Nativity scene behind it.”

“Uh huh,” Marty said. “These days they’re selling them with chocolate inside.”

“Yeah, that may be a little too much,” Zander said. “Kids today don’t know how good we had it back then. No cellphones ruling our lives. Real TV shows, not that streaming junk.”

“Hey, you grew up in the 90s, I was around for the 60s!” Marty said. “Real Christmas specials on TV. A jillion versions or Dickens.”

“Yeah, that’s what I mean,” Zander said finishing off the window. “You know, this old brick building is another example. Look at the designs and patterns the bricks make. They don’t do that nowadays.”

“And you know,” Zander said starting the climb down. “It does kind of remind you of a big advent calendar. All the things that could be open doors.”

“Wonder what’s behind the windows?” Marty asked.

“That one I was at I think has a bunch of storage stuff. Can’t see through that thick glass.”

“Another thing they don’t use a lot of these days is those glass bricks,” Marty said. “Very 1930s.”

“Yeah,” Zander said. “Hey, after this you want to go and get a brew or something?”

“How about an egg nog?” Marty said.

“Deal!”

—end—