by Mitchell Valentine

So I was sitting at the bus stop the other day. I was on my way to work when this heavier set guy with a big gnarly beard sat down next to me. He looked tired. His hair had leaves and trash in it, and he kind of smelled like sour milk on last week's gym socks.

He mumbled under his breath, "Blast the holidays, I hate the holidays."

"Why the glum attitude man, what happened to you?" I asked.

"It all went wrong and I hate it." He said. "I used to own a big company. We made toys, good toys. The kinds you could play with. None of this electro-flashy bells and whistles crap."

He hacked and coughed and grumbled, "Gotta give up the pipe it's killing me."

"So what happened,? Why you sittin' here all crusty and mad?" I asked.

"They did it to me. They forgot."

"Forgot? What did they forget?" I replied.

"They forgot who I was. Wally World and Microstuff both set up shop down the street from me, and my company went down. I had to lay off my whole crew and leave town. My best guy ended up in the movies though, some new Christmas flick gave him a new go at things, but I was alone."

"That's horrible man, I'm sorry to hear that."

"Yeah, I don't know what to do now. I'm just tired, sad, and I don't know how to get back on my feet."

"I wish I could help man."

"Funny you mention it." He said. "I think you can actually."

"What do you need dude?"

"Well the whole reason I got in the business in the first place was to make people happy. I just wanted to bring people together. Heck , I didn't even charge for my services."

"What!? That's crazy, how could you work for free and still go out of business?" I was shocked.

"I did it for the joy it brought. I did it to honor an old friend. I did it because it felt good."

"That's very honorable, man. I can't see many people these days doing something like that. So what do you want me to do?"

"Well." He said, "This year when you get together with your family and friends treat the material gifts as a formality, and never forget the gifts of love. When you're opening your presents, with each present you receive, in return you must tell the giver what it is about them that you love. If this works out right you will feel so much more from telling them what you love, that you won't even remember that you are giving each other stuff. Maybe in a few years people won't buy each other stuff anymore at all. They'll just sit around and tell each other how much they matter."

"Yeah, man. That's totally what my families gonna do this year. Thanks."

"No kid, thank you."

As I turned to look up the street and see if my bus was coming I said, "Hey man what's your name?"

When I turned back he was gone.