“Your usual?” Rex asked.

“Yes, please,” Richard smiled. “No deliveries?”

Rex laughed. “Graham wouldn’t be by anyway. It’s Christmas Eve.”

“Ah - spending time with family. That’s good.”

But Rex was already shaking his head. “He’s probably out by the lake.”

“Looking for his ‘Grinch’?”

“Grinch? No, for the monster.”

Richard scowled. “There are no monsters in that pond.”

“Not literally. But something there killed his dog.”

Richard paled. “I hadn’t heard.”

“It happened a long time ago,” Rex said as he handed Richard a cup. “You’ve always been in and out of town - off to college, studying abroad, and then another college-“

“You make it sound like I’ve traveled the world,” Richard snorted as he took a sip. “They weren’t pleasure trips.”

“No, but you did miss a few things. You remember Annabelle?”

Richard took a moment to think, tapping his fingers on the counter. “Black and white dog, decent size, had so many tags on her collar she jingled when she walked?”

Rex nodded. “Yeah, Graham’s baby. His mom gave it to him one year for Christmas. He adored her. Anyway, one day he goes off to work and while he’s gone she jumps the fence. Chased a squirrel or something. She probably fell into the water since I don’t think she ever liked swimming.”

“Graham went home, she wasn’t there, he went looking for her,” Richard surmised.

“Yeah. It wasn’t pretty. Whatever got her, she fought back. And she lost.”

“God, that’s awful.”

Rex nodded his agreement. “That’s why I hate that he’s always alone this time of year. He just goes out to that lake and remembers her.”

“Yeah - yeah, uh, do you mind?” Richard asked, digging out a few bills. “I think I need to go wash that image out of my head now.”

“Sorry,” Rex winced. “Merry Christmas?”

Richard rolled his eyes and walked outside. The crisp air sent a chill down his spine and he had a sudden worry. Graham wouldn’t - right?

Still, he found himself getting into his car and driving to the lake. Everyone had moments where they did something stupid, and Richard told himself this was his ‘stupid moment’. He breathed out a sigh of relief as he got out of his car and saw the shore was empty. Someone had been there not long ago - there were footprints in the snow - but they didn’t go far out, and they came back. Graham hadn’t gone all the way out into the lake again.

“Am I going to be stupid again?” he asked himself as he looked out at the water. “He doesn’t want to see a screw-up.”

“Who’s a screw up?”