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Christmas?”
    “What I
wanted
was to mail my Christmas cards, which are now shedding needles on the kitchen tile. Who knows what he’ll do next?”
    “Yeah,” he said. “Listen, whether he’s dangerous or not, I think I should go home with you after work, in case he shows up again, but I’ve got a PMS meeting for the office party—”
    “That’s okay. He’s an animal-rights activist. He’s not dangerous.”
    “That doesn’t necessarily follow,” Fred said. “I’ll come over as soon as my meeting’s over, and meanwhile I’ll check the Net. Okay?”
    “Okay,” she said. She started out of the cubicle and thenstopped. “I really appreciate your believing me, or at least not saying you don’t believe me.”
    He smiled at her. “I don’t have any choice. You’re the only other person in the world who likes
Miracle on 34th Street
better than
It’s a Wonderful Life.
And Fred Gailey believed Macy’s Santa Claus was really Santa Claus, didn’t he?”
    “Yeah,” she said. “I don’t think this guy is Santa Claus. He was wearing Birkenstocks.”
    “I’ll meet you at your front door,” he said. He sat down at the computer and began typing.
    Lauren went out through the maze of cubicles and into the hall.
    “There
you are!” Scott said. “I’ve been looking for you all over.” He smiled meltingly. “I’m in charge of buying gifts for the office party, and I need your help.”
    “My help?”
    “Yeah. Picking them out. I hoped maybe I could talk you into going shopping with me after work tonight.”
    “Tonight?” she said. “I can’t. I’ve got—” A Christmas tree growing in my kitchen. “Could we do it tomorrow after work?”
    He shook his head. “I’ve got a date. What about later on tonight? The stores are open till nine. It shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours to do the shopping, and then we could go have a late supper somewhere. What say I pick you up at your apartment at six-thirty?”
    And have the spirit lying on the couch, drinking Evian water and watching TV? “I can’t,” she said regretfully.
    Even his frown was cute. “Oh, well,” he said, and shrugged. “Too bad. I guess I’ll have to get somebody else.” He gave her another adorable smile and went off down the hall to ask somebody else.
    I hate you, Spirit of Christmas Present, Lauren thought, standing there watching Scott’s handsome back recede. You’d better not be there when I get home.
    A woman came down the hall, carrying a basket of candy canes. “Compliments of the Personnel Morale SpecialCommittee,” she said, offering one to Lauren. “You look like you could use a little Christmas spirit.”
    “No, thanks, I’ve already got one,” Lauren said.
    The door to her apartment was locked, which didn’t mean much, since the chain and the deadbolt had both been on when he got in before. But he wasn’t in the living room, and the TV was off.
    He had been there, though. There was an empty Evian water bottle on the coffee table. She picked it up and took it into the kitchen. The tree was still there, too. She pushed one of the branches aside so she could get to the wastebasket and threw the bottle away.
    “Don’t you know plastic bottles are nonbiodegradable?” the spirit said. He was standing on the other side of the tree, hanging things on it. He was dressed in khaki shorts and a “Save the Rain Forest” T-shirt, and had a red bandanna tied around his head. “You should recycle your bottles.”
    “It’s your bottle,” Lauren said. “What are you doing here, Spirit?”
    “Chris,” he corrected her. “These are organic ornaments,” he said. He held one of the brown things out to her. “Handmade by the Yanomamo Indians. Each one is made of natural by-products found in the Brazilian rain forest.” He hung the brown thing on the tree. “Have you decided what you want for Christmas?”
    “Yes,” she said. “I want you to go away.”
    He looked surprised. “I can’t do that. Not