Jimmy and Carl didn't know that Santa had already come – he left bags of presents on the back patio, near the door. Big bags, with lots of presents....It was a chore to hide them in the trunk of the car for the ride down from Atlanta, but the kids weren't that inquisitive.At 1:30 a.m. or so, Carl nudged Jimmy. "There's some guys on the lawn of the house across there," he said, pointing. "And they all flopped down, like they're dead. You stay here and watch. I'm going to get Mom."And he tore off. It was only a 3 minute drive from the bar to her house. She wasn’t ‘wasted’ and knew that she could make it there so long as no little animals jumped in front of her Jeep. Leah pulled up the dirt-road driveway to her small ranch house and parked the Jeep. As her engine went silent, she saw headlights coming down her drive, and figured it was Dan. Leah flipped the visor down to check her makeup and make sure her hair was still decent from the ride home. She was satisfied, her eyes still a smokey. Hilda and Mavis will be here in just a few minutes!" The three of them went to Janet's bedroom. About a half hour later, the doorbell rang and I opened it. A tall gaunt woman was standing there with two girls. "Who are you, what is a man doing here?"I said, "I am Laura's father and Janet's grandpa." She said, "I don't like men around my daughter." She pulled the tall girl that looked like her and placed her behind her back.Laura was now there. "It's okay, Mrs. Miller, Hilda will be alright, and. ” Not my most original line, but what the hell. I was tired.“Thanks,” she answered. “I’m Zatianna.”“Mark,” I answered, holding out my hand to shake hers. Just then the bartender brought her martini.“What brings you here?” she asked as she took a sip. “Picking up chicks?”I chuckled. “No, I’m avoiding my inevitable return to the work grind. I got some bad news today too.”“What’s that?” she asked. “What do you do?”I explained what I did, as briefly as I could knowing my job wasn’t all that.