Gary Bowman stood in front of the cappuccino maker in his bathrobe whistling "Happy birthday Jesus." He wasn't a religious man but this Christmas he thanked God that he got to have Evan with him. Only once in a blue moon did he refer to his son as Evan and most of the time he just called him "Buddy".
It was 6:30am and Buddy was sound asleep in the first bedroom down the hall hopefully having dreams of sugarplums and not naked women at his early age. All the rookie correctional officers were working today for that double time so they could earn brownie points with their superiors and help make those expensive mortgage payments for the house they just bought. Even quadruple time and an extra weeks vacation would not cause Gary to miss Christmas with Buddy. Unfortunately the Gadget Man knew that. Gary Bowman never worked on Christmas.
The cappuccino machine whistled loudly as Gary twirled the coffee mug in a circular motion under the spout watching the machine create a foamy froth. He wondered if the hissing sound was waking up Buddy. It didn't matter anyway. In about 10 minutes he would wake up his son to open presents under the tree. He really had to twist his ex-wife's arm to get Buddy on Christmas and he wanted to enjoy every second with his only child.
Gary placed the two mugs of steamy hot cappuccino next to each other on the counter then rooted around in the fridge for some whipped cream. His mug of course said "#1 Dad" and Buddy's mug had an alien on the front because Buddy was always into that kind of stuff.
After he put more than enough whipped cream in each mug he peppered Evan's mug with cinnamon. The hot beverages needed a few minutes to cool down to the perfect drinking temperature so Gary decided to leave the cappuccinos on the counter and go check on Buddy.
The bedroom door was already open so Snowball the cat could come and go as she pleases.
Buddy's moppy hair covered his eyes as he tossed and turned underneath the Power Rangers comforter. Snowball was nestled behind his head guarding the precious child like he was one of her own. Evan tossed and turned a few more times and then rubbed his eyes.
"Daddy!" He exclaimed. Fluttering his eyes and then picking out eye buggers with his pinky finger.
"Hey Buddy, Merry Christmas!" Said Greg leaning on the doorway. "I made you a cappuccino the way you like it with cinnamon sprinkled on top."
Evan squirmed around a little more in the bed. "Mommy doesn't want me to have caffeine." He said and then yawned.
"You let me deal with Mommy. It's Christmas and we're gonna have fun."
Just then the doorbell rang. Gary felt like his heart was about to explode. This couldn't be happening, no, not on Christmas. If it was Linda at the door trying to get her son back for the holiday he would tell her to get lost and slam the door in her face.
"Somebody's at the door daddy. Maybe it's Santa Clause!" Said the kid excitedly.
Gary tightened the rope around his bathrobe and furled the top of the robe to conceal his hairy chest.
"Santa Clause was just here last night so it's probably mommy. You just stay here and hang tight and I'll go see what she wants." He said backing out of the doorway.
"Okay daddy." Said Buddy teasing the cat with the little man he made with his two fingers.
Gary slipped his bare feet into his black felt slippers and moseyed over to the front door. When he opened the front door a cool gusty breeze tickled the hair on his legs. It was still fairly dark outside and a bit windier than usual.
Gary was shocked when he saw nobody standing on his porch. Instead he heard the tune of "Jingle Bells" chiming from maybe 10 feet in front of him. He squinted his eyes and saw what looked like some type of mailbox post about chest high without a mailbox perched on top but rather a piece of sod.
The jingle bells song continued to play and he saw what looked like a tiny red LED light illuminating just below the piece of sod. What on earth was this? Had one of his friends sent him some kind of strange Christmas present?
Gary walked cautiously towards the device that was prominently sticking out in the front yard. When he got within a foot of the device the little red LED light flickered and 3 shots rang out quickly.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
In the blink of an eye the device quickly retracted to the ground as if there was nothing ever there. Gary fell to his knees and then collapsed to the ground holding his hands over the wounds in his chest. His brave son came running out in his red pajamas barefooted and ran towards his father. Evan looked around desperately hoping to identify the shooter or at least catch a glimpse of a license plate. There was absolutely nothing. Gary managed to roll around on his back and look into his son's imploring teary eyes.
"Daddy what happened?" Asked Evan nearly choking on his words.
Gary did his best to conceal the bloody wounds with his hands to prevent traumatizing his only son. The boy continued weeping.
"Buddy, I love you." He said in a whisper. Before the boy could say anything Gary's eyes rolled back into his head and he died instantaneously.
The bravery Gary had instilled in his boy slowly started to take effect. Evan wiped away his tears like a big boy and ran inside to phone the police. Christmas was ruined for the Bowman's and the Gadget Man was miles away patiently awaiting for what was about to happen next.