Day 24 | Advent Calendar

Happy Christmas Eve!

This is my post for Solveig Werner’s lovely advent calendar.

I’ll introduce you to an old friend of mine the bubble monster: Serena’s Bubble Monster  and write a new story about bubbles, especially for Christmas!

Serena’s Bubble Snowman by Marjorie Mallon

Serena tiptoed in from work, as quietly as she could, hoping not to disturb anyone. The kids were tucked up in bed.  If she woke them it would be a nightmare. Tomorrow held the promise of a very special day – Christmas Day. She sighed, how her feet ached. It had been a very long day, she’d spent the majority of it standing, serving customers all day. Her husband slept soundly in their bedroom, his snores sounding like faraway rumbles. How she envied him his ability to switch off and escape into dreamland so effortlessly. 

She poured herself a large glass of wine and walked into the bathroom.  Turning the taps on she considered whether it would be wise to tip in some bubble bath, or perhaps even her new Snowman Bar. After what had happened the last time she paused to consider whether that would be wise…

She studied the label furiously, it seemed innocuous enough, it just had the words – Xmas Snowman Bar, but turning it around she saw there was a lettered sticker on the back of the packaging, printed with the tiniest lettering. In fact, it was so tiny that she couldn’t read it at all, so she ran off to her desk drawer to find her magnifying glass. She deciphered the words – Beware – Add hot water slowly, and do not agitate too much.

Serena had never been one for following instructions.  With a wicked glint in her eye, she opened the bar and chucked it headfirst into the steaming hot water. Soon it dispersed. She undressed gulping down the last of her wine and dipped her toe in the water. Ouch, it was scorching, so she turned the cold tap on and waited. The snowman bar didn’t seem to be doing anything; there was just this whirl of faint hearted whiteness distributing its weary way. So she began to agitate the water. Again nothing happened so she immersed herself in without a second thought.

Unfortunately, she soon realised that she’d ran too much cold water so she set the hot tap to full force. The white swirls rushed towards the end of the bath like athletes on their way to the finish line. She swore she could hear a solitary voice saying, ‘Me First,’ ‘Me First.’ Within minutes the swirls became drops of tiny hail which began to pummel, nibble, tickle and clean her feet like a bunch of overzealous fish at a fish spa pedicure!  How peculiar! She giggled. The hot water continued to flow, it picked up more newly formed hail and juggled it about, transforming her bath into a fountain with an outline, an outline that began to resemble a very handsome Snowman. This snowman was like no other she had ever seen, he had a six pack of ice muscles, and thighs the size of melting ice boulders. Even more disturbing this Snow God could now see her in the altogether!

Serena gasped. For a moment she feared she was going to faint. What had she done? Not again! The snowman appeared unperturbed. He winked at her, his eyelids were so encrusted with snow that little speckles of frost landed on the tip of her upturned nose.

‘Hello,’ he said, his mouth sending volleys of snowballs in her direction.’

Serena tried to duck but it was no use, the snowballs made immediate contact with her skin but instead of hitting her they caressed her with this weird icy sensation. She oo’d and ah’d. The Snowman laughed.

‘You do like your bubble baths, dear Serena. I do believe a true fan should be rewarded,’ he said.

From behind his back, he produced the largest most beautiful clump of mistletoe that Serena had ever seen. Then he leant over and deposited a tender icy kiss on her cheek. Where he had kissed her a tiny tattoo glistened with an exquisite crystal star that hummed ‘Love and Kisses from A Merry but Naughty Snowman on Christmas!”

He held a mirror up for her to see his naughty handiwork.

Serena nearly fainted again. How could she explain this tattoo to her husband and children on Christmas morning?

© Marjorie Mallon 2016 – aka, Kyrosmagica. All Rights Reserved.

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Author Bio:

Marjorie Mallon a.k.a. Kyrosmagica: https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com  was born many moons ago in the Mount Alvernia Hospital in Singapore.  She grew up in Mountain Court in Hong Kong.  Her stint in the Far East was cut short by her crazy parents who decided that the relentless humidity, fabulous food, and endless parties were too much to bear.  They dragged her pre-teen spotty soul to the frozen wasteland of Scotland. She left her childhood and her dog Topsy behind. In this new regime, she was duty bound to master Scottish Country dancing, haggis bashing, and a whole new Och Aye lingo.

She travelled to many far-flung destinations to visit her dad who was an Auditor gypsy. On one such occasion, steel bands were playing Calypso music while a Barracuda swam by. The silver barracuda viewed her teenage bikini-clad body as a tasty morsel. This began a pattern that has continued to this day. With dogs’ fangs replacing barracudas’ teeth, she returned to her mother’s birthplace, Malaysia with her two children. More animals became a feature of her adult life. Notably, an angry Orang-Utan chased her sorry unfit ass out of the Malaysian jungle believing that she was a threat to his young! She still monkeys about as much as possible, would love to have a cat or a dog, but refuses to entertain any murderous dogs or over-protective monkeys.

Her motto would be this – to do what you love and to stay as ruthlessly young at heart as you can and to inspire others to do so too…

She now lives in the calm University City of Cambridge, with her black sheep of a six-foot hunk of a husband, and her two enchanted daughters who glide across the country park lake to get back home during the holiday season.

Of course after such an upbringing her author’s mind has taken complete and utter leave of its senses and she now lives in a fantasy world where her family and complete strangers pay her millions to write all day and every day. When she’s not in the process of writing bestselling novels, she likes to eat exotic delicacies while belly dancing, and surfs to the far reaches of the moon to keep her abs trim. To chill out she engages in Tai Chi and Yoga on the crest of a wave, or if the adventurous mood takes her she goes snorkelling with mermaids, or holidays with unicorns – she’s moved on from barracudas and orang-utangs!