Midnight Before Christmas by William Bernhardt Read Free Book Online

transmission into Drive. The car lurched forward as she began weaving her way out of the overcrowded parking lot.
    Now at last they had someplace they could go in a hurry.
    “Tommy, I want you to eat your food.”
    Tommy folded his arms across his chest. “I’m not hungry.”
    “Just a few bites, then. For me.”
    Tommy looked away, sullen-faced. “Mommy says I shouldn’t eat when I’m not hungry. She says it starts a bad habit.”
    “That’s what this is all about, isn’t it? Your mother. She always comes between us.”
    “She just doesn’t want me to get fat. Like this kid in my class, Jerry Douglas. He’s a real tub, and—”
    “She can’t even allow me one little bit of pleasure, can she? Can’t give me one last moment of peace with my son.”
    Tommy didn’t answer.
    Carl leaned across the table. “Listen to me, Tommy. I’m your father. I held you in my arms when you were just a baby. I was there the day you were born. I’m your friend.”
    “Does Mommy know where I am?”
    The question caught Carl by surprise. “She … knows you’re with me. I’m sure of that.”
    “Does she know where I am?”
    “Well … in general. She may not know precisely—”
    “Are you kidnapping me?”
    Pound, pound, pound. The kid kept pounding him with questions. He was almost as bad as his mother. Was there no escaping them? “Tommy, what are you saying? You’re my son.”
    “Fathers kidnap their sons sometimes. I read about it in the Weekly Reader. Is that what you’re doing?”
    Carl pressed his hands against the table. “All I’m doing right now is having a nice Christmas Eve lunch with my son. The only problem is, you’re not eating!”
    Tommy sank back in his chair.
    “So eat already, would you? It’s important!”
    “Why?”
    “It—” He checked himself. “It just is, all right? So eat.”
    “I’m not hungry.”
    Carl swelled with rage. He reached across the table, grabbed Tommy’s spoon, and shoveled up a heaping spoonful of chicken with peanuts. “I’m your father, Tommy. You’re supposed to do what I say. Do you understand me? So you will eat your dinner.” His eyes twitched. “If it’s the last thing you do.”

9
    “E AT!” CARL SHOUTED. “EAT!”
    Tommy pushed his plate away. “I don’t want to. You can’t make me!”
    “You’re my son!” Carl glanced around the room. They were beginning to attract the attention of the handful of other patrons, as well as the Asian woman behind the cash register. “Do as you’re told!”
    “I’m not going to!”
    “Don’t be a bad boy, Tommy!” He grabbed Tommy by the neck and jerked him forward, pressing the spoon against his lips. “Eat!”
    “Don’t do it, Tommy!”
    Carl’s head jerked up. God in heaven—it was Bonnie! Bonnie and some other woman he didn’t know. Somehow they’d managed to find him.
    He dropped the spoon. It clattered to the floor as he leapt out of his chair.
    “Someone please help!” Bonnie cried. “Someone arrest him! Call the police! They’re looking for him!”
    “Bonnie—baby—”
    “Grab the food!” Bonnie lurched forward and pushed the plate away from Tommy. “Tommy, did you eat any of it? Did you eat anything?”
    “No, Mommy. I—”
    “Oh, thank God.” She threw her arms around him and hugged him close against her chest. “Did someone call the police?”
    Carl saw that the woman behind the register was talking quietly into the phone. “Bonnie, you can’t do this. I was just having lunch with my son. It’s Christmas Eve!”
    “You sick creep, you were trying to kill him. Would someone please arrest him!”
    Carl pushed away from the table and grabbed Tommy by the shirt. “I’m taking the boy with me.”
    “Like hell,” Bonnie answered.
    “You can’t stop me,” he growled.
    “What are you going to do? Beat me up again? Fracture my collarbone?”
    Carl’s face twisted. “What? Bonnie, it doesn’t have to be like this!” He saw one of the other diners, a large