Someone Stole The Spirit - Episode 22

"What is this?" Now it's the llama's shouting time. "Central City? Near Metropolis, or what? Are we in DC or MARVEL universe here?"

"Stop asking silly questions", Anthony, the elf says. "Grab the antagonist!"

We are running through the streets of a smaller city, the man in black right in front of us.

"The antagonist?" the llama asks.

"The man in black, of course", Anthony replies. "He is the one we are looking for. He is the one who has stolen the spirit of Christmas."

"I am not!" The man in black shouts back at us over his shoulder. "And I am not the man in black!"

"You know what, dude?" the llama asks running breathlessly right next to me. "I wonder when that guy in front of us is carrying Santa's clothes, the red ones with the white cuffs, what is Santa wearing right now? He kidnapped him from his dressing room, remember?"

"I did not!" the man in black who does not want to be the man in black shouts back at us.

"Santa is wearing his thick white underwear with the long sleeves and legs, of course", Anthony tells us in the run. "You cannot imagine how chilly it can be on that sleigh."

"Now I have images in my head", I say. 

"Me, too", says the llama.

All of a sudden the man in black stops.

"This is ridiculous", he says as we close up to him.

"Ant, please!" Anthony says. "It's all for the story. All for the show."

"Great show, Prot!" says the man in black holding the sides of his chest and breathing heavily. "I come into this in the fourth to last episode of the season to be what? The villain? The bad man who captured Santa Claus? The one who destroys Christmas for all? That is not what I wanted."

"But it's your part", Anthony grumbles. "And what is a good story without a good villain?"

"Not a good story", the llama points out.

"Stating the obvious again, animal", I say.

"I don't care", the man in black says. "If I read the script earlier I would have never agreed to play this part. You are Ant now, Anthony. Maybe you want to be the antagonist for the rest of this. Couldn't that be the great reveal of it all? The big twist?"

"But I am the protagonist", Anthony grumbles again. "I do not want to call myself the hero of this story, but… kind of… I am the hero of the story."

"I am out of this!"

Still carrying his red and white baggage with him the man in black opens another pathway stepping inside with his head held high.

BING!

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"Thanks For Bromford Mr. James"

You always said I wouldn't stay
I guess you saw the way before it all began
I've always been a changin' train
And when you think on this you might forgive me then

Thanks for Bromford, Mr James
And all the shiny suits, and all the shining names
The things a country boy can't place
Without the look of shame, upon your city face

And you needed more
Than the smile I wore

You picked me up on my way down
The dusty one horse town, I won't forget the jail
The mayor's wife and Cadillac
The sheriff on my back, 'til you put up the bail

Thanks for Bromford, Mr James
You got a lot of grace but you're an empty place
The dawn falls hard upon my face
I'll move as I began through fields without a plan
Thanks for Bromford, Mr James
That world of grey and gold that watched you growing old
The things I never saw I see
To think that I'm still free and I'm not feeling cold
Thanks for Bromford, Mr James...