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would consider shopping over at that new supermarket across town. Don’t you think that’s kind of weird? Asking a steady customer to shop somewhere else?”
    Dunc put in the last bulb. “Well, I guess that does it. What do you want to do now?”
    Amos stopped scratching. “I still have some Christmas shopping to do.” He looked at his watch. “And it’s about time for Melissato get out of dance class. If we start for the mall now, we’ll probably pass her coming out of Miss Borgia’s studio.”
    Dunc ignored the part about Melissa. “I thought you had all your Christmas shopping finished.”
    â€œI do. At least, I have my family finished. I bought my mom this really cool basketball. I got my dad a new video cartridge. And I bought Amy the best thing of all: a game of Laser Chase.”
    â€œI can see that you really put a lot of thought into choosing your gifts,” Dunc said.
    â€œYeah. It’s tough. You wouldn’t want to spend all that money and see stuff just lie around not being used. I try extra hard to get things a person really wants.”
    â€œAnd if that person just happens to be you …”
    Amos grinned. “Isn’t Christmas great?”
    Dunc shook his head. “I worry about you.” He stacked the strands of Christmas lights neatly on a shelf. “Who else do you need to shop for?”
    â€œMy cousin T.J. He’s coming to visit for the holidays.”
    â€œI’ve heard you talk about him. He’s a little younger than us, isn’t he?”
    â€œYeah, a year or so. But he’s a neat guy. His dad is African American. His great-grandmother still lives in Ethiopia. She taught him to speak Amharic. That’s her native language. He’s always quoting old Amharic proverbs. But they lose a little something in the English translation.”
    â€œWhat does ‘T.J.’ stand for?”
    â€œHis whole name is Theodore James Tyler. But the only one who can call him that and get away with it is his great-grandmother.”
    â€œWhen’s he going to get here?” Dunc asked.
    â€œHe should be here day after tomorrow. I think you’re really going to like him. He invents things.”
    â€œWhat kind of things?”
    â€œOh, all kinds of things. You’ll see when you meet him. His dad’s some kind of scientist. I guess T.J. takes after him.”
    Amos looked at his watch again. “Come on. I’ll tell you more about him on the way to the mall. If we don’t hurry, I’ll miss my chance to wave at her.”
    Dunc thought about telling him how pointless it was. That Melissa wouldn’t recognize him, and even if she did, she wouldn’t wave at him. He started to.
    Instead he shook his head and followed Amos out the door.

The mall was ablaze with bright reds and greens. A Santa was taking Christmas Eve orders from small, wide-eyed children. The stores were bursting at the seams with shoppers. Christmas was definitely here.
    â€œToo bad Melissa didn’t notice you,” Dunc said.
    Amos was looking at a remote-control robot. “Yeah. Next time I’ll have to try a little harder to get her attention.”
    Dunc smiled. “You would have thought stopping traffic and waving that fluorescent yellow ‘Hello Melissa’ banner would do the trick.”
    â€œShe was busy with her friends.”
    â€œSo I noticed.”
    Amos ignored him and kept playing with the robot.
    â€œAre you thinking about getting that for T.J.?” Dunc asked.
    â€œThis? Heck no. He could probably build ten of these himself.”
    â€œThen why are you wasting our time looking at it?”
    â€œIt’s not a waste of time.” Amos made the robot go in little circles. “I check out stuff. You know, in case someone hasn’t bought my gift yet and they need some suggestions. Speaking of gifts, have you bought me one yet?”
    â€œWhat makes you think