Read Online Kristmas Collins by Derek Ciccone - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Derek Ciccone
Ads: Link
spirit?”
A good question. Some of my best childhood memories centered on Christmas, and I remained a Santa believer long after my classmates busted the myth. So I couldn’t pinpoint why or when it no longer was the season to be jolly for me. Maybe it was when my father died almost ten years ago, or my sister moving away to Seattle with her family. Or that I married a woman so literal that if Santa came down the chimney she might have him arrested for breaking and entering. But it most likely stemmed back to the shock factor of seeing Alexander Wainwright in a Santa suit for the first time, ruining the myth forever.
She grabbed my hand and led me upstairs, jiggling all the way.
Vida’s was a multi-level club. The first floor featured a large dance floor and a DJ that Candi mentioned was famous. I wasn’t familiar with him, but admittedly, the last time I thought about DJs was when Libby and I were trying to find one for our wedding. When Snoop Dogg finished ushering in the holiday, the “famous” DJ broke into regularly scheduled club music to announce that Candi Kane was “in the house.” He then played “Candy Cane Children” by the White Stripes to mark the moment.
Candi looked smitten by the attention and waved at her fans. She was most comfortable in the spotlight, which shouldn’t be a surprise. She was bred for this. When a mother names her daughter Candi Kane she is looking for attention, and using her daughter as a vehicle to get it. And when Candi spent her childhood going to auditions instead of birthday parties, it became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
And while I’d been very critical of Julia Kane over the years, to be fair, Candi did achieve great success in her field. And if she had pushed her in science and she became a surgeon, she would have been applauded.
Candi’s big break came when she joined the cast of The Candy Stripers —how could she not get the part with that name?—a Saved by the Bell-ish teen hit about a group of teenage candy stripers in a hospital and all the dramas that went with that. She quickly became the star of the show and Julia negotiated to have the name of the show changed to Candi Kane & the Candy Stripers
Julia had followed my work at Zee’s trial, which led to her hiring me to defend her megastar, sixteen-year-old daughter when she was arrested for her first DUI. Over the next decade I practically became her assistant, as she went from teen idol to an out-of-control twenty-something, charged with everything from petty theft to assaulting a former boyfriend, to the more serious drug charges. Yet, of the two of us, I was the only one who’d ever done prison time.
While the first floor was full of urban hipsters with their bohemian fashions and messy shag cuts, on their eternal quest to find the world’s most obscure indie band—I’d become an expert on hipsters since moving to Brooklyn—the second floor was staked out by the “career clubbers,” whose entire existence was built around the club scene. They had more of a reserved cool—goatees and oval rim glasses seemed to be the trend this year. Although, it was possible that my eyes were deceiving me, based on the overzealous work of a fog machine.
We arrived at the third floor “tree fort” section that was VIP only. I noticed a few celebrities, but none of them were attracting the attention that Candi Kane and her sexy Santa outfit was receiving. She dragged me to a leather couch near the railing, where we could look down on the steerage that was mingling below. I took a seat beside her, but kept an arm’s length away.
A waitress brought us a couple of drinks called Frosty the Snowmen. It was a mixture of red and green liquid and a pile of ice. As long as it had enough alcohol to make me forget the last few hours, I was good with it. But Candi pushed it away, announcing, “I’ve been sober for three-and-a-half years!” She then paused, as if waiting for applause.
After the waitress left, Candi
A good question. Some of my best childhood memories centered on Christmas, and I remained a Santa believer long after my classmates busted the myth. So I couldn’t pinpoint why or when it no longer was the season to be jolly for me. Maybe it was when my father died almost ten years ago, or my sister moving away to Seattle with her family. Or that I married a woman so literal that if Santa came down the chimney she might have him arrested for breaking and entering. But it most likely stemmed back to the shock factor of seeing Alexander Wainwright in a Santa suit for the first time, ruining the myth forever.
She grabbed my hand and led me upstairs, jiggling all the way.
Vida’s was a multi-level club. The first floor featured a large dance floor and a DJ that Candi mentioned was famous. I wasn’t familiar with him, but admittedly, the last time I thought about DJs was when Libby and I were trying to find one for our wedding. When Snoop Dogg finished ushering in the holiday, the “famous” DJ broke into regularly scheduled club music to announce that Candi Kane was “in the house.” He then played “Candy Cane Children” by the White Stripes to mark the moment.
Candi looked smitten by the attention and waved at her fans. She was most comfortable in the spotlight, which shouldn’t be a surprise. She was bred for this. When a mother names her daughter Candi Kane she is looking for attention, and using her daughter as a vehicle to get it. And when Candi spent her childhood going to auditions instead of birthday parties, it became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
And while I’d been very critical of Julia Kane over the years, to be fair, Candi did achieve great success in her field. And if she had pushed her in science and she became a surgeon, she would have been applauded.
Candi’s big break came when she joined the cast of The Candy Stripers —how could she not get the part with that name?—a Saved by the Bell-ish teen hit about a group of teenage candy stripers in a hospital and all the dramas that went with that. She quickly became the star of the show and Julia negotiated to have the name of the show changed to Candi Kane & the Candy Stripers
Julia had followed my work at Zee’s trial, which led to her hiring me to defend her megastar, sixteen-year-old daughter when she was arrested for her first DUI. Over the next decade I practically became her assistant, as she went from teen idol to an out-of-control twenty-something, charged with everything from petty theft to assaulting a former boyfriend, to the more serious drug charges. Yet, of the two of us, I was the only one who’d ever done prison time.
While the first floor was full of urban hipsters with their bohemian fashions and messy shag cuts, on their eternal quest to find the world’s most obscure indie band—I’d become an expert on hipsters since moving to Brooklyn—the second floor was staked out by the “career clubbers,” whose entire existence was built around the club scene. They had more of a reserved cool—goatees and oval rim glasses seemed to be the trend this year. Although, it was possible that my eyes were deceiving me, based on the overzealous work of a fog machine.
We arrived at the third floor “tree fort” section that was VIP only. I noticed a few celebrities, but none of them were attracting the attention that Candi Kane and her sexy Santa outfit was receiving. She dragged me to a leather couch near the railing, where we could look down on the steerage that was mingling below. I took a seat beside her, but kept an arm’s length away.
A waitress brought us a couple of drinks called Frosty the Snowmen. It was a mixture of red and green liquid and a pile of ice. As long as it had enough alcohol to make me forget the last few hours, I was good with it. But Candi pushed it away, announcing, “I’ve been sober for three-and-a-half years!” She then paused, as if waiting for applause.
After the waitress left, Candi
Similar Books
