Chapter 1: An Unexpected Christmas Dinner
The little girl's question hung in the air.
"Why are you sitting all alone?"
Michael smiled faintly.
"I guess I didn't have anywhere I wanted to be."
The little girl frowned.
"Everybody should have somewhere on Christmas."
Her mother looked embarrassed.
"Emily, that's not polite."
"It's okay," Michael said softly.
"No... she's right."
A silence settled over the diner.
Then Emily carefully picked up one of her pancakes.
She slid it onto the empty plate Betty had left beside her.
"My teacher says Christmas is for sharing."
"So... you can have one."
Michael stared at the tiny pancake.
Worth perhaps fifty cents.
Offered by a child who barely had enough herself.
His eyes filled with tears.
For years, billion-dollar contracts had crossed his desk without moving him.
One small pancake nearly broke his heart.
He walked over to their booth.
"May I sit with you?"
Emily grinned.
"Only if you tell us your favorite Christmas movie."
Her mother laughed quietly for the first time that evening.
"I'm Claire," she said.
"And this little angel is Emily."
"Michael."
They spent the next hour talking like old friends.
Michael learned Claire had lost her husband two years earlier.
Medical bills had taken their apartment.
She worked mornings at a bakery and evenings cleaning offices.
Every dollar went toward keeping Emily fed and in school.
May you like
Christmas dinner had been one plate of pancakes.
Until tonight.
