Twelve Days of Christmas Read Free Page A

irritating and ridiculous. She searched for a witty retort but couldn’t think of anything cutting enough to put him in his place.
    Before she could respond, Cain returned to his own apartment and slammed the door.
    “Well, well,” Julia muttered under her breath as she closed her own door. Perhaps Cammie was right. This man desperately needed help, and she was just the woman to see to it.
    She’d kill him with kindness if it was the last thing she ever did.
    Inspired now, she took out her laptop and sat down on the sofa. Making herself comfortable, she stretched out her legs, crossing her ankles. Booting up her computer, she went to her blog and saw that only fifty people had logged in to read her latest post. So far her efforts weren’t going to impress anyone. Most of those who read her blog were family and friends. The solitary comment had come from her mother.
    Julia’s fingers settled over the keyboard, and she typed away.

Julia’s Blog
    TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS
December 14
Meet Ebenezer
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    I’m wondering if anyone else has encountered a genuine curmudgeon this Christmas season? The reason I ask is because I believe Ebenezer Scrooge lives in my apartment building. To be fair, he hasn’t shared his views on Christmas with me personally. One look and I can tell this guy doesn’t possess a single ounce of holiday spirit. He just so happens to live directly across the hallway from me, so I’ve run into him on more than one occasion. To put it mildly, he’s not a happy man.
    Just this morning I discovered he was something else:
    A thief.
    I caught him pilfering my newspaper. Really, does it get much lower than that? Well, as a matter of fact, it does. This evening, not more than a few minutes ago, I was confronted by said neighbor demanding that I turn down the Christmas “racket.” I happened to be singing. He claimed it sounded like someone was dying.
    When I complained about him to a friend—and, okay, I’ll admit I was pretty ticked off at the time—it came to me that this coldhearted “neighbor” is a living, breathing Scrooge.
    My friend, who is near and dear to my heart, suggested
I kill him with kindness.
    So, my friends, I hope you’ll join me in this little experiment. I fully intend to kill my surly neighbor with the love, joy, and fun of Christmas. Naturally, I will keep his identity confidential, referring to him only as Ebenezer.
    I’m not exactly sure where to start. If you have thoughts or suggestions, please share them below. I’ll be updating this blog every day until Christmas. Hopefully, by then, this Grinch’s heart will have grown a few sizes.
    My expectations are low.
    I’m not convinced kindness can change a person.
    We’ll find out together.
    I welcome your comments and ideas…

First thing the next morning, Julia checked her blog and smiled when she saw that she already had fifty views and ten shares. To her delight, there were three comments.
MagpieMurphy: Good luck. This should be interesting.
    That first comment was from a college friend who had faithfully been reading her blog and supporting her efforts.
    The second comment was from a new reader.
JingleBellGirl: The best gift you can give during the holidays is HOLIDAY CHEER. I’m excited to read your blog. Good luck.
    The last comment was from an unfamiliar name as well. As far as she could see, she had at least two new readers.
DerekDude120: Don’t waste your time…once an Ebenezer, always an Ebenezer.
    Julia knew exactly what she wanted to do for her first kindness experiment. She’d come up with the idea before falling asleep. She showered and dressed and collected both Cain’s and her newspapers.
    She rode the elevator back up to her floor and then knocked on Cain’s door. She heard a loud bark from the other side, followed by his muffled voice a few moments later. “Who is it?”
    “Your neighbor,” she returned, gushing with charm. “Padden. Julia Padden.” She did a poor imitation of James