Herbie Nicholes was almost skipping down the icy sidewalk, humming a Christmas carol.

"Don't you just love this time of year?" he asked his friend, Rudy Staggers, who was trudging along behind him, hands buried in the pockets of his parka.

"Not at all," replied Rudy. "Not only is it miserably cold this time of year, but I have to put up with all the idiots walking around wishing me 'Happy Holidays' or some other inane expression that's supposed to make me as happy as they think they are."

Herbie stopped prancing and turned to wait for his buddy to catch up. "Boy, you need a heavy dose of Christmas spirit."

"No, I need a heavy dose of two-for-one tap beers at Cornelius's. Look, I agreed to go out with you tonight because you said they'd have the Bulls game on TV. If you're lying to me and dragging me to some stupid Christmas party, I'm gonna shove tinsel up your rear."

"No, no," denied Herbie. "Nothing like that. I just thought it would be nice to spend some time with my best friend. You already refused to come to my family's celebration tomorrow night or the next day for Christmas, so I figured we might as well go out tonight."

"Okay, but if they don't have the game on and we have to watch It's a Wonderful Life or some drivel, I'm leaving."

Herbie shook his head, "Hey, I'm sure they'll have the Bulls on. After all, it is a sports bar."

"And one more thing," said Rudy, "you had better not have gotten me a present. We agreed, no presents."

"Of course not," said Herbie while reaching into his coat pocket and pushing something as far down as it would go. He looked up at the sky, innocently.

Just then, a flash of light zoomed across the heavens. "Hey," shouted Herbie, "a shooting star. We should make a wish."

"I'm not making a stupid wish."

A smile appeared on Herbie's face, "That's okay, I made one for you."

Rudy shook his head. "What'd you wish for?"

"I can't tell you, otherwise it won't come true."

During the rest of the seven-block walk to the sports bar, Rudy's attitude improved a tiny bit. At least he was keeping pace with Herbie and not moping.

"We should hurry up," said Rudy. "The game starts in a couple of minutes." He took off jogging, easily leaping a fire hydrant on the way.

"Hey, wait for me," called Herbie as he broke into a sprint to catch up to his friend.

When they reached the final intersection before Cornelius's, Rudy ignored the traffic light and began running across the street.

"Hey, look out," screamed Herbie as he reached up and barely grabbed Rudy's collar. He pulled his friend backward out of the way of a pickup truck that was flying through the green light. The vehicle's driver blasted the horn and gave Rudy and Herbie the finger as he drove out of sight.

"Well, Merry Christmas to you, too," yelled Rudy.

Once the light changed, the two friends skittered through the intersection and into the sports bar.

Cornelius's was more crowded than usual. There had to be fifty people in the place, with at least a half-dozen of them dressed as Santa Claus and another ten or twelve wearing elf hats and ears. Everyone was enjoying the evening and the company. Both laughter and beer flowed freely. Christmas songs were blaring from the jukebox.

Luckily, there was a table near a television that was showing the Chicago Bulls' game. The hostess showed Herbie and Rudy to their seats and informed them that their server's name was Clarice and she would be with them shortly.

A few minutes later, Clarice arrived to take their drink order.

"I'll have a tap beer," said Herbie, "and I'm sure Rudy will want one also."

"No," interrupted Rudy, "I'll just have water."

"Really?" asked a confused Herbie.

"Yeah, I'm thirsty for a good pail, I mean glass, of water."

After the waitress left, Herbie took a close look at his friend. "Are you feeling okay? I mean, you're the one who wanted to hit the beer tonight."

"I'm fine," said Rudy, his attention focused on the television above their heads."

"I don't know," continued Herbie. "Are you sure you're not getting sick or something. I mean, your nose does look a little red."

"I'm good." Rudy paused for a second before asking, "Do you think you could get the waitress to change the TV to a different game?"

"What? I thought you wanted to watch the Bulls play?"

"I don't know. I think I'd rather watch Milwaukee."

"You can ask her yourself," said Herbie. "Here she comes with our drinks."

"Oh, good. Don't you think she's kind of cute?"

"So, what can I get you to eat?" asked Clarice after setting the drinks on the table.

"I'll have the Big Bumble Burger with the golden cheese curds," announced Herbie.

"You know what," said Rudy. "I could really go for a plate of raw carrots."

The confusion on the server's face was only topped by the astonishment plastered on Herbie's.

Rudy's behavior only got odder in the next half hour. It didn't take him long to lose interest in the Milwaukee Bucks game that he had asked Clarice to put on. Soon, he stuck a napkin in his back pocket and started following Clarice and a couple of other pretty young women around the bar. Eventually, this led to a confrontation between Rudy and one of the girl's boyfriends. Rudy, who had never been much of fighter, didn't back down from the confrontation. In fact, he headbutted the boyfriend.

Herbie had seen enough. He grabbed Rudy by the back of the neck and pulled him back to the table before the other man could retaliate.

"What is wrong with you? You don't ever get into fights or bother girls. Why are you acting so strange?"

"I don't know," replied Rudy. "I guess I was kind of in a rut."

"Let's just get out of here. I think I need to get you home."

Surprisingly, Rudy agreed. "You're right, I need to get home. There's a lot that needs to be done before Christmas Eve."

Once outside, in the fresh air, Rudy seemed to settle down. He did start walking the wrong way, heading north instead of east toward his apartment. Herbie took hold of his elbow and turned him in the right direction. He held tight to his friend's arm while he stared at him.

"You must have really hit that guy hard with your head. It looks like you've got two big bruises on your forehead. There's one big knob on each side."

"He had it coming," said Rudy. "He had no right to try and move in on my territory."

"Man, I don't know what's happening to you. I've got to get you back to your place so you can lie down." He started walking his friend in the correct direction.

Off in the distance, a dog barked.

Rudy bolted. He pulled his arm free from Herbie's grip and raced down the street, jumping a mailbox and bounding off into the night. Soon, the only sign of him that Herbie could see was the white napkin in his back pocket bouncing up and down in the darkness.

Herbie chased after his clearly insane friend. There was no way he was going to catch up to Rudy, but he had to try. As he walked along, he was surprised to find Rudy's shoes abandoned on the side of the road. He had just given up hope of ever seeing Rudy again when he turned a corner and saw him standing on the side of the road, staring at a set of car headlights, completely frozen.

It was then Herbie realized that Rudy was no longer the young man he considered his best friend. The figure standing before him was not even a human. As Herbie watched, it fell to what should have been its knees, but somehow it morphed into a four-legged creature. A set of antlers rose from the sides of its head, just above two large oval ears.

After the car passed, the animal that used to be Rudy turned toward Herbie. It stared at Herbie for a brief moment. Was there a touch of recognition in those large eyes? If there was recognition, it quickly dissipated. The creature's nose glowed bright red, and it turned and bounded off, heading north.

Herbie bowed his head in shame and sorrow. This was not what he wanted. When he had wished for Rudy to become more into the Christmas season, he hadn't meant it literally.

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