A Little Mistletoe

“A Little Mistletoe”

A Short Story

Written By

PureSciFiPlus
Aka PureSciFi

     With an awkward chuckle, he pointed to the mistletoe above their heads. Richard got down on one knee so that he was face- to-face with them. “You do know what that is, don’t you?”

     “Of Course, I do. It's mistletoe,” said Linda.

     “Do you know what you are supposed to do under the mistletoe?” Asked Richard.

     Linda looked up at the small amount of mistletoe above her. “Of course, I do. I’m ten. But I don’t think that that’s mistletoe. It looks more like spinach to me.”

     “It isn’t spinach,” said Richard. “It’s mistletoe. And you know what you have to do with Jimmy.”

     “Even if it’s mistletoe, and I still don’t think that it is, I can’t kiss Jimmy. He’s only eight,” said Linda. “And he’s also my little brother.”

     “Age and gender doesn’t matter when it comes to mistletoe,” said Richard. “And it has to be on the lips. Only grandmothers get to kiss you on the cheek.”

     Linda looked shocked. “I don’t want to do this. Please don’t make this be my first real kiss.”

     Richard started laughing. “This is your first kiss. That’s funny. At ten I had been kissed a lot of time.”

     “I’ve been kissed before,” said Linda. “But it has just been with parents and grandparents so far.”

     “This will be my first real one.” Linda continued a few seconds later. “And I don’t want it to be with my brother. Especially, my little brother.”

     “You have no choice,” said Richard. “Both of you came into our living room under the mistletoe at the same time. So, you need to do what the mistletoe tells you to do. And that is to kiss each other.”

     Linda didn’t do anything for several minutes. She just kept looking down at Jimmy who hadn’t said a thing so far. All he had been doing is looking at whoever was talking with a confused look on his face. She got down on her knees so that she was face-to-face with Jimmy. Jimmy was already facing her. Linda took the first move. She grabbed Jimmy on both sides of his head, and kissed him on the lips. A few seconds later she tried to stop kissing him.

     Richard grabbed the back of their heads, and forced them to keep kissing for thirty seconds. He mumbled the seconds as he did it. “It only counts as a Mistletoe Kiss if it’s done for at least thirty seconds. And I knew if you did it, you would only do it for a second or two.”

     “I hate you.” Linda repeatedly started saying after Richard released his grip on them. “And I’m never going to forgive you for forcing us to do it.

     “What are you talking about?” Richard asked. “I didn’t force you to do anything.”

     A few seconds later Richard started chuckling again. “I can’t believe you just did that. Linda, you were right. That’s not mistletoe. It’s spinach.”

Word Count = 491