“All clear,” said J.J. after landing the sleigh in front of Mr. Claus’s bungalow in Berkeley.
They grabbed their gear and got out of the Volvo station wagon. Leroy nodded toward the right side of the house and took off over the redwood fence to cover the back way out.
William nodded toward the house and he and J.J. made their way up the walk and to the front porch.
William shook his head letting J.J. know that something was amiss. William reached into his backpack for his pistol and put on his heat-sensing glasses that J.J. had made for him. They allowed him to see thermal patterns in a multi-color display.
J.J. looked at the front door, which was ajar, and he held up his hand to let William know that he would take the lead. He pulled his gun out of his backpack and walked over to the door in front of the doorbell. He pushed the bottom open with his foot and pulled it quickly back as the door creaked open into the house.
Wiliam entered the house alert and on edge and J.J. followed right behind him as a second pair of eyes.
They walked down the hallway to the first opening on the right-hand side that was the entrance to the living room. William leapt pass the opening and J.J. entered in a crouch. He shoulder rolled to take cover behind the couch that had its back to the entrance.
William looked into the opening and scanned the room with his glasses. He shook his head to J.J. and pointed toward the other opening in the room that led to the kitchen.
William looked toward the kitchen and put his thumb up to J.J. It was their signal for their being a thermal anomaly in the direction where William was looking. J.J. headed around the couch toward the front of the house and stuck to the perimeter of the living room taking the cautious route to the kitchen. Neither one of them was so hung-ho that they wanted to go in with guns blazing. And, besides, it might be Mr. Claus sitting in the kitchen waiting to say ‘boo!’ as his idea of a practical joke.
As J.J. neared the opening to the kitchen he could feel some heat and faintly smell the aromas of cooking from the kitchen. As he got to the entrance to the kitchen, William approached from the other side. J.J. held out his palm to signal William to wait.
They were startled when they heard a chair slide.
“Ain’t nothing here but a Tofurky Plant-Based Pepp’roni Pizza Pocket,” yelled Leroy from the kitchen.
“How?” J.J. started to ask as he stuck is head around the corner.
“That’s why I’m here, remember? This is my thing,” said Leroy as he sat down at the small table in the kitchen.
“What about the thermal reading?” asked William.
“It must be the oven,” said Leroy.
“So if he has a pizza thing in the oven and he ain’t here,” said J.J.
“Not a pizza thing. A pizza pocket,” said Leroy and showed them both the wrapper that was on the table.
“Okay, pizza pocket that smells really good,” said J.J.
“We must have just missed him,” said Leroy.
“And he didn’t leave for no good reason,” added William.
“The man never misses a meal— and definitely not pizza,” said Leroy.
