My long awaited Christmas special! Will Julien learn that there's more to life than himself? Find out!

A Gift Money Can't Buy

Chapter One: Meet Mr. Candlewick

It was two weeks before Christmas. Private and Jacob were at the mall, doing some Christmas shopping. Private was looking though a window, at a black shirt with a colorful explosion on the front which he knew Rico would love, when he spotted Julien coming out of a different clothing store.

"Hello, Julien," Private said, walking up to him.

"Oh, hello," Julien said. "Hey, check out this shirt. Is it not awesome?" Julien pulled a shirt out of a bag. It appeared to have been splattered with different colored paints.

"That's cool, Julien." Private said. "Who's it for?"

Julien looked confused. "Uh, for me. Duh!"

Private sighed. This was the third time he had run into Julien at the mall this month, and every time he asked who his newly purchased product was for, he always said himself. He knew Julien was selfish, but this? Had he bought Christmas presents for anyone else? Private felt that he had to do something about this. He decided right there in the middle of the mall that he was going to fix Julien's selfish ways.

The next day, Private stood in front of Julien's front door. He was scared that Julien would refuse to go with him. He would probably get screamed at. But, it was for Julien's own good. Shaking, he knocked on the door. Julien answered after a moment.

"Oh, hello," Julien said, though he was a little surprised by who was at the door.

"Hi, Julien," Private said nervously. "Um, would you care to come somewhere with me?"

"Ooh! Is it a pants store?" Julien eagerly asked.

Private was very confused with this. "Uh, no."

"Is it a seafood restaurant?"

"Wha- you hate seafood!"

"Which is why I'm asking if that's where we're going, because if we are going there, I'm not going!"

Private sighed. "You'll find out when we get there.

Julien was confused, for as long as he could remember, he had never went anywhere alone with someone besides his father or Maurice. Defiantly not Private. Despite his thought, he grabbed his coat from the coat rack inside the door and followed Private to the elevators.

Once they were outside, Private led him to the corner, across the street, and walked down the sidewalk. For a while it was silent. Private was thinking about how Julien might react when he told him where they were going and why they were going there. Julien was wondering where they were headed, and eagerly hoped they were going to a pants store.

When they were down the street from their location, Private decided to tell Julien where they were going.

"So, Julien, do you want to know where we're going?"

"Is it a pants store?"

"No!"

"Is it a shoe polishers'?"

"What?"

"My shoes need shining!"

"No! Listen Julien. I've noticed that, well, you seem to buy a lot of stuff for yourself."

"Well, yeah, I'm the king, after all."

"Um, right. But don't you know that there are people who don't have anything?"

"Nothing?"

"No homes, no food, not even family."

Julien was silent. He could relate to not having family, or at least not much. It was just him and his dad.

"It seems to me that you don't care about anyone but yourself."

"That's a lie!" Julien yelled.

"Then why don't you prove it?"

"I will!"

"I know you will."

"Yes, I- wait, what?" Julien was confused.

"I know you will prove you care about others."

"How?"

Private took a deep breath. "Julien, I signed you up for volunteer work."

"WHAT?" Julien screamed. "No one signs the king up for something without permission!"

"Well, I did."

"This is an outrag- wait, am I volunteering at a pants store?"

"Enough about the pants store!" Private exclaimed.

"Aww," Julien whined. "Then where am I volunteer-er-ing?"

"At a home for the elderly." Private said.

"What! I'm not going to volunteer for old people!"

"Oh yes you are. You said you could care about someone other than yourself."

"I never said that someone would an old person."

"Well, it's going to be. End of discussion."

Private then turned and headed for elderly home, only to realize that Julien was not following. He was walking in the other direction. Private sighed, grabbed Julien's arm, and, despite his complaining, dragged him down the street.

Private and Julien entered a lobby that was warm and smelled like vanilla. Christmas decorations hung all around, with a large Christmas tree in the corner. Private approached the desk, still dragging Julien behind him.

"Hello, Mrs. Rialin." Private greeted, as he did every time he came here.

"Hello Percy," she said. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Julien," Private said, gesturing to Julien. "He'd like to spend some time with some with someone here."

Julien looked at Private, shocked at his response. "No I wouldn't!" he said, but that's all he got out before Private elbowed him in the ribs.

"I see. Let me see who's open." Mrs. Rialin looked at her clipboard. Right now, as it seemed, only one person didn't have a visitor.

"How about Mr. Candlewick?" she asked. "He's available."

"Isn't he always available?" Private asked quietly. Mrs. Rialin nodded.

"What kind of last name is 'Candlewick'?" Julien asked, before Private elbowed him again. "Stop that, Swimmer!"

"Perhaps you could cut the attitude then, hmm?" Private said. Julien grumbled.

"Mr. Candlewick's room is at the end of the hall."

"Thank you, Mrs. Rialin." Private said. He and Julien began walking down the hall. Julien was silent, but his face showed he was mad. They soon arrived at a door that said 'Mr. Wayne Candlewick'. Private knocked on the door.

"Come in," said a gentle voice from behind the door. Private opened the door, and he and Julien walked in.

The two found an elderly man, possibly in his 80s, sitting in a rocking chair. The thing was, he was knitting. He was rather large, and had light grey hair. He was wearing a red sweater with a grey stripe across the middle.

"Hi, Mr. Candlewick." Private said, shyly. He had met most of the people living in the building. Mr. Candlewick was not one of them. "I'm Percy Swimmer. This is Julien Ringers. He'd like to spend some time with you."

"Oh, well that'd be nice." Mr. Candlewick said. His voice didn't say much, but you could see his face light up.

"I'll be back in an hour," Private whispered to Julien, before leaving the room and closing the door. Julien turned to Mr. Candlewick.

"Well, don't just stand there! Take your coat off, have a seat!" Mr. Candlewick said, gesturing first to the coat rack then to his neatly made bed. Julien decided that he would do this, but only because he was stuck here. If he knew how to get home, he'd have been out of there already. He hung his winter coat on the rack and sat down on the bed.

"So," Mr. Candlewick said. "What grade are you in?"

"Seventh." Julien said, with no emotion at all.

"Really! You look older then that!"

Julien's eyes got wide. "Are you calling me old?"

"No, no, not at all!" Mr. Candlewick said. "You're just taller than the average seventh grader, that's all."

"Oh." That was all Julien had to say.

"What do you like to do?"

"What?"

"For fun? What do you do for fun?"

"Oh." Julien said. "Well, I do like to dance."

"Really? I love dancing!"

"You do?" Julien was surprised that an old man liked to dance. This was interesting.

"Well, not your modern dances, I'll bet. Those are too high-tech for me. But, if you wanted, I could show you how we danced in the olden days."

"Really?"

"Sure!"

"Okay!"

And for the next hour, Mr Candlewick taught Julien his dances from his time. And Julien showed Mr. Candlewick some of his favorite dances, such as the Electric Noodle. Julien was almost sad when Private showed up at the door.

"So, how did it go?" Private asked, as he and Julien started back to Central Park Apartments.

"Eh, it went okay." Julien said.

"You seemed to be having a lot of fun."

"Eh."

On the outside, Julien was bored. But on the inside, he was bursting to tell someone about that whole hour. Dying to show someone the dances he had learned. But he couldn't go and just tell anyone that he had been hanging out with an old guy who knits. Could he? Julien had to admit to someone that he had just had fun with and elderly person who had no sense in fashion. But he couldn't do that without losing his own self respect. Or other's respect. But, what he didn't know, was that he didn't have respect from very many people. Perhaps that may change.

Julien had fun with an old person? I don't think he's the real Julien... and what was the deal with the pants store? Anyway, I welcome your reviews! It's very simple, but I'll put directions anyway: Press blue button below.

Did anyone watch the Penguins holiday special? I loved it! Especially when the lemurs high jacked the news van and stole the giant Christmas tree (spoiler alert if you haven't seen it!). Also, less than two weeks left until Christmas! Who's excited! Oh, and also, I have a two hour delay for school tomorrow (I believe it's better to not announce those the day before; they don't know the weather will be bad!), so maybe I'll get started on the next chapter!