convinces Mack that he’s not a Scrooge and deserves a chance.

I’m sharing an exclusive excerpt from the book here. In this
scene, Gabe been assigned to write about a Christmas charity dinner for the
local newspaper. He’s trying to find an interesting angle on what seems like a completely
boring story. He’s about given up hope of the story until he learns one unusual
fact….

EXCERPT
– Mystery Santa

The Elks Lodge in Madison was a few blocks away from the
capitol on Lake Monona. It was a two-story white building with huge windows, a
beat-up parking lot, and a dock out back. Like a lot of Madison, Wisconsin, it
was a mix of an awesome natural setting with a Midwest 70s plain-ass building.
It was November 30th, the day was chilly and gray, and that made me allthe
more aware of how time was slipping away from me this semester, and how close
the end of the year was.

Walter Stickle was the Elk in charge of the charity dinner,
and he was about what I expected. He looked to be in his 80s with a bald head,
fragile build, plaid shirt, old-man trousers, and too-white tennis shoes. But
he was jovial as he shuffled ahead of me into a big hall. The room had
rust-colored carpet, wood paneling on one wall, a small raised stage, an
American flag on a stand, chairs stacked to the side, and big banquet tables.
It was clean but drab and uninspired, a church meeting hall sort of space. The
sole redeeming factor was that one whole wall was glass and overlooked the
lake. The lapping water was beautiful even