His beard was completely white.
Children often stared at him in grocery stores.
Some parents pulled their children closer.
Bear had learned not to take it personally.
Tonight, he had stopped at the lonely gas station to fill his tank before finishing his Christmas Eve ride.
He carried a paper cup of hot coffee.
His motorcycle waited beneath the canopy.
For Bear, it was supposed to be an ordinary stop.
Then he noticed three men beside a pickup truck.
They were drunk.
One carried a baseball bat.
Bear recognized the type immediately.
Men who laughed too loudly.
Men who believed intimidation was strength.
Men who thought every place belonged to whoever was willing to be cruelest.
Bear gave them a polite nod.
He had learned long ago that not every challenge needed an answer.
Unfortunately, those men were looking for one.
The Bat
The accident was almost meaningless.
A gust of wind caught Bear's coffee cup.
Hot coffee splashed onto one man's boot.
Barely anything.
It didn't even burn him.
But the man's face changed.
He stared at the brown stain on his leather boot.
His friends laughed.
The laughter made him angrier.
"You think that's funny, old man?"
Bear raised one hand.
"Sorry. Didn't mean—"
The first shove interrupted him.
Then another.
His boots slipped on the ice.
He fell backward.
His Harley crashed onto its side, trapping his leg beneath it.
Pain exploded through his hip.
Bear tried to move.
He couldn't.
The man with the bat walked toward him.
Slowly.
The bat rose.
Bear stared up at him.
There was no mercy in the man's eyes.
Behind the vending machine, Daisy watched.
She knew what came next.
She should have stayed hidden.
Every survival instinct told her to stay where she was.
But then she looked at Bear.
White beard.
Old face.
Snow in his hair.
And suddenly, Daisy saw something completely different.
Santa.
She didn't know why.
She didn't know where the thought came from.
She only knew one thing.
They were going to hurt Santa.
And she couldn't let them.
"Don't Hurt Santa"
Daisy ran.
Her bare feet slipped across the snow.
Her teddy bear bounced against her side.
Before anyone could understand what was happening, she threw herself over Bear's chest.
She spread her tiny body across him.
The man with the bat froze.
Bear stared at her in disbelief.