It was a week before Christmas and the entire island of Bermuda was rushing to fit all of the purchasing in before Christmas morning.

You can imagine how hectic the city of Hamilton was at this time.

The spirits of everyone were lifted right off the ground and into Trimingham's, Cooper's and Smith's.

Now, everyone was excited, but not as excited as Freddie the skink. Freddie could not wait until he was able to get out of the ledge he lived in and go Christmas shopping by himself.

He was so unbelievably happy that he had leapt around the rock ledge the past several days.

Freddie ran up to his room. He just couldn't bear it any longer. He prepared himself to go shopping that very evening. Hearing all the excitement, Freddie's father had to do something about it. He immediately dashed upstairs himself, and prepared to have a serious talk with Freddie.

When his father arrived in Freddie's room Freddie was so overjoyed he was about to jump out of his skin. Furthermore, he was not going to listen to a word his father was going to say. After about ten minutes of calming Freddie down, he sat Freddie down on his bed. His father was finally able to talk about the terrible situation that was about to fall upon Freddie.

"Listen Freddie!'' he exclaimed "I hate to tell you this, but I am afraid you can't go Christmas shopping.'' "Why?'' Freddie asked in a shocked voice. His father then told him that his mother had become extinct when she was out shopping alone for the two of them and he didn't want the same thing to happen to Freddie.

Freddie was so upset; he was about to cry. Not just for himself but for his mother too. He didn't know what to say, so listened to his father and stayed home.

The next day Freddie was sitting in his back yard sulking when out of the Bermuda blue sky, a girl ran past him almost crushing his cute little spotted tail completely.

Immediately the girl ran back to see what she'd almost stepped on. The girl noticed that what she almost killed was a Bermuda skink. The girl felt so guilty.

She picked it up and with fear the little skink exclaimed, "Don't hurt me or my father will cry!'' The girl assured the little skink of the fact that she was only trying to help. Before they knew it they were introducing themselves and making friends.

Freddie now understood that the girl's name was Amy and not all two legged creatures were mean and monstrous.

Freddie also told her his problem and right away Amy knew she had to do something about it. Within a few moments Amy had a solution and she exclaimed, "I can! I can take you Christmas shopping!'' Freddie jumped for joy. He couldn't believe what luck he had. That very night Freddie went shopping with Amy and bought a Christmas present for both her and his father. The entire night Amy and Freddie just walked around town. Amy bought chestnuts for the two of them; it was the first time he had ever tried them.

Later Amy took Freddie into one of the stores and asked him what he wanted for Christmas. Freddie didn't have to think about the question at all. He knew what he wanted and had received what he wanted from Amy already. Freddie was taken Christmas shopping! It was indeed a very special gift.

From then on, every year Freddie and Amy go shopping together and every year Freddie tells Amy the same thing - that the only thing he wants for Christmas is to go Christmas shopping with her! SHORT STORY COMPETITION CPN