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By this point we were looking for the homebrew bar where we would rendezvous with a larger group of Santas. Gespacho was on the mic warning the gaping passersby: "Please, do not feed the Santas...."
It took us awhile to find the bar, and en route we got lost in a full-on residential neighborhood. One Santa walked onto a house's lawn and plucked an orange right off a tree, with the resident watching from behind a window, obviously unhappy with the plundering but not wanting to confront this strange procession passing before her. Then I heard the rumble of a large group of Santas from a block off, and I could smell the alcohol from a half a block, and then we made visual contact with the horde of frolicsome Santas. We went in the bar for some much-needed spirits and exchanged our Ho's. I'd say we were 60 Santas strong at this point. We nurtured our good cheer until one Santa produced the next step in the itinerary: Cupertino, home of Apple Computer. She passed out xeroxes of the recommended route. The increasingly merry Santa horde departed.
Santa rarely travels without their Men in Black, who use their two-way radios to communicate with each other and (it is rumored) the trailing black helicopters, and they use their police scanners to look out for Santa's best interests. The theory is that if trouble should arise, Santa will have a jump on the trouble. In the off season they're the ones who keep track of who's been naughty or nice; Santa doesn't do any of that stuff himself anymore. These guys turned out to be really useful later on. Above see one of the few examples of Santa's Men in Black caught on film.
Click it.
