The leafless trees are dark against a pale blue sky
Men down in the city are raging
About crowds, costs, and consumption
Christmas is in bloom
The town and everything in it are colored red and green
Red poinsettia leaves are dangling from the ceiling at someone’s office
It’s a holiday party
The greasy creep in the corner is sipping egg nog and eyeing the mistletoe
Messy hair, crinkled eyes
His tie is too short, his shirt is too tight
Tan polyester pants
Just like when he went to prom in that suit so many years ago
They laughed at him
He had told his mother that he wanted a tuxedo like everyone else
But she was annoyingly practical
“This way, you can wear it again and again…”
Now it hangs in a closet untouched
It will live longer than he will
And he watches the woman of his dreams as she nonchalantly shuffles over to be under the mistletoe
Her name is Galaxy, and she’s the life of the party, the life of everything
His heart runs faster
He digs in his pocket for a breath mint and pops it
He starts to walk over to where she stands
It feels like he’s forcing himself through water
His head is swimming, his soul is racing
And when he gets to her, she smiles at him
“Hi, Dale,” she says. “Are you enjoying the Christmas party?”
Her teeth are so white, he thinks
And then he does it
He kisses her
Fast and sloppy
Her mouth tastes like Christmas cheer
Galaxy makes a face of disgust
“Ew! What are you doing!?”
Dale points up
“You’re standing under the mistletoe. That means you get kissed. It’s a tradition.”
A small crowd gathers
Murmurs and looks
Dale’s mouth goes dry
Then it comes
The slap
“Don’t ever come near me again!” Galaxy screams at him. “Pig!”
Everyone begins to laugh and clap
And as Dale looks at them all making fun of him, they have pig heads
He runs to the employee restroom
There’s a yellow water hazard cone on the floor for seemingly no reason
Perhaps the janitor has just finished mopping
But he’s at the party
And Dale wonders why
He looks into the mirror over the sinks
He has a pig head just like the others
He tries to tear it off
He pounds his fists and screams in frustration
“I’m making my lunch!”
He goes to a stall
Sits down on the toilet
And starts to cry
The janitor is kissing her beneath the mistletoe
His name is Joe
He’s old and gray
Joe opens one eye when he feels Dale watching him kissing his crush
Galaxy seems to really be into it
Dale’s heart explodes
He finds his jacket and slips it on
It’s cold outside and he can see his own breath
Red neon reflects in the snow
It all looks like spilled blood, he thinks as he starts out
A long, lonely walk to a lonely apartment with stacks of aquariums filled with lonely snakes
Home, where life begins and ends
He lies in his bed and stares at the ceiling
The voices in his head are all talking at once
Some are whispers, some are screams
The bodies are floating all over the room
Like light projections from Neverland
The spirits are all there
They are dancing everywhere
cereal after sex 
Your thoughts?