Editor’s note: This is Chapter 6 of a 12-part fictional Christmas tale. Parents are encouraged to read aloud with their children.

“Well, it sounds like you two sure brightened up her holiday,” Mr. Hinkly said the next afternoon as Anna and Tyler filled him in on what they’d done for Mrs. Campbell.

“I hope so,” Anna said. She couldn’t help fidgeting in her seat, shooting glances back toward the storeroom. Mr. Hinkly smiled.

“Go on,” he said. “Find out where your next adventure will be taking you.”

Anna and Tyler rushed back to the storeroom, but at the door Anna abruptly stopped.

“Oof,” Tyler said, running into her. “What’s wrong?”

“I just got nervous,” she said. “What if the door isn’t there anymore?”

“It will be.” Tyler grinned at her, and Anna couldn’t help smiling back. She let out a breath, then stepped into the storeroom.

All of her nerves melted away at the sight of the fancy black door, looking even more magical than she remembered. With an excited look at each other, they knocked on the door. A moment later, it slowly swung open, and they stepped through.

“Whoa,” Anna whispered, blinking as she took in the sight before her. They were in the middle of a store decorated for the holidays, and she recognized it as Rigby’s, a department store downtown.

The store was bustling with activity, with shoppers crowding every aisle, and at first Anna didn’t know who to focus on. Then a little girl caught her eye, one with familiar curly pigtails who was carrying a small stuffed dog.

“That’s Rosie Perkins,” Anna said to Tyler. “She’s in my mom’s kindergarten class.”

They watched the little girl clutch her mother’s hand as they walked through the aisles, filling their cart as they went.

“Look, Mommy!” Rosie exclaimed. She knelt down and set her stuffed animal down on the shelf so she could grab a box almost as big as she was. “It’s Baby Bo Beep! I need her, Mommy!”

Her mom smiled, kneeling down next to Rosie. “Well sweetie, you have to make sure to tell Santa when we visit him tomorrow. Maybe it’ll be waiting for you under the tree on Christmas morning.”

The little girl whined a bit but put the box back on the shelf. Her mom picked her up and put her in the cart as they continued their shopping.

“Uh-oh,” Anna said, seeing the well-loved stuffed dog sitting on the shelf. Her eyes widened as one of the store’s workers stopped a dolly in the aisle and quickly unloaded a new batch of dolls onto the shelf, unknowingly shoving the small dog out of sight behind a few of the boxes.

The scene suddenly changed, like someone had switched the channel on a TV. It was disorienting, and Anna blinked at the sudden sight of Rosie and her mom at the customer service counter.

“I’m sorry,” the woman behind the counter was saying. “It’s not in our lost and found. We can contact you if it turns up, though,” she said with a sympathetic smile at a distraught Rosie.

“But I need Scruffy,” Rosie wailed, fat tears falling down her cheeks. “I can’t sleep without Scruffy, I need him!”

Anna didn’t need to watch a second longer. She grabbed Tyler’s hand and pulled him with her back through the door. They watched it swing shut behind them, and in a blink it was once again a standard wooden closet door.

“That will never stop being freaky,” Tyler said, shaking his head.

Anna agreed; though she’d accepted what was happening and believed it to be wondrous and magical, it was still something that was only supposed to happen in fantasy movies and stories. Magical doorways weren’t supposed to be real, and it struck her just how lucky she and Tyler were to be a part of something like this.

“Freaky — and amazing,” she said with a grin. “Come on. We know where we need to go!”

Read Chapter 7 in Tuesday’s newspaper.