Uneasy Lies the Cap...Cont'd

they usually want answers. Sometimes they even expect miracles from me."

"But you do miracles, don't you...?" I asked, growing even more wary.

"Oh no-no, no-no, no-no! I only do magic...!" proclaimed the giant round red figure. "Like this..."

He removed his two suspenders with their gleaming brass clips and handed them to me. Their sheer weight surprised me, as they seemed to feel far heavier than they appeared. Confounded, I looked to see his warm eyes shimmering like water in a summer breeze.

"Your cables, sir!" he butlered, "I trust you shall return them soon, lest I find myself uncovered." Santa directed his eyes to my hands. The suspenders had become jumper cables with gleaming brass clips.

"But how...?" I trailed off, lost in wonderment. "It really is you, Santa!"

And when I spoke his name, it began to echo in voices that were not my own, becoming as if a spoken choir. A low rumble creaked every floorboard simultaneously. The once tiny den turned enormous and brilliant as the T.V. was transformed into roaring fire. And thousands upon thousands of faces appeared from the darkness.

"Yes, John, I am Santa Claus" specified the Santa of note, "And these are a few of the other Santas". His hand swept the panorama of remarkably different forms and attires. Men, women, children and animals alike. Young, old and from all walks. "Don't look so surprised, son; you always knew. We are the spirit of hope, and I am only one of its many, many faces."

The room dimmed once again, and fire flickered in form back to the rounded rectangle of a T.V. set. Once again we were standing in a den. "Sit, please...", he said, directing me to one of the two big chairs facing the old wooden floor-model television.

We sat, me with cables draped timorously across my outstretched hands, and Santa with knowing resignation. "You want to know more about me" he sighed silently, avoiding detection. "What makes me so jolly and all that..."  

I nodded with innocent appeal, only to witness a great sadness approach his face from within.  He was struggling with the unseen enemy of his 

...continued... 

Uneasy Lies the Cap  Back  1  2  3  4  5  6  Next

Jaywalker December 2003

Home