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Shorts
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| The magic of christmas | |
| By TRACEYshep1 | ||||||||||
| 11 February 2007 | ||||||||||
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This is a short story I submitted to a womans magazine. It was rejected, but I still like it. Thought I'd put something on the site as I'm still new. Hope you enjoy, and provide constructive critcism on this piece. The Magic of Christmas. ‘I don’t believe in Father Christmas anymore.’ The statement came from out of the blue, and although she knew it would come sooner or later, Maureen froze, then carefully placed a plate in the drainer. ‘Why do you say that?’ she asked her seven-year-old daughter. Penny carried on colouring, her pretty face a picture of concentration, then, ‘I’ve been thinking.’ ‘About Father Christmas?’ Maureen tried to sound casual as she continued washing up. ‘How can he deliver to the whole wide world in only one night?’ Penny asked, looking up from her drawing with huge brown innocent eyes. ‘Well, he doesn’t do it alone. He gets help from friends,’ replied Maureen, soapsuds dripping, as she turned to face her daughter. ‘Not even reindeers are that fast. Mrs Willow said in class that cheetahs are the fastest animals.’ ‘Well he has other helpers, like the elves. At Christmas all sorts of strange and wonderful things can happen.’ ‘I suppose,’ Penny thoughtfully said. ‘And besides, if you don’t believe than you won’t receive.’ Pleased with her quick retort Maureen resumed the washing up. For a few minutes all that could be heard was the scratching of felt-tip pen and the splash of water. ‘But, how does he get down our roof? We haven’t got a fireplace.’ Maureen smiled, looking at the blocked up fireplace; a job Marty, her husband had undertaken one Sunday. ‘That’s quite enough questions for one night young lady,’ she said. ‘It’s well past your bedtime.’ ‘I want to see Daddy. He’s usually home before I go to bed. Perhaps he’s coming home by sleigh with all my presents,’ she replied cheekily. ‘Yes, he is usually home by now isn’t he,’ Maureen muttered, looking out of the window. ‘Is it still snowing?’ Penny asked, running to join her mother. ‘I mean if Santa exists, won’t he have trouble with an old sleigh? About time he invested in one of those jeeps Daddy likes driving.’ ‘Bed!’ Maureen ordered pointing upstairs. ‘Just let me see if I can see Santa flying through the air in his magical sleigh.’ But head pressed to the glass all she could see was a white blanket of snow, and stars glowing like fairy lights. ‘Now then, it’s time for bed young lady,’ Maureen said, trying to drag Penny away from the window. ‘Mum, there’s someone out there!’ Penny screamed, arms and legs flaying. ‘Don’t be stupid. No one would be out in our garden in this kind of weather.’ ‘I tell you I saw someone. It looked like an old man with a beard,’ she said adamantly. ‘Penny, you’re getting your imagination get carried away with you. All this talk is making you see things, and prolonging your bedtime in the bargain.’ But Penny wasn’t listening. ‘There he is again,’ she said pointing. Squinting, Maureen had to admit there was a figure moving in the garden. But was it Marty? ‘I bet its Daddy dressed up like Santa,’ Penny exclaimed. ‘Thinking he can trick me.’ Grabbing her coat she made for the back door. ‘Where do you think you’re going, young lady?’ ‘To show you I’m a big girl now and the only Father Christmas that exist are grown-ups dressed up!’ But as Penny reached the door it flew opened catapulting Marty and a whirlwind of snowflakes into the kitchen. ‘Daddy!’ Penny cried, throwing her arms around him. Shivering, Marty stood in the doorway, the melting snow soaking his jeans. ‘What’s the matter sweetheart?’ he soothed. ‘There’s someone in the garden,’ Maureen explained. ‘She thought it was you dressed as Father Christmas.’ ‘Well I’m here, so it must be Father Christmas mustn’t it sweetheart? Lets go and find out shall we?’ Quickly, Maureen threw on a coat as she followed Penny and her husband out into the cold December night. Their feet made no sound as they slide along the fresh coating of powdered snow. Then emerging from the shadows of the shed the figure appeared. Penny gasped as she saw the huge man layered in a cloak of red and white. ‘What are you doing in my garden?’ asked Marty, striding up to the stranger. ‘Don’t you recognize Santa when you see him?’ asked the stranger. ‘Santa isn’t real, he’s someone made up by grown-ups for children,’ said Penny, staring up the figure before her. ‘But I’ve got a red cloak, a sack of presents and a snow-white beard,’ he said, bending down. ‘That’s just a make believe beard,’ said Penny, tugging at the stranger’s silvery hair. ‘Ah, that’s painful. I won’t be delivering to your house if your not good,’ the stranger said, gently removing her hand. ‘But where’s your sleigh, and the reindeers?’ asked Penny. ‘Ah, they’re parked down the road. I don’t want them to disturb any little children. Rudolph can make a horrid snorting when he’s tired.’ ‘But I’m a big girl,’ she said, standing on tiptoe. ‘So you are Penny, and that’s why I’m bringing you a big girl’s present all the way from my grotto.’ ‘What is it?’ she demanded. But he had already disappeared round the back of the shed. When Maureen gave her husband a strange look, he just shrugged. Penny gasped when she saw her present. Covered in bright glittery paper, complete with sparkly bows of gold on its handlebars, a mountain bike slowly emerged out of the shadows. ‘It’s a bike. A proper mountain bike, for grown ups,’ Penny gasped. ‘Now then young lady you can have this present on one condition.’ ‘I’ll do whatever you want,’ she said, rubbing her hands down the gleaming frame of her bike. ‘Just remember that I do exist. Christmas is a magical time, and without me to deliver your present it would be so boring.’ Speechless Penny merely nodded. ‘I’ve got to go now and deliver to all the other children. See you next year,’ he said. Holding her parent’s hands Penny watched as the figure of Santa melted into the night. ‘Who was that?’ Maureen whispered to Marty. Seeing that Penny was engrossed with her bike, Marty pointed down the road. Peering through the falling snow Maureen saw not a sleigh but a van, ‘Bikes 4 U’ written across the back door. With the magic of Christmas, it did look like a big white sleigh with its coloured twinkling lights.
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