Story by Roger Dean Kiser (Author)
I was very excited and I was smiling from ear to ear. It was several days before Christmas and all of we children from the Children’s Home Society Orphanage had been loaded in several large buses. We were being taken to the Mayflower Hotel in downtown Jacksonville, Florida to attend a Christmas party for under privileged kids.
We stood behind our assigned seats until the man on the stage said a prayer. Then he told everyone to sit down. Within minutes we were served a meal which was fit for a king. We were served our meals on glass plates. Plates filled with large pieces of meat and lots of green vegetables. There were two big puffy rolls, with real butter, on a small dish beside each and every plate. I ate until I could eat no more. I remember thinking how nice it would be to eat that kind of food every day. How wonderful it would be to go to bed at night without my stomach hurting.
As we ate there were people performing some type of a Christmas play up on the large platform. All at once the lights dimmed and everyone became quiet. When the lights were turned back up Santa Clause came walking out onto the stage. The kids went wild with excitement. Everyone began clapping their hands and yelling as loud as they could. I too was excited inside but I knew better than to yell out loud or to jump up and scream. Mrs. Winters, the head matron, sat only three seats from me. She had made it very clear to everyone that we were to conduct ourselves in “a proper manner” and that there was to be “no yelling or screaming”. So I just sat there with my hands underneath my legs. But I sure wanted to yell out ‘cause I was real happy inside.
One orphanage at a time was led up onto the stage and each kid was handed a gift by Santa Clause himself. “Please let me get a large gift” I kept saying to myself. As the line became shorter and shorter my turn finally came. Santa looked at me. He smiled and then he winked at me. Then he reached over and he handed me a large box which had two gold ribbons on it. As I leaned to take the box I tripped and I fell to my knees. Santa reached over and he helped me to my feet.
“Move it along Kiser.” Yelled out Mrs. Winters.
I was now leaning against Santa Clauses leg and I was looking directly into his eyes. His face was less than an inch from mine.
“Can I hug you Santa?” I asked him.
The next thing I knew Mrs. Winters had snatched me up by my shirt collar and was pulling me away from the line of children. Santa stood up and he raised his hand into the air and he yelled out: “MA’AM, PLEASE. THESE ARE LITTLE CHILDREN.”
Mrs. Winters never even looked back. She just kept on walking and pushing me down the stairs which led back into the eating area. I sat down in my chair and I just sat there crying. Once in a while I would look up at the stage to see if my gift was still sitting by Santa Clause.
When the party was over we kids were herded back to our busses. We all lined up waiting to board.
“HO, HO, HO” I heard coming from behind me.
As I turned around there stood Santa Clause holding my large box. He sat the box down on the ground beside me. Then he knelt down and he hugged my neck as hard as he could.
“Am I a children?” I whispered to him.
“You’re a good children.” He said, as he let go of my neck.
When I looked up into his face I saw something that no one else in the world has ever seen. I saw that Santa himself had been crying.
To know more about the Author: The Books and Stories of Roger Dean Kiser
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