Pages

Friday, December 20, 2019

AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT

Here at Creation Point we have an annual Yuletide offering, a short Christmas tale of mine called "The Truth About Santa Claus": offered annually as a kind of cyber Christmas present. My way of wishing all of you the happiest of holidays and the most magical of Christmases. I offer it again this year—along with three wonderful illustrations by my friend and Augusta Wind collaborator Vassilis Gogtzilas. So grab a plate of Christmas cookies, pull a chair up close to the fireplace and enjoy.

THE TRUTH ABOUT
SANTA CLAUS

“THERE IS NO SANTA CLAUS!”

He’d been thinking about it for days—ever since he heard Big Mouth Jenny Rizzo announce it on the school bus—and he didn’t believe a word of it, not one word.  (Well, maybe ONE.)  But Cody had to be sure, absolutely, positively sure—

—and that’s why he was hiding behind the couch at midnight on Christmas Eve.



His mother was there, asleep in his dad’s old easy chair, the reds and blues of the Christmas tree lights making her look peaceful and happy and impossibly young.

The tree, by the way, had not ONE SINGLE PRESENT underneath it.

That didn’t make sense.  If there WAS no Santa Claus, if his mother was the one who bought the presents, wrapped the presents, stacked them under the tree, then how come she hadn’t done it?  How come she wasn’t awake RIGHT NOW arranging them all?

He got scared.  Maybe there wasn’t going to BE a Christmas this year.  Maybe Mom had lost her job and they didn’t have any money and so she COULDN’T buy him any presents and—

And then Cody glanced over at the windows and noticed that it was snowing.

Or was it?

If that was snow, it was the WHITEST snow he’d ever seen.  It was snow as bright as moonbeams, as bright as sunlight, as bright as...

Stardust.

Quickly, but quietly (he didn’t want to wake his mother), he scurried to the window and looked out.

It was coming down and coming down and COMING DOWN all across town, whirling and whipping, spinning and gyrating, out of the night sky.  Glowing so brightly that it almost hurt his eyes to look at it.  And Cody saw that it certainly wasn’t snow, and it absolutely wasn’t rain, it wasn’t ANYTHING he’d ever seen before.  But each drop, no...each flake, no... each BALL of glowing WHATEVER IT WAS, seemed to pulse and spin, soar and vibrate, as if it were alive.

And the stuff, the magical WHATEVER IT WAS (and he knew now that it was magic.  He just KNEW), wasn’t collecting on the streets, wasn’t piling up on the rooftops.  It was MELTING INTO (that’s the only way he could put it:  MELTING INTO) every house (no matter how small) and apartment building (no matter how big).




EVERY house and apartment building.

EVERY.

He looked up.

And there it was:  coming RIGHT THROUGH THE CEILING of Apartment 3F, HIS apartment, swirling, like a tornado of light, around the chandelier and then down, down, down—

—STRAIGHT FOR HIS MOTHER.

At first he almost yelled out a warning, “Mom!  Wake up!  MOM!”  But something made him stop.

Instead of yelling he ducked back behind the couch and watched, eyes peering over the top.

Watched as the light-tornado wheeled around his mother, so fast, so bright, that he could hardly even SEE her.  But he COULD see her.  Most of her, anyway.

And what he SAW...

The light poured in through the top of her head, through her eyes, through her chest, through her toes.  It lifted her up—still sleeping!—and carried her out of her chair and across the room.  And as she floated—

—she started to change:

Her hair became white, her nose became red, her belly ballooned like the most pregnant woman in the history of the world.  Her feet grew boots, her head grew a hat, her nightgown grew fur.  An overstuffed sack sprouted, like a lumpy angel’s wing, from her shoulder.  And then—

AndthenandthenandTHEN, it wasn’t his mother there at all, it was him, it was SANTA CLAUS!  STANDING RIGHT THERE IN CODY’S LIVING ROOM!  Santa Claus who, with a laugh (exactly like the laugh Cody always knew he had, only better) and a twinkle in his eyes (exactly like the twinkle he’d always imagined, ONLY BETTER) reached into his sack and pulled out package after package, present after present, and placed them, carefully, like some  Great Artist contemplating his masterpiece, under the tree.

When he was done, Santa Claus stood there, grinning and shaking his head, as if he couldn’t BELIEVE what a beautiful tree this was, how wonderful the presents looked beneath it.  As if this moment was the greatest moment in the history of Christmas, as if this apartment was the only place in all the universes that such a Christmas could ever POSSIBLY happen.

And then the MOST amazing thing happened:

Santa Claus turned.

He turned slowly.  So slowly Cody couldn’t even tell at first that he was moving at all.  And—slowly, SLOWLY—those twinkling eyes, that Smile of smiles, fixed itself on the two boy-eyes peering, in wonder, over the top of the couch.


And what Cody felt then he could never really say:  only that it was better than any present anyone could ever get.  Only that it made his heart so warm it melted like magical WHATEVER IT WAS, trickling down through his whole body.  Only that it made him want to reach out his arms and hug Santa Claus, hug his mother, hug his father (and FORGIVE him too, for running out on them) and his aunts and uncles and cousins (even his Cousin Erskine who was SUCH a pain) and Big Mouth Jenny Rizzo (who really wasn’t so bad most of the time) and all his  friends and teachers and the kid in his karate class who always smelled SO BAD and, embarrassing as it sounds, it made him want to hug everyone and everything in the whole world including rabbits and snakes and trees and lizards and grass and lions and mountains and, yes, the EARTH HERSELF.

Cody wanted to hold that gaze, to keep his eyes locked on Santa’s, forever. (Or longer, if he could.)  Wanted to swim in that incredible feeling, drown in it, till GOD HIMSELF came down to say:  “Enough!”

Except that he blinked.  Just once.  But in that wink of an eye, Santa was gone.  Cody’s mother was asleep in the chair again and, for one terrible moment, the boy thought that the whole thing must have been a dream.

Except, under the tree:  THERE WERE THE PRESENTS.

Except, out the window:  THERE WAS THE SNOW, the rain, the magical WHATEVER IT WAS, shooting up, like a blizzard in reverse, from every house, every apartment building.  Shooting up into the heavens, gathering together like a fireball, like a white-hot comet—

—and fading away into the night:  going, going...

Gone.

Without so much as a tinkling sleigh-bell or a “Ho-ho-ho.”

Not that it mattered.

Cody looked at his mom.

Cody kissed her.

“I love you,” he said.  And he was crying.  Happy tears.  Christmas tears.  Like moonbeams, like sunlight.  Like stardust.

Mom stirred in the chair, smiled the softest sweetest smile Cody had ever seen. “I love you, too,” she said.

And then she drifted back to sleep.

Cody sat at her feet, warming himself, warming his SOUL, by the lights of the tree.

And soon, he, too, was drifting off to sleep.  And as he drifted, a wonderful thought rose up, like a balloon, inside him.  Rose, then POPPED—spreading the thought to every corner of his mind.  Giving him great comfort.  Great delight:

“One day,” the thought whispered, “when you’re all grown-up, when you have children of your own.  ONE DAY,” the thought went on...

“It will be YOUR TURN.”

Merry Christmas.

Story ©copyright 2019 J.M. DeMatteis
Art ©copyright 2019 Vassilis Gogtzilas

13 comments:

  1. Dematteis, there is no such thing as Vassilis Gogtzilas. We go through this every year.

    Jack

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, yeah? Then who's the guy who brings me presents every Christmas?

      Delete
    2. Dave Shadowski.

      Jack

      Delete
  2. Lest people think that Christmas is the only holiday celebrated this week, here is a nice song about Hanukkah.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEIGzcjJ62I

    But, if you can't let Hanukkah have its own day, just remember... Len Wein co-wrote a story where Superman teamed up with Santa Clause. IN the 80s.

    Why? Because, if there is one thing I have learned in reading comics, Superman comics after the Golden Age but before Crisis were really just a place where rules had no place.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Happy Hanukkah, Jack! And to everyone else out there celebrating the festival of lights!

    ReplyDelete
  4. https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/DC_Comics_Presents_Vol_1_67

    Jack

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I told you Dematteis, there were no rules then. Or, real continuity.

      There are times reading that era's comics that it can be frustrating or even annoying. HOWEVER, concepts like that make it all worth while.

      ON a related note, I always thought Superman should celebrate all holidays.

      I believe it has been stated that Clark was raised in a protestant church, Methodist if I remember correctly.

      Sure, maybe Clark Kent just celebrates Christmas. However, as a character who loves humanity as much as Supes, who is accepted and claimed by all people, who represents all people... maybe it makes sense for him to embrace all traditions.

      Perhaps that is the best way for him to live up to, "The American Way."

      Why not a story where Clark has a traditional Christmas with Lois, Ma, and Pa, then as Superman goes to a Menorah lighting, a mosque for Ramadan, celebrates Tet, and of course Kwanzaa (A holiday with American roots, its perfect). Even a secular Christmas celebration.

      Just a thought.

      Jack

      Jack

      Delete
    2. I agree with you, Jack. I would think Superman would celebrate all traditions. And that would make for a beautiful story.

      Delete
    3. Especially if you make a difference between Clark Kent and Superman.


      Clark the man celebrates a small intimate holiday with his family and party with co-workers. Then Superman the champion of Mankind would want to experience and praise each.

      There is something that happens with adopted children sometimes, where they throw themselves into their adoptive culture. This is especially the case if they are unable to experience their natural heritage.

      I have always believed that is why he lives in Metropolis and lives among the people. He dived head first into learning about humanity and grew to love it.

      Where better to experience all the facets of humanity than a large U.S. city? Even if it is Cleveland (which is where Metropolis was ORIGINALLY based on, and Supes lived for his first 16 appearances).


      Jack

      Delete
    4. I dont think I ever knew that those early stories took place in Cleveland. Or if I did, I've forgotten! Fascinating!

      Delete
  5. I think I love this story more every year. Thanks, as always, for posting, and merry Christmas!

    --David

    ReplyDelete