Lovey by Mary MacCracken

Author:Mary MacCracken [MacCracken, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2014-04-09T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

‘Of course we’re going to see Santa Claus,’ I said. ‘Whoever heard of a Christmas without visiting Santa Claus?’

Friday was trip day, and our last trip before vacation was going to be a visit to Santa Claus. I had scouted the various stores and found the one that suited us best, a gentle giant of a kid, home from college, earning some extra money.

I had watched him through the late afternoon and then talked to him on his supper break, explaining about our school, our kids, wanting him to understand that they should be treated like other children, but that they might startle easily or react differently.

‘Can you bring’ em in around twelve o’clock?’ he asked. ‘Store’s pretty empty then, or at least my floor is. I guess the mothers take the kids home for lunch.’

His red hat, white beard, and wig were stashed on a chair beside him, his own blond hair tied back in a ponytail so that it could be stuffed up beneath the Santa Claus hat. He had taken his hamburger out of the bun and was cutting it up and eating it with a fork.

‘A nose like a cherry is one hell of an inconvenience, I wanta tell you.’

‘You do fine,’ I said. ‘I’ll bring the kids in on Friday around noon. There’ll be eight children, my class and another. I haven’t any idea what they’ll ask for Christmas, but whatever it is, act like it’s okay. Don’t give them any big reaction.’

‘Had a kid today, asked for a daddy. His parents had just gotten divorced.’

‘Mm. Well, I don’t know what these kids will say. They may not want to sit on your lap, and that’s okay too. It takes a little longer sometimes for them to get used to being touched.’

‘Hey,’ he said, ‘that doesn’t sound like a bad place to go to school.’

We left at ten, taking two cars. Patty had a station wagon, a volunteer, and her four kids. I had my old convertible and my four. ‘Meet you in the parking lot,’ I called to Patty as we pulled on to the highway.

The shop we were going to, Altman’s, was part of a large suburban shopping centre approximately five miles from school. The lot was crowded with hundreds of cars of all descriptions. We tend to overbuy in suburbia to make up for something, I’m not quite sure what.

I wedged my car in beside someone who’d parked crooked and then helped the kids squeeze out through the narrow space of the half-open door. I located Patty and her group and we headed for our first stop, a toy store. I loved to take the kids here, and they loved to go. Their eyes grew round at the sight of so many toys. They would have stood for hours, had there been time, just watching the electric train run through the make-believe village. This time Rufus and Brian actually took turns holding the train control by themselves – pushing the button that moved the train forward and backward, through tunnels and over bridges.

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