The Terrible Twos by Ishmael Reed

Author:Ishmael Reed
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 1982-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

21

Zumwalt, Jack Frost, and Zumwalt’s bodyguards, the Floorwalkers, sit in S.C.’s old suite. They have plenty of ice. Jack Frost is drinking whiskey and getting meaner by the minute. The TV picture comes on. There are thousands of people in Times Square, curious about what S.C. is going to lay down. A big cheer goes up. They switched to the studio. “What’s that, Sandour…?” Realizing that she was on camera, the woman started to speak.

This is billed as a major speech. By Santa Claus. He’s now climbing the steps and is approaching his seat on the platform, acknowledging the cheers of the crowd. He is followed by a little black bellboy from the hotel, who is carrying his bags. The Mayor is here to introduce him. This is a very fine moment for the Mayor. Yesterday he rode beside S.C. as he greeted him as he arrived from “Spain,” the hacienda owned by a department store magnate. Santa is approaching the speaker’s stand.

There’s a motley crowd here. Chickens and hustlers from Times Square. Jook Sing gangs from Chinatown, El Barrio, and Harlem. For some reason, this Santa has been able to attract much of the city’s hoodlum element. Low riders, Joe Boys, Yangs, Fugis, and a number of blue-and purple-haired young women who have gotten themselves up in lavender mascara and rouge, some of them are wearing Mohawk haircuts, and there seems to be a lot of gum-chewing going on. The governor is already on the stand. And now, ladies and gentlemen, the introduction of Santa far his Times Square speech which officially gets the Christmas season going. Usually this speech is made by Oswald Zumwalt, but this year, for some reason, Santa is making the speech himself, no longer confined to Ho Ho Ho. Santa Claus is the only major public figure who doesn’t have to sneak around the country like a thief. As anarchist groups grow in the United States, attacks on public officials have increased. And now, the Mayor of New York, Kevin Grouch.

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