Hearthside
“You’re here!”
“Well, you want something, don’t you?”
“I do! But I was afraid you wouldn’t come if we kept the fire burning!”
“Nonsense. I always come through fire.”
“That’s what Daddy said. Want a cookie? Mommy and I made them. They’re shaped like you!”
“Like me? I’m touched. Hey! You make me look fat!”
“I guess you’ve lost weight.”
“Well, I’ll just nibble down the belly. Mmmm, delicious! You got the red suit right, but my hooves! I suppose the dough spread while they were baking?”
“Those are boots.”
“Use your eyes, Nate. My feet are cloven.”
“Just like Rudolph! And you’ve got horns too! Are you part reindeer?”
“Goat, but I always suspected my uncle in Siberia –Ummm, yum. These cookies are habit forming. Maybe I will get fat! Anyway, tell me what you want.”
“Shouldn’t I sit on your lap first?”
“Kinky. What do I look like, a priest? No, I’m just after your--“
“I’ll be good!”
“Define ‘good’.”
“That’s up to you.”
“I like it. Go on.”
“I allow you to dictate my morals and behavior, I submit to total surveillance –you see me when I’m sleeping, you know when I’m awake--, and in exchange you give me stuff!”
“What stuff?”
“A puppy.”
“You promise to walk him every day?”
“Yes, Santa.”
“Satan.”
“No. Santa. S-A-N-T-A.”
“Those are the right letters; I won’t over their order. This fat guy has obviously been using my contract! Nate, you got yourself a deal!”
“Merry Christmas, Santa!”
“A broiling Christmas, Nathaniel. I'll give you a baby Cerberus. But only after you wake up. ”
MFC Feeley has written and directed off-Broadway. Her novel “Birdie” was a 2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Quarterfinalist. She is currently at work on a collection of short stories.
