(Christmas short story)

On Christmas Eve, Alex, a 57 year-old man, with short gray hair and a worn-out  figure, having vivid eyes and a sprightly Santa Claus costume, walked with a big bag of gifts on his shoulder, along an icy river embankment sparkled with silvery snow and decorated with colorful crowns, circles and coronets.

While looking at the celebratory clothed crowd, his eyes stopped suddenly at a young buxom brunette girl standing at metallic handrails and sobbing sadly. There was such an impression that she was ready to nosedive in the frosty water to turn into a mermaid to see nobody from the festively flinging folks.

Alex approached the well figured girl, turned his eyes in the same direction, where young lady looked at and pronounced with compassion, “Your ‘one and only’ did not come, I see.”

The heavy-hearted girl turned her head sharply and affirmed aggressively, “What can you see, Oldie Not Goldie, not knowing even my name?”

Alex smiled with the corners of lips, “I see that you like swimming and dream about going yachting. As for your name, you are Anna…Yeah, Anna…Undoubtedly.”

The bewildered brunette stopped sniveling and stared at her flashed-from-nowhere companion not knowing what to say, “How?”

“I am Santa Claus, and I know everything not only about toys for tots…”

“I`ve been standing here for an hour seeing a dozen of Santas rushing here and there with red sacks behind their backs,” Anna glanced with a grain of salt.

“OK. I will spell it out to you just only if you tell me about the reason of your tears…” Alex pulled a Christmas candy cane out of his pocket offering it to a young woman.

“Why not,” Anna chilled out and fixed her eyes faraway once again, “I look at myself in the mirror and cant understand it…Why dont I have a boyfriend? For almost two years I have been studying here…What is wrong?”

“In this world, there`s someone for everyone, you time will come. Why should you get disappointed?”

“Nevertheless…”

“OK. In this case, answer my question, please, ‘Do you need love for…entertainment or for marriage?’ ”

Anna sank into her thoughts, “Marriage is the better variant, I want to get healthy and happy kids from a happy and healthy father, living in our own private house with a mope-headed dog and a cute cat…”

“Good idea, but you are just only 20…” Santa touched his nape.

“I don`t want to make my career till 35 years and then to be treated from infertility,” the eyes of Anna flashed with flickers of fury.

“I got it,” ‘Santa’ cleared his throat and kept on, “Could you show me your social media photos?”

After a minute of hesitation, Anna touched the screen of her smartphone, offering her profile with a smorgasbord of stylish snaps: a smiling face of a swimming champ; a victory gesture at some students` pro competition; the flashy view in a foxy fur coat… fashionable dress…beaut bikini…

After scrolling a dozen of dazzling photos, Alex snapped his fingers and said, “Stop. That`s enough.”  In a while he continued, “Fortunately or unfortunately, my time is limited today, I have  a lot of…invitations tonight, but briefly speaking,  I guess that your problem is on the surface…Do you mind if I would be a bit straightforward now?”

“Surely, I am all ears,” young brunette got concentrated as if she listened to a University Professor.

“You always want to show how snazzy and snappy you are, paying more attention to your attractive appearance than…” Alex made a pause.

“Than?!” Anna was getting embarrassed.

“Your soul…”

“Soul? What do you mean, Oldie Not Goldie? The 1970s as well as the 1980s sank into oblivion. Snap out, Dedo. Check out the calendar! We live in twenty-twenties – the time of Tik-Tok and Live Streams…The world has changed rapidly and you in a slapstick Santa Claus suit even did not notice it,” Anna smirked with contempt.

“YOU were standing and sniveling here not ME…” Alex tried to take his scarlet sack with gifts for kids on the shoulder to go way…

“Oh no, do forgive me. ‘Santa Nick-Nikolas.’ Could you clarify what you mean?” Anna grabbed the sleeve of Alex.’

“Thats simple as a spade. Among your ‘peachy’ photos I noticed a lot of blogging texts about ‘the love to yourself. Surely, it is a trendy topic now; however, everything is good in moderation. Maybe I sound old-fashioned, but I think that in all times too much love to you leads to egoism and narcissism. The old saying from the New Testament asserts, ‘For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged…” By the way, I do recommend you not to forget the old joke too, ‘Why dont crawdads celebrate Christmas? Yeah, they are too shell-fish!’ So, I think that the larger part of men fishing for wives has nothing against amazing and appealing appearance of their sweeties. It is a prodigious plus, but at the bottom of their hearts they seek sincere soul mates with a mix of caring hands, cheery laugher and sparkles of love and eternal enigmas…”

“Youd like to say that these big mommys boys seek the second pair of caring hands taking after the hands of their mothers, right?”  Anna smized playfully.

“Surely, not all of them, but if you say ‘the majority,’ you would not be wrong. Besides, you are completely right while using ‘taking after’ instead of ‘looking like.’ It begs the question, ‘Can you cook like your mother or the mommy of your future honey bear?’”

The young brunette shook her head showing, “No.”

“Can you carry on a conversation close to the interests of your future ‘flame’?”

Ann shook her head once again, “Frankly speaking, I always thought that my guy should be stunned by me and think just only about my whims and trims…”

“Can you penetrate deeply into ‘his’ thoughts and to support ‘him’ even in the time of trouble?” Alex squinted his spry eyes.

After a long pause, Anna squeezed out, “No…In any case, it could take a lot of time to reload myself…”

“Don`t worry, be happy…”

“In every life we have some trouble and when you worry you make it double. Ooh, ooh, ooh! Bob Marley,” Anna mimicked the voice of Alex.

“Sounds good, you have an actress`s talent…I just wanted to say that you have a long life ahead of you. By the way, one idea just flashed in my mind. Would you like to help me as a Christmas elf, Snow Maiden, or Rudolph Reindeer? I have a lot of orders these holidays. On the one hand, you could get 30% of total earnings, on the other hand, you would be treated like the dearest guest and see a dozen of young and old dudes in their family circles, relaxed and rollicking…”

On reflection, Anna crossed her fingers, “That is the dillio, I will be Snow Maiden, for a Christmas elf Im too tall, as for a Rudolph…<em> </em>I dont have a red nose. Though, there is one condition! ”

“What do you mean?” ‘Santa’ got interested.

“You promised to tell me how you had figured out my name, together with my swimming past and my yachting future?” Anna came to life and made a butterfly movement with her arms.

“Ouch! It is simple as ABC. Firstly, while sobbing here, you looked at a lonely yacht moored at the opposite riverbank. Secondly, you have too wide shoulders for a young lady, and that is the sign of professional swimmers. Thirdly, your woolen mittens are decorated not only with snowflakes but also with the word ‘Anna’.” Alex smiled and snapped his fingers, looking at a dizzy girl who got lost in her thoughts not knowing what to say.

After throwing his scarlet sack on his shoulder, he exclaimed with enthusiasm, “Our first goal is the Polishchuk family having three kids, four teenagers, five young adults, one grandpa and two grandmas…Let`s go!”

Anna clapped her hands and shouted, “Go-go-go!” Suddenly, the whole world changed its colors, filling Anna with zappy mood and Christmas spirit. “Go-go-go! Tonight, I will be Rudolph Reindeer, an elf from the North Pole and Snow Maiden rolled into one person!”

Together with ‘Santa Claus’ she mingled with a festive flood of folks singing and studying the Christmas carols for the Polyshsnuk, the Kovbas and other families they arranged to amuse this Christmas and the whole holiday season…

***

On February 14, being up to ears in his daily routine projects and common chores, Alex got a sudden SMS message,

“Thanks God for Christmas! Long Live Santa Claus! After the breathtaking fight for my hand and heart between Peter Polyshchuk and Nick Kovbas, I chose Nick! He is so lovely! The wedding is in two weeks, Alex, you are among our guests!

Sincerely, Anna. ”