It had been weeks since Sugar and Ginger had offered me the job of Santa. They’d left in a hurry, promising to come back to bring me ’home’. They’d strongly suggested I inform my family, friends, and work (of course) that I’d be unavailable for the next year, but I had yet to find the words to do so. Of course, so much time had passed now, it didn’t seem real anymore. Perhaps it had all been a ridiculous dream.
I readied to get out the front door, already late for work, when I heard honking out in the street. Now, my street is rarely quiet. I don’t live in a nice, well put together, family oriented cul-de-sac, with neighbors who all help one other and bake each other casseroles during hard times. Think more like New York city in the eighties. Almost every sound you hear makes you worry you’re about to be robbed. Except for Jude, the weird guy that can always be found around, but no one has a clue where he lives.
Anyway, though honking is a normal sound on my street, this honking was obnoxious as all hell. The damn horn blared the first seven notes of ”The 12 Days of Christmas”. You know… on the first day of christmas…. Ugh! And it’s mid-February!!! Who wouldn’t that stick out to? So, immediately, I cringed, worrying it was Sugar. Or Ginger. Or both. Sure enough, I turned to see Ginger’s smiling face bouncing in the passenger seat of a huge Cadillac. I rolled my eyes and slowly walked toward them.
”What are you doing here?” I asked. Ginger readied to answer, but Sugar jumped in before she could start.
”As promised, we’re here to take you home.” I nodded and smiled, then pointed back to my house.
”This is my home,” I reminded them. Ginger gave a sort of sad smile and tilted her head.
”Not for the next three hundred and twenty-two days,” she sing-songed at me.
”Get in the car,” Sugar tried to order me.
”I can’t just leave. I have a job. I have bills to pay. If I fall farther behind on my mortgage, I could…”
”Lose the house! We know.” Sugar interrupted.
”We’re not going to let that happen,” Ginger assured me. ”We take care of our own.”
”What does that mean?” I asked, confused.
”Get in and we’ll explain everything on the way.” I hesitated, looking back at my house. It was a piece of crap, in a crappy neighborhood, but it was mine. I suddenly felt a small hand in mine. I looked down to see Ginger looking up at me, a bright smile on her face, her eyes filled with hope. Despite being a full grown adult, she was adorable, and she was full-on plucking at my heart strings.
”Come on, I promise. It’ll be worth it. And we can’t do it without you,” she pleaded. Sugar simply pushed down on the cars horn again.
”Ok! Ok! But I get shotgun!” Ginger squealed with delight as I pulled open the passenger door.
”Take it down a notch, will you Ginge?” Sugar sighed as she put the car in gear and sped off. I couldn’t believe how fast she was driving. I mean, I’m a speeder, for sure. I’m a road rager at people who go the actual speed limit. But I sat in that passenger seat, afraid for my life.
”You might want to slow down,” I finally spoke up. ”Don’t want to get a ticket.” Sugar looked at Ginger in the rearview mirror and nodded.
”Do I have to?” Ginger asked, and Sugar simply made the look on her face harsher, and her right eyebrow go higher. ”Ok, ok.”
”What…” and then I felt a pin prick in my neck. I quickly turned to Ginger to react, but everything went black.
I slowly opened my eyes to Ginger smiling down at me. Her eyes still full of hope.
”What happened? Where am I?”
”Silly, we’re at the workshop.” I tried to sit up but found it challenging. ”Take it easy, the effects take a while to wear off.”
”Effects? Did you drug me?” Ginger shook her head, yes.
”I’m sorry. It’s policy.”
”Do you know how messed up that is? I mean, it’s illegal! It’s immoral! It’s…”
”I know!” Ginger interrupted. ”But we tried doing this without drugging and it was much worse. Caused absolute chaos for the corporation.” I sighed and gave a small chuckle.
”Whatever you say, Ginger.“ I was finally able to sit up and swing my legs over the side of the bed. I was in a small room that very much resembled that of a patient room at a clinic. I was on the bed, there was a couple of chairs in a corner, a small counter space with cupboards above, and an ergonomically correct stand alone desk on wheels, with room for a laptop or iPad. ”What is this? Where am I?”
”You’re at headquarters!” Ginger exclaimed excitedly.
”You mean, home?” Ginger laughed.
”No! Headquarters. You know, like the head office of corporation.”
”Well, why didn’t you just call it that then?” Ginger shrugged.
”Headquarters sounds so much more exciting, don’t you think?” I shrugged and stepped down off the bed.
”So, is this to be my orientation?” I asked.
”You could put it that way. It’s your introduction to the corporation. How we run things. How we get Christmas off around the world without a hitch.”
”So, I’m to be, like, the CEO or something?” Ginger snorted she laughed so hard.
”God no! Why would you even want that? That’s Ruby’s job.”
”Ruby?” Ginger shook her head, yes.
”With support from her assistant Ebby.”
”Ebby?” Ginger nodded. ”Ruby and Ebby? What kind of names are those?”
”Nick names. You’ll get one soon enough.”
”If anyone starts calling me Amby, I’m out of here.”
”Noted.”
There was a knock at the door and I looked over just as it opened. A young woman stepped in, looking quite severe. Her dark hair was pulled back in a bun. Her glasses were sitting crookedly on the end of her nose. She pushed them back with her pianist looking hands, her index and pinky fingers extended as she cleared her throat. She closed the door behind her, her bright red, knee length, flowy skirt just missing getting caught in it. She extended her hand out to me, smiling.
“I’m Eve,” she told me.
”As in Christmas Eve?” I asked while I took it. She had a strong grip, but her hand was cold. She forced a little laugh.
”Yeah, I’ve heard that before.” She brought her hands together and nodded. ”I’m here to introduce you to the rest of the staff, including my boss, Ebby, and his boss, Ruby. But that will come later. Are you ready?” I looked around, unsure what for. Stopped at Ginger who smiled at me.
”I guess so,” I finally answered. ”Though I have no fucking idea what to expect.”
”That’s a good thing, Amber. It means our intelligence department has been doing it’s job.” I laughed at the idea that the Santa Claus corporation had an intelligence department. ”You have a lot to learn. Shall we?” She opened the door and ushered me out into the hall. I was surprised to see a long hallway with many doors on one side, and windows from ceiling to floor on the other. And outside those windows was not snow, ice and the north pole, but sun, many floors to fall down as the building we were in was clearly very high, and below, a resort looking property. Eve began walking and I quickly followed with Ginger behind me.
”We relocated to the south some years ago. Too many explorers were determined to find Santa’s workshop and expose us.”
”One got real close in 1909. Was a stressful year,” Ginger whispered.
”A lot of workers were sick to death of the bloody snow and cold anyway. It ended up working in everyone’s favor. The building you’re in now is considered HQ, but the entire island is dedicated to the work and efforts of Christmas.”
”Wait, wait, wait. So, it’s like Christmas island? I’ve never heard of this place.”
”Of course you haven’t.” Eve turned back to look at me. ”And you never will after your time is up.”
”Time is up?” Eve began walking again and I followed. We stopped at an elevator and she pushed the middle of three buttons. The one above it was blue. ”What’s that for?”
”It leads up to Ruby and Ebby’s offices. You’ve no need for that yet.” The doors opened and we walked in. Eve pressed the button for the fourth floor and stopped the doors before they could close. She looked down at Ginger. ”While I appreciate all you’ve done, Ginge, I think it’s time you went back to work.” Ginger smiled.
”Of course.” She stepped out of the elevator and looked back at me. ”I’m sure we’ll meet again, Amber. Just remember, you’re the Santa Claus now. All it takes…” but the doors closed before she could finish.
”Ooops,” Eve stammered as she tried to find the button to open the doors, but the elevator started moving down. She turned to me and smiled. ”We’ll start at the fourth floor and work our way up.” I looked at the panel of buttons and saw them run up to number forty-nine. My eyes practically buldged out of my head. I’d never been in such a tall building before. Probably hadn’t even really seen one.
”Why not the first floor? And are we going to each and every floor?”
”For goodness sake, no. That would take forever,” she laughed. ”Would also be way to overwhelming for you. We’ll start at four and go from there.” I’d hoped to get more of an answer from her, but the elevator must have moved quickly as the ding sounded for the fourth floor and the doors opened. ”Here we are.” Eve followed me out and then led me to a set of double doors across the way. ”This is one of my favorite rooms,” she stopped and told me. ”I don’t get to come as often as I’d like, but… anyway. Ready?” She opened the doors and led me into a great hall. It had the highest ceilings I’d ever seen, which didn’t make sense to me as we were in a high rise buildling, but I looked up and there it was.
”Wow!” I couldn’t help but exclaim. ”This is… huge!”
”Well, when you have to hang a portrait of each and every Santa, you need to make room.” I looked at Eve, confused, unsure I’d heard her right. She nodded and smiled, pointing to the walls. And sure enough, as she said, there were paintings and pictures hanging on every inch of the walls. I gasped and moved to have a closer look. The pictures varied in style, form, whether they were a painting, a photograph, a drawing, whatever. I came across a drawing of one that looked nothing like the Santa I’d been brought up to believe in. He was a big brute with a stern face, his blond hair slicked back, with a monacle resting in front of his right eye.
”Who is that?”
”Each one is labeled. Original name, date, corporate name.” I looked and found a small label printed and taped to the frame. Wolfgang Heinrich Baum.
”Fifteen seventy-six???” I couldn’t believe it.
”He was a very special one. He developed the idea of families bringing a tree into their homes and decorating it.” My eyes widened in disbelief and Eve nodded. “He was a wonderful Santa, so I’m told.” I huffed and stared at the drawing. Was it real? Had this man really existed and been a Santa?
”How long has this been going on? A new Santa every year, I mean.”
”That one,” Eve pointed to a painting a few portraits down. ”He was special.” She laughed. ”The children just loved him.” I moved over to look at him closely and was surprised to see a black and white photo of a beautiful young Indigenous man. His long black hair flowed over his shoulders and chest. He held a drum under his left arm. There was a slight smile on his lips, but it was similar to the Mona Lisa’s. One couldn’t tell if it was really there, or if perhaps he were hiding a secret. I moved to read the label underneath. Ahuludegi, Cherokee, 1941, Drummer Boy. ”He inspired Katherine Davis’ carol Little Drummer Boy.”
”Come on,” I couldn’t help but laugh. It all seemed ridiculous. But when I looked at Eve, she was all serious. Pretending to go along, I continued down the line of portraits. There were so many, from different centuries, eras, and years. It was astounding, and too much to take in. I was about ready to ask to move on when a portrait caught the corner of my eye. It was one I’d seen before. But how could it be? I moved closer and sure enough, there it was, the very portrait that hung in my father’s study over his desk since I was a child. The portrait of my very own great-great grandfather.
Ⓒ December 2022. Beki Lantos. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, or transmitted in any form by any means without prior written permission of the author.
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