A Different Kind of Christmas.
By: Nini Writes
Tags: Story, Santa Claus, Christmas

A Different Kind of Christmas.

"Seun, how many times will I tell you to stop frowning? Our visitors will soon arrive, don’t scare them away o."

Seun stifled the urge to roll his eyes at Matron. Instead, he nodded and bared his teeth at a weak attempt to smile.

They had used perfumed soaps for them today. They even gave them fresh polo shirts to wear with pairs of shiny black shoes.

Seun was used to it, and he knew the result of it all. He couldn’t stand the idea of visitors coming to see them at this time of the year. Oh wait, the joke’s on him. He can’t stand. Seun cracked a wry smile at his crude joke and patted his wheelchair.

"Father C-c-Christmas isn’t here yet? Why?" Seun sighed and turned to look at the person threatening to climb into the wheelchair with him.

Lucy, his little and always inquisitive sister, stared at him with huge, anticipating eyes. Her stutter had improved as time went by, but at 5, Lucy said she didn’t want it ever to go. It made her talking sophisticated, according to her.

Seun peered down at his sister. "Luce, what time is it?"

She glanced at the wall clock and counted for some seconds before yelling, "t-to 9."

Seun looked at the time, and it was 8:35; she was close enough. "Exactly, it’s too early for Santa to come. Don’t you know the time difference means it’s past midnight there? He’ll come soon."

Lucy’s eyes shown as she did a little dance with her shoes. She sang, "Keresimesi, keresimesi dey, keresimesi dey."

"Oya! Gather around all of you. Look at my eye well well. Now, look at this cane in my hand. If any of you should misbehave, I will deal with you."

Mrs. Alabi. Seun likes to call her Witch, though, whenever she is away, of course. Wheelchair or not, she would beat him if he genuinely misbehaves. So, Seun kept my mouth shut.

"Now, Madam Boro is here, and I want all of you to behave yourself. If not, you will see the red eye of baba Dudu." She smacked the cane into the air, creating a painful wai!

All thirty of them shuddered as they had all tasted the sting of baba Dudu on numerous occasions.

On cue, a woman walked in—Scratch that. A mountain of a human walked in. At first, all Seun could see was a shiny, heavy lace boubou, sweeping the floor as she walked towards them.

He looked up to her face and wished he hadn’t. She had slapped on a sickly yellow foundation that looked patchy with sweat. Red circles covered her cheeks, and her drawn-on eyebrows made her look like she was always angry. Even when she smiled, she still looked scary.

Rolls of fat swallowed her neck as the folds jiggled when she walked. Saamu, his bunkmate, whispered to him, "she looks like a walking piece of asun. Very fat piece of asun."

Mrs. Alabi narrowed her eyes on them, and Seun took extra pain to avoid bursting into laughter.

Do these people know how ridiculous they look? Every Christmas, they bring gifts and foodstuffs, doing the work of 'charity.’ They spend money on all those items and proceed to get a photographer along. For what? To make themselves feel better? That they are 'good' people, helping the less privileged.

So why only on holidays? You never see them in June or any other random, dull month. Well, it’s good for PR.

Seun forced a smile onto his face as Madam Bobo waved at them. The photographer took pictures as they uploaded bags of rice, kegs of oil, clothes, cooking utensils.

She went all out, Seun thought.

The toys were the only items that got the kids excited. Madam Bobo had bought dolls, cars, and lots of toys for them to play with.

Seun’s 17-year-old self couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the plastic toys. Still, he was glad that Lucy was excited.

Lucy, overwhelmed with excitement as Madam Bobo handed her a pretty Barbie doll, ran to hug her.

"No!" The woman yelled so loudly, and everyone stopped in their tracks. Realizing how obnoxious she had sounded, she attempted to fix it. "Haha, what I’m meaning is that I don’t want my cloth to get stained."

Seun, fueled by anger, spoke up."We have all had our bath this morning."

Madam Bobo shuffled nervously. This would be bad for PR. "Ehn, you know kids. They play around with, you know now."

Seun pushed his wheelchair right to her front and smiled at her, "Don’t worry, you won’t be getting your expensive lace stained by orphaned children."

"Seun!" Matron yelled. "Inside, now!"

Seun rolled his eyes this time and didn’t even hesitate. He was glad to be leaving the place anyway. He stayed in the room, angrily playing with a Rubix cube.

Other people came and went as time passed. Religious organizations, students, charities. Of course, they brought the ever-present photographer with them.

It was all a sham.

They didn’t give two flying shits about the kids. He had been there for seventeen years. He had seen the scornful looks they threw when they thought they weren’t looking. They expected them to throw themselves at their feet for giving them 'basic necessities.’ To hell with all of them.

It was 3 pm before the orphanage went quiet. Lucy walked into his room, holding her doll limply.

"F-father C-Christmas didn’t come."

How could he tell her that Santa wasn’t real? And that things were about to get complicated next year. He would be turning 18 and was to leave the orphanage. His legs were too useless for him to do anything.

He pushed back tears and hugged his little sister. "I’m sorry, Lucy."

"I-its not y-your F-fault. Maybe he w-was busy. He will still come."

She climbed into bed with him, and soon they drifted to sleep.

It was nighttime when a loud noise behind his window awoke seun. He pushed his legs out of bed and dropped into his wheelchair. He looked at the wall clock, 10 pm.

He grabbed the plank on the floor just in case. He had no idea why he didn’t get the matron, but he slowly opened the door and put a rock between it so that it wouldn’t close.

He wheeled his chair down the pathway and towards the storage. He held onto the plank with one hand and breathed heavily.

He has not been expecting what he was starting at. A red truck stood beneath his window, and Seun’s heartbeat raced.

He cautiously went nearer, and he could hear cursing.

"The bloody car won’t even work. This is all fucked up. What kind of bad luck is this?"

Seun tried to yell, but his voice came out shakingly. "Who’s there?"

The cursing stopped, and the car went quiet.

He called again, bravely this time, "if you don’t speak, I will call the police."

"Hey, hey kid, easy easy." The door of the truck slid open, and a funny-looking man dropped from the driver’s seat. By funny, Seun meant a short and fat man dressed as Santa Claus.

Seun would have thought it was Santa Claus except for the sweat stains on the costume.

"Hey, kiddo, please don’t tell anyone. I’ll leave as soon as I get this modafu- er truck fixed. I didn’t mean to crash here."

Seun furrowed his brows at him, "how do I know you are not a kidnapper or a thief. Trust me; I can yell really loud. "

"I promise I’m not."

Seun looked at him. A real kidnapper wouldn’t look so nervous at the sight of a kid in a wheelchair.

Seun grudgingly moved to the car. "What do I get for fixing the car?"

The man looked at him, uncertainly, "can you do it?"

Seun ignored him and repeated his question.

"Er, well I will-"

"S-seun, is t-that you?"Lucy rubbed her eyes as she walked towards them.

She stopped when she saw the stranger and started for a good minute before gasping loudly. Her eyes turned to saucers as she stepped closer to the man.

"Hey Lucy, get away from that stranger."

She ignored him and walked up to him. "F-father C-christmas?"

The man opened to speak, but Seun beckoned to him to say yes. He didn’t want to ruin Lucy’s night.

"Err, yes. It is I. Baba- I mean, Father Christmas."

Julia hugged him as tears ran down her face. "I knew you w-would come. Oh! I can’t wait to tell Laura and Dara. Can I make a wish?"

The stranger was already looking sweaty. Seun smirked at his discomfort and wheeled closer to the car. He opened the bonnet and took a good look at it.

"Er, sure. Make a wish."

Lara looked at him with pleading eyes. "Can you bring our parents back?"

Seun froze and was about to interrupt when he heard the stranger speak.

"Oh. I think you are confusing me with God here. I can’t do that, but what I can do is this. Close your eyes."

Lucy dutifully closed her eyes tightly.

"Now, open. Look at the sky. Can you see those two shiny stars? That’s your daddy and mummy. Mmm, they’re trying to tell me something."

Lucy’s eyes got bigger as she shuffled with anticipation. "What what?"

"They said they love you and your brother and that they want you to keep being the happy child you are."

Happy tears dropped from Lucy’s eyes. She hugged him again. Seun mouthed a thank you to him, and the stranger smiled and nodded.

Lucy was all business." where is my gift?"

The stranger smiled and said, "of course I brought your gift. Huh, wait here."

He opened the car and shuffled around for some seconds before holding out two boxes.

"One for you and one for your brother."

Seun ignored them and concentrated on the engine of the car. Finally, he saw what the problem was.

Lucy didn’t bother to ask before ripping off the wrapping paper. She opened the box and put a hand to her mouth.

The box contained a pair of shiny new shoes. Different from the one they had to wear at the orphanage. It was pretty and so clean. Lucy hugged it to her heart and did her little dance.

"Seun, open yours."

"Later." He turned to the stranger. "Try now."

The stranger got into the driver’s seat and revved the car once. It didn’t work. Seun flushed with embarrassment and was about to open the bonnet again when the engine came to life.

He crossed his fingers and hoped that matron or anyone else wouldn’t wake.

The stranger stared at him with awe, "Wow, kiddo, you are terrific. How long have you been doing this."

Seun felt a surge of pride in his heart but openly shrugged, "I picked it up randomly."

"You should do something with this skill. You are good."

It was at that moment the Epiphany dawned on Seun. But it faded as soon as he realized he was in a wheelchair.

"It won’t matter. I’m stuck like this for life."

The stranger cocked a brow, "did you use your legs to fix my car?"

"What? No, of course– oh."

He smirked, "exactly. You don’t need your legs when your hands are good enough. Stop making excuses and go for it."

Seun gave a shaky smile. It had been right there in front of him—his path in life.

The stranger suddenly looked weary and tired. "Guys, you can’t tell anyone I was here."

Lucy put a finger to her lips. "Keep F-father C-christmas a S-secret."

Seun nodded too. He didn’t have anyone to tell anyway. And he knew Lucy would keep this to herself for as long as she could.

The stranger stared into space and whispered, "you remind me of my kids."

Tears pooled in his eyes, and Seun wondered what he was going through.

The stranger reached into the driver seat and opened a compartment. He took out a piece of cloth and started wrapping something in it.

He got down and handed it to Seun, "you deserve a better chance at life. Take this."

He got into the car and revved away.

He and Lucy slowly crept back into the orphanage and made it to their rooms undetected.

He sat on his bed and opened the bundle. His eyes widened when he saw what was inside—pieces and pieces of one thousand naira notes.

He dropped the money on the bed like it was hot coal. That was a lot of money.

But he smiled. Now, they wouldn’t have to wait till December to get nice clothes in the orphanage. He would find a way to make an anonymous donation.

He tied up the bundle in an old shirt and shoved it deep into his bag.

That night, he dreamt of engines and Santa Claus.

****************************************

They were having breakfast the next morning when the news came on.

The anchor spoke, "This is a public service announcement in search for runaway thief, Sanjay Adeleke. He was last seen dashing out of a small church and had in his possession their truck and Christmas gifts. He was able to sneak away in a Santa Claus costume. Any information on him should be sent to the nearest police station. He has controversial Senator Adamu's money. A real-life Robin Hood? Here is an image of him."

Seun's eyes widened when he saw the picture. It was the stranger from last night!

He and Lucy exchanged a look. She put up her finger to her lips, hush.