The Stand-in
by Jackie Macintosh
That afternoon
there was the village Christmas party and
Steve’s girls were very excited. All their
friends would be there and Father Christmas was
coming to visit. Christmas was always a really
big event in their family and the girls’
excitement was building. They rushed out to greet
him.
“Daddy,
Daddy, its nearly time to go,” they shrieked,
“we need to get into our party clothes.”
“Okay,
okay, calm down,” said Steve, laughing.
His mother
came out smiling. “Right you two, inside to
change.” As they dashed into the house, she
turned to Steve. “We’ve got a problem;
Gordon, who was going to be Father Christmas, is
ill. We need you to take his place so the
children won’t be disappointed.”
“No,”
said Steve, emphatically, “I’m not
dressing up and parading through the village.”
“You must,”
said his mother, “there is no-one else
available who will fit the costume.”
Steve sighed.
“What about the girls? They will see me
change.”
“No,
I’ll take them to their cousin’s and
they can go with them.”
“All
organised then, I see,” said Steve,
admitting defeat.
He struggled
into the outfit; the jacket was rather tight, the
trousers short and the boots were two sizes too
small so he had to leave his own shoes on.
A corner of
the room in village hall was curtained off and
decorated as his grotto, and he had a box of
wrapped presents beside him. He enjoyed the
children’s delight as they came forward for
their gift. He sat them on his knee in turn and
asked each what they wanted for Christmas. He
felt he was giving a convincing performance and
was overjoyed by his success so far.
Then it was
the turn of his younger daughter.
“Ho! Ho!
Ho!” he said.
She leant
towards his ear and whispered, “It’s
alright, Dad, I recognised your shoes.”
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