Father Christmas (Flash Fiction)

“Ho,ho,ho”, said the man in the big, bushy white beard and the red Santa Clause suit lifting little 7- year old Leslie Anne onto his knee, “And what do you want for Christmas, little girl? A bicycle? A dolly?”.

Leslie Anne looked up at Santa, a sad look in her eyes, shaking her head, “No Santa”, she said, “I don’t want anything like that. I just want my daddy to be happy again. He’s been unhappy ever since he lost his job and sometimes he gets drunk and that makes me feel really sad”.

Robert saw his little daughter start to cry then and it was impossible to keep up the jolly Santa Clause act any longer.

“I think Santa can do that for you”, he said, wiping away his daughters tears.