The Shoeshine Boy : A Christmas Tale

There once was a boy, called Tom, who shined shoes for a living. He was very poor and had no mother or father and shining shoes was the only way which he could make money without begging.

Even so, he took great pride in his work; giving each customer who sat in his chair such a lustrous shine that their shoes almost sparkled like the stars at Christmas.

One day, however; a cold, Christmas Eve, an old man sat down in the boys chair who had big black, snow covered boots that went all the way up to his knees.

The boy was so cold that his fingers and thumbs were numb and he was shivering badly, but still he got down and shined the boots of the old gentleman.

“My my”, said the old man in the chair, “I’ve had an awful day. It certainly feels good to sit down and take a load off my feet for a while”.

The boy couldn’t imagine anyone having a worse day than him; having to get down and shine boots in the cold and snow and yet, because he was always very polite to all his customers he tried to sound interested and asked, “Oh? What kind of a day have you had sir?”.

“Travelling here and there”, replied the old man, “You could say that my occupation is very similar to yours, young lad, for I put a shine on things too”.

Hearing this, the boys interest suddenly perked up, “Oh? What do you shine”, he asked, “Something pretty expensive, I bet, to be able to afford boots like these”.

“Oh well, bless me”, said the old man chuckling, “You could say it’s the most precious thing in the world”.

By now there was quite a shine upon the old man’s boots, so that they were almost like mirrors and then, to his amazement, the boy suddenly caught a glimpse of his customers reflected face and saw that the old man now had a long white beard and a red hat upon his head, just like Santa Clause.

“Surely, it couldn’t be?!”, he thought but, daring to look up he saw that it was.

“Santa Clause?!”, the boy asked, his mouth gawping and his eyes wide with wonder.

“That’s right, Tom”, said the old man, his fat, jolly, red face glowing as he smiled down at the boy, “And I’ve heard of you too. I’ve heard that, in spite of being so poor, you take a lot of pride in your work. I need someone like that to do a special job for me; a job that requires a great deal of care and attention. Would you like to come and live with me at the North Pole; have a lot of fun and see a lot of magical things”.

“Would I ever!”, said the boy with a great big happy,smile.

“Now that’s what I call a shine”, said Santa Clause, looking with pride at the boys smiling face.

Then Santa Clause took the boy by the hand and they flew through the snow and the bright moonlit night towards the North Pole and Santa’s warm, brightly lit cottage and workshop where the happy elves made toys.

And, just as Santa had said he would, he gave the boy a very special job to do. Now, whenever you look up at the stars each Christmas and see how brightly they all twinkle; just remember this; that they were polished by Tom, the Shoeshine Boy.