Mike walked into the bar hoping to grab a few beers and watch the baseball game. He wasn't surprised to find the bar mostly full on a Saturday afternoon. He saw one open spot on the far side of the bar beside a white haired old man that looked a lot like Santa Claus, complete with the white beard. Mike walked around the bar and took the stool next to the white haired man. He ordered a beer and looked up at the TV to check the score of the game.
A few minutes after sitting down one of the players hit a homerun and most of the people in the bar cheered including the man that looked like Santa Claus to Mike's left.
"That was crushed." Mike said.
"Yeah, he got all of that one." Eric said.
"I'm Mike." Mike said.
"Eric." Eric said.
Mike and Eric started talking about the baseball team. After ordering another round of beers, Mike felt comfortable enough to switch the conversation from baseball to other things.
"I've got to say Eric, you bear a striking resemblance to a certain mythical holiday figure." Mike said.
Eric laughed.
"Yeah I know. It's these damn big ears. People have been confusing me for the Easter Bunny for years." Eric said.
Mike laughed.
"That's not exactly who I meant." Mike said.
Eric nodded.
"I know. I look like Jolly Old St. Nick." Eric said.
"St. Nick I would agree with, but I'm not sure about the old. You looked a lot older from across the bar when I walked in than you do now. How old are you?" Mike asked.
"I'm 38." Eric said.
"That seems young for white hair like that. Did you dye it that way?" Mike asked.
Eric shook his head.
"No, it's mine. We go gray early in my family. I've got two older brothers and we all started going gray around 18. By 25 we were all fully gray or white...in my case." Eric said.
"Man that's rough." Mike said.
Eric shrugged.
"It's okay; I've come to accept it. I'm handling it a lot better than my brothers." Eric said.
"How did they handle it?" Mike asked.
"My oldest brother started dying his hair when he was 19; he's 44 now so he's been doing it for 25 years. Our middle brother has been shaving his head since he was 17 to hide the fact that he's gone gray." Eric said.
"Those are both pretty extreme reactions. Gray or not...it's just hair." Mike said.
Eric shrugged.
"I get it though; it's not easy for a guy in his 20's to get a date if the women you're hitting on think you're in your late 40's. I can tell you that from experience." Eric said.
Mike laughed.
"You'd have probably had an easier time of it without the beard. I mean you do look like...Santa Claus" Mike said.
"Yeah, I know I do. That's on purpose." Eric said.
Mike was curious.
"You look like Santa on purpose?" Mike asked.
Eric nodded.
"Yeah. I've always loved Christmas so when I realized that between my weight and my hair I looked like Santa, I just went with it. Around the holidays I do all kinds of stuff dressed as Santa. I go to hospitals to visit kids. I appear in parades in towns around the area. I even do the mall thing where kids come and tell Santa what they want for Christmas. I've also done some modeling and local TV work where somebody needs Santa for a print ad or commercial." Eric said.
Mike nodded.
"Okay, so you're turning your hair color and overall look into a way to contribute to your community. You don't have to keep the beard year round to have it for Christmas though." Mike said.
Eric shrugged.
"I know, but keeping it is easier than shaving it off for the summer and growing it back in the fall. I definitely don't want to disappoint the kids by having to wear one of those fake beards. You'd be surprised by how many of them want to pull Santa's beard to make sure that it's real." Eric said.
Mike almost choked on the beer that he was drinking. He put the glass down and coughed for several seconds to clear his airway.
"Are you okay?" Eric asked.
"I'm fine." Mike said in a raspy voice.
"What was that about?" Eric asked.
Mike laughed and shook his head.
"You talking about kids pulling Santa's beard reminded me of something from a couple of years ago." Mike said.
"Did one of your kids pull Santa's beard off?" Eric asked.
Mike smiled.
"No...my wife did." Mike said.
"Your wife?" Eric asked.
Mike nodded.
"Yeah. My wife has a thing for Santa Claus." Mike said.
"By a thing do you mean...?" Eric asked.
Mike nodded.
"Yeah. She has this fantasy about catching Santa delivering presents and fucking him in front of the Christmas tree." Mike said.
Eric laughed.
"That's a new one. So what happened?" Eric asked.
Mike shrugged.
"Three years ago I tried to make her fantasy a reality. I put on a cheap Santa suit and fake beard and waited for her in the family room. When she came into the room she was like the proverbial kid on Christmas...at least at first." Mike said.
"What do you mean?" Eric asked.
Mike smiled and shook his head.
"Things were going great...she was having a great time...until she accidentally pulled on my beard. It came off in her hands and even though she already knew that it was me...the illusion...the fantasy that she was playing out in her head disappeared. Santa was gone and it was just me. We didn't even finish...she was that upset." Mike said.
"She was that into it? She was so lost in her fantasy that seeing her own husband instead of Santa killed the mood for her?" Eric asked.
"Yeah." Mike said.
Eric shook his head.
"That's rough. It was a good effort though. Your wife wanted to screw Santa and until that beard came off you'd given her the chance to do it." Eric said.
Mike nodded.
"Yeah, she thanked me for trying a few days later when she'd had a chance to get over it. I've always thought about trying again, but I can't grow a beard like yours so I can't figure out how I'd do it without the same thing happening. I wanna make it happen for her someday though." Mike said.
Eric shook his head.
"Good luck with it." Eric said.
Eric raised his beer to Mike, Mike raised his in response and looked over at Eric...he smiled.
"Hey...I've got an idea. How would you like to help me out?" Mike asked.