Snowflakes swirled and fluttered playfully in the breezy evening air, settling down to rest on paths, streets, lawns, and rooftops. Just enough snow settled to dust the festively decorated town in pristine white, and no more. A full-bellied chuckle resounded high up in the air, from which vantage point the town seemed made out of gingerbread coated with confectioners' sugar. None of the town's denizens heard the chuckle for they were lulled to sleep by the lullaby of the wind's sighs and the white snow that reminded them of their soft downy pillows. They knew, of course, that a gentle magic was coaxing them to sleep, and they gladly yielded to the magic for they knew Santa Claus was coming. There was greater magic to be wrought on the Eve of Christmas, and Santa Claus could not work such magic observed by curious eyes.
As the clock in the church steeple struck midnight, Santa Claus winked his twinkling right eye. Time froze, or so it would appear. He landed his sleigh pulled by a team of reindeer on a flat roof. With a happy sigh he disembarked, his tall but rotund body covered in his traditional red-white fluffiness. He patted his round belly with his beefy fingers, chuckling with his lips stretched in a wide smile, his white-bearded cheeks full and rosy. He patted each reindeer fondly, complimenting each on a job well done. Then he hoisted an enormous bag of gifts over his shoulder, laughed out loud "Ho! Ho! Ho!" and vanished. Popping in and out of each home, Santa Claus generously gave gifts according to the requests he had received throughout the year. With each gift he laid under a Christmas tree or stuffed into a stocking hung on a mantel, his laughter grew louder and deeper. And each snack that had been set out for him, he ate with relish and gratitude.
He saved the Morrow household for last. Young Timothy had just celebrated his eighteenth birthday only a couple of months prior. For the past five years Timothy had requested the same thing. Santa Claus had felt behooved to decline the request in previous years, but the boy was of age now. And what a good boy he had been, never complaining and always putting the needs of others before his own. The request itself wasn't odd for Santa Claus had received quite a few such requests over the centuries. Every now and then, he would grant one of these requests. Each time, the receiver had been a woman, and the woman had then become his wife. Though his magic had given his wives unusually long lives, they were still mortal in the end.
He had been without a wife for over two centuries now. The elves and reindeer were dear companions to him, but they could not be more than companions. Santa Claus needed someone to share the joys and sorrows of life and----because he is basically a hedonist at heart----the pleasures of the flesh. As he did not abide in the same world as mortals, his being somewhat parallel and askew in time with ours, Santa Claus could not court and ask for a woman's hand in marriage. A woman had to ask him by essentially making it her Christmas wish. For Christmas Eve was the one night out of the whole year his magic, empowered by the belief of countless citizens of Earth, was strong enough to bridge the gap between worlds.
Sadly no woman has wished to be his wife since his last had shed her mortal coil. Modern women seemed more interested in building careers and ensuring for themselves independence from men, even Santa Claus----aside from his Christmas gifts. And his massive figure has become increasingly removed from the tall and svelte ideal of masculine beauty currently in vogue. There was deep within him an undercurrent of loneliness beneath a surface of perennial joviality.
Into this deep water of loneliness, a single drop of hope had made a rippling splash. Santa Claus had received a letter from a teenage boy that read:
Dear Santa Claus,
My name is Timmy. I am thirteen years-old. I think you are the most wonderful and handsome man in the whole world. (Please don't tell my dad!) I think I'm in love with you, dear Santa. For my Christmas wish I want most of all to hug you and kiss you and do all the things that lovers do.
Love,
Timmy
Each year thereafter, Timmy's letters had grown more detailed and passionate as he matured and gained greater knowledge of "the things that lovers do," shocking Santa's already rosy cheeks to a full blush. But Santa read each letter Timmy sent, sometimes more than once. And sometimes he pleasured himself as he read the letters. This year's letter, however, was succinct:
My dear Santa Claus,
I am a man now. I love you and wish to be your lover. Do you love me?
Wholly Yours,
Tim
What had initially seemed cute in a pubescent sort of way and then had turned into a guilty pleasure was now something he had to confront and address. He wasn't sure how he felt about the young man, but he knew it was time for a man-to-man chat.
After doling out gifts for Tim's parents and younger brother, Santa Claus climbed up the stairs and entered the first room on the right. The floor boards would have groaned under his weight were it not for the apparent stillness of time. He shut the door and waved his hand from one end of Tim's bedroom to the other, allowing them to share the same flow of time within the limits of the room. He switched on the light and studied the face of the young man sleeping soundly in his bed. It was a young face, smooth-skinned and unblemished by time or life's hardships, yet even in repose there was a quality of self-awareness etched into his face. Perhaps Santa Claus was reading too much into the face; but the broad forehead, the evenly spaced eyes moving rapidly behind closed lids, the straight nose with a lightly rounded tip, and wide succulent lips curved with a hint of a smile seemed to calmly say, "I know I'm young and inexperienced, but I know who I am and what I want." Santa Claus leaned down and ran the back of his index finger along Tim's cheek. It was warm and soft with a trace of baby fat.
"Wake up, young Timothy." Santa Claus blew the words at the young man.
"Eh? Who?" Tim mumbled drowsily. He blinked his gray-blue eyes open to a happy sight: a jolly face surrounded by white hair, intense blue eyes warmed by laughter lines, a pleasing bulbous nose, rosy cheeks, and red lips he had just been kissing in his dream. "Santa!" he exclaimed as he bolted upright, self-consciously hiding his wet white undies beneath the bedsheets and fixing his wavy blond hair. He possessed a short, lean, and boyish figure, fair-complexioned and still developing.
"Ho! Ho! Greetings, young Timothy."
"Greetings, sir! Wow, you're really here. I wasn't sure you'd visit ... I mean, of course, you'd visit ... but I didn't think I'd see you."
"It's time for us to have a little talk regarding your letters."
"Of course. I hope they weren't too ... explicit?"