I have to admit I thought about it but said instead, “No, it’s just that it’s dumb, he’s teasing us. Can’t you see that?”

“He wouldn’t tease us about something as Holy as Christmas.”

“Oh yes, he would. Easter’s holy too and he told us that stuff about the Easter Bunny’s paint shop down that hole in the garden that time when we were just little kids. That old hole was from that big post that fell over, and you believed every word of it.” I laughed and he scowled at me.

Dan stopped arguing and studied the wallpaper for a moment or two, stuck his chin out and then said, “Well lets just see.”

“No Polar bears even close to us,” I said snickering. Dan gave me a shove and said, “well, Wooly is outside and the cat Whiskers and all the cows in the back pasture over there. We can stay up till it’s twelve and find out for ourselves. They’ll stand up you’ll see then you’ll feel dumb.”

“Santa’s coming huh...isn’t he, isn’t he…” Nancy whined again.

I hadn’t told them but I was reasonably sure Santa was just a figment of somebody imagination although I couldn’t explain those times I actually saw him and heard him on the roof, and the reindeer tracks in the yard and all. As soon as I figured it out I’d tell them so they wouldn’t be duped as long as I had.

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