Santa's Secret – Chapter 1
Anna was looking forward to this holiday weekend starting. Today was the last day of school before the Christmas holiday break, and starting tomorrow, his lordship had given her husband John, three whole days off to celebrate Christmas with the family. She had baked chocolate biscuits earlier in the day and imagined the joy in Jack's eyes as he enjoyed his snack and sipped some hot cocoa with her when he got home from school that afternoon
Anna was quickly brought out of her reverie startling to the sound of their cottage door banging open and then slamming shut. The sound of feet stomping up the staircase, another door closing with a loud bang was followed by the muffled sounds of bumps and thuds emanating from young Jack's bedroom.
"Jack, is that you?" Anna walked to the base of the stairs and waited for her 9 year old son to answer. But nothing… total silence.
"Jackie, come down these stairs this instant and explain why you've created such a racket?"
Again, total silence.
Anna had never witnessed such willful disrespect from Jack before. Something must be terribly amiss for him to ignore her request. With a combination of trepidation and just a touch of parental indignation, Anna walked up the stairs and knocked on her son's door.
"Jack, open this door, now!" Anna rarely raised her voice to her child, but his behavior was completely out of line.
Her request for him to open the door was again met with silence, so Anna opened it herself and stepped into Jack's bedroom. Nothing prepared her for the scene before her.
The inside of his bedroom looked like a mighty wind had entered and knocked things about. His prized toy soldiers were strewn across the floor. Books that he loved to listen to his father read to him at bedtime had been knocked off the bookcase and Jack was lying face down on his bed, his right hand curled tightly in a fist.
"John Robert Bates, you need to sit up this instant and explain yourself!" Jack shook his head "no" and then pulled himself up into a ball, facing towards his bedroom wall and away from Anna.
Seeing his response, Anna knew that her child was in some emotional distress, and not just willfully misbehaving. She stroked his back slowly and decided to take a different tack with her young son. "Jack, love, please tell mummy what's wrong. Santa Claus will be coming soon and I'm sure you don't want him to put you on the naughty list. So why don't you…"
At the mention of Santa's name Jack sat up and faced Anna. She could see the tears welling in his eyes as his nose began to run.
"Th-th-that's just it Mummy!" Jack wailed.
"What's it, love?" answered Anna.
"There is NO Santa Claus." Jackie sobbed.
"What do you mean there is no such thing as Santa? Who would tell you such a thing?"
"Julian Fellowes, he told me at recess today."
Anna made a mental note to speak to Mrs. Fellowes about her son ruining Christmas for Jack next time she saw her. But for now, her attention was focused on Jackie and what he was going through.
"Why on earth would he say that to you?"
"I-I- saw him p-push Sally Molesley down in the playground," Jack answered between sobs, "and… and… I told him that Santa was going to put him on the naughty list for that and he l-laughed at me, called m-me a b-baby, a-and tried to push me over a-and th-that's when h-he told me that S-s-santa isn't real."
Jack turned towards his mother and pleaded. "Say it isn't true, mummy. Santa's real isn't he?" Anna's heart broke just a little as she witnessed the hope on Jackie's face.
What to say…how to answer… Anna's mind spun about madly as she tried to find the right words to answer his question.
"Mummy?"
Anna realized she had to come up with something quickly. "Well, um… you see love, uh… Santa is…I mean he.." Anna fumbled to come up with an explanation. But, the right words to make things all better in her son's mind just would not come.
Jack, however, saw through his mom hesitation right away and knew what the unspoken answer was. Julian was right. There was no such thing as Santa Claus.
"Never mind mummy," Jack spoke through tears. "I'm a big boy and I know the truth about Santa now." He buried his face in his mom's chest and rubbed it back and forth to dry the tears.
"Oh, Jackie I'm so sorry you had to hear this way about Santa. I wish I could come up with a good answer about Santa and make you feel better." Anna wiped a tear from her eye.
"It's all right mum. It's just…now," he sighed wistfully. "It's just when Julian told me, at first I didn't believe him because he's mean and I've seen him do more mean things to my friends, so I thought it was just him being hurtful to me." Jack paused, and looked up at his mother with the same hazel eyes that Anna loved to see on his father's face. "It's just, I know you would never lie to me mum and...and now I wish I'd never asked you."
Anna put her arms around Jack and rocked him gently as he sat on his bed. As her eyes filled with tears she thought hard about what she could do to mend his broken heart.
