Chapter 8: A Visit from Santa

As Ben Kyle was going down the hallway of the hospital, he couldn't help but be disgusted as he thought on the scene with his kids that morning. Every year since his kids were little they knew that he and his partner Tom Callahan and his wife Michelle visited the kids in the hospital on Christmas Eve. It was something that had never even been an issue. It was just a fact. Though for the past few years, he knew that they had begun to resent all the time he spent on the charity cases at the hospital. He had volunteered in various ways over the years. For which he knew that his ungrateful children had begun to refer to him as an old fool. They believed that he was getting soft in his old age.

Maybe he had given them too much when they were growing up; made it where they didn't appreciate what they had or just how fortunate they were. Now they still acted as if they were in their early twenties with the parties they constantly threw and attended instead of each pushing forty. His son-in-law and daughter-in-law were just as bad as his own children when it came to being spoiled by the money he had acquired over his lifetime. He had already given up on ever having the grandchildren that he had so wanted, too. Shoot, if his kids had given him them grandchildren, they'd be close to getting out of high school now. Instead, the closest thing to grandchildren it looked like he would ever have were the kids he visited at the hospital.

Getting to the nurses' station, Ben saw Michelle's sister, Susan; the head nurse on staff in this wing. She had a few of the kids of various ages all lined up waiting on Santa to arrive to bring them their presents. They had been told that he would be making a special trip just for them today. Looking at all the kids, his heart just about broke as they all started to happily scream as he walked into view.

"Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!"

Behind him, Tom and Michelle helped pull the other bags of presents that he himself couldn't carry. He had practically bought out a small toy store of whatever toys that they had left on the shelf the night before to add to the toys that he had already bought to bring today. Another reason for his kids to be so upset with him this morning. They were upset at how he was wasting their inheritance. Well, he ain't dead yet so it was still his to spend however he wanted. After all, it was he who had built up the wealth over the years, not them. If he wanted to buy out toy stores and candy shops for special occasions then no one was going to stop him.

Kira watched from her opened door as an old man in a Santa suit was surrounded by the kids in the wing, each practically screaming to the point of going hoarse. She should have known that the hospital would pay someone to visit all of the kids. A part of her wished that she was still young enough to believe in Santa Claus and the hope that he seemed to bring with him as he was handing out the presents that he'd brought with him. From where she sat in her room, she was impressed that the toys that were handed out didn't seem to be the factory rejects that she had sometimes seen given out by the various charity groups that had tried to collect toys for the kids at the orphanages over the years.

Despite herself, Kira climbed out of bed and stood by her door to watch the goings ons a bit better. Everyone was having such a good time. It was as if for an hour, the kids and their parents were able to forget that they were in a hospital where the kids were in a very real fight for their lives. Standing where she was, she could almost, almost, believe in miracles. After all, everyone else in the wing seemed to believe it, if just for a while. But she then reminded herself that her life itself was enough to disprove such foolish thoughts. If miracles existed, she certainly wouldn't be here with no family or spent all her life in various foster homes and then bouncing back and forth on and off the streets. So instead of joining in with the Christmas fun, Kira closed her door to the smiles and laughter that were running rampant in the hall.

As Santa finished talking to the last kid who had waited eagerly for his turn, Tom and Michelle handed out most of the various toys to the children along with the many types of candy that had been brought for the kids. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a sad teenager with thinning red hair who had been watching the morning activities from her room, close her door. He had seen a stark contrast in her room from the other children's rooms. Their rooms had flowers, balloons, toys, and other personal touches to make their rooms feel like less of a hospital room. He had seen none of that in the teen's room. Making his way over to Susan, he asked about the girl.

"She's the saddest case I've seen in a while. Doesn't even have any family to visit her. Her own social worker referred to her a throw-away case. Just came back in off the streets before she was brought in here. Hardly ever says two words to any of the nurses either when we go in there to check on her."

Ben watched Susan leave to respond to a call in another room as he thought about the teen. Heading across the hall, Ben slowly made his way to the only room with a closed door. Once at the door, he knocked and waited for permission to go in. When it didn't come, he opened the door anyway and poked his head in.

"Mind if I come in?"

"You gonna leave if I say I do?"

"Maybe."

Kira looked at the man in red for a minute before resigning herself to the intrusion. "Knock yourself out. Don't you think I'm a little old for a visit from Santa though?"

"You're never too old for a friendly visit, regardless of who that visit is from." Closing the door behind him, he walked over and extended his hand while offering his name. "I'm Ben."

Kira looked at his hand distrustfully before taking it. "Aren't you supposed to lie and say your name is Kris Kringle or something?"

"Well, you're the one who said that you're too old for Santa Claus. And since you didn't come out I figured I'd come to you. You may be too old for a doll, but you're never too old for candy. We brought all kinds. What's your favorite? I'll bet we have some for you." Kira just shrugged her shoulders. She really hadn't had many sweets, one was the same as another. "Well, I'll just bring ya in a mixed bag. How's that?"

"Fine I guess."

"So, are you going to give me your name?"

Kira tried to go back to reading an old book that the night-time cleaning woman had left her after their night time discussion about her love of history. It was a text-book that she had used last semester. The school was using a different one this semester so it was just lying around. Finally, she figured that the man wouldn't leave without at least her name so she muttered, "Kira."

"Well, Kira; what 'cha reading?" Ben flipped the book up to see the title and was surprised. "Western Civilization. Isn't a college text-book a little old for you? After all, you are what? Fourteen?"

"Fifteen, and not really. I've always liked reading about history anyways. And there ain't much else to do while stuck in here."

Ben got Kira to tell him about what she'd been reading which was the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. Ben was impressed by how bright she seemed to be; both in the book learning that she appeared to be keeping up with despite not having been in school on a regular basis and with her natural quick-wittiness. Even the fact that she was almost constantly sarcastic endeared her to him.

Ben spent over an hour talking to the snappish teen until it was clear that she was becoming overly tired. He left with a promise to return the next day. Kira didn't really believe she'd see the man in red again. After all, she'd heard that promise before from others who had yet to return.

The next morning, Kira glanced out of the door to see just where the nurses were at before she slipped her hand between the mattress and the metal frame that it sat on. She then brought a very small piece of candy that she'd hidden the night before after her visit from Santa Claus out and snuck the rare treat into her mouth. She barely allowed herself to savor the taste of the chocolate before she swallowed the piece whole when she noticed that a nurse was heading in her direction. She then snatched up her book that she'd already read through twice but had little else to do at the moment anyway and opened the textbook up and began to once more read about the Achaemenid Empire, the largest empire that the ancient world had ever seen.

The nurse wished Kira a Merry Christmas as she checked her vitals while Kira secretly was glad that she wouldn't have to hear that phrase again for nearly a year after today. She was so sick of hearing it after her stay of nearly a whole month in the hospital. If she heard just one more person come into her room while trying to be disgustingly cheery she just might scream at the words that seemed to be on everyone's lips. Already, Kira had hoped that the fact that she almost never spoke to the medical staff would make her desire to be left alone clear. Unfortunately each one still would try to engage her with asinine chatter of various teen idols that she could only assume whom other girls her age would know.

Once the woman left her alone in her barren room, Kira put the book back down since she really had a hard time focusing on the history that it held. She'd gotten up much too early due to the noise out in the hall as parents made it into the hospital to spend Christmas morning with their children. After shutting her door to the cheerfulness of the goings-ons that were just beyond her own room, Kira rolled over to try to get some more sleep. When she woke back up, Kira saw that a couple of books had been left on her tray. Reaching for the one on top of the stack, she read the title of the book; One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcí a Márquez. On the inside of the cover, Kira read a simple inscription.

I thought that you would like this better than a doll.

Santa Claus/Ben Kyle

Shrugging, Kira figured that she might as well as try to read the book since she really didn't have anything else to do. At first, she hadn't thought that she'd like it by the brief synopsis on the cover but from the moment she actually started to read the story she was hooked.

The first chapter was just brilliant: gypsies taking items to Macondo, a village hidden away from mass civilization by miles of swamp and mountains. The everyday items (magnets, ice, etc.) were interpreted as magic by people who have never seen them. One thing that Kira found in the reading was that it forced her to look at much of what she formerly found ordinary and see just how amazing they could be for those who had never seen them before. Then the gypsies had a magic carpet, a real one, that worked and there was no distinction between the powers of the magnets and those of the magic carpet. Magical realism: the perfect blend of science and make-believe.

Kira found the fact that the same individuals who took such pain-staking measures to understand something as simple as ice or magnets using the most primitive scientific means, working day and night to discover that the earth was round but then had just accepted that carpets could fly, fascinating. The book was one contradiction after another but had been done so in an intriguing manner. And sometimes that intriguing manner was actually a bit confusing… at least at first. Perhaps it was that confusion that forced Kira to actually finish the book. Or maybe the fact that when she was checked on once more by a nurse she commented on how incredibly boring she had found the book.

By the end of the day, she had finished the book but found that her eyes had grown too tired to read further for the day. Still on her table were three other books: The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle which looked like another book that would feature a magical land, Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, and Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell. After reading the back flap of the last book, Kira figured that she'd most likely start with that one once she woke up in the morning.

In a way, she wished that she could at least thank the man in the red suit who had left the books; the first real Christmas presents she could ever remember getting from anyone. At the same time, however, Kira was afraid that the gesture wasn't quite as selfless as it seemed. Would this Ben guy show himself to really be a man who only wanted to do something nice for the ward's charity case or would he end up being like the countless people that she'd met in her life that always expected something in return for their efforts?