The Naughty ListSanta Clause was sailing through the night sky in his red sleigh. He had a tight grip on the green reins of his nine deer, who all did their share in pulling him along. Large, red gift sacks laid behind him, empty and flat on the floor. Finally, he was finished with delivering all of the children their presents. That is, all of the kids who were on his good list. Now, it was time for the second half of his job: giving out coal to the naughty ones.
A red clipboard was on his lap. On it was a paper that read, "NAUGHTY" in black letters on top, and list of names beneath it. "Hmm... Nina and Ariel," he read aloud. "It's not often that I get more than one naughty child in the same house."
He looked down to see a particular neighborhood that he had already covered during his "gift shift". Snow covered the rooftops, almost making them blend in with the ground. When he found the house, he signaled his reindeer to dive toward it.
Upon landing on the roof, Santa hoisted his dark gray bag of coal over his back and left the sleigh. The bag was light when compared to any of his gift sacks. Unfortunately, this house did not have a chimney. The man jumped off the house and knelt at the front door. Digging into his pocket, he pulled out a big ring of keys. Dozens of keys were made by his elves just for the occasion.
Setting the bag on the floor, he stuck a bronze key into the door and silently opened it. Then he lifted the bag, entered the house, and gently shut the door. The lights of the holiday-themed tree and the streetlights that peeked through the white curtains led Santa through the dark living room without tripping over the furniture. As he passed the black love seat, Santa stumbled over an untied, white sneaker and fell down. His bag fell out of his hand, spilling several coals near the couch that was in front of the love seat.
Santa sighed and got on his knees. He picked up three lumps of coal. The last one would have rolled under the couch if it weren't too big. He leaned forward and reached for it.
Suddenly, the ceiling light turned on.
Squinting his eyes in the sudden illumination, Santa looked at the bottom of the stairs behind him to see Ariel's hand on the switch and Nina groggily standing behind her. Ariel was wearing turquoise pajamas. Her shirt was buttoned up. Nina wore a gray two-piece thermal suit.
"Santa?" Nina asked, rubbing her eyes.
The red-suited man stood. "Ho, ho, ho," he greeted. "Merry Christmas, Nina, Ariel."
"How do you know our names?" Ariel asked. "Are you really Santa Clause?"
"Yup. I am." He walked up to them and crouched so he and Nina were eye-to-eye. "Would you like to feel my beard?"
The 6-year-old traced a white curl with her index finger. It felt soft as a cloud. She then gripped a handful of facial hair and gently tugged it. Letting it go, she looked at her sister. "It's real."
Ariel carefully pulled on the edge of the beard. "It really is real." She let go and looked at the tree, noticing the six presents beneath it. "You brought those?"
Santa turned and glanced at the wrapped boxes. "Err, yes, that's right. I am Santa Clause, you know."
"Wow!" Nina exclaimed. "Let's open them, Ariel!" The child attempted to run past Santa, but the fat man palmed her chest, stopping her.
"Sorry, young ladies, but you cannot open them until Christmas morning." He pulled back his left sleeve, revealing a watch. The watch had a black face with white dots resembling snow. A green-clad elf was standing there with his left hand between 11 and 12, and his right hand near 6. "It is only 11:32. You still have to wait."
"Besides..." he left the girls and walked over to his coal sack, which was propped against the couch. The girls followed. "Here's something else." He handed each girl a lump of coal. The coals were roughly the same size, the size of walnuts. "Goodbye." He headed for the door, carrying the bag over his shoulder.
"Wait," Ariel said. Santa turned around. "What's the coal for?"
"Well, Ariel, you and your sister have been naughty this year. I always give naughty kids coal for Christmas."
"What did we do?"
Santa put the bag down. "You both... did something to a Kenan last summer."
"Did what?" Ariel smiled in mock innocence.
"I can't say it, but it was a very naughty thing."
"We're not so naughty. We can be really nice girls. Right, Nina?"
"Yeah. We're good girls."
"I'm happy to hear that. But there's always next year." He edged closer to the door.
Ariel rushed in front of him and blocked the door. "We'll be good girls now." He held onto Santa's right hand with both of hers. "You can watch." She pulled him to the center of the living room, followed by Nina.
The girls sat Indian-style next to each other, prompting Santa to set his bag down between himself and Ariel.
Nina noticed the sneaker that was behind their guest. She scooted over and picked it up. "I'll put that upstairs." Cautiously, she walked up the stairs, carefully not to wake their father. She returned to her spot with the same speed. "I put my sneaker back in my room."
"That's nice of you."
"My turn," Ariel said. She scanned the room from ceiling to floor. Looking behind her, she found a ball of coal between the TV and couch. Flipping herself onto her hands and knees, she retrieved it and handed it to Santa. "Did you drop that?"
"Why, yes, I did. Thank you."
"You're welcome. Are we good girls now?"
"You two are up to a good start, but you still must wait until next year."
"Wait! We can share stuff, too."
"Yeah," Nina said. "We share everything." She and her sister exchanged glances and looked at the man sitting in front of them.
"That's very nice, but I have to leave now."
Ariel's right hand suddenly shot forward. Her fingers went into the waistband of Santa's pants and underwear.
"W-what are you doing?" Santa stammered.
"I know what me and my sister can share," the 10-year-old grinned. Both of her hands began to tug the pants and underwear downwards.
Wanting to help her sister, Nina crawled over and gripped the sides of the fat man's trousers. Together, the girls managed to bring his clothes down to his ankles.
|