Dear Santa,  

My name is Frankie Hardy. Well Francis Fenton Hardy in case you have other Frank Hardys, and I am five years old. This year for Christmas I want one thing. Can you please make my brother Joey feel better so he can come home? He’s been awfully sick and I miss him terribly  

That is the only thing I want.  If you can give me that, I won’t ask for anything else ever, ever again.  

Yours truly,  

Frankie  

PS – I hope you don’t mind but I had to get my friend Tony’s, big brother Angelo to help me with this letter. I can’t spell very well yet.  

Frank swallowed the lump in his throat as he looked up at the man, “I… I remember this letter. How could I forget?”  

The man didn’t say anything and Frank sat down heavily on the couch as he griped the letter so tightly, his knuckles turned white, “We had been skating down on the pond near the Mortons farm.  It had frozen over but the ice wasn’t as thick in some places as others, and Joe found a thin spot and fell thru. Mr. Morton pulled him out and we took him to the hospital.”  

Frank’s eyes shone brightly with the memory, “Joe had swallowed a lot of water and he ended up with a bad case of pneumonia a week before Christmas. I remember Mom and Dad tried to hide it, but I knew they were really scared and I overheard Mom crying one night. Joe was getting sicker and they were afraid he wasn’t going to get better.”  

Pausing to wipe a tear away he said softly, “I have never been so scared of losing Joe before… and I wrote this letter.” He looked up at the old man, “How could I have forgotten?”  

The man smiled sadly at the youth as he said softly, “Frank do you believe in me?”  

“I…I don’t know”, the boy finally admitted, thoroughly confused and sure that he must still be stuck in some sort of candy cane induced dream.  

The man started to say something else but then he was gone.  

“Santa?”  Frank called out, confused by his sudden disappearance.

* * *

The van shifted slightly as the ice started to crack.  

The man stood next to the van and put his hands on the frozen water.  

“Just a little longer… that’s all I ask," he murmured as he closed his eyes and breathed coldness onto the pond.

The ice held just a little thicker but the man was not fooled.  

He knew this magic would not last long because he could not stay here to hold it.  

Inside the van, the boy was slipping further away. The man would need to risk it – he couldn’t wait for Frank to believe anymore.

* * *

“Your brother needs your help”, Frank jumped up, startled by the sudden reappearance of the other man, “What?”  

“Please there’s no time to explain!” the man begged, imploring Frank to trust him, “You need to come with me, now!”  

“I need to wake up”, Frank said, suddenly becoming overwhelmed by the feelings that Joe was in danger – real danger… not just dreamed ones, “I need to find my brother… I can’t go with you! I need to wake up!”  

The man shook his head, “You’re not dreaming!  And your brother doesn’t have time for this!” He glanced away for a moment as if looking at something before turning back to Frank, “We need to go!”  He reached down to grab the boys arm but Frank pulled away.  

“This is a dream!  Santa Claus isn’t real!  None of this is real!” the boy persisted as he held up the letter indicating he thought he was dreaming that as well.  

The man started to say something but changed his mind. Instead he disappeared again.

* * *

“Wake up Frank… come on wake up”, the boy chanted as he lay back down and tried to come to his senses. A growing anxiety in the pit of his stomach told him something had happened to Joe. And now he needed to wake up to find him!

* * *

“Are you sure you want to go?” Fenton asked his wife as he helped her put her coat on.  She smiled up at him lovingly, “Yeah I am.  I just really want to go home.”  

The detective smiled at her, “All right them.  It would be nice to spend some time with the boys before they went to bed, Joe should be back home by now”, he glanced at his watch and frowned, “he’d better be anyway.”  

Arms linked, they carefully picked their way down the front steps and across the snow covered path towards the car.   

They had almost gotten there when, with a resounding cry, Fenton slipped, let go of Laura’s arm and fell.  

“FENTON!”  Laura screamed as she heard him cry out in pain.  

“S’okay”, her husband’s voice answered her, “I’m fine”.   

Chief police Ezra Collig, and party host, had seen the fall and hurried towards them, “You okay Fenton?”  

“Yeah, can you just give me a hand up?” the sleuth asked and then groaned in pain when he discovered he couldn’t put any weight on his ankle, “Darn it!” he hissed.  

“Is it broken?” Laura asked; her face mirroring the same concern as on Ezra’s but Fenton shook his head, “I don’t think so. It doesn’t feel broken. Sprained probably.”  

“Ezra”, Laura said, “Can you help me get Fenton to the car? I’m going to take him to the emergency room to have it x-rayed.”  

“Sounds like a good idea”, the chief police said as he helped his friend get into the car, “you guys take it easy” he said as he slammed the door shut and then stepped away to watch them go.  

“MERRY CHRISTMAS!” Collig called out to the retreating taillights on the car and then hurried back inside his house – it was cold tonight.

* * *

Joe was singing. In his dark place… away from the pain, he was singing.  

He felt a warm hand on his forehead and knew who it was. But it wasn’t Frank so he kept his eyes shut. It was too hard to come back now…  

So instead he sang as a steady stream of tears ran down his face…  

I’ll be home for Christmas
You can count on me
Please have snow, and mistletoe
And presents, by the tree

Christmas eve will find me
Where the love light, gleams
I’ll be home for Christmas
If only in my dreams

Christmas eve will find me
Where the love light, gleams
I’ll be home for Christmas
If only in, if only in,

If only in my, dreams  

And then as he felt the gentle, warm touch on his face, he sobbed – I want my brother… Frank please find me…

* * *

The man bowed his head and cried. He was losing this child.  

Reaching out, he gently wiped the blood from the side of the boy’s mouth with his hand. He had to try one more time….

* * *

This time when he appeared to the teen things were different.

Frank wasn’t startled.  

The man didn’t say anything.  

Instead he just held out his hand.  

Not sure what the man wanted this time, Frank hesitated but then he looked.  

And his heart froze.  

He recognized what he saw on the man’s hand – blood.  

“Your brother is dying”, the man whispered and Frank saw the tears on his ageless face, “and I cannot help him any longer.”  

Reaching out to the touch the bloodied hand, overwhelming emotion brought the teen to his knees, when he was flooded with the vision of his brother draped over the steering wheel of the van… blood trickling down his chin as lifeless blue eyes stared straight ahead… and Frank saw the unanswered question on the pale face…  

Why didn’t you save me?  

Comprehension filled him and slowly he lifted his eyes from the bloodied hand, to look into the saddened blue eyes twinkling down at him.  

Santa Claus? Frank thought and the man nodded, a slow smile playing across his face, “Yes Frank. Santa Claus.”

* * *

It was getting harder to breathe. Each breath he drew felt like someone was driving a knife into his chest. It was strange… he thought he was too numb to feel anything, anymore, but with every breath he took; he realized just how wrong he was.  

Then he thought about his brother… and he felt an aching sadness threaten what little breaths he could manage.  

Frank wasn’t an overly Christmasy person as it was, and Joe was afraid that his death might drive what little Christmas was left, right out of Frank.  

If only I could hold on until Boxing day, he thought miserably, thinking that if he died the day after Christmas Day, then everything wouldn’t be ruined for everyone… that his family could still find some joy in the holiday.  

I’m going to miss them, he sobbed silently and then he had an odd thought, I hope they like what I got them for Christmas… It isn’t much.  Certainly not enough for a family as great as mine… but I hope they’ll like it anyway.  

Especially Frank… I hope…  

His thoughts trailed off as he focused one last brief effort on his brother. He could see the woolen strands on his cream colored sweater, as they overlapped each other…  

And then he felt himself being pulled away… almost like being sucked through a vacuum and for one fleeting moment instead of being trapped in his frigid van, he was standing in the warm living room of his parents house.  

He could see Frank.  

Immediately his brother turned towards him and with one final smile at Frank, Joe whispered, “I love you big brother” and then faded away.