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( lrc C C CUONE CUONEY CUONEYrl Y rl d d1i ' 1i MICHAEL i It HAEL IIAEL PARKF PARKS PARKFR R slid Into hili his hili"al h1'1 h11 1\ 1 \ 1lIt lIt 1 ' l lSar "al al Sar " Sarta ta to Claus Clnus suit gull with a groan groanIt groalIt 11 It i t d been a long ha hard rd day and andIt andtl arI It tl ( c e stretch slrelch from seven seve-II seve II - o 0 clock to toI tor 'i i ' I r t i e remained before the big de deI dI , I it rt I I cnt enl ent ! store Iore would close closeS closec S c . , ated died dted on hilt hili his throne he glanced glancedrf glancedresntdiy glanceres d rf resntdiy ' " jn , [ .ntdly ntdly . < dly down the long line ap- ap apI apt aiI - > . - I t ding ( it slog ing him It wag "as as was " then that he hes hi s , . t \ er The sight mado made him choke chokeU choktt It U emoti emot ! n and his viice vlce vice ) trenI tremI trem tremII ' I II 1 1 I 1 Ahen when y " < hen I le 1 e spoke Ipoke to the lhe young youniht youngt ; 1-1 1 t - 1 s Her lIt.r lItr fits . turn came at last and andt andl andi antit [ t i l ( I t k her on n his knee knf'e knfe ' a ax as . he had hadI haI d I t c . t . the Ihe oti oU ot1 era en What B s a y ur urlei urr ui r lei r e 1 I ttle ttlf file ' girl he askeil asked In his hisi hitr tor i , r ( fTpiil Tpbt Test voiceM voice voiceM M 1\1 1 \ .III III at . aiie r e Parker she . , sheaniwere sheaniwereWhit he answered answereds an Iwered s " r f y v vSVhit Whit Wh'tt Whtt SVh-it SVh it yWh'tt ' - woi wot wOlld Id you like for ( ( hrisi hrlst hrist hrlstI hristr hristI hrlstIt I r It I Ite t e answer linswer was W.18 W18 . given Inst antly ntly antlyA ( intljA ntlyA A d II and a carriage and uh uhMarianne uhMarianne u . Marianne hesitated and andI anI I k 1 I e a finger In to Santa Sdnta s a pndde pHdded padded pHddedch paddedch pnddech ch is It real reaP ' she sheI shi r I ke 1 I l IM lM 1M M had hdel hael Parker Parkf'r Parkfr ' had no ang ans ens ver Ner Her to toII totl ttl II tl s q c ind md end she looked up Into hit hlu his ) face facec faceS tactS c S . , I 11 I ler II'I III let ' ly Iy she burst Into tearu tears He HeI H1 I k / . M < ( 1 I to tear lear o of ofr his false whisker whiskers whiskerI whiskersJ whiskersI J I I tell her th that t everything would wouldI wouli1 I e I ' ill 111 iii right now But Instead tnstead he hesa hta , 1 > sa , 11 I t t What a s the matter Marl Marlanne Marlannel Marlanne anne annel ? annelI I want my daddy to come home homeshe homeshe homeshe she sobbed Iwant I want t that at more than thana thaia a dollor doll or any anythingWell anything anythingWell thin II IIWell Well that s a u 11 a pretty large or order order 01der der said Santa but I 1 U 11 aee see what whatI wha1 1 I can doOut doOut do doOut Out In the brisk night air Michael MichaelParker MichaelParker MichaeParker Parker regretted having bavlng ought fought ( with withWilson withWilson witiWllson i Wilson The incident paraded acros across acrossT , T O ' S 1111111 1111 ) ) 4jj 4jjA A i 1 I , 1I u-i u i uiit - -I I - it itI I . ' Wha What ' would you like for ( or Christ Chris Christna ' " . U1a anal na . 7 ? 7tils tils 11115 fide memory as It had a thousand thousandtimes thousandtimes thousanctimes times in the past few ( ew weeks After Aftermonths Aftermonths Attemonths months of studying and planning he hehad h hhad < had gone ione to Wllson Wilson the plant man manaier manager manoger aier ager with a scheme that was sure surefire surefire sureflre fire for speeding up plane piane produc production production tlon tion Wllson Wilson was brusque You You.tick Youstack Yoiatlck .tick tick stack . to your engineering enilneerlng " . he said saidI I U 11 worry about productionAlter productionAfter production productionAfter After Alter telling Wllson Wilson among other otherthings otherthings othethings things that he was the plant planl s a big bigge.t biggest bigget ge.t get gest * . bottleneck Parker angrily weIll went weIll.home wenthome wen.home wenhome wen.homeBitter .home home . . .homeBitter homeBitter Bitter and restless he had gone goneaway goneaway gon gonaway < away three weeks ago telling tellLng ELsie ELsiehis Elsiehis Elsiehis his wife that ha he was out to get a areal < real job But no one would take him wlthoul without withouta a release As the days passed he heJonged he helonged helonged , Jonged longed Intensely to be with his fam lam famJly lamfly famlly Jly fly again but pride would not let him himTeturn himreturn himTetum Teturn return a failure tallure Finally funds run runDing running runfling Ding ning low he look took the job as 81 ! Santa SantaClaus SantaClaus SantaClaus Claus for ( or the Christmas Chrlslmas holidaysSnow holidaysSnow holidays holidaysSnow Snow was beginning to fall Last Lastminute Lastminute LasIminute minute shoppers were thinning out outHe outlie outHe He lie walked aimlessly among them themwondering themwondering themwondering wondering where he hp r c ( ' uld old R g know knowIng knowing knowing Ing that home tonight tonlghl fIII f IIInlghls / all /III III nlghls nights nlghlswas nightswas nightswas knowI I was cut Gut of the questi QuesIJ quests I r ISuddenly rSuddenly i iSuddenly Suddenly he ren en en pn t I t ' ered f'rf'd frfd Bred ' the thewords thewords thewords words of a child who had sal qllt sat in m his hisknee hisknee hiaknee knee that afternoon When Whpn Michael Michaelas 8S as Santa Sanla Claus had asked askpd h n 11 what whathe whathe whalhe he wanted for ( or Christmas t 1 I e had re replied replied repiled plied It II doesn t matter Fven Even FvenChristmas EvenChristmas FvenChristmas Christmas doesn t seem to matter matterany matterany matterany any more I just came here to keep keepup keepup keepup up my mom s a spirit He pausedTtll pausedThrre paused pausedThi Thrre Thi Ttll re won t be any real Christmas Christmasfor for me until untJl my pop comes home homeHt homeHe homeHe Ht He ' s in Africa you knowAll know knowAll All at once Michael Parker real realzed realtzed reall2ed zed tzed ! tha that t he not Wllson Wilson was the theb theb theb b ! ttlei tIel ttler eckWith eckWtth eck eckWith With Wtth Elsie Elqle In his arms he mur mar murn marn murn n urcd ured I I ve ye come bick b'tck btck buck ' the same sameas sameas sameas as I left-8 left 8 left-a a led - a foola fool a complete fool1'11 footWell foot fool footWell \ - Well \\-1'11 1'11 111 ' not a 8 complete comple-te comple te - foolshe fool she shec c intercd mtued entered with n a smile Wilson WilsontE'legrapl Wilsontelegrapl Wilsontelegrapt tE'legrapl tElegrapl ' cd He wai wal war Is ts to 10 know II if ifoi 1130i ) 0 oi ' can be ' In Mondly Mond'ty Mondty Monday ' morning t.o to . t.osupen tosupers tosuperv supen supers se the setting up of your new newsystl newsyster newsyslei systl syster ( , i ) iBut systerBut But how did you know that I d dbe dbe bf be ' here hereMar hereMu Mar Mu ; at ill nr ne ran out from trom her h'r hr ( ' bed bedf bedr r f ( ( < n a R d it tl row rew her arms aro ir II u d h S S"R ssta s\\a s a "R R sta \ " \ st t I told M Iher ther she an ann anno anno n no < , needAn needAn need needAn An an sed I'd Id ' I tw " nkle cime c'Ime come ' i toM toM to M chs1 chael ( ' I rker s t'vec tvec eves ' ; Oh I cee see ceeI seeI ; I 511 sups . Pl ( R.k Rk ask . d Si 1 la CIa Cla S to to5t tosill 5t sill I I I0 c ( ' ct \0 0 ' \ t \ { ( tit II it It . jl .It It at s strange tranle : Tl.It Tiat Tt Tl Ti . at .It It s ex exis ex-ir ex ir 1C is ' - I I hit h'll hll ' h'lpJ hlpJ hnppti huppr ' . > u ( e " 1 1itt 1 j 1Mi 1\1 1 itt \ Mi I n i l ( n g ' rKled f'ile-d f'ile file d plied ( - Daddy she shesa shesa shesa sa d t it ! lie e a ( " ext "xl xl tin IIn nn e a you try to rool fool foolar foolaoui ar 81) 81 ) 01 or e I a ' yo yn h'ubetter mil h'u\ h'u hu hill ' \ belter better cover up that thatUlOY thatfunny thattinny funny ! U-lOY U lOY UlOYtitle - \ little \title title mole between your eyes eyeaI eyesI I coul . + ell that anywhere anywhereRele anywhereReied anywhereRelc Rele Reied s.d sd . "d d " . < l by We Weftern western . tern Nfpaper Nawapaper Newspaper Union UnJoa Udon . . , |