Outside the wind was howling and snow swirled and beat against the windows. The storm had been raging all day, the first gentle flurries of flakes turning quickly to blizzard. There would be no going anywhere tonight, I thought. I was stuck here on Christmas Eve. Alone and without power, only a few candles to illuminate my small living space.
“Bad enough that I’m stuck in Ottawa, away from everyone I know and love. Now I can’t even leave my apartment without freezing to death.”
I stared sadly at my poor excuse for a tree. It had looked almost pretty when the lights were twinkling. Now it was just a shadow of its former glory, branches drooping while needles fell to the carpet, a handful at a time.
“I wish I was anywhere but here right now. I wish I was somewhere warm.”
I let my mind wander far across the globe to beaches and sunshine and a pretty young woman who had me bewildered and besotted, a drowse setting in as I dreamed of her sitting beside me, her hand in mine as she pulled me close and kissed me…
I awoke suddenly to the sound of something thumping the roof hard, my lovely dream lost in an instant.
“Tree limb,” I mumbled, looking up at the ceiling, thankful that it hadn’t torn a hole in the roof and let the outside in. “I guess things could be worse.”
Suddenly hungry, I put the kettle on the stove, using the blue orange stove flame to see by, and put some brownies on a plate while I waited for the water to boil. At least I could warm my insides. Getting comfortable with a blanket around my shoulders, I settled in, growing drowsy again as I sipped my tea and nibbled distractedly and, once again, started to nod off…
“Ho ho ho!”
I woke suddenly, my heart hammering against my ribs, eyes flying open as I let out a sharp scream of fear. Standing before me was some guy dressed as Santa. Who he was or how he’d gotten in, I had no idea. Not that it mattered. The only thing of any real value here was me. While I’d had my share of home intruder fantasies in the past, they’d been just that. Fantasies. The idea of it actually happening was terrifying.
“Ho ho ho!” he repeated, looking at me expectantly, his Santa hat slightly askew, several twigs stuck in his snow white beard. He looked a bit of a mess. He’d even torn his coat in several places.
“Take the television, my wallet. I’ll give you all my PINs, just don’t-“
I didn’t have time to finish.
“Bonnie, Bonnie, Bonnie,” he rumbled. Yes, he actually rumbled. That’s the best I can explain his voice. “I’m not here to ravish you. Had a bit of a mishap, shall we say, and I’m in need of assistance. Oh, and tea, if you don’t mind. Cups are in the cupboard, right?”
I probably should have grabbed something and tried to hit him, but I couldn’t seem to get control of my arms and legs, so I just sat there stupidly as he helped himself, sipping hot tea with an exaggerated sigh of pleasure.
“And brownies. Don’t mind if I do, Bonnie,” he said, plucking one from the plate still sitting on my lap as I sat there wondering how he knew my name. Not really the most important question, but the others were too disturbing to contemplate.
“I know everyone’s name, my dear girl. It’s my job.”
I stared, wondering how he’d known what I was going to ask even before I asked it and again, he answered my unvoiced question.
“I am Santa, after all. And I know you think you don’t believe in Santa, Bonnie, but deep down inside, there’s a little piece of magic that still does.”
“Prove it,” I told him, a sense of curiosity at war with my fear. Against my better judgment, I was intrigued by my nighttime visitor.
Santa, if it truly was him, regarded me seriously, although his eye still twinkled and his mouth seemed to be on the verge of smiling.
“When you were 7, you asked me for a pair of ice skates. Pink ones. Do you remember those?”
I did. I’d loved those skates. The funny thing about them, my parents had told me not to get my hopes up too much. Times had been hard and money was tight. Not only that, they’d seemed as surprised as I was when I tore open the present.
“That was you?”
“No one else.”
“So you really are Santa,” I whispered, feeling slightly awe-struck as a little piece of me started believing in magic once more.
“In the flesh. Now, if you don’t mind. I could use a little help getting my sleigh off your roof. It seems to be… stuck.”
I looked outside at the swirling snow once and shivered. It had to be -20C outside. Maybe colder. Even bundled up I wouldn’t be able to take more than a few minutes of that. Not to mention the wind and the snow or the fact that there wasn’t a ladder to get up on the roof with.
Santa watched my face carefully while finishing off his brownie and taking another sip.
“All it takes is a little magic. All you have to do is open your heart and believe, Bonnie. Easy as falling off a roof. Trust me. I’ve done it a few times.”
“Believe in what?” I wondered out loud, gazing up at the ceiling again.
“In Magic. In me.”
I stood silently staring upwards, thinking about those pink skates. Two years later I made the girls' team. Left winger for the Snow Angels. It was still one of my best memories. All because Santa had brought me skates that we were too poor to afford.
“I believe,” I whispered awkwardly.
“It has to be more than that, Bonnie. It has to come from the heart."
And so I stood there in a nearly dark room with a strange man who claimed he was Santa Claus and looked deep down inside.
“I believe. I believe. I believe.”
And I did. Not at first, maybe, but each time I told myself so, I believed a little more. And then, something miraculous happened. I truly did believe that the impossible was possible and that Santa had come looking for help and that Christmas magic really did exist.
“Ho ho ho! You’ve done it, Bonnie! I knew you could!”
Above I heard a noise. I could only guess that it was Santa’s sleigh being freed. Forgetting everything, I smiled, a sense of pride washing over me. I had done it.
“Such a good girl.”
He patted me on the head, smiling down at me and I smiled back up.
“Now, what would you like for your reward?”
Blushing, I shrugged. It didn’t really seem that I should be rewarded and maybe I already had. After all, Christmas didn’t seem so gloomy anymore even if it was still cold and miserable out and I was still in the dark.
Santa, however, must have been doing his mind-reading trick again, for he winked at me, and grinned.
“For someone so nice, you have some very naughty thoughts, young lady. Very well. But only for 24 hours. Enjoy yourself. Merry Christmas!”
And with that, he wiggled his nose and disappeared, much to my astonishment, since he took my tree, my couch, my living room, my kitchen with him. He even took the blizzard…
I found myself standing on a secluded beach wearing a… a bikini. Not just any bikini. A very risqué bikini. And I was warm. The sun felt amazing on my exposed skin. I stood watching in wonder as the waves swelled and rode gently over the sand, my gaze drifting skyward. It was noon and the cloudless sky was the most perfect shade of blue I could imagine. Paradise.
“Hey, lover. Looking for something?”
My heart skipped a beat as I turned. Her bikini, if possible, was even more risqué than mine. She smiled, regarding me with light blue eyes which twinkled as merrily as Santa’s had. A floral pattered shopping bag dangled from one hand.
“Nice day for a hike, don’t you think?”
Besotted, I nodded, blushing as she reached into her bag and produced a pink collar. I didn’t object when she buckled it around my throat and stood back admiring me. Nor when she fished out a leash and clipped it to the collar.
“I don’t want you wandering off and getting lost,” she teased as she led me down the beach towards high rocky cliffs, leash in one hand, bag in the other, an amused look on her face when she caught me staring at the bag.
“I brought some accessories. Just in case,” she winked.
“Oh,” I said, stupidly, my tongue-tied in a knot and unable to form words, especially after she kissed me, which she did before we’d gone more than a few dozen steps. A soft kiss. Tender even, and yet so full of longing that it left me breathless. I kissed her back, of course, heat surging from within, hungry for more as she stepped back, giggling playfully.
“Soon, lover.”
Lover. I felt a little dizzy at the word. Maybe it was because I forget to breathe. Whatever it was, it felt wonderful.
“Okay,” was all I could manage as I watched her gaze drift to my breasts and my protruding stiff nipples. And then further to my briefs and the telltale spot that had suddenly appeared, so that my lips were clearly outlined against the rainbow striped material.
“I like that I can do that to you,” she whispered into my ear, lips brushing my sensitive skin, sinking her teeth in gently before releasing me again.
“Fuck.”
“That’s the plan.”
I didn’t say another word, there being no words that could possibly explain how I felt as I was led to the edge of the beach and beyond until we came to a crack in the rocky cliff face.
“Go ahead,” she told me, guiding me into the crack. I gasped, astonished at the sight before me. A dimly lit grotto with a small pool in the center, soft light entering from a few small holes in the domed stone ceiling.