THE  SORT OF  QUIET MAN

He was sort of a quiet man - not always - but sometimes.

Nobody’s all that quiet - all the time.

Sometimes Mike’s teenage kids just ignored him - because they thought he was ignoring them. 

Sometimes …. Sort of….  Not too sure about all this…. He probably really didn’t know -  that’s what he was doing - if that’s what he was doing.  

Nor did they know what they were doing - if that’s what they were doing.  

Let’s give everyone the benefit of the doubt. 

Isn’t that what Jesus said on the cross - when he said, "Forgive them. They don’t really know what they are doing?"

Who does?

Sometimes families are like that and they don’t grasp this till 50 years later when they are adults - sitting on porches in summer vacation rented places - and they are figuring out - how they all got - to where they got.  Sort of ….

So Mike was sort of a quiet man - not always - but sometimes.

That is - till his boss called him into his office on the Wednesday before Christmas. His boss  asked him, “I need you to play Santa Claus at the company’s Christmas Party -  today.”

He said, “No no no!” instead of saying what his boss hoped,  he would say, “Ho ho ho. Yes. Gladly.”

“But no -  oh no!” was his immediate reaction - and response. “No. No. No. No way. Me Santa Claus?   No. I don’t do Santa Claus.”

His boss could see and hear that “No, no, no!” on Mike’s face and in his stiffened body - as it oozed out of his mouth. Slowly ….

His boss then said, “Well, as you know, Jim plays Santa every year. But he just got a call last night that his mom in Syracuse was rushed to the hospital. He    had to get a flight right away to Syracuse. It doesn’t look good for his mom and as you know, we only have one mother.”

“So Mike” - his boss said, as he pointed to the Santa Clause outfit - on his desk. “You and Jim are the only two guys around here about the same height and the same weight,  I need you to do this.  The kids of our employees will be here in about 1 hour for the Christmas party - for lunch, for presents, and to see Santa and tell him what they want for Christmas.

“All you have to do is to say to each kid, ‘Ho. Ho. Ho.’ Then say to each kid, ‘You have not been naughty. You have only been nice.’ Then ask them, ‘What do you want for Christmas this year?’

“That’s all you have to say to every kid.

“Then point them over to the big table. It will be loaded with gifts  and they can have their pick.”

“Ugh,” said Mike. "Triple, Ugh, Ugh, Ugh.”

“Look,” his boss said, “I’m 6 foot 5, 300 pounds. And I’m perfect  to play Santa Claus - and I always wanted to be a Santa Claus - but this suit would never fit me. We bought it for Jim and he  plays a great Santa Claus every Christmas Party.”

Pause. Silence. Big time silence. Pause.  

Would Mike do it?

“Okay,” Mike said to his boss, “I’ll do it - but you owe me big time.”

He took the Santa Clause suit - went to the bathroom. He suited up and it fit perfectly.

Next, he took the fake beard and whiskers and long white hair and put each on.

He looked in the mirror. “Not bad, he thought. Not bad.”

Then he said to himself in the mirror. “This is itchy - and this is nervous stuff -  but I’ll give it a try.”

Out he walked and headed back to the boss’ office.

“Perfect Mike. Perfect!”

The boss adjusted Mike’s beard and hair and mustache a bit.

Then he gave him a big bag filled with candy and lots and lots of Piggies and Bears.

Piggies and Bears?

Yes, that’s where Mike and Jim and the boss worked: It was a factory with a  big sign outside, “Home of The Piggy Bears!”

The factory  made leather Piggies and leather Bears.

The factory employed about 30 women - most of whom worked there for years - and 5 men: Mike, Jim, the Boss and two other guys.

The factory made a pink leather pig - about the size of football - and the factory was loaded with industrial size sewing machines and the women sewed up the pigs underneath bellies and also sewed onto the pink leather pigs - their 4 legs, ears, black two holed noses and red pig lips, and bead like eyes.

The factory also made a brown leather bear - also the size of a football - also soft  leather like the pigs - but brown leather for the bears. The 30 or so women sewed on their paws and arms and legs, and eyes and ears and noses, as well.  

The leather bears and pigs  looked sort of like the leather seats in an expensive leather seated car.

Inside the pigs and the bears for stuffing were  rags - old rags - but clean and well washed  rags.

And surprise - only the boss knew this - and one woman supervisor:   into every 100 pigs and 100 bears - inside their bellies - a sewn silk purse was placed - that had inside it a $100 bill.

It’s been 10 years now since the Piggy Bear Company has been making Pigs and Bears - and as far as the boss knows, nobody has yet to find a  sewn silk purse with a $100 dollar bill in some pig or bear.

It might be because the quality of the leather Pigs and Bears is so good and these Pigs and Bears last.  It might also be because the secret has been well kept for so long.

Wait, too much information. Back to Mike as Santa Claus.

At noontime - the lunch room was filled with about 100 kids - including Mike’s 3 teenagers - two boys and the youngest - a girl. Like teenagers they were sort of hiding and kidding around in the background - especially because as teenagers sometimes they didn’t want to be lumped together with little kids.

His kids were too busy to  recognize their dad as Santa Claus.

There was nice Christmas music in the background.  There were sliders and tiny ham and cheese and liverwurst  sandwiches for the adults. There were tons of chicken nuggets and mac and cheese for the kids.

Santa Claus sat on a big strong chair up front in the center of the lunch room.

The 30 ladies who worked there wore red Christmas Santa Claus hats and the 5 men who worked there - including the boss wore blue Christmas Santa Claus hats.  Everyone was wearing a smile.

Mike’s kids were still wondering in their background noise where their dad was.

They figured  - when or if they wondered - that he was often off to the side. He was a really quiet guy.

There was an announcement for all the kids to line up to see Santa Claus. At that the teenagers backed back - and the little kids lined up front front enthusiastically

By the 20^th kid, Mike, Santa Mike, was crying.

3 kids wanted their fathers for Christmas. One was in the army in Afghanistan. One was in the hospital sick - and dying of cancer. One was in jail.

Kids wanted their moms to get nice presents for Christmas.

1 little girl wished her mom and dad would take her to church like her girl friends’ parents  brought her to church.

1 girl wanted her mom and dad to stop fighting.

Then the big moment happened.    Mike’s youngest daughter came up to see Santa. She was doing it on a dare - because the other teenage girls thought they were too old to see Santa. She came up and leaned onto her dad’s leg - only to scream out - really loud, “It’s my dad. My dad is Santa Claus. Oh my God. My dad is Santa Claus.”

And she hugged and hugged him and everyone in the room stood up and clapped for Mike - the guy who was always known as “the Quiet Man.”

He handed her two boxes of candy and a pink Piggy and a brown Bear.

O   O   O   O   O   O   O

Fifty five years later at her father’s funeral, this daughter gave her dad’s eulogy.

She told the crowd in church - which included her mom who was still living - and all her kids and all her nieces and nephews - and grandnieces and grandnephews - and Mike’s friends - how that Santa Claus moment changed her dad’s life and his personality.

He became a real Santa Claus to them - as well as a squeezable Piggy and a squeezable Bear.

No she didn’t find a $100 dollar bill in the Bear she got that day 50 years earlier - but her granddaughter - 10 years after that funeral day -  found a $100 in the silk purse in the Piggy her grandma got that day - 60 years earlier.

That story hit the papers and sure enough anyone who had an old brown leather bear or an old pink leather piggy from the Piggy Bear Company - from way, way back - carefully opened it up. Well, 11 people discovered a $100 bill in their collector’s item.

The other bears and pigs - some with $100 dollar bills are out there, in attics, in cellars, in garbage dumps, and there is one in a small child’s casket - a child who died too early - but she loved her Bear - and hugged it to her end.