Yuletide Immortal (The Immortal Chronicles Book 4) Read Online Free Page A

own. 
    “Maybe puzzled is the wrong word,” I said.  “I’ve been alive for a lot of different traditional festivals and celebrations, all with their peculiarities.  Right now I feel like I’m watching the birth of a new tradition.”
    “People have been celebrating gift-giving holidays for century upon century.  Perhaps as far back as Saint Nicholas himself.”
    “Was he one of you?”
    “Oh, oh no, I don’t think so.  Not of my line, at least.”
    A little girl came up with a long story about a doll she had to have and a second one on the perils of her brother’s hand-me-down tricycle, and how chocolate ice cream is good but nobody in the whole entire world likes strawberry.
    “The celebration of a saint’s day isn’t new,” I agreed, once the girl had left.  “Neither were the old harvest celebrations, or Yule day.  But this seems unconnected to all of that.”
    “You become far too analytical when sober.  Relax and enjoy the spirit of the holiday, I say.”
    “What spirit is that?”
    “Look around!  Happy children, happy adults, people spending time with family and giving each other things… it’s jollity at its finest!”
    “I see advantageously leveraged commerce preying on buyers who already have all they need in order to survive.”
    He shot me a look.  “You’re trying to be sour intentionally.”
    “Probably.  I’m usually drinking by now.”
    “Well if you’re looking for an answer to the question, this is why you’re here.  You need to be more connected to the world!  Especially during Christmas.”
    “What kind of connection did you have in mind?”
    He called another little girl up.  This one also said she wanted a doll, and then told Santa about a boy named Billy who pulled her hair in school.  She wanted to make it very clear that Billy had not been nice, and should therefore not get what he wants for Christmas.  She was just the right kind of annoying to make me glad I wasn’t often around children.  I was sympathetic to Billy’s urge to pull her hair, certainly.
    “Oh I don’t know,” Santa said.  “Get involved!  Do something nice for someone, just for the holidays.  Give a gift to a person deserving of a gift.  You have no children, I gather.”
    “I have no family at all.”
    “Then find someone else.  Just one person, but one nobody has on their list.  One person in need of that one gift they can’t get for themselves.”
    Mostly, this sounded like a good way to get a girl into bed, but this seemed like a terrible place to say that aloud.
    “How would I know where to find this one person?”
    “I don’t know, Stanley.  But I know you aren’t looking for them right now.  So this is my charge to you, Santa to Santa’s helper.  Find that someone.  You have only seven days until Christmas.”
    “I’ll think about it.”
    “It will cheer you up!”
    “Who said I needed cheering up?”
    “You’re an immortal man, of course you need cheering.  Especially with no family to call your own.”
    “How about you?” I asked.  “Where’s your family of Santas?”
    “This is our busy time, obviously.”
    “Yes, but any sons for you?” 
    I didn’t know how old he was and hadn’t asked, but I got the sense he was nearing the end of his career.  It was the way he winced a little every time he leaned down to lift the next kid onto his knee.  It seemed a reasonable assumption that he had a son learning to follow him, or who was already an adult Santa somewhere else.
    He faltered for just a second.  “It’s a good story,” he said.  “I’ll tell you some other time.” 
    Then he called out for the next child.
    *   *   *
    Santa broke for lunch at just past noon.  Lunch was a couple of sandwiches in the store’s commissary, and soda pop.
    “So what do you do?” Santa asked.  “For money, I mean?  I gather you don’t hold down a job or you wouldn’t have been able to spend the day here.”
    “Day’s not over yet,” I