Love At The North Pole

Chapter Eight: The Santification Process Has Begun

It had been nine months since Charlie and I had been to the North Pole with our father. Let's just say, I haven't seen my father in nine months.

"I see him! He looks so adorable in his green soccer jersey," I laugh as Neil pulls the car up beside the curb beside the soccer field.

Mom and Neil laugh as we hop out of the car to go up to Charlie's soccer game. I jump out and Neil puts an arm around my shoulder while we walk around to meet up with Mom.

She was looking over at something with a confused look and we both turned to look in that direction. There, on the bench, my father was sitting with a huge, round belly and his hair was a light grey almost white. It was paired with a growing white beard and he was wearing a Christmas red sweatshirt. There was a line of kids waiting for their turn to sit on his lap.

They all thought he was Santa Claus... And he was going along with it.

"Hi, Mom," Charlie said while the three of us ignored him and made our way over to my father.

"Oh, my God. Oh, my God," Mom repeated with a shocked look on her face.

Dad noticed us walking over to him with wide eyes and he placed the kid that was on his lap on the ground, telling him he had to go.

"Hi, hey. Claire bear, hi, sweetheart. This probably looks pretty odd, doesn't it?" He asked while walking up to the three of us. "These kids lined up all by themselves."

Dad came in to hug me but Mom and Neil both placed a hand on my shoulders, pulling me back towards them.

"Scott, I think it's safe to say you're taking this Santa thing to an unhealthy level," Neil says in a shocked tone. "Here's my card. Call me."

"Scott, I really have to tell you that this is beginning to scare me," Mom says with a shaky breath. "I never in my wildest... Well, no, okay, maybe my wildest... But certainly never in my normal dreams... But then this is Scott we're talking about."

"Mom, the point," I interrupted while she put a hand over her mouth.

"I never thought you would stoop to changing your physical appearance in order to make Charlie and Clara like you. Do you have any concept of how dangerous this is to a teenage girl and a little boy?"

"Whoa, whoa," Dad starts before Charlie comes up behind me and tugs at my hand. " 'How dangerous?' "

"Mom, what's the matter?" Charlie shouts.

"Come on, Charlie. We're going home," Mom says while grabbing my little brother's hand.

"But we just started!"

Neil puts his hands on my shoulders and escorts me across the soccer field and towards the car.

"You let him stay. I'll go!" Dad calls out from behind us.

Mom stops in the middle of the soccer game and turns back towards my father. "If you don't get your act together, Scott, so help me...I will just..."

She stops and is too frustrated to finish her sentence. She pulls Charlie back towards the car and Neil turns back towards my dad, mouthing for him to call him while putting his hand shaped like a phone up to his ear.

"Come on, Clara," Neil says and pulls me back towards the car.

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That night I was so excited about my father's Santa transformation, I couldn't even properly call for Bernard.

"What's up, doll?" Bernard asks after appearing in my room.

"It's happening... Bernard, it's actually happening! My dad is becoming Santa Claus! Do you even know how excited I am? I've graduated high school and I can finally live at the North Pole!"