He was there, sitting in my chair, when I came into the office today.
“What are you doing here?” I asked. “It’s only the 19th.”
“I came to see what you wanted for Christmas,” said the Jolly Old Elf.
“Actually, I am set,” I said. “There’s really nothing more I could ask for.”
“Come on,” he scoffed. “Everyone needs or wants something.”
“I have it all,” I repeated. “In this moment, everything is going perfectly.”
“FINCA doesn’t need anything?”
“Not really. We have a great team, a great board, wonderful donors and investors, and, above all, fantastic, hardworking clients who are out there every day working their way to a better life for themselves and their families.”
“And your family?”
“Everyone is doing great.”
“But, surely, no one has everything. There must be something you want, something that you always craved but never got?”
I thought back to my childhood, when, back in our cheesebox house in Levittown, Long Island, my three brothers and I poured over the toy store catalogues we received in the mail in the runup to every Christmas. It was post WWII, and most of the things we wanted had to do with warfare: toy guns, soldiers, weapon systems, etc. I had always asked for, but never got, a REMCO Bulldog Tank, that could roll over obstacles and fired green plastic shells. But even this wish, after more than 40 years, had been fulfilled when my wife, Lorraine, tired of hearing me mention this everytime she asked me what I wanted for Christmas, went on ebay and found one, box and all. The gun didn’t work anymore, but still….
“Okay,” I said, finally. “There is one thing that I see written all over store windows this time of year, something everyone asks for, but, so far, we’ve never received.”
“What’s that?” Santa asked, already searching through his bag.
“Peace on Earth, and Good Will Toward Men.”
Santa stopped digging. He winked at me.
“Maybe next year.”
Rupert