\u201cDo you think he might bring it for me, Papa?\u201d<\/p>\n
The language of Santa was new to Hutch — it had not been part of his austere, adult-centered childhood — but he was learning. It was hard not to, in the storm of baking and decorating that had been his life for the past two weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need to ask him. Maybe if he thinks you\u2019ve been good enough. Look, here\u2019s where we wait.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWill it be long? It looks long.\u201d<\/p>\n
Privately Hutch agreed and cursed the ill-judged basketball game that had put a temporary halt to Starsky\u2019s festive activities.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure it\u2019ll move quickly. Let\u2019s play I Spy to pass the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Zac was too excited to concentrate for long, and was soon swinging on his father\u2019s arm and making friends with the other children around him, all equally restless and excited. Soon though, after one near miss on a lady with her arms full of packages, Hutch called him sharply back, and only his inner Starsky saved the child from a scolding. The same inner Starsky reminded him of the bag of candy that had been rammed into his pocket at the last minute, and relative peace was restored. The line shuffled forward, Zac ate candy. Hutch ate some candy too, reminding himself that it was fine for children to be seen and heard, especially at Christmas.<\/p>\n
\u201cPapa\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cZackary?\u201d<\/p>\n
Zac giggled — he always found his full name unaccountably funny — but was soon serious again. \u201cPapa — I\u2019ve been thinking. How many children are there in the world?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell — there are about four and a half billion people — so probably about one and a half billion children. We can look it up when we get home.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCan I have another candy?\u201d<\/p>\n
They shuffled forward a little.<\/p>\n
\u201cPapa?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cZackary?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow far is it round the world?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout twenty-five thousand\u00a0 miles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another pause, then suddenly, without warning, something hit him very hard in the stomach. He gasped and doubled over, just as a scream of fury drowned out the chatter. He caught his breath, then to his horror, his son began to shout, his voice clear despite the fury.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou lied! Dad lied! Everyone lied! It\u2019s not TRUE!!!!!\u201d<\/p>\n
Hutch felt horror run down his spine like icy water as understanding dawned, and the eyes of every parent turned on him. He could hear their unspoken thoughts, and the color rose in his face.<\/p>\n
\u201cZackary! Be quiet!!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo! You say it\u2019s wrong to lie, but you LIED!\u201d<\/p>\n
Zac\u2019s tantrums were infamous, and he was now kicking Hutch\u2019s shins as he yelled, \u201cLiar! Liar! Liar!\u201d<\/p>\n
People began to draw their children away, and Hutch grew redder and hotter, through a mixture of embarrassment at the scene they were making and terror at what Zac might be going to say next. He tried to gather the child in his arms, but the flailing limbs made it impossible. At last, in rage and desperation, and with a firm resolution never to let Starsky risk a basketball injury again, he grasped the back of Zac\u2019s belt and picked him up, still screaming.<\/p>\n
The line parted as he carried his son, like a very reluctant gym bag, away from the fake snow-covered log cabin. He kept going until he was sure they were out of earshot, then found a seat, pulling Zac onto his lap. The screams had turned into sobs, and Hutch\u2019s fury dissolved in the face of the little boy\u2019s heartbroken, tear-stained face.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, baby. Would you like a hug?\u201d<\/p>\n
The sobs turned to whimpers as Zac clung to him, arms and legs clinging like a monkey, hot face buried in his shoulder. \u201cPapa — is he real?\u201d<\/p>\n
Hutch knew what he meant, and had never felt more unequal to a task in his life. He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket, and dried his son\u2019s eyes, thinking fast. \u201cAre you sure you want to know? Because you can\u2019t un-know things.\u201d<\/p>\n
The auburn curls bounced up and down as the little head nodded furiously. \u201cI don\u2019t want to believe things that aren\u2019t true.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hutch smiled. Zac was Starsky\u2019s son — but so much his own person as well. Starsky made a point of believing three impossible things before breakfast, but Zac had thought about the figures and come to his own conclusions.<\/p>\n
Suddenly Hutch knew what to say. \u201cOk, then. He\u2019s not really real\u2026\u201d Zac\u2019s lip began to tremble\u2026 \u201dbut he is, sort of. The grown-ups are Santa for the little kids. And when kids get too old and clever to believe — when they start to do the math like you did — then they<\/em> start being Santa and bring the presents for the little ones.\u201d<\/p>\n The green eyes widened. \u201cSo, I\u2019m Santa now? And so are you, and Dad? And Mummy?\u201d<\/p>\n Hutch nodded solemnly. \u201cYep. Shall we go and buy some presents? Your first sackful? I\u2019ve got some ideas. But Zac — it\u2019s very important you don\u2019t tell anyone. They have to work it out for themselves. Do you understand?\u201d<\/p>\n Zac contemplated, his head on one side. \u201cI understand. It\u2019s a special secret — only people who know can talk about it. But Papa\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think Dad\u2019s worked it out yet. So we won\u2019t tell him.\u201d<\/p>\n Hutch laughed and stood up, setting Zac on his feet and taking his hand. \u201cI think you\u2019re right. He never was very good at math.\u201d<\/p>\n Hutch glanced into the family room, where his small son was lying on the floor under the Christmas tree, reading aloud to a patient black and white dog. Smiling, he pulled the door closed, and turned to his partner. \u201cI guess so Viking\u2019s more or less finished teaching Zac to read, don\u2019t you? How are … Continue reading “December 24th: He Never Was Very Good At Math by Curlew”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fic","category-sfw","category-slash"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2022\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2022\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2022\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2022\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2022\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=252"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2022\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":522,"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2022\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252\/revisions\/522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2022\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2022\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2022\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2022\/calendar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/math2.jpg\")
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