by Hobbsicle » Mon Mar 06, 2017 8:26 pm
Santa? There it is!
**********SPOILER************
When I was a teenager, my first job was at the Fort Worth Zoo. For the most part, I sold trinkets in the gift shop, rented strollers and wheelchairs, that sort of thing.
But one magical Christmastime, during the holiday-themed festivities, they had a Santa Claus dressed up (I think they also had reindeer you could pet), and kids would sit on his lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. They had picked someone from the staff who seemed roughly the part, and dressed him up in a red suit and fake beard to sit in the probably-too-warm Texas December weather and field lines full of antsy children. That is, except for two or three days on a particular weekend where he was out of town. And who did they pick as his temporary replacement? Scrawny, acne-laden, fifteen-year-old me.
So for a few days, I got a lot of comments from parents to the effect of, "Wow, Santa's lost weight!" or, "I want whatever diet you're on, Santa!" I'm sure I was wearing some kind of padding to help offset my lack of size, but it didn't seem to help much. And, of course, kids seemed to think I was pretty rich, because they had no qualms asking me to give them all manner of new toys for no payment at all beyond some milk and a few cookies.
I'm still not sure why they thought I was their second-best choice, as there were plenty of people who worked there, but at least it made for one of those stories that is fun to tell. Even my dad couldn't resist coming up to the zoo to nearly crush my lap.
Thanks for playing!