Magic, by ozqueen Words: 1800 Rating: PG Summary: John Pike: Father. Husband. Lawyer. Neighbourhood Santa Claus. Excerpt: “Santa's come to collect his letters!” John says in a deep voice. “Who has a letter for Santa?” His children all bounce around him in delight, eyes focused on the big red suit, the big black boots, the big white beard, and less on the familiar blue eyes twinkling behind the gold spectacles sitting on his nose. “Hello, Santa!” Dee says, arriving amongst the chaos. Margo clings to her leg. “Mrs. Pike!” Santa says. “You get more and more beautiful every year.” “And you're as charming as ever, Santa,” Dee says, grinning at him. She looks down at Margo and touches the top of her head gently. “We've all been busy writing letters, haven't we, kids?” “I wrote mine all by myself!” Mallory says, clutching her letter to her chest breathlessly. Santa lowers his voice a little, for Margo's sake. “I remember little Mallory Pike,” he says, bending down to peer at her. “Little Mallory Pike has very, very good spelling.” Mallory's face goes bright red with pleasure. She passes her letter to him with trembling hands, and Santa places it carefully into the big red sack he's brought – already rustling with letters written by all the other neighbourhood children.
