Episode 13 of You Sleigh Me: A Christmas Mystery.
The voice was deep, but quite calm and measured – neither friendly nor otherwise. At first I couldn’t work out where it was coming from.
Then the space in front of me seemed to grow brighter, and a silver-grey shape melted from the gloom. My pulse quickened and I reached for the gun, realising at the same instant that it was of no use. The figure assumed the shape of a man – a very old one, it appeared – and although it was three dimensional, finely detailed and recognisably human, it had no depth, no solidity, and was as bright and insubstantial as moonlight.
I lowered the gun. The room was very cold.
“You’re for real, aren’t you?” I said.
The man nodded. “Do you have any idea who I am?”
I studied the deeply lined face, the long, unkempt white beard, the robes that clung to the scrawny frame. “Let me guess. The ghost of Christmas past?”
The pattern of wrinkles arranged itself into a faint smile. “In a sense, you are almost right. My name, young man, is Nikolas. Bishop of Patara and Myra in Lycia, traveller, pilgrim, political prisoner, benefactor – and saint.”
“Wait a second…Saint Nicholas? Saint Nick? You mean to tell me, you’re Santa Cl –”
He raised a bony hand, cutting me off. “Please do not use that name. Do I look to you like a fat, red-cheeked, jolly fellow? I hardly think so, considering that during my lifetime I spent every Wednesday and Friday in strict fasting. But of course, you know nothing of me, just like the others. The real story is far more dramatic.”
To be continued...
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