Episode 15 of You Sleigh Me: A Christmas Mystery.
Saint Nicholas took a seat on a pile of wrapped cardboard boxes, crossed his legs, and adjusted the folds of his robe. I almost offered him a cigarette.
He began: “I was born in the fourth century in a town called Patara in Lycia, Asia Minor – the region now known as Turkey. My parents were rich and I was a rather spoiled young man. Perhaps out of a sense of guilt, I approached my uncle, the Bishop of Patara, and asked to be ordained as a priest. Some years later, he departed on a pilgrimage to Palestine, never to return. I took his place.”
Yada yada yada – but there was no stopping him now.
“Through my work, I learned of a merchant who had fallen into poverty. The man had three daughters of marrying age. It was customary to provide a dowry when one’s daughters married. This man had no means to do so, and he was sick with anxiety. My sources told me that he was close to selling his daughters into slavery.
“Earlier that year, my parents had died, leaving me their entire estate. I was, in short, extremely wealthy. I decided to make an anonymous gift to this man. I went to his house at night, and left some gold coins in a small sack, just inside his door. You can imagine the effect this had on him when he discovered them the following morning.”
Sacks of gifts, mysterious night-time visits. It was all beginning to make sense.
To be continued...
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