The Jolly Lively Elf Is On His Way

Charli Mills’ December 17, 2020 Flash Fiction Challenge is to write a story in 99 words (no more, no less) that features stilettos. Who will wear them and why? And as always, she suggests we go where the prompt leads us.

I have never worn or owned a pair of stilettos, shoes named after a dagger with a long slender blade and needle-like point. When Manolo Blahnik introduced his version of the stiletto shoe in 1974, he dubbed the new heel, the ‘Needle’. I cannot help but think that there is an element of danger with these shoes.   

***

“So what’ya gonna give me for them?” Marco asked, leaning into the counter.

George knew better than to ask Marco how he got a hold of the goods he brought into the pawnshop. 

“These are shoes. You know we don’t take shoes,” George said.

“They’re red stilettos George. You gotta lady don’t you? Imagine her wearing them Christmas morning.”

George examined the long dagger-like heels one more time. His fiery Roxy sure would be sexy in them.  But those heels. They can kill.

Closing the lid slowly, George pushed the box away.  

“Like I said, we don’t take shoes.” 

***

This time of the year my thoughts are all about Christmas. 

One of the traditions in my household has been to curl up comfy and watch Christmas movies, old and new. One of my favorite Christmas classics is Miracle on 34^th Street. This 1947 movie exemplifies the transformative power of believing in something positive. It’s a story about a precocious little girl named Susan and a court trial where Fred Gailey, a defense attorney, ultimately proves that a kindly old gentleman named Kris Kringle is the very real and magical Santa Claus.

Apparently back in 1897, a little 8-year-old girl named Virginia wanted to know if Santa Claus existed as well. She wrote to the editor of the New York newspaper The Sun. Her father had told her that if The Sun said he was for real, then it must be true. The response was a now famous editorial in which the editor explained that they lived in a skeptical age where children and adults did not believe in things unless they could see them. Yet there was a boundless universe out there that man had yet to fully grasp and understand. Santa Claus “exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist.” The editor went on to say that simply because nobody saw the jolly old man, it didn’t mean he didn’t exist. Just because we couldn’t see fairies dancing on the lawn didn’t mean they were not there. “Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.” He concluded by saying, “A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he [Santa Claus] will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.”

Each and every Christmas, including this one, I feel that little girl excitement running through my veins in anticipation of the night Santa makes his magical journey around the globe. Here’s hoping that the jolly old elf finds his way into your home and hearts as well. 

Happy Holidays!  Stay safe and stay well.