They aren’t elves.
#8 of my pixiv Charity Santa stories.
Story:
“Don’t touch; those,” I snapped and my grown daughter’s fingers snapped away from the black sesame cookies.
Children! I shouldn’t have to tell them. They should ask. I wouldn’t have dared when I was growing up.
“They are not for you,” I added.
The two girls looked at each other. Minami, the older one, had gotten a few days off from her job and Misaki had flown in from the States, where she was going to college.
Misaki gave me a funny look and said, “You’re not leaving treats for the elves like they do in the States, are you? We’re not children. You don’t need to put on a Christmas show for us. You never did when we were kids. Why start now?”
“They aren’t for any elves. I’ve never heard of such silliness. Christmas cake is fine, but none of this other foreign nonsense about Santa and Christmas.”
“Then who are they for?”
“Remember the girl you used to play with when you were five or six? They’re for her.”
“Whatever happened to her?” Minami asked. “I don’t remember ever seeing her again after I started school. Did she move back?”
“She never left, dear. Now that you’re gone, she keeps me company.”
“Grandma?” Misaki said, looking at me with concern.
I was glad she could go to that kaigai school, but it had given her funny ideas. Imagine questioning me. But I just smiled. I had learned there was no point in talking to these modern children.
Later, when they had gone to bed satisfied with their KfedC chicken and cake, I stayed up and listened to the little feet running upstairs. It sounded like she had found the top I had bought her.
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