Santa’s Bell

Ding!

Goes the sound of the bell as it chimes when you open the creaky door, entering the little shop called, “Polar Gifts”.

You peer around, glancing at old music boxes and snow globes, blowing away the dust from old books, and observing worn nutcrackers. This tiny shop really is a wonderland of antiques!

It wasn’t until you sifted through the clothing rack, that your eyes caught glimpse of a peculiar navy blue robe. You examine it further, holding it in your arms and feeling how surprisingly soft it is, even though it looks so torn up and worn out over the ages...

”Hello there child.”

You turn to look at the counter, where a cheerful old man was slowly walking over to. Smiling, you greet him back.

”Hi.”

Moving towards him, you plop down the robe that so strangely caught your eye.

“This robe please.”

“Ah... this robe, I remember when I used to wear it. Back when I was a little boy, I would be so harsh with it, always yanking it off my bed frame to go running downstairs. I hope you’ll take better care of it than I ever could have.” The old man says as he proceeds witht the transaction.

“Of course, but this isn’t for me. I’m giving it to my nephew for Christmas. He loves the colour blue, so I thought this robe would suit him just fine.”

“Nephew? Oh thats wonderful!“ He puts the robe in a small gift bag, “Tell me child, does your nephew believe in Santa Claus?”

You look at the man with a questioning smile, ”Well, not really.. He’s getting older and stopped believing in that kind of stuff.“

The old man smiled warmly, “Oh I bet he will soon enough..”

You take the bag and head out the shop. As you’re walking home, you decide to reach inside the bag, pulling out the robe and notice a hole in the corner of one of the pockets. You sigh, as the shop doesn’t do any exchanges or refunds, “Well, although my stitching skills aren’t the best, I can at least try to sew this... Huh?”

Fiddling your finger through the hole, you start to feel a small object inside it. Pulling it out, you examine the tiny bell. Bringing it up to your ear, you shake it, but hear nothing, “Aww, what a shame... It’s a cute bell too, maybe Chris will still like it?” You question yourself, putting it back inside the bag.

”Here you go. It’s not much, but I hope you like it anyway.”

You say, giving Chris the robe. He accepts it with the biggest smile ever.

He jumps up to put it on, shoving his hands in his pockets before taking out the bell you thought was broken.

“This bell...” He takes a closer look, and suddenly jumps happily in the air like a wild kangaroo, ”This bell!! Look look look!!!” It‘s the bell from that dream I had last night!” He holds it up to his ear, shaking it and getting really excited when he heard the cheerful jingling. He hands it to you to see if you can hear it, but you already knew you could.