Santa in Summer.

There was a house renovation across the road.

And there was a man by the door. A laborer as everyone would have assumed and guessed correctly. Tall, a rather big tummy I would say. He was shoveling dirt off the ground and into the cart and sweat was all over his face like little streams. He had a short pony tail and his hair was white where the roots were and black at the ends. Occasionally when he stopped, he would wipe the sweat away from his face with the towel hanging over his neck, and then he would touch his goatee and look straight ahead not focusing on any object but probably back into the past.

I thought I saw a twinkle in his eye but the sun was scorching up above and it could have been just my eyes. I walked up and said hello. We exchanged simple greetings and smiled and I walked to a side and watch him resume shoveling. Just right before his shovel hit the dirt, he turned to me and asked me

do you believe in santa claus?

I shrugged my shoulders and smiled at him. Then he turned back and looked into the distance, probably into the past again, and said

you know kids back then used to believe in santa claus. they would do all sorts of things to make sure that they get their presents from santa claus. even parents believe in santa claus back then. they would leave a cup of milk and some cookies by the fireplace for him. but those were the days back then when electricity did not exist yet.

He stopped, sighed and continued

then as time went by, children began to doubt if santa claus exist. and some parents began to tell their children that santa claus was but a hoax for the children to be good kids. but those parents, they were bad kids when they were younger. so how would they have known? how would they?
eventually their kids grew up and told their kids the same thing and it went on for generations.

He paused for a while and looked at his feet then went on

the people still sang my name. they still talk about me but they didn't believe in me anymore. how ironic it became i was all over the place but they didn't believe in me anymore. no more, not like back in those days. no more. they sealed their fireplace and installed electrical ones. the new houses did not even have a chimney for me to fall down into anymore. they installed alarms and all sorts of high tech stuff that still makes no sense to me. i couldn't get into the house or if i did i would have been caught and charged. i stopped what i did.

He continued on with his work and filled up the cart then he pushed it off into the house. I stood there not knowing what to say till someone tapped my shoulder and I turned around. It was the lady living next door. She started off

did he tell you that he's santa claus? that guy's loony. you'd want to watch out in case he went amok.

Then she walked into her house with a smirk across her face. I decided to walk back home and when I turned back for a last glance at the old man he was standing there inside the house looking right at me, this time, I was sure that there was a twinkle in his eye.