He was a lonely little boy from a poor family.
His Mother loved him deeply, but they were just so damned poor.
Her husband had left her yet again.
A womaniser with many broken affairs to his shame.
He had always returned from his affairs promising to alter his ways and to be a good husband and Father, but he was insincere and had always broken his promise.
He was not a good provider and avoided work whenever he could.
A man of means by no means, forever depending on the generosity of others to see him through yet another penniless week.
His Mother worked hard, doing two jobs to support them, and she was forever out of the house working.
He was left alone for countless hours, and even when his Father was at home he paid scant attention to him.
It was Christmas-time and his Mother hoped to be able to buy him something special this year.
She had never been able to do so on previous years, but it hadn’t really mattered too much. He was such a little boy and he didn’t really know very much about the history of Santa , all he knew was that his playmates all seemed to have a lot more toys than he had.
He never knew that Santa had brought these toys.
This year his Mother was determined that he would have a good Christmas, and that she would be able to buy him an assortment of toys, even if they were cheap or even second-hand from the local charity shop.
She had worked extra hard and had managed to save a few pounds from her meagre earnings. Yes, this year he would have some more toys, he was such a good little boy.
She had decided to leave the purchase of these things until very late on Christmas Eve. She reasoned that the shops would reduce their prices on the very last day before Xmas, and if she were to go to the shops just before they were about to close the prices may well have been reduced even more.
Christmas Eve came around and she rushed to finish her cleaning work in the shop.
She had to get home and give her Son his evening-meal and pack him off to bed.
He would be OK in bed whilst she went shopping for his Xmas gifts.
When she arrived home her husband was sitting at the kitchen table smoking as usual.
She walked into the bedroom and smiled as she saw her little son sitting reading his old book about the animals in the Zoo.
He must have read it a million times.
She was determined that he would have a new book amongst his gifts.
Having prepared his tea she talked to him for a while, and then said it was time for bed. He went obediently and she softly sang him to sleep.
Ensuring that he was soundly sleeping she tucked him in his little bed and went back into the kitchen.
She put on her coat and checked her shopping bag.
Her purse containing her few savings was gone!
She took off her coat and quietly drew a hard wooden chair from beneath the newspaper-covered kitchen-table.
She sat staring into space for a few moments, and then she very slowly lowered her head onto her arms, and silently wept.
Kitos.
