The Generals mumbled in the tunnels and couldn’t quite catch the eye of anyone passing by. Frown met frown half a kilometre down and a sense of deserved gloom swept from room to room. With a note of clear regret, “There really is no sign yet…” said a junior radar tracker. And the mood got even blacker.

Fists thumped desks of metal, but the question stayed unsettled. And no one quite believed that this late on Christmas Eve there’d yet to be a sign, no flicker along the Rhine, no jubilant Argentine long-awaited confirmation that some distant listening station had finally got to hear an airborne reindeer and a trail of festive fairies touch down in Buenos Aires.

“This is quite beyond precedent. What shall we tell the President?” a chap aghast gasped at last. No one replied though somebody tried to stifle a sigh as everyone gathered wondered quite why there was no sleigh to be seen on any tracking screen as they continued to wait as the day grew late…

Up above, throughout the town, little did they know of the panic down below. Could it really now be true that for Christmas two thousand and 22 Santa would not be appearing, wouldn’t his deer-pulled sleigh be steering to each every and family home from downtown Rio and to Rome, from Rangoon to old Kowloon? Certainly, it was well beyond debate, he’d never left a delivery quite so late.

The grown-ups shuffled, all ashamed, ashenfaced lest they got blamed. The innocent looks of girls and boys, sadly deprived of any new toys saw them sore upbraided, left bereft and distinctly jaded. They could not meet the downbeat gaze of those who’d waited many days for the sleigh-borne gifts crafted during the many shifts of Santa’s crew of keen toy makers and extraordinarily able Christmas cake bakers.

Shivering, cold and clearly, then spoke up one young lad: “Alas, alas, alas, how has this now come to pass? While in every preceding, Santa’s been sure to visit here. Dispensing joy, toy by toy, to children far and children near.

“Never before has he seen fit to let us down, no not one bit. How has every girl and every boy somehow managed to annoy the kindest man to ever live, the kind of man to give and give, the kind who must be sorely riled to break the heart of every child? We must have done something awful something fantastically unlawful, something mean and something cruel, maybe at home, maybe at school, something wicked and something bad, something we wish we never had…”

In every home in every place, a tear ran down nearly every face as girls with curls and boys with no toys took the news with such good grace, blaming themselves for not being good, not behaving as they should, shamefaced that it was their generation that prompted this aberration most shocking of Santa filling not a stocking. Indeed, beneath the boughs of every festive tree, the space was empty, the space was free, where presents should have been, nothing at all could be seen.

The hopes were forlorn, their little hearts battered and the luckless children sat and chattered.

And at last, there came a relieved cheer, a confirmed sighting of both sleigh and deer. Using some magical Santa tricks, however, some enchanted means so clever, the sleigh flying high crossed the sky above every town and every place, delighting every upturned face. Indeed, as the world gazed up that night, all could see the exact same sight – Santa and his sleigh so brightly.

Then, suddenly, it began to write…
What could be behind Santa’s decision to etch with laser-like precision a message written in letters so tall, a message clearly meant for one and all? Up above the world so high, words sparkled in the darkening sky, words of import for those below, words that were far from “Ho, ho, ho…”

Spelled boldly out across the night, a series of words came into sight, each letter carved out with great deliberation as Santa reached out to every nation: 

“SORRY FOLKS TO BRING BAD CHEER TO ONE AND ALL FOR ONCE THIS YEAR…
“WHILE ALL THE CHILDREN HAVE BEEN GOOD, KIND AND POLITE, THAT’S UNDERSTOOD…
“…THERE WILL BE NO PRESENTS UNDER THE TREE, NO FESTIVE GIFTS LEFT BY ME.
“NO CHIMNEY VISITS WILL I BE MAKING, A MOVE I KNOW IS QUITE HEARTBREAKING.
“FOR EVEN THOUGH YOU KIDS HAVE BEEN GREAT, THE WORLD IS IN A TERRIBLE STATE.
MUMS AND DADS AND UNCLES TOO ARE FIGHTING WARS, DESTROYING THE CLIMATE AND SETTLING SCORES. LYING TO ONE ANOTHER, FALLING OUT WITH SISTER AND WITH BROTHER.
“THE PLANET IS IN A TERRIBLE MESS AND I REALLY MUST CONFESS, NO MORE GIFTS SHALL I BE LEAVING ON THIS OR ANY OTHER EVENING.
“CHILDREN OF THE WORLD, IT IS THE ADULTS YOU MUST BLAME, FOR TERRIBLE DEEDS, SOME TOO BAD TO NAME, FOR WICKEDNESS WITH LITTLE SHAME. THIS IS WHY YOU PAY THIS THIS PRICE, FOR GROWN-UPS WHO ARE NAUGHTY AND NEVER EVER NICE…”

WHO ARE NAUGHTY AND NEVER EVER NICE…”

And with that final flourish, Santa was gone, though his words still glowed and lingered on. And all the children everywhere fixed the adults with a deadly stare. Their look said it all, showed they felt sore and deprived of festive gifts that never arrived.

And the grown-ups were shamefaced one and all, as every unworthy deed did they did recall. “Listen,” they said to every child, who paid attention quite beguiled, “we’ll do better, yes we will, our promise to you we will fulfill. No more cheating, no more lying, we’ll build a better world and keep on trying to make you happy and bring Santa back, with gifts for all within his sack.”

And maybe they’ll succeed and maybe they’ll fail, maybe they’ll be a sequel to this tale.

In the meantime, Happy Christmas from us to you, and Happy Christmas from all here at Gafencu!