Aunt Santa

Chapter 14

Henrik led them to the center of town where it felt like everyone had gathered. What Sara had clocked as a nondescript bar turned out to be much more than that when they stepped through the large wooden doors.

The structure was large and plain on the outside and inside it was buzzing with life. Like the town, there were colorful lights strung up throughout the bar which was more like a beer garden turned restaurant turned church recreation center.

There were long tables of people drinking beer and eating their dinner, old men hunkered over chess boards, and children racing from corner to corner, shouting in Norwegian as they played their own made-up game. "Go and sit," Henrik advised them, gesturing toward an empty booth against the far wall.

The blondest child Sara had ever seen skittered to a halt in front of BB. She said something in Norwegian and held out a hand. BB took a step back toward Sara's leg. "I think she's asking you to play."

Jakob took a step forward and bent down in front of the blond girl to speak with her. "This is Elsa," he told BB and he introduced her as well. "She does want to play with you."

"Her name's Elsa?" BB looked at her aunt with wide eyes and immediately released her grip on Sara's leg. She took Elsa's hand, who started chattering away in Norwegian. "I don't know what you're saying," BB told the little girl firmly and Elsa ignored her with an assuredness that made Sara laugh, tugging her toward the other children.

Sam, Jakob, and Sara went to the booth and sat down. "Have you been here before?" Sara asked Jakob.

He nodded. "Sometimes, we take tourists through the town to see the lights." He raised his eyebrows. "Henrik does not usually share that he is from here. That was a surprise."

They glanced up to find Henrik waving over for someone to help him carry the beverages. "I'll go," Sam offered, popping out of the booth.

"I wanted to ask you something, Jakob," Sara started to say, noting with a small smile that the boy was still staring after Sam, watching him cross the bar. "Jakob?"

"Oh, yes. Sorry. Sam is very nice," he said, clearing his throat. For the first time, Sara thought she heard some nervousness in his voice.

"He is." Sara tried to keep her expression as neutral as possible. "They're very special to me, both of them."

"Do you have children of your own?"

"No." She sat back in the booth. "I like being an aunt. I feel like that's what I was meant to be."
She said the words, even though the boy's eyes had already glazed over and he was clearly just waiting for Sam and Henrik to return to the table. "Jakob, I wanted to ask you something." His attention drifted back to her. "Henrik's story about the local man who delivers sweets and toys on Christmas morning. Is that something you had heard about before?"

"Ah." Jakob frowned. "Yes, my mother used to tell me about him. We do not have that in Honningsvåg. There are smaller towns up here that speak of this man. I believe he still makes the trip. My mother told me he goes out in the middle of the night and when she was my age, she and her friends would try to find him."

"He must be very old, to still be doing this."

"I have an answer to that," Henrik announced, suddenly back at the booth. He slid over the pints of foaming beer and Sam placed down the plate of what appeared to be more dried, smoked meat. "Spekemet," Henrik said, nodding to the plate. "And this is Ringnes, of course." He handed the glass to Sara and toasted it with his own. "Skål."

"Skål," Sara replied. Over her shoulder, she could see BB was still racing with the other children and seemed to be having fun. She raised her eyebrows at Sam who had picked up the can of beer Henrik had bought for him, both of them fully aware that Jakob was drinking his without any hesitation or pretense.