1.
It's almost midnight and David is awake with his overused paper. You see- as a slum dweller, David's mother couldn't afford to buy him a notebook. He has to reuse his paper with a pencil and an eraser. He writes and erases- just like like rich people erases people off their lives because dating them is not fun anymore.
He was not writing math or science. David was writing a letter to his Santa Claus, the one he writes every night before Christmas. He writes a big letter and put it on the floor, where he sleeps. In the morning, he would get a gift alright. But the gift would be the same. Two cheap candies.
Any kid from the slum would curse Santa for being cheap. But David was not just any kid. He would eat one and put the other under his Mom's pillow.
David started writing, "Dear Santa!
I have been a good kid this year. A really great one. I didn't lie, didn't even hurt my mother, was nice with uncle Rafael in spite of his being a jerk with mother- because mother told me I should never be mean to older people. It doesn't always make sense but I didn't argue with her. I have been really good. So can I have something big, please? I am counting on you, Santa.
Love, David."
2.
Cynthia is a maid. She works in five apartments in Banani every day. She could be really pretty if she was born in a good family. Poverty can be a bitch. It takes everything away, even people's beauty.
She has a bright kid named David. She wants him to go to a good school, join University and become a doctor. She knows the only barrier to her child's becoming a doctor is her and the poverty she has to deal with. She can't even afford to buy him notebooks. So what she did was she bought David five papers. David erases and writes on them. He never even complained.
She has been David's Secret Santa for the last thirteen years. Her son writes a letter every night before Christmas. In his letter, he always asks for something big. And nobody knows better than Cynthia that David deserves to get a "big" one. I mean- he is the best kid in the slum. He doesn't just deserve just "two candies". Cynthia cries. Her tear dropped into the water bucket- just like it drops into David's letter every night before Christmas when she places her gifts by David's pillow.
3.
Rafael is a bad man. He himself knows it better than anyone alive. He steals money. Sleeps with cheap whores. Hits people with sticks because he's paid a good amount of money.
In the slum Rafael lives in, he is pretty affordable. He eats biriyani by the side of the slum every week. He buys cheap shirts every month.
He is not still happy. He wants to marry Cynthia, a woman who lives with his son. His pervert eyes are always staring at her. Cynthia, on the other hand, always ignored Rafael's teasing. And David would want to hate on this perverted douche, but his mother's quote calms me down.
"Never be mean to older people."
4.
David gets "big ones" for his Christmas now. He has a table of his. He can afford to write with pens. He even has a backpack of his own. But nothing comes out for free.
Cynthia married Rafael. Rafael found the Christmas letter and manipulated Cynthia to marry him. Cynthia was helpless. David has to be a doctor. She needs to afford that.
David hears his mother cry sometimes. Cynthia pretends that David has misheard. But David is a smart kid. He pretends he has misheard, too.
5.
David is writing his Christmas letter.
"Dear Santa,
I hear my mother cry. I hear her cry in pain. I hear her cry in sorrow. And the reason is me.
I wanted a "big one". And I got it. The pain I have is not just big. It's enormous. Nothing could be bigger.
If you want me to be honest, I miss my two cheap candies. Can I have them?
Love, David."
David is going outside with the letter in his hand. He will burn it away. The smoke from every letter he wrote will fly away. He will pray for the "Real Santa" to get the letters now.
MERRY CHRISTMAS.
