Faith never slouched her shoulders, she never put herself in a position where she could be looked down upon, and with her 5’ 9’’ frame, the last didn’t happen too often.  Except for now, the man looking down at her was over her height.  He was over her girth too.  Okay, so maybe the large Santa suit made him look bigger than he actually was, but she could bet the man was flabby behind the suit.  He had to be.  There was no way that he was blessed with those eyes and a nice body.

“Did you come to sit on Santa’s lap?” he asked in amusement.

She watched the smile on his face, how it made the corners of his eyes crinkle, and she knew this was a man who always had a smile on his face.  “No thank you,” she said.  “I would like to speak to you though.”

Glancing at the line of children waiting to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas, he met her eyes with regret.  “I’m sorry, but I won’t be done here until my lunch break.  Could you wait an hour?”

Faith looked at the line of children.  Excitement bloomed on their faces as they bounced in place.  She felt bad for them.  They believed in a lie, they believed that some jolly man would slide down their chimneys and leave piles of presents for them, but they were wrong.  If she could, she would walk down the line and tell each one individually that their parents lied to them.  There was no Santa; there would never be a Santa.

“Sure,” she answered with a shrug.  “An hour will not change a thing.  Meet me at the little café, please.  That way, you will not be wasting your lunch break.”

He nodded, sending her the same smile he gave her earlier.  Yep, the man had to have a horrible body.  There was no way.  Her eyes narrowed on the large protruding belly.  She bet the entire thing was really his, no stuffing needed.

Straightening her black business jacket, she began walking away from the fake Santa.  As soon as she stepped off the artificial snow, something wet hit her face.  Reaching her hand up, she curled her lips in repulsion.

“I’m so sorry,” the woman said while wiping her nose with a tissue.  “The sneeze came out of nowhere.”

Faith scanned the woman.  Her large pointed ears stuck out under an atrocious jingling hat.  The dress she wore was surprisingly modest on the woman’s small frame.  The bad thing was the colors.  Faith shivered in disgust as she looked at the red and green disaster. 

“You’re an elf,” Faith said, monotone. 

The woman nodded her head enthusiastically.  “Yes,” she gushed.  “I love the job.  So many children come to see Santa every day at this mall, and I couldn’t be happier to see them with smiles on their faces.”

“That’s nice,” Faith lied.  “Tell me, how much longer do you plan to work as an elf?”

A sneeze left the woman again before she answered.  “I don’t know, to be honest.  I hear that the new owner has some issues with Christmas, but surely she wouldn’t make us stop doing Santa?”

“She may.”

“No one can be that coldhearted.  Even if she hated Christmas, it should stay up for the children.”

Faith nodded.  “It should, but who knows what I’ll do.”  She wanted to laugh at the woman’s shocked expression, but instead, Faith leaned forward.  Grabbing a clean tissue from the woman’s pocket, she nodded.  “Thank you for the tissue.”

As she walked off, she scrubbed the side of her face.  Once the tissue was of no more use, she tossed it towards the trashcan.  It bounced off the side.  Shrugging, she kept walking in search of a bathroom.  Her hands needed to be washed, now.