Coal for Christmas (a short story)
Every year, on the 24th of December, children go to bed ready for Santa to arrive with all of their presents to open. Except for John, that is. John didn’t go to bed hoping for gifts. John went to bed hoping for coal. All year long, besides December, John was a great boy. However, every time Christmas rolls around John becomes a bad boy. He starts wrecking Mr. Jenkins’ Christmas gnomes and pushing over other kids’ snowmen. He would stomp on people’s snow angels and throw snowballs at the window of Old Nancy’s car. None of John’s friends know why. John’s parents and brothers don’t know why either. The reason John wants coal and not presents is that his dad is a janitor at a car factory three miles away from his home and makes barely any money. His mom has to stay at home to look after his three younger brothers that aren’t old enough to go to school with him yet. He does it because they live in a cold shack with a single light. They always get by, though, with what his father makes. They always have food three times a day even if it’s nothing very fancy. Sometimes it’s only a piece of bread and a slice of cheese. They all have one pair of shoes and three tattered shirts. They also all have one winter coat. They usually have to wear them in the house because of how cold it is during Christmas. So, John thinks that, maybe, if he is bad that he will be able to help his parents. Even if it is just keeping them and his siblings warm for one night. Every Christmas morning though when he wakes up, there is no coal. There is always a present. No matter how bad John is and no matter how hard he tries to get coal, there is never any. He just can’t be bad enough. It always seems like his parents and brothers don’t care though. They always are so happy in their cold shack. No matter how cold the house was and how much coal they did not have, they didn’t care. So John started to not be as bad around Christmas. He started being a good boy all year round, and he asked Santa for coal as a gift instead of punishment. Next Christmas, John woke up and the fireplace burned coal, and the house was warm. He smiled and sat with his family as they opened the few presents they had in their now warm house.
