For the Children
an excerpt

Everything I am today, I owe to Cassandra Freesia-Claus. Well, that’s not entirely true, but that wretched woman had a tremendous impact on my life. It was as if we were two hapless balls lolling about on a pool table. I was meandering along in my merry way, when suddenly, Whack! She slams into me from out of nowhere, causing me to ricochet off in a new direction, spinning herself toward the side pocket, and changing both of our lives forever. If she had not disappeared so spectacularly, who knows what might have happened. Cassandra, of course, referred to herself as Sandra Claus, and did not correct children who thought her name was Santa Claus or that she was the Mrs. Claus. I don’t even think there was a Mr. Claus, but that was one of the many mysteries of her life.