BY Carol Eustice

Emerald Stone sat and listened to the clock. 'In five minutes it'll be Christmas." Instead of being filled with the Christmas glow that most people get, she was in a hateful mood.

"Why should I be happy?" she thought, "My mother's dead, my father's laying in some gutter intoxicated, and I have to live off my relatives' charity."

Standing up, she walked over to her dresser and picked up a bedraggled unsmiling Santa Claus doll.

"Someday you'll smile, just as I will." she said aloud to the doll.

Looking at her clock, she saw the hour was drawing near. Staring at the face of the clock, she murmured a small prayer.

Downstairs she heard the front door click open and shut. Though this may not seem strange, it was. Everyone was at home fast asleep, at least she thought they were.

Her heart pounding madly, Emerald set the doll on the dresser and headed towards the door. Suddenly she stopped and went back to her dresser. Picking up the doll she peered in to its face.

The doll was smiling! How could it be? It never smiled before! Could it be that. . .

"Yes!" she exclaimed, loud enough to wake the dead, and tore down the stairs.

Halfway down she stopped. There on the bottom stair stood a strange man. Her heart caught in her throat as he came towards her and said;

"Merry Christmas, Emerald.

Emerald gasped. This stranger's voice was the one she heard 13 years ago. At last she knew for certain why the doll was smiling. A strange glow came over her as she remembered the day she received the doll.

It was the stranger who gave her the doll, and he told her that it would smile on the day of his return.

As the clock struck midnight, Emerald lifted two tear‑filled eyes and looked at the stranger. Smiling she whispered;

"Merry Christmas, Papa." Indeed it was Christmas.