Four Wishes and an Elf

As I withdrew, my seed started to leak from between her lips and drip onto the bed. She rolled over and lay on her back, with her legs together and her knees bent, and looked up at me. She looked like the cat that had just swallowed the cream (this would happen the following morning).

She smiled.

"If I'd known it would have been half this good, I'd have slept with you last Xmas."

We sat together in bed, drank the chilled champagne, and ate the luxury liqueur chocolate truffles that had been left for us in the wedding suite.

"Don't eat too much chocolate. It's supposed to be an aphrodisiac," said Alvina.

"I'm relying on it," replied.

***

Late the following morning, tired but happy, Alvina and I were having breakfast when the Maître de approached the table with an envelope.

"This was delivered overnight. The courier expressly requested it be delivered into your hand."

The envelope was addressed to Mr Peter and Mrs Alvina Wallace, and inside was a handwritten note. The paper on which it was written was expensive and embossed in red and gold with the name and address of the sender.

Mr Santa Claus

The Workshop

North Pole

Dear Peter and Alvina

May I congratulate you both on your wedding and wish you long life and happiness.

On a slightly different matter it has come to my attention that due to an unfortunate error on the part of the Delivery Department in 1995, when Peter was seven years old, a train set was not delivered at Christmas. This was discovered during a recent examination of your files. I suspect you are now too old to want the train set or anything else we hold in stock.

I am aware that you were recently granted a maximum of three wishes by Alvina. By accident, and then by design, and because of your generosity of spirit, you wasted two of these wishes. In place of your lost present and these two wishes, I am granting you one further wish on the condition it is for the good of another person and you keep your wish to yourself and never disclose it to anyone else.

Best wishes

Ho Ho Ho

Santa

I silently read the note and then handed it to Alvina, who studied it closely, and then put it and the envelope away in her handbag. As she busied herself doing this, I thought for just a moment, and I made my wish.

Alvina looked across at me.

That was nice of him wasn't it.... You've made your wish already.

***

Everything turned out well for us. Alvina got a place at Guildford University to study for a doctorate in mathematics. She was allowed to delay her start date until after we returned from our honeymoon. It was arranged so flawlessly that I wondered if the Elf Mafia was involved, but I thought it better not to ask.

Then, just before Christmas, we were shopping in the supermarket where we first met, when a well-dressed old lady walked up to us.

"Please forgive me," she said politely. "It is you, isn't it? The kind man and the beautiful lady. You make such a lovely couple."

She looked at me.

"You do remember me, don't you? You gave me your Christmas dinner, last Christmas Eve."

Then she turned to Alvina

"And you served me. Can I buy you both a coffee and a cake? Just a little thank you for your generosity to an old lady."

We sat in the cafeteria and talked. Rose (that was her name) was a chatty old dear, and soon returned to the events of the previous Christmas Eve.

"You were so nice, and that man was so rude and nasty. Never mind. He got his comeuppance."

My heart sank.

"What do you mean?" I asked with trepidation. "He didn't end up destitute on the street, did he?"

"Heavens no. I read in the local newspaper that he won a fortune in the lottery just before the summer. I know it was him. I saw his picture in the paper. I remember wondering, why him? when I read it. Then, only last week I read he'd been jailed for four years for tax fraud. His lottery win didn't help him either because the tax man has taken it. The paper said his wife has divorced him and taken the house. I suppose he must be penniless.

I heard what you said to him, as I was walking away. You got your wish alright."

She laughed.

"Don't get on the wrong side of him, Luv," she said to Alvina,

"Don't worry. I won't."

A little later, Alvina could not resist enquiring about Rose's change in fortune.

"I was so lucky. I had one premium bond I'd forgotten about. It was in a cigar box in the cupboard gathering dust. I've had it for years, and I can't remember if I bought it, or someone gave it to me. Then, out of the blue, I won a million pounds. Would you believe it? What were the odds of that happening?"

One hundred percent, I thought.

"When did this happen?" asked Alvina.

"Two months ago, in the October draw."

***

Back home, I poured us each a cup of tea and we sat quietly at the kitchen table. Alvina broke the silence.

"Four total strangers meet by chance and are together for only minutes. Because one of them is a nasty human being and the other a kind generous man, an elf and a human marry, and an old lady miraculously wins a fortune on the premium bonds. And then, despite the efforts of the good man, the nasty one goes to jail and ends up poor.

Who would believe it?"

"Santa, I said."

"It might make a decent story, one day, If I ever let you write it," she replied.

***

* Alvina is a girl's name derived from old English, which means elf, magical being, or friend. She is all three of these to me.