Tuesday Newsday Two-Hundred #4

Today is Tuesday, so that means it's time for another edition of Tuesday Newsday Two-Hundred (TN200) -- a blog-exclusive bit o' flash fiction of exactly two-hundred words about a recent item I found in the news.

Since Christmas is fast approaching (only a week from tomorrow!), this story, like my last TN200 post, has a Christmas theme.   I call this one "Walmart Santa" and I hope that you enjoy it -- the link to the original news story is at the end.

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Walmart Santa 

It had been a rough year for Karen's family.  Jim had finally gotten a job after being laid off for several months, but it was only half the money he brought home before, and they were struggling to catch up on the bills that had fallen behind.

She'd taken a second part-time job and that helped, but not nearly enough. With Christmas coming fast, she worried the kids wouldn't have much under the tree.  

Karen was trying -- she'd put Brandon's new bike, Brittney's Barbie Dreamhouse, and their other toys on layaway at the Walmart weeks ago, and Karen paid what she could, even if it was only five bucks at a time. 

But it wasn't enough.  She just wasn't going to get the gifts paid off in time, and she found herself starting to cry at the layaway counter.  The woman behind the register looked like she was going to cry too, but there was nothing she could do.

Then Karen met Santa.

He didn't look anything like she'd expected.  There was no white beard, no fur-lined red coat, and no sign of a sleigh or flying reindeer. 

And Karen had never known Santa was a Red Sox fan.

(link to original news item: Layaway Santa Pays on Total Strangers' Account at Florida Walmart )

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This will also be my last TN200 post for 2013 -- next Tuesday is Christmas Eve and I'll be participating in the Fifty States of Pray, the Christmas Eve blogfest organized by Mark Koopmans. I will be posting a prayer on that day (representing the state of Indiana), and I don't want a TN200 post to detract from the event.

And then the following Tuesday is New Year's Eve.  Right now, I have nothing special blog-wise planned for that, but I do not expect it to be a huge blogging day anyway.  Plus the very next day is January 1st, and I will have another edition of a post for The Battle of the Bands (BOTB), which posts on the first and the fifteenth of every month.  So I don't think I'll do a TN200 post on that 12/31 Tuesday either, since it's New Year's Eve and when it will be bumped by a new BOTB post the very next day.

So you can look forward to my next Tuesday Newsday Two-Hundred story on January 7th, 2014.

By the way -- you can still vote in my "Christmas Time is Here" Battle of the Band Post from Sunday.  I'll keep the voting open until I chime in with my own vote on Friday or Saturday this week.

Thanks for reading, and your comments are always welcome and greatly appreciated!