einen tag vor weihnachten, es regnet (von einem bekannten las ich gerade folgenden kommentar: "14 Grad! Celsius! im Schatten"), von schnee oder eventueller kälte gegen die man sich wappnen müsste kein spur und der weihnachtsbaum trieft auch noch vor der tür vor sich hin... da hilft nur eins, abschalten (es gibt keinen anlass, ins kino zu gehen, das örtliche programm erzeugt ein schaudern, und auch der sonst so große drang, jeder ausstellung, jeder première und kulturneuigkeit der hauptstadt zumindest virtuell zu folgen, ist gleichzeitig mit der steigenden kilometerzahl der entfernung, etwas verebbt), den regen regen sein lassen, sich der lang aufgestauten lektüre widmen und auch mal wieder dem informationsmedium zeitung, das hier unumstößlich jeden tag vor der haustür liegt, wenn man auch vermeiden sollte, sich dabei zu nah dem adventskranz zu nähern und den wochenendteil dieser zeitung anzubrennen. passenderweise klafft nun genau über dem bericht zu der immer weiter auseinandergehenden schere zwischen arm und reich ein großes schwarzes loch, über der millionenangabe. morgen dann soll für einen tag alles elend vergessen sein und aus dem radio wird zur besinnlichung das weihnachtsoratorium und anderes tönen, weihnachtsmärchen und -wunder. und im fernsehen werden wie jedes jahr tschechische märchen ausgestrahlt, aschenputtel wird auch nicht älter, und sicherlich irgendwann auch der christmas carol klassiker von samuel langhorne clemens, beziehungsweise mark twain. so und jetzt habe ich ziemlich kitschig die kurve gekriegt zu mark twains doppelleben als santa claus und einem brief, den er irgendwann um 1870 seiner tochter schrieb, auf ihren wunschzettel an den weihnachtsmann hin. immerhin gibt er in dem brief ganz offen zu, dass santa claus kein amerikaner sei und auch kein engländer, "for I am a foreigner and cannot read English writing well." soso, das soll mir mal coca cola erklären.
Palace of St. Nicholas.
In the Moon.
Christmas Morning.
My dear Susie Clemens:
I have received and read all the letters which you and your little
sister have written me by the hand of your mother and your nurses; I
have also read those which you little people have written me with your
own hands—for although you did not use any characters that are in grown
peoples' alphabet, you used the characters that all children in
all lands on earth and in the twinkling stars use; and as all my
subjects in the moon are children and use no character but that, you
will easily understand that I can read your and your baby sister's
jagged and fantastic marks without any trouble at all. But I had trouble
with those letters which you dictated through your mother and the
nurses, for I am a foreigner and cannot read English writing well. You
will find that I made no mistakes about the things which you and the
baby ordered in your own letters—I went down your chimney at
midnight when you were asleep and delivered them all myself—and kissed
both of you, too, because you are good children, well trained, nice
mannered, and about the most obedient little people I ever saw. But in
the letter which you dictated there were some words which I could not
make out for certain, and one or two small orders which I could not fill
because we ran out of stock. Our last lot of kitchen furniture for
dolls has just gone to a very poor little child in the North Star away
up, in the cold country above the Big Dipper. Your mama can show you
that star and you will say: "Little Snow Flake," (for that is the
child's name) "I'm glad you got that furniture, for you need it more
than I." That is, you must write that, with your own hand, and Snow
Flake will write you an answer. If you only spoke it she wouldn't hear
you. Make your letter light and thin, for the distance is great and the
postage very heavy.
There was a word or two in your mama's letter which I couldn't be
certain of. I took it to be "trunk full of doll's clothes." Is that it? I
will call at your kitchen door about nine o'clock this morning to
inquire. But I must not see anybody and I must not speak to anybody but
you. When the kitchen doorbell rings, George must be blindfolded and
sent to open the door. Then he must go back to the dining room or the
china closet and take the cook with him. You must tell George he must
walk on tiptoe and not speak—otherwise he will die someday. Then you
must go up to the nursery and stand on a chair or the nurse's bed and
put your ear to the speaking tube that leads down to the kitchen and
when I whistle through it you must speak in the tube and say, "Welcome,
Santa Claus!" Then I will ask whether it was a trunk you ordered or not.
If you say it was, I shall ask you what color you want the trunk
to be. Your mama will help you to name a nice color and then you must
tell me every single thing in detail which you want the trunk to
contain. Then when I say "Good bye and a merry Christmas to my little
Susie Clemens," you must say "Good bye, good old Santa Claus, I thank
you very much and please tell that little Snow Flake I will look at her
star tonight and she must look down here—I will be right in the west bay
window; and every fine night I will look at her star and say, 'I know
somebody up there and like her, too.'" Then you must go down into
the library and make George close all the doors that open into the main
hall, and everybody must keep still for a little while. I will go to
the moon and get those things and in a few minutes I will come down the
chimney that belongs to the fireplace that is in the hall—if it is a
trunk you want—because I couldn't get such a thing as a trunk down the
nursery chimney, you know.
People may talk if they want, until they hear my footsteps in the hall.
Then you tell them to keep quiet a little while till I go back up the
chimney. Maybe you will not hear my footsteps at all—so you may go now
and then and peep through the dining-room doors, and by and by you will
see that thing which you want, right under the piano in the drawing
room-for I shall put it there. If I should leave any snow in the hall,
you must tell George to sweep it into the fireplace, for I haven't time
to do such things. George must not use a broom, but a rag—else he will
die someday. You must watch George and not let him run into danger. If
my boot should leave a stain on the marble, George must not holystone it
away. Leave it there always in memory of my visit; and whenever you
look at it or show it to anybody you must let it remind you to be a good
little girl. Whenever you are naughty and somebody points to that mark
which your good old Santa Claus's boot made on the marble, what will you
say, little sweetheart?
Goodbye for a few minutes, till I come down to the world and ring the kitchen door-bell.
Your loving
Santa Claus
Whom people sometimes call "The Man in the Moon"