Canutito sees a Santa Claus en puros calzoncillos
¿Habla Usted Spam-glish?
¡ Era una noche muy larga y Canutito no podía dormir!
He tossed and he turned all night long pero era inútil; he just couldn’t fall asleep! Grama Cuca had just come out
del cuarto de baño con su cabello all held together con muchos pin curls. She had just paused por un momento to put on una plastic bonnet. Canutito raised his head y le dijo: “Grama, no puedo
dormir. I just keep dándome vueltas y más vueltas!”
“Maybe you ate too many coles, m’hijo,” she said, thinking del cabbage soup they had had for dinner. “¿Por qué no haces try counting sheep or thinking del
Santo Clós?”
“I don’t like como hacen smell las borregas and I’m afraid of Santa Claus,” Canutito said, pero in the middle of his complaint, ya estaba bien dormido.
“I have to help Canutito deshacerse de todo ese fear that he has,” Grama Cuca said.
The following night, mientras que Grama Cuca estaba decorando el Christmas tree, puso un record viejo a tocar en la vitrola.
As that old disco spun on the record player, Canutito was suddenly smiling porque la canción
se llamaba “I saw mama kissing Santa Claus.” He let out una carcajada, asking, “Why would anyone want to kiss a un viejo, gordo y barbón?”
“Hey, I resemble that remark!” Grampo Caralampio winked as he came in en la conversación. “It is that big, fat, bearded, old man
que te trae los presentes, m’hijo.” “Maybe si yo conociera mejor al Santo Clós then I wouldn’t be so afraid de él,” Canutito said. Grama looked at grampo and she winked por debajo. “¿M’hijo,” she began, “do you remember el Easter pasão cuando les tenías miedo a los Penitentes whenever you would hear them singing en la noche? Remember how you would cling to your grampo porque you were so afraid and he would tell you:
“¡Ah que m’hijo, de manera que le tienes miedo a los Penitentes!” and smiling slyly porque estabas durmiendo right next to uno de ellos without even knowing it. Now tell me, what is it about Santa Claus that scares you más
que todo?
“Grama, I think que le tengo miedo a su sute grande y colorão
the most,” he answered. “When I was una muchachita so long ago,” Grama Cuca prefaced, “I used to be afraid
de muchas personas porque eran diferentes. Una día, mi mamá just told me que cuando le tuviera miedo a alguien who was different, I should just try to imagine them en nada más que su underwear. Once you’ve seen a una persona en paños menores
they’re not so scary.”
Canutito perked up un poco when he heard a su grama. It made a strange sort of sense que anyone, -más que fuera el presidente de los United States-, sin ropa, could never be tan scary at all. He reasoned que un fat, old man sin su sute colorão, would be more funny que scary. Cuando el tiempo de la Navidad came nearer, Canutito thought que he would hide detrás del pino to spy on Santa Claus. He was almost asleep behind the Christmas tree cuando suddenly he heard un ruido. He peaked out y vio a un viejo gordo en calzoncillos creeping
toward the tree. (En los shadows, he looked un poco como su grampo.) A fat, old man in long johns was la cosa más scary que he had ever seen! Santa Claus was even more scary empeloto que vestido en su sute colorão!
Canutito ran and hid under la cama praying: ¡Ave María purísima! Angels and ministers of grace, protect us!
He was bien scarred for life…