Fighting Against Disbelief

Dolly still believes, but her sister doesn't. 300-word flash

Fighting Against Disbelief

“I know where mom hid the presents,” Candace teased her little sister Dolores.
“I can wait for my gifts from Santa first!”
“Are you telling me you still believe that story?”
“Oh, Candy, when you stop believing in him you don’t get any more gifts from him!”
“What if you never did, what if they were always from Mom and Dad all this time?”
Dolly looked at Candy like she’d said a really bad word. She put her hands on her hips and shouted.
“You take that back, Santa is real. I know it!”
“Prove it!” shouted Candy, squaring off.
“Prove he isn’t,” Dolly replied.

“What is going on here?” said a stern voice.
The girls looked up to see their parents in the doorway of their shared room.
“Candy says she knows where the presents are hidden,” Dolly snitched.
“Tattletale!” Candy breathed.
“Do I have to separate you two?” their father said.
“It’s breakfast time, let’s go!” their mother said.
As the girls sat on opposite sides of the table eating cereal and trading black looks with each other, their parents were having a low-voice conversation.

“Candy, what did I tell you about Santa Claus?” Mom said.
“Not to tell Dolly as long as she believed.”
“Exactly, so what happened.”
“She wouldn’t come with me to check out the presents, so I was mad!”
“Another thing, what have I told you about snooping for presents ahead of time?” Dad said.
“If I find them and snoop, mine all got back to the store,” Candy said sadly.
The parents nodded.
“Now, that you’ve had breakfast, go and watch Christmas shows.”
“I wanna watch Elf. I want Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer!” the sisters yelled.
Wordlessly, Mom took two aspirins, and Dad slugged his coffee and poured more.