CHAPTER V
The next morning at breakfast time I went upstairs and knocked on the door of Adam's room. He called to me to come in and I opened the door then stopped, one foot over the threshold.
Across the room, admiring his bewhiskered face in the mirror, was Santa Claus!
"Ho-ho-ho!" he boomed, in a perfect imitation of my own Santa-voice. "Merry Christmas, Daddy!" He tugged at the beard and there was the grinning face of Adam-Two. "I found it in the closet," he said. "Do I look the part?"
I laughed. "For a minute I thought you were the real thing."
He looked away. "I—I guess you know I'll want to go to Earth to live."
I nodded. "It will be pretty rough at first. You realize that?"
"Yes, I expect it will.... Daddy, I'm sorry I messed up Christmas for the Kids yesterday. I'd kind of like to make up for it by playing Santa for them today. Will you stand by me in case some smarty-pants tries to snatch my beard off?"
I grinned at him, but I didn't say anything because I discovered there was a strange kind of lump in my throat.