Denis Lehane: Santa knows the whole story

I met Santa the other evening and he was very cross.

“Ho! Ho! Ho!” says he, but I knew his heart wasn’t in it. “What ails you, old man?” I asked the big fella.

“Sure I’m worn out at this stage,” Santa replied. “Every year the job gets harder and harder, with my elves struggling to construct those electronic gizmos the children are demanding. When you were young, Denny, life was a lot simpler. And look how you turned out!” says he.