2. Betrayal (cont.)

I was asking, but only for confirmation of my own iron-clad certainty. Willis was wrong. This time he was emphatically, certainly, indisputably wrong! After all, Mommy herself had told me about Santa Claus, and Mommy didn’t lie! My mommy never lied!

And my mother, my patient, kindly, reliable mother answered my urgent question in a quiet voice. She said simply, “He’s right.” Not one word more.

I was left standing there in the middle of the kitchen amidst the shards of my world.