Standing up there at the front of St. Mary’s, in that soaking wet Santa suit, Walt put the crumpled hat down on top of my father’s casket. Right next to his Tigers cap.
Then he took a deep breath.
“December 23rd, 1986,” he said.
My stomach dropped. That was the day Tommy died.
“Ray called me from Children’s Hospital around four in the afternoon,” Walt said. “He said, ‘Walt, come down here. It’s time. I need you.’ So I drove down there. To Detroit. In the snow.”
He looked out at the church.
“I got there about five-thirty. Tommy was gone at a quarter to seven. Carol was holding him. Ray was holding Carol.”
Somewhere in the pews, a woman started crying.
“Afterward, I walked Ray out to the parking lot,” Walt said. “Carol stayed upstairs with the nurses. Ray couldn’t stand to be in that room anymore. He needed air. So we walked out into the parking garage on the third floor, by his old Ford Escort, and we just stood there in the cold.”
Walt’s voice got rough.
“And Ray pulled something out of his coat pocket. A piece of paper. Folded up really small.”
He reached inside the Santa coat. Into the inside pocket. And he pulled out a piece of paper.
Old notebook paper. Yellowed. Soft as cloth. Folded in quarters.
“He handed me this,” Walt said. “And he said, ‘Walt. Read it. Tommy wrote it last week.'”
Walt unfolded it with shaking fingers. He held it up so we could see.
It was a kid’s letter. In fat red crayon. Big crooked capital letters that slanted down the page.
“It’s Tommy’s letter to Santa,” Walt said. “From December of 1986. He wrote it in the hospital, with the nurses helping him spell. He was supposed to mail it to the North Pole. Ray never mailed it. He kept it in his wallet for thirty-nine years.”
Walt put on his reading glasses. They were in the Santa coat pocket too.
And he read it out loud.
Laura Bennett writes about complicated family dynamics, difficult conversations, and the quiet moments that change everything. Her stories focus on real-life tensions — inheritance disputes, strained marriages, loyalty tests — and the strength people find when they finally speak up. She believes the smallest decisions often carry the biggest consequences.