Newcastle Herald short story competition 2022: Hugh Morgan writes 'I love Christmas'

What's that got to do with my son Jason?

That's his stuffed elephant out on the council nature strip, sitting on an old chair.

Jason's a funny kid, sometimes he will just jump up in the middle of what he is doing, or the middle of his meal and run out with the elephant and the chair and leave them in the nature strip.

The chair is ours too.

The Salvos gave me two of them, and a table, when they found out we had no furniture.

I broke one so I won't sit on the other.

That's Jason's. It's coming apart a bit from being out in the rain but he doesn't seem to mind.

Now I sit on the lounge, all day sometimes.

That's our flat behind the elephant. Well, it is at the moment.

I know I'm behind with the rent so I'm avoiding the agent.

I think I can keep from being evicted before Christmas.

It's an ok flat but I get so tired cleaning it that I usually just give up and watch TV instead.

The teachers reckon Jason has ADD and that's why he does different things.

Me, I don't worry about it. If he wants to put his stuffed elephant in the middle of the nature strip, let him.

They say it's something like "Lacking a male role model."

Join the club sunshine, I never even met my father. Jason's dad was a bit like Jason, always interrupting me, hated waiting in a queue anywhere.

Jason's dad was good whilst he was with his next partner after me.

They had a baby together and the mum was happy for the kids to get together one weekend a month.

Then the bashing got too bad and she and the kid got hidden in a woman's refuge.

If I knew where she was I'd talk to her.

I know a bit about being bashed by Jason's dad. But I could pretty well predict when it was going to happen and avoid the worst of it.

I had a few tricks that I knew would make him think about something else.

Then of course he ran off with her and I didn't have to worry anymore.

When the girlfriend left him, that's when Jason's dad lost it again. Back on the drugs. Before that he'd chucked his job in so he didn't have to pay me child maintenance but of course you can't buy drugs on the dole.

So back to his old habit, working for his mates stealing and stripping cars for the parts.

Jason's dad gave him the stuffed elephant for Christmas last year.

At first I was furious. How dare he!

Then I realised he didn't even know that "Elephant" was my nickname at school. I hated it. I was always being bullied for being overweight. My mum told me "Sticks and stones", but that's a big lie.

I think that nickname hurt me more than sticks and stones ever could.

I was actually doing ok at school but I left as soon as I could just to get away from the girls in the class.

I worked at a few jobs but didn't like any of them, or they didn't like me.

Then I got pregnant with Jason and gave up looking for work after that.

But I still love Christmas. Christmas seemed to be all over the place when I was a kid. Mum never worried about special meals for Christmas.

Maybe that's why, no matter what, I try to have a special Christmas dinner for Jason and I.

I'm not a great cook so I usually buy a chicken and some ham. I like the change too, rest of the year we mostly eat hot chips from the takeaway.

When I was Jason's age we celebrated Christmas whenever Mum could afford presents. A bit like Jason's Christmas really, it was January when his dad turned up at the house with the elephant.

I gave him a bit of a nudge and he took Jason to Macca's for a burger.

Jason was stoked, said it was like a second Christmas dinner.

At first he loved the elephant and took it everywhere with him. He even took it to school one day, but that led to a big fight with a couple of the other kids and I got called in for an interview with the school counsellor. Stupid old bag she was, bet she never had any children of her own.

Somehow I got blamed for Jason's behaviour and the fight.

After that he seemed to get into more fights.

He panics a lot and thinks everyone at school is his enemy. I reckon that's the school's problem, they should be looking after him during school hours.

Then his dad didn't show up anymore and that's when he started putting the elephant out on the nature strip.

Sometimes he would go out in the pouring rain to put it out, then a few days later bring it in and dry it.

Don't understand it myself. Seems like sometimes he loves the elephant, sometimes he hates it.

So I think there are now three of us in the family. Me, Jason and the elephant.

Funny thing, Jason never gave the elephant a name.

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Hugh Morgan, the author of this piece, is a finalist in the 2022 Newcastle Herald Short Story Competition. Read the full list of finalists in this year's Herald Short Story Competition by visiting the Newcastle Herald website.