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When the street-corner Santa asked Richard and Bernie what they wanted for Christmas, the four-year-old identical twins had their answers ready: "Some Lincoln Logs and a doctor kit and a Lionel Train that makes real smoke." And there was something else.
“A baby brother. And … have Daddy come home from the hospital real soon. He’s got TV.
“Do you mean TB?” asked Santa.
Standing next to her sons, Laurette Marquis nodded gravely. Three months earlier, her husband had left home to be treated for an aggressive form of the disease. No one could say whether Ray would ever return, or ever live to see the new baby she was carrying in her womb.
Santa grew silent, and his eyes filled with tears. “I can’t promise you’ll get everything on your list,” he told the twins. “Sometimes, what we really want and what we really need are not the same things.”
Then he told them to watch for a special surprise—he couldn’t say what. “One thing I do promise, though. When it comes, you’ll know it’s really…
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