‘It is almost time to leave for the Party,’ Billy B said.

‘Each year I am surprised to be asked again, Jane said.’ ’I always feel like a duck out of water,’ she added. 

‘I wonder if we are the token non-academic guests,’ Chet mused. ’Each year I have to reintroduce myself to each professor and more often than not they assure me that the work I perform for the university is essential,’ he said as he grinned a Cheshire Cat grin.

‘If it was not for our affection for the hosts we probably would politely decline…but they seem to enjoy our presence. Then there is the going back midweek before Christmas for a lovely gift exchange and some wonderful holiday fellowship around the Christmas Tree,’ Billy B reflected. ’If we are the token non-academic our friends do not reveal that peculiar feeling we assimilate from their other guests. ’Indeed they seem like family, Billy B proclaimed. 

‘Often folks have asked me if you are a professor,’ Chet told Billy B. ’Certainly your dedication to JA has proven your fidelity to her,’ he said.

‘Well the confidence that she exhibited in me when she was the leader was compelling and I felt like we had met before…the first time that I met her,’ Billy B asserted. ’Her dedication to the blue-collar staff or our University was unparalleled…she would walk out into the middle of a grassy field to greet a grounds worker, he said with a tear in his eye. 

‘My goodness the Christmas Pary Drinks are especially strong this year…I thought that I saw Santa in the dining room among all of the Waterford Santas,’ Jane said. ’He asked me if I had a special wish for this Christmas and I told him that if he would roll back time and allow JA to have never been affiliated with our School…and all of the grief and suffering that both she and we suffered…would never have happened,’ Jane continued.

‘So…President A. how would you address the racial strife that is permeating our university campuses? ’What would you do at Harvard to address the anti-semitism resulting from the war in Gaza, the representative asked in a blunt manner.

‘I believe that our universities including Harvard must be a house for all peoples…threatening speech is always unacceptable, JA said in the hearing at the United States House of Representatives. 

Behind JA was Billy B listening intently to her every word and periodically whispering in her ear. 

Billy B and JA had agreed many years ago that they both believed in Santa Claus…