SANTA GAVE SPECIAL TEEN A SPECIAL CHRISTMAS GIFT.

Byline: Dennis McCarthy 

IT was the end of a long day of crisscrossing Los Angeles County, and the stand-in Santa Claus was feeling every one of his 61 years. He was beat.

He slid behind the steering wheel of his car and picked up the clipboard with the long list of kids' names and addresses that employees at the American Cancer Society had given him.

``Fifteen visits down, one more to go,'' Claus mumbled wearily to himself as he looked at the last name on the list - a kid named Jose living down in South Central L.A., about half an hour away.

Santa's helper looked at his watch and sighed. If he pushed it, he could maybe get there by 8 p.m. But why push it? He was pretty sure the kid didn't know he was coming tonight. He'd visit him tomorrow. There were still a few more days until Christmas.

Claus turned his car around and headed home to the San Fernando Valley. He wasn't the young guy he used to be 30 years ago, when he first started making the rounds as Santa Claus for any kid or family who really needed one.

The young, up-and-coming Valley businessman whom cops, priests, charities, service clubs and anyone with a sad story could count on coming through for people who had fallen on hard times at Christmas.

The only thing he asked in return was anonymity. He didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea and think he was in it for any reason but the real one.

He had a lot to be thankful for in his life, and this was part of his payback. Putting on this suit, loading his car with presents and crisscrossing Los Angeles County for any kid or family who truly needed a personal visit from Santa Claus.

But he was 61 now, not 31, and he was dead tired after visiting 15 of the 16 kids on the list - kids with cancer who might not see another Christmas.

As Claus drove home, the same nagging thought kept running through his mind: What if that last kid on the list was expecting him? What if someone at the cancer society had called and told his parents to keep him up tonight because Santa was coming?

No, it wasn't worth the risk, Claus finally convinced himself, turning his car around and heading for South Central L.A. No matter how tired he was, he'd never get to sleep thinking there was a kid out there waiting for him and he didn't show.

It was almost 8:30 p.m. when Claus finally knocked on the door of the boy named Jose. All he knew about the kid was that he was a teen-ager and he had cancer.

When the kid opened the door, Claus blinked. It didn't say anywhere on his list that the boy also had Down syndrome.

Claus looked over Jose's shoulder to see seven other children anxiously waiting for him to walk into the room. What he didn't see, though, were any adults.

``Please don't leave,'' Jose said, taking Santa's hand and leading him into the room. ``I want you to meet my brothers and sisters.''

Claus gave each of them a present and a hug, then turned to leave. Jose grabbed his arm and drew him close.

``I love you, Santa Claus,'' the kid said.

Claus took a deep breath and told Jose he loved him, too - more than anyone else. The kid's eyes came alive. More than anyone else!

When Claus reached the end of the hallway, he turned to take one last look at Jose, still standing there smiling ear to ear - the kid Santa Claus loved more than anyone else.

When his head finally hit the pillow a few hours later, the last face Santa Claus saw in his mind before falling asleep was the face of a kid named Jose.

The phone call came a few weeks later. A receptionist at a large company in the Valley buzzed her boss, the president of the firm.

It was someone from the cancer society, she told her boss. A young man there wanted to talk to Santa Claus.

``Jose just wanted to tell me again that he loved me, and that he was going to try real hard to get well so he could see me again next Christmas,'' Claus said Tuesday, sitting in his office, preparing to make the rounds again this year.

Jose died a few months after that call. It's been three years since then, and Claus still can't get the kid's face out of his mind.

``Whenever things get tough for me, I think about Jose, and I realize things aren't so tough,'' he says. ``What that kid went through was tough.

``He was banged hard in life, and he was still filled right to the end with the most important, beautiful thing in life - love.''

Earlier this week, Santa Claus was on the 405, heading for San Fernando. He had gotten a tip from the American Cancer Society that there was a 3-year-old girl with terminal cancer living with her mother in a garage.

Santa Claus was on his way over to give her a few presents and tell her he loved her - more than anyone else.