A Christmas Tale

Once upon a time in a land millions of stars away, lived a young teenager, Coral, and her frail grandfather, Saint Nicolous. I know what you may be thinking: Santa lives on Earth in the North Pole! Not to mention, he is the opposite of frail! Now, I’m not going to deny any of that, but this story takes place in the far future. The future where we could travel far from home and still get back in under an hour. By this time, Santa was far past his point of delivering presents to all the good girls and boys. Santa’s son had taken over the business.

 

“Coral, would you be a dear and grab my hot cocoa for me?”

 

“Sure, Grandfather, but you really need to cut back on the hot cocoa. You’re gonna make yourself sick!”

 

“Don’t worry about this old man! I’ve eaten millions of cookies and hot cocoa in one night! I won’t get sick!”

 

“You got sick last week from all the sugar! Coral, honey, do me a favor and switch out your dear old grandfather’s hot cocoa with some water and vegetables.”

 

“Oh, grandmother, you’re back!”

 

“You bet I am! I heard how unhealthy your grandfather had gotten and just had to come back to help you care for him!” Grandmother was furious at grandfather. Coral was very grateful for the help, but she knew that if her grandmother was back, that meant that at least 20 elves were right behind her.

 

“Thank you, grandmother, I’m going to go to my room now.” As soon as Coral got into her room, she remembered something very important that had completely slipped her mind. Church. Coral ran back down from her room to remind her grandfather and grandmother, but they weren’t there. Coral frantically looked around for her grandparents, but she didn’t see them anywhere. What she did find was a note on the door that said, "Sorry, had to leave for Church. We could tell that you were overstimulated, so we let you stay in your room. Sincerely, Mrs. Claus.” Coral was devastated.

 

Every Christmas, her church reenacts the Nativity Scene as a musical, and she always gets to sing up on stage. Coral screamed aloud. Before she could think twice, she dashed outside. Just as she did, she saw her grandparents and their 20 elves flying away. She screamed, “Wait! I want to come! Please! Let me come as well!” The hover fans beneath the sleigh were terribly loud, so loud in fact that Coral could barely hear herself. She shouted one last time until she plopped on the ground, thinking about what she had to do next.

 

Coral ran up and down the house until she found all that she needed for her journey to church. “Coat, snow pants, gloves, boots, mini backpack, reins, rope, food,” Coral muttered under her breath. “I probably won’t need my water bottle. It’d slow me down. Plus, I can just eat the snow if I get thirsty.” Coral ran to her grandfather’s reindeer barn in the back (Technically, it’s her father’s reindeer barn now.) She rummaged around, looking like a madwoman. “Why can’t I find my reindeer? Ah! There you are! Let’s go, Candlestick, we have a Nativity scene to get to!”

 

Coral and Candlestick flew off immediately. The icy wind burnt Coral’s face, and blew her hood off her head. “How does Father do this so often?” Coral’s mind raced. “What am I doing? What if I get in trouble? What would father, grandmother, or even grandfather say if they saw me, an inexperienced rider, up high above the ground on a reindeer?” While she was thinking, she subconsciously let go of the reins and fell far to the ground. Candlestick rushed down to help her, but she didn’t have enough space to get down to her.

 

Coral hit the ground with a plop. “Ow!” Coral was alright, but her body was numb from the cold. She could sit up, but she knew if she tried to climb up one of the trees, she’d end up getting seriously injured. “I should have never stormed up to my room!” Coral shrieked, startling Candlestick.

 

“Is that who I think it is?” asked a familiar voice. 

 

“Father!” 

 

“Nu uh, that’s Santa Claus to you. I’m still on work duty,” replied Father in a smug voice.

 

“Yeah, Yeah. Would you ever so kindly help me out of this pit?” 

 

“What’s the magic word?” 

 

“Please…” 

 

“Alrighty!” Father zoomed to get Coral. 

 

“We’re here!” Squealed Coral in excitement. 

 

“That we are. I’ve got to go. Bye, Coral!” said father, embarrassingly loud. In the church auditorium, Coral moved upstage and sang beautifully. 

 

Now that’s a beautiful, happy ending.

 

Judges’ notes: Not every writer can advance a narrative with only dialogue, but that’s exactly what this story does. It’s natural and slightly chaotic and simply so very much fun. This story used conversation better than any other we read this year.