a
little
Christmas
gift
by
Thomas Joseph DiSalvio
(c ) 2007 Thomas Joseph DiSalvio
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
This is the story of three people who took upon themselves the tremendously large task of saving the future. It was not an easy calling; and whenever failure, self doubt and disappointments came upon them, they simply remembered their goals and continued to persist in their quests. They overcame their anxiety with fortitude and courage as they tried to make life better for the children of their planet.
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Just Imagine that it's Thanksgiving Day, the year after next in
another time and space. There, we find a place where all your dreams can come
true -- even after you are through dreaming.
In those days the people had one war after another. There were always reasons
given for the wars. The Controllers suspected it was greenhouse gases, coastal
flooding, droughts, and water distribution. The Old-liners said it was nuclear
production rights and oil reserves. And the Reformers were those who believed
it was all about religion and ethnicity that could be overcome by education.
No matter what it was: sectarian violence, rising sea levels, or floods, each
and everyone of these situations unfortunately led to a single scenario of
combat, disease and starvation.
The wars that followed prevented food and clean water from getting to the those
who needed it. And, as a result of those difficult times, the ones who suffered
the most were always the children.
This is My Grown-Up Christmas Wish
Just west of The Big Apple lay the city of The Valley. And in that town there
was a land mark chapel called the Little Church.
Pastor Bob was the proprietor of the chapel. In religious circles he became
noteworthy for being the doubting preacher. He lost his faith many years ago
when he questioned GodÕs ability to end the sorrows besetting mankind.
And within those walls his thoughts could be heard crying out for an answer:
ÒHow could we end the enigmas of war and starvation? What could be done about
these problems that seemed bigger than life?
ÒWhat good was it for God to send his Christ down to us without giving us a
lesson in germ theory?Ó
It was Thanksgiving Day and he had just finished preparing dinner for some of
his friends. It was always on that particular day that he readied them for the
bliss of the upcoming holiday season. But this year there was too much death
and destruction for him to be joyous. The plagues and wars were expanding.
And to top that off, he could see that there was forty inches of snow on the
ground. He was afraid that no one would show up for his last sermon and fully
dressed turkey.
Well none of the usual congregates came; but little did he know that this year
he would met some of his old friends who were stranded there by the unusual
snow storm.
This year BobÕs unsuspecting dinner guests were Andy Bernelli, the inventor of
the green-widget, a childÕs toy that made fiber objects out of
carbon dioxide pellets. And also Jane Pickens, the oil magnet who just made one
billion dollars for her stockholders in what others called the greatest
gamble of the century.
Bob, Jane, and Andy had been friends at the Miles School for the Arts. Then
Andy joined the Health Service, Jane explored the North Sea, and Bob went away
to Divinity School. They met infrequently after those school days. And now a
forty inch snow squall from the Northern Lakes brought them back together
again.
Peace on Earth Goodwill to Men
Pastor Bob no longer gave sermons because he felt he did not understand much
about his religion anymore.
So, he simply told his friends that during this holy season they might try to
follow him as he followed his understanding of Peace and Love through
Giving -- not to him, but to the children of their planet especially
during Christmas time:
ÒWhen you look upon the faces of the poor and destitute, I hope you see beyond
their stench, poverty and disease. I pray that you see the face of God.Ó
It was based upon his sermon about the Book of Ruth and her kinsman redeemer.
Everybody in the church just called it his ÒWither thou goest speech.Ó
The first time he gave it was twenty years ago when he invited his parishioners
to follow him as he followed Christ. But this time he added a twist to the
speech. He called it Quo Vadis Part IV. He used the same idea to
invite his friends to join him in his dream quest for world peace.
He enticed his friends to go on a new journey with him to take up the problems
of worldwide hunger, death and destruction; and the two guests felt compelled
to try a new approach to their work and their lives. He encouraged them to seek
their path -- and not to stop -- until they saw their duty in crimson
pink (even without the aid of rose colored glasses).
Pastor Bob thought, ÒCould they apply their talents to do something
constructive to help the children?Ó
He asked them to just Imagine how they could give a Christmas
gift to each and every child. After all, the Christmas holiday was set up to
tell the children of the world that they are remembered (and never to be
forgotten).
Bob had no idea what influence he had over his friends. He had hoped that they
would provide the poor some extra food. Maybe they could even do something to
help others increase their productivity.
When they left the church Jane and Andy saw a lonely crimson pink
rose pushing its way skyward out of a sea of white snow.
Jane immediately started her work on Carbon-60 and prepared to
build some sort of secret, electrical generating station. After that, Jane saw pink
everywhere, and crimson in everything she did.
IÕm Dreaming of a White Christmas
Jane accepted ten billion dollars from the notorious loan shark Charlie Mondo
in return for her holdings in the oil industry. She told him that she would pay
him back after she had raised enough money on her electrical project. She was
confident that the money would come rolling in before the end of the Christmas
holiday.
Jane put herself in a sad and lonely situation that could only bring her grief
if Charlie Mondo ever got hold of her oil interests.
She thought, ÒBut the goal is more important than the ten
billion.Ó
Jane Pickens quickly ran out of money setting up contractors to build her Sky-Light
Tower which was a giant solar collector designed to replace their
electrical systemÕs dependence on oil.
Andy Bernelli thought he could make a fortune creating a elixir of life he
called the fountain of springtime, but he failed miserably and
could not even produce an ounce of sellable snake oil.
Pastor Bob set up five special bank accounts to handle all the different
aspects of giving. And, no matter how hard he tried to explain his case, no one
gave him a dime; and the setup fees cost him the price of a badly needed new
roof for the Little Church.
The three of them tried and failed, and Christmas came with only a flurry of
white snow which left with their hearts broken. Then, as the city started to
wake up and as the cars moved quickly on the streets, the beautiful white snow
turned into a dark brown slush.
The trio had no concrete new ideas in sight and they felt darkness pervade
their whole being. It is a grief that comes when you languish. In other words,
they had fallen and the grapevine of gossip would soon let everyone know it.
Bob thought silently, ÒOnly a fool would start a project and run out of money
before she completed her task. What have I done to poor Jane, what have I
wrought?Ó
Come Home for Christmas -
If Not Christmas, Then New Years Night
Charlie Mondo had a big heart and extended JaneÕs ten billion dollar debt until
the end of the Christmas season. (He really did not want to own a newly finagled
energy company, anyway.)
He said, ÒWell, since Christmas did not turn out like Jane had wanted, I still
had hoped and believed that New YearÕs Day would be the time when everything
would work out. IÕll give her another week.Ó
New YearÕs Day came and went like a bolt of lightning that struck on the plains
only to leave a large black hole with nothing in it. The same was true of
JaneÕs work. It seemed to create a vacuum where nothing can happen.
ÒWell, our hopes and dreams were not meant to be,Ó Bob said.
And the trio thought that all the goodness that was in the world had left them.
And their hearts were as cold as the driven snow that had just turned to ice.
Bob said sorrowfully, ÒMight as well sing Ole Lang sigh.Ó
Jane had promised to pay on her debt on the second week of January and was
preparing her paper work when...
All of a sudden something big happened on January 6th...
On January 6th
the trio, who were the only hope for peace, became enlightened, each in their
own way. This is how it happened:
During the churchÕs adaptation of O. HenryÕs The Gift of the Magi,
the three Middle Statesmen visitors who were to play the wise men had to leave
to fix a problem in Omaha; and Bob, Jane and Andy had to fill in as the
alternate Wise Men bearing gifts to the bewildered young couple of the story.
It was during that production, the trio began to realize that sometimes fiction
could be more real than life, and that they were indeed to become A
New Magi delivering gifts -- not only to the Son of Man -- but
directly to Mankind itself.
ÒPastor Bob, you probably wonÕt believe it, but
shouted Jane as
she sang out the words to the song with glee.
ÒWhat do you mean, I thought Christmas was over,Ó cried out Bob.
"As of right now GE just gave me credit for one billion dollars worth of wind mills to start my energy project.
"This will show good faith to everyone of my intentions to produce alternate energy for this country and help the farmers with their water needs at the same time.
"I have acquired enough Compressed Natural Gas and outlet stations to set the stage for the American Auto Industry to retool quickly to reduce the amount of imported petroleum. This will show the world -- and Charlie Mondo -- how serious I am about new forms of energy.
ÒMy project is near completion. It will be finished before midnight. And IÕll
be able to raise the money to pay back my debts.Ó
ÒHow? I thought your time was up last week.Ó
ÒYou see January 6th is considered little Christmas,Ó Jane
said, Òbecause it is the day that the Magi visited the Christ
Child with gifts. It took the Magi two years to find the Christ child. That means that the Christmas season is still on. I am sure Charlie Mondo would understand. He's a good Christian fellow. And thereÕs
still time for us to get the money.Ó
ÒEverybody in Central States knows about the Epiphany. How could I have
forgotten about it. ItÕs the time when the Wise Men visited the Christ. In the
Central States they celebrate that occasion, and the children are given gifts
on that day.
ÒThereÕs still hope for us,Ó agreed Pastor Bob ÒEven though I have no idea how
we can pull this off, I still know we can do it! Imagine that, a gift for
children on Magi Day, I must be dreaming.Ó
The pressure was on and Andy started to work immediately. At first he did not
succeed in finding a serum to prevent the plague (nor even produce some kind of
elixir) but after making a calculation error, he noticed a small
glimmer of pink light in his mixture which enabled him to succeed
in using it to create the worldÕs first mirror intense solar panel,
that would not only create electricity but deflect the solar rays away
from the planet and reduce the planetÕs heat. Bob knew that the crimson
pink color was a sign, a good omen.
He immediately sold the idea to his contacts at the government that same day.
He paid off the money that Jane Pickens borrowed for her Sky-Light Tower
that would reached up thirty kilometers high. Using the tower in conjunction
with AndyÕs mirror intense solar panel, it would also temporarily
forestall the warming trend.
(The Tower was the first of four legs that would hold up an eventual ring
around the equator which would collect the solar rays to generate more
energy than the planet would ever need and reflect the sunÕs rays to outer
space when cooling was needed.)
As soon as the free electricity was hooked up to the world wide grid, the wars
stopped and so did the persistent, pandemic plagues that came out of that
destruction.
Pastor Bob thought, ÒI was such a fool. Christ really did not need to preach
about viruses, He left that up to us to figure out so we could learn -- ourselves
-- to see God in the eyes of our fellow travelers. (I think that has
something to do with faith and religion).Ó
When the many charitable organizations heard of the new developments that would
save Mankind from itself, they wanted in on the deal and thatÕs when they
contacted the newly believing, pastor of the Little Church in The
Valley.
Bob became so good in raising money that he even got the Churches to give up
ten percent of their permanent wealth to help with more projects, too.
As a result of this, each and every being on the planet would have more
electrical power to help make their own dreams come true.
And thatÕs exactly what happened. The little people made new scientific
discoveries that were never thought possible. The inventions were beyond
everyone's wildest dreams.
I Want to see Christmas Through Your Eyes
The Magi invented the idea of Christmas giving. Jane, Andy and Bob understood
that the true meaning of the season was Giving. And to honor their gift, the
People made them a Christmas present. It was a statue of them in the Town
Square. One could see the expression of Christmas through their eyes as the
mayor installed a simple inscription stone with the following words,
Òmodern
magiÓ.
Some people say they heard heavenly voices during the unavailing of the statue,
but maybe that was just wishful thinking.
+ + + + + + + + + + +
Epilogue
Walking in A Winter Wonderland
A few months later Andy, Jane and Bob was spotted traipsing off into the wind
swept wilds of the cold, Polar Ice Caps with an entourage from the Central
Intel Agency following them. The Trio were lassoing icebergs for the little
children in the Drought Lands.
ÒWhat could they think of next?Ó said the Director of the Agency. ÒGod only
knows.Ó
And the Special Agents who were following the Trio, trapping in the a hundred
miles of snow, were heard singing:
The End
Have Yourself A
Merry Little Christmas !
EXTRA
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