STORYTIME TAPESTRY

The Newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness throughout the world

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Special Treat - Christmas Contest Submission ??“ ? ? Christopher King

Dec 29, 2005

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We are pleased to announce yet again another new writer for Storytime Tapestry.?  Christopher King is writer # 280.?  He is also the publisher at Medici, check out his website, submit a story and you may win the grand prize of $1,000.

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All special treats will be Christmas Contest entries from now on.?  This way I can maximize on the number of stories I can get out to you.?  Please do not influence your vote because you see a writer has a special treat.?  I will pick a story at random for this selection.?  The soul purpose of using the special treat section is to get out my Christmas stories to you.?  You will still vote for your favourite writer at the end of the contest whether or not they were slotted for a special treat or remained published in the main newsletter.

Carol Roach

? And now for today??™s selection:

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? Hi Everyone,? ? 

Where did all the time go this week?

I really wanted to write a nice long fiction about a Happy Christmas but I??™ve had to knock that idea on the head and just rustle up something quick??¦

Anyway, here it is, sorry I haven??™t had time to check it for typos or spellos and I would have loved to have edited it properly too so I hope it??™s at least ???readable???

Some words are spelt the English way rather than the American way so you'll probably notice a few of those...

Regards, CJ.

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A Christmas Tale

Christopher King

midicibooks@yahoo.com

Part 1.

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???twas the night before Christmas in a Land far, far away,

the Land known by the ???Upovers??? as ???Downunder?????¦

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... on this particular Christmas Eve,?  almost 12 years ago, young Anthony Francis, age seven (AND three quarters, if you please) was bursting at the seams with impatience,?  doing exactly what millions of other seven (AND three quarter) year olds all around the World were doing, champing at the bit, waiting for Santa Clause, and a sleigh load of?  presents.

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There were of course a few ???prezzies??? already under the tree, they??™d been teasing and tantalising young?  Anthony Francis for several days. The impatient desire to open them, or at least one of them, was getting stronger and stronger to an almost unbearable level for young Anthony Francis. He knew not to ever open a present without permission, but he also knew that he could get away with a few little almost unnoticeable tears in the gift wrapping when no one was looking, peeping holes as he called them, but he knew the rules, no blatant unwrapping until after midnight i.e. 00.01AM on the big day. On inspection from time to time, we could clearly see his little? peeping holes but he??™d been good and not gone too far.

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All through the day we??™d had every trick under the sun??¦

tricks like ???being good??? followed by a ???Come on Dad, just let me open one, I??™ve been good, just a small one Dad, awwwww, pleeeeeease Dad ???

tricks like being naughty followed by a ???I??™m gonna scream until I get one, and you??™re all meanies???

tricks like ???Hey Mum, Dad said I can open one if he went out, and guess what,?  he just went out!???

You??™d have to give young Anthony Francis ten out of ten for trying, but there was no way, absolutely no way he was going to get a prezzie before midnight and it was only 5.30 in the afternoon so we still had another six and a half hours of this. We knew what we were in for, that??™s right, the ???Hot and Cold??? treatment, a wild mix of pleading, being good, being naughty, stamping feet, helping with chores, and at times riddled with giggles and laughter with the wonderful display of child psychology that we knew we were to be subjected to, very entertaining.

Well that was the plan, NO PRESENTS, but sometimes, even on Christmas Eve, things don??™t always go to plan, do they?? ?  DO THEY!!!

We were just about to experience a fine example of that.

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At about 6.15 that evening, Patrick Jason, Anthony Francis??™ older brother, returned home from his mate??™s house where he had been playing lead guitar in the garage with the rest of the group, The Ferrals.?  Everyone throughout the neighbourhood had heard of them, not because they were any good but because they had ???huge decibels???? 

No sooner had Patrick Jason reached the hallway when Anthony Francis was in his face, asking if he could open a present.

???Go and ask Dad??? said Patrick Jason

???Nope, already tried that several times, and Mum, nothing works, I??™ve been good, I??™ve been naughty, I even dried the lunchtime dishes, I swept the floor, threw a few tantrums but nothing worked Rick, can you think of anything else I could try????

???psss?  psssss pss psss sssssppssssssss??? whispered Patrick.

???Yeah? Do you really think that would work???? asked Anthony Francis.

???Well I can??™t think of anything else??? answered Rick ???so I reckon it??™s worth a try, go for it Tiger???

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Five minutes later, how the situation had changed, we couldn??™t stop laughing, I was laughing, my wife Janice was laughing, Patrick Jason was laughing, and cheering and clapping and as for Anthony Francis, there he was, on the floor, at around 7pm,?  way before time, with a huge grin all over his face opening a present over by the Christmas Tree.

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He had certainly caught us off guard, I still can??™t believe it when I think back to that Christmas Eve. After telling Anthony Francis at least twenty times that there was ???no way he could make me give in and change my mind????  there he was opening a present 5 hours early, right under my nose, and with my permission.

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With Patrick Jason??™s help, young Anthony Francis had cracked my defenses wide open, he had me in the palm of his hand??¦ he??™d started clowning around as this hilarious little comic character that he used to mimic so well, it??™s his little party piece and he is so funny at it, he always makes us laugh so much with his acting and clowning around but it wasn??™t just his funny antics??¦ it was what that funny little character said that changed my mind and let him open a present... after his conniving with his older brother, this funny little character sneaked over and squeezed his way in between Janice and I on the two seater settee and in his best little comic character voice he said ???I know I??™m not quite 8 yet but I??™m still one quarter?  of this family, and a very important quarter, and I??™m not even asking to open a quarter of the presents, just one would make me happy, and keep me quiet, so what d??™ya reckon Christopher James???? looking up at me with his big brown eyes and ???what d??™ya reckon Janice Ann???? turning to his Mum followed by ???Come on, come on, have we got a deal or what? COME ON CHRIS, COME ON JAN????  That little rascal had never ever dared to call us by our Christian names before, we were in shock, I looked at Janice, she looked at me, totally dumbfounded,?  suddenly we both burst out laughing, Rick??™s giving Anthony Francis the thumbs up, the little brat is still shouting out ???Come on Christopher, come on Janice, we got a deal RIGHT???? He held out his hand to shake mine and it was decision time??¦ we just couldn??™t say no to his little academy award performance and in between laughs, I finally caved in and whilst still chuckling, shook him by the hand and said ???OK you cheeky little devil???,?  Janice shouted out ???Only one and NOT THE BIG ONE IN THE CORNER??? so there??™s Anthony Francis giving us ???Hi Fives??™ before whizzing across the room shouting ???YAAYYYYYY??? and returning Rick??™s thumbs up with one of the biggest grins you could ever see, heading for the Chrissie Tree, on a mission..

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Part 2.

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Of all the presents Anthony Francis could have opened that evening, he had to go and pick the very bottom, one in the pile, just so he could touch and shake every one on the way, having a good old rummage??¦?  finally he gets to the target, the bottom prezzie.

It just happened to be??¦ the Roller blades??¦?  "Yaaaaaay" he yelled,

what a mistake they were??¦

Obviously not content to just open the box, he had to try them on for size, and obviously not content to just try them on, he had to try them out as well.

As soon as our dear little Anthony Francis had finished putting his ???blades??? on, he stood up and gingerly walked across the family room to try them out.

He tried them out all right,?  he was so quick, we didn??™t even have a chance to warn him about being sensible and careful and taking it easy, within about 10 seconds he??™d had a great big kick at a balloon that was on the carpet, and you just don??™t do that, DUUUHHHH, he kicked the balloon alright but didn??™t understand that momentum and centre of gravity come into play when you??™re on wheels, swinging a leg puts all your weight on the other leg.

He certainly knew all about that 10 seconds later, CRACK!

His momentum had sent him flying in the air and as we all know, what goes up??¦ must come down??¦ he came down alright, slap bang on his left arm, totally broken and he??™s in incredible pain with an uncooked French loaf for an arm, hanging like a doughy pendulum.

This was a real live emergency,?  Phone, Ambulance, Hospital, Xrays, Emergency??¦

and that??™s where we spent Christmas Eve and half of Christmas Day, down at the Hospital.

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Part 3.

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Back home, the first thing we did was to sling those Roller Blades in the trash??¦

we didn??™t want them, we didn??™t even want to exchange them or get a refund, and we certainly weren??™t going to give them to the kids next door??¦

we just wanted them out of our life.

Anthony Francis certainly learnt his lesson.

We did eventually recover the Roller Blades and took them for an exchange??¦

We added some cash and brought Anthony one of those great big Telescopes so that he could safely sit and learn all about astronomy??¦ incredible how quickly it all happened and also incredible that we just didn??™t let that little mishap spoil our Christmas,?  we still managed to have a wonderful Christmas, even though Anthony??™s arm was in plaster, the pain soon went, we still had a? lovely Christmas Dinner at the Hospital, and plenty of really nice visitors (and the Mother in Law)

Anthony was sooooo brave and he just loves that great big telescope, and he??™s a real Star.

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End of Story??¦

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Merry Christmas everyone,

CJ

MidiciBooks.Net? 

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Footnote, believe it or not, 2 Years later, Anthony Francis and I went surfing on the Christmas eve??¦ yep, you??™ve guessed it??¦

Who got dumped by a big wave and landed real bad??¦ and broke his arm?

Anthony Francis!!!

Wonder what he's going to break this year, hopefully just a few dishes, we'd settle for that.

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