Christmas Visions

The story was written for the contest Writers Cramp. It has a word limit of 1,000 words.

The prompt for the story: Must mention the words snowman, wreath, reindeer and elf. The setting must be in July

Christmas Visions

Now there is something you don’t see every day, John thought as he watched an elf push a shopping cart across the Wal-Mart parking lot. At first he thought it might have been a dwarf but then he remembered Gimli from Lord of the Rings. He had been much taller and always carried a big ax. The cart-guy was much smaller. The green tunic and red hat sealed the deal – elf. More specifically, it had to be one of Santa’s.

John took another big drag from his brown bag-of-the-day and pondered the implications.

What would an elf be doing in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Austin Texas in the middle of July? There could be a number of reasonable explanations; the most likely being the great deals to be had at this time of the year. Christmas ornaments and wreaths had to be maybe thirty or forty percent off.

That Santa was one smart cookie.

Now inspired, John decided to do a little preseason work himself. Although it was a blistering ninety-eight degrees outside, one could never be too over prepared for those flash snowstorms that typically announced the coming of winter. With his bag-of-bottle in hand, he wandered around to the back of Wal-Mart’s behemoth building.

At first he wasn’t sure what he was looking for. A couple of deep draws from his clutch of liquid wisdom brought clarity to the situation. He needed a warm house. The current economy’s tight grip on credit didn’t pose a problem for John. In his world of low expectations, a nice box would do just fine.

He rounded the corner to find himself face to face with something he only had a passing relationship with – luck. There was a village worth of boxes all over the place.

He immediately knew what he had to do. He could see it all in his mind as if it had already been completed. He was going to build a Santa’s Village. It was meant to be. Why else would he have seen that elf? It was a vision from the man himself – Santa.

John began stacking boxes all over the place. It wasn’t exactly hard work unless you compared it to John’s normal output which was zero. Before long he needed a break. He quickly emptied the last of his eighty-proof. With an efficiency borne of over-practice, he replaced the empty bottle with one that had found its way into his raggedy jacket earlier in the day. The break stretched well past the union standard of fifteen minutes.

That was okay. John’s mind was hard at work. He had Christmas on his mind and that made the rest of the world just right. He closed his eyes and pictured his mammoth cardboard village. There would be toy stores and candy shops and colored lights everywhere.

A loud rumbling brought him out of his stupor/daydream. He looked up to see a snowman climbing off of a reindeer.

It was a miracle! Santa must have seen his work and sent a messenger to give him an award or something.

The snowman waddled over and said, “What it is that you think you are doing here sir?”

“Why I am building a Christmas village,” John replied happily. He considered it quite an honor to be talking with a snowman. That sort of thing almost never happened.

“Do you have any identification on you?” ask Frosty.

“No sir. But I know my name is John and I have been very good.”

Frosty shook his head and wandered back to his reindeer. John could see the snowman talking on a radio. Maybe he was telling Santa about the village.

Soon, a big boxy sled showed up. Frosty came over and said, “How about we get you out of this sun?”

“What about my village? I am certain Santa wants me to finish it before winter comes.”

“I’ll tell Santa that you are taking a break. Don’t worry. I am one of his helpers. He sent me here to help you.”

John beamed at the snowman. He barely noticed when the snowman relieved him of his paper bag and helped him into the back of the sled.

This was truly a lucky day.

Word count 703