Christmas 6102

by Robert C. Waggoner

down and gazed around seeing the place rather full and with a long line to the counter for take outs.

  "This atmosphere feels warm and tingly. All of the people here seem so happy and are really enjoying the holiday season. You know I remember seeing old videos of shopping malls and giant department stores with people rushing in and fighting over a special price on something they probably really don't need. Also, people would line up for hours to be first through the doors on what they called: 'Black Friday'. I understand now why it's named that way: people die and you take your life in your hands making your former bodies all black and blue. Human's were so silly back then."

  "We saw the same thing in our studies of history. Our economics teacher said: "You can go broke saving money." That makes sense in a weird way, but foolish people do foolish things. Oh here comes Sunflower with our drinks."

  "Wow! This taste great! I'm addicted to them already," said Joey.

  "We only have them for two weeks at Christmas time. It's special for us. We don't consume a lot of sugar as it's not good for us. We only produce enough refined sugar for our holiday season. Beginning January, you won't find any more sugar laden products."

  "Except fruit, I'd guess," said Andi. "It has natural sugar and is sweet tasting in its own right."

  "Yup, sure is. But for now we indulge with special treats during the festive season," said Sunflower.

  "When you buy presents, where and to whom you buy for," asked Andi.

  "I shop at all the stores looking around. I don't have much money so I buy mostly little things a person can use in their daily lives. We usually buy for our families, but if we have close friends, we sometimes buy a gift for them. It's left up to the person. None of us have much money so we are a little bit frugal. As to the where we buy our presents, there're many stores or shops we can go to. My two favorite stores are the variety store and the book store."

  "Thanks for your clearly spoken answers," said Andi. "We, and I'm a little ashamed to say, we don't celebrate Christmas with gift giving. I'm also ashamed to say we have a fake or simulated holiday season. We can produce an environment that looks like winter landscape, but the smells and the feeling of the surrounding area is missing. Here one can feel the cold air, the squishing of feet upon the snow and we can smell the clean air of the evergreen trees wafting by our noses."

  "We are a simple people living a simple life. Sure we have the emotions of our ancestors, but we've learned how to control them. We aren’t jealous, for example, if our neighbor buy a new TV set. None of us have a TV to be jealous of. I suppose the only time one might feel jealousy is if another person is more popular or of a personality that makes others feel happy."

  "What you're describing is an utopian society. Most of us, who have studied humans and other civilizations over the centuries, came to the conclusion that utopia doesn't exist."

  "I think, Andi and Joey, the word utopia is misconstrued to mean a place is happy, sharing, and all the other adjectives used in a dictionary. We certainly don't think this is a utopian society. We have our bad days along with good ones. We toil hard to enjoy the fruits of our labor. We give thanks to whatever spirit that helps provide our daily living. We rarely get sick. Disease has been pretty much disappeared from our language."

  "This is all amazing and I'd now love to browse the book store," said Joey.

  Both Andi and Joey's heads were spinning from the conversation prior to the bookstore. The one thing that troubled both of them the most was the idea of work. On their home planet, any physical work done was with robots and computers. Work here was still undiscovered and left both wondering what it really meant.

  At the bookstore, the place was packed with customers. There were authors that Sunflower said were of this planet and few books were available about history of other planets. She said, "Any history of old Earth, is oral and handed down by our elders. We hear the good parts and the bad parts. We pass those same words on to our off spring."

  Fiction was about half of the store's inventory. Mostly it surrounded life of the old days and settings around nature. There weren't any books on crime, magic, or of any violence or intrigue. The non-fiction books were colorful and interesting. Seldom was there just one author, but multiple authors of a single book.

  Joey asked, "As we don't know the value of any item on your planet, can you relate of give us an idea as to how long you might work to make enough money to purchase a book?"

  "Well, I'll try, but remember we don't have a standard rate for any particular job. About 80% of us are farmers. We go to school for ten years. Those that show exceptional promise can study with an elder in that field or area of interest. We have laboratories that involve soil, plants and weather experiments."

  "Andi is an expert on our planet involving soils and such things," said Joey proudly.

  ''That wonderful. If while you're here, I'll take you to our soil laboratory."

  "Can we walk around some of the stores and see what's inside," asked Joey.

  "Let's go to the variety store. They don't have real expensive things, but a lot of handmade stuff."

  Like the small shop of drinks and the bookstore, the door bells jangled upon entry. There was some soft music playing, but it was hard to place for either Joey or his sister. The place was busy with customers shopping for Christmas. The store smelled wonderful from the many candles burning.

  "It's best for you to just walk around and see what the entire different items one can use in their lives. Like I said, most all are homemade from local artisans. I failed to mention that we've trade schools where students can learn how to do multiple things that are needed on a farm or anywhere, for that matter."

  "Thanks Sunflower. I'll raise my arm if I need some help determining what is what. Mostly I'll just examine how something is made," said Joey moving off by himself to check the place out.

  Andi went with Sunflower. Sunflower said, "I ordered some new napkins for our holiday dinner. I want to see if the lady who made them has finished with the order." They walked to the counter where a thirty something woman was checking the customers out. In a short time, the clerk asked how can she be of service.

  Sunflower told her what she had ordered and away the clerk went to the back room. She came back with a cloth bag containing handmade napkins. Andi thought them very pretty and after being shown the wonderful stitching, exclaimed her amazement. "We have many different seamstresses who produce all kinds of clothing. One of my best friends lives on a sheep farm where the wool comes from. We also have cotton fields, but not here as it's too cold for that plant to thrive well."

  Joey had browsed the store looking at different eating utensils and tools. Sets of forks, knives and spoons in silver with engraving for decoration. They were all amazing and well made. Farm tools, and above the tools a sign read: 'If you can't find what you need, just tell me and it's a done deal.'

  Sunflower and Andi took her napkins to another counter where gift wrapping was taking place. The paper was plain colored and rough, but tied together with colored yarn gave the present some character. Andi asked, "I thought people had to pay for things on this planet. They gave us some gold to exchange for currency, but I don't see any prices and not much money being handed over to the clerk."

  Sunflower laughed and said, "Sometimes, we trade things for other things. In this case, Ms. Violet will accept some wool from my family for these napkins and other things we might need."

  Joey came up and said, "This place is really complex with all works of metal, wood, and glass as if artists made them."

  "Yes, we thing so too. I have to go now, but I'll be by your house at 4 pm to pick you up for our hay ride or sleigh ride. Have fun looking around. Bye for now."

  Both kids decided to go home and see what their parents were doing. The snow kept falling and after struggling with the snow shoes, made their way home.

  When they arrived, both mother and father were sitting at a table talking. Joey noticed their long faces and said, "What's wrong.
Please tell us that the asteroid didn't penetrate the shield?"

  Father looked at his kids and shook his head. "Our planet was destroyed children. We have to live here for we don't know how long. I know our Overseers made provisions for this type of calamity, but how to make contact is another matter entirely."

  Andi said, while sitting down at the table made of some strange wood, "This place is not bad at all. I think we can adjust to living here."

  Father said, "What can we do here to occupy our time. I know we can work without rest and with our precision movements, could fabricate or maybe even teach some technology to the population. I don’t know what kind of government they have here. If we stay, we need to talk to the leaders of this planet."

  Andi said, rather maturely for her age, "Let's wait until after the holidays here and then we can see what is what."

  Mother said, "Good idea, Andi. I think it might be a good idea to visit some of our own people to see what they have to say about our home being gone."

  Joey's father was the de facto leader of his people on this planet. He really did not wield a lot of power, but when a meeting such as this was upcoming; he would head the gathering and keep the arguments on course.

  Such was the get together later that afternoon. The meeting only included Father's social level and his ranking in government. There were ten other members