How Sebastian Saved a West Paradise, Florida Christmas
By Ray St. Louis
Part One: The Broken Economy
In the town of West Paradise, in the mostly warm and sunny state of Florida, in the warmest and sunniest
southern part of the mostly warm and sunny state of Florida, Christmas always required a bit of imagination.
There was never any wintry weather, which meant no snow or ice. No skating or sledding. No snow forts or
snowball fights. And the closest thing to snowmen would have been the snowbirds from up north who came down
every winter from places like Cleveland and New Jersey to lie on the beaches roasting their sun-starved bodies to
a lovely shade of pink.
Oh, the town put up Christmas decorations all right. And the stores and malls put up displays with fake reindeer
and plastic snowdrifts. And West Paradise always had its annual Christmas parade with homemade floats and
high school marching bands and Santa riding in a fire truck. But, to young Sebastian who had spent his first
several Christmases in wintry Minnesota, it was never quite the same. Every year Christmas took more than a little
imagination.
This particular year, Sebastian was about to discover, it would take even more.
*****
The morning after Thanksgiving, Sebastian rushed into his mother’s room and woke her up. “Mom! Are we going
Christmas shopping today?” he asked excitedly.
“I don’t think so,” she mumbled.
“But mom, today’s the day everyone goes Christmas shopping.”
“Who told you that, sweetheart?” she replied, beginning to shake the fog of sleep from her head.
“I heard it on TV. It’s Good Friday – the day everyone goes Christmas shopping.”
“Black Friday, honey. And no, we won’t be going Christmas shopping today no matter what the TV said.”
“Will we be going Christmas shopping tomorrow?”
“I don’t think so, sweetie.”
“Well, then when exactly are we going Christmas shopping?” Sebastian asked in a rather demanding tone. He was
beginning to have a bad feeling about the direction the conversation was taking.
“We might not do any Christmas shopping this year, sweetheart. I lost my job remember? We just might have to
skip Christmas this year.”
“SKIP CHRISTMAS! SKIP CHRISTMAS! WE CAN’T JUST SKIP CHRISTMAS! NOBODY JUST SKIPS CHRISTMAS!”
“Well, we won’t skip it altogether. We’ll have some kind of Christmas, whatever we can afford. There won’t be any
expensive presents.”
“AAUIGGHHH!” Sebastian groaned.
“I’m sorry, baby. Times are tough. I’m trying to find a new job but the economy is broken; and until somebody fixes
it, we can’t afford to spend money frivolously. That’s just the way it is.”
“AAUUGGHHH!!!” Sebastian groaned again as he stormed out of the room. This was a terrible state of affairs. No
Christmas? He could hardly contemplate the idea. People can’t just skip the most important holiday of the year, he
thought. Or do a little wimpy Christmas as an afterthought. There had to be laws against such a thing.
Sebastian marched back into his own room and flopped down on his bed. What was he going to do? No Christmas
meant no presents, no tree with an ever-growing mound of presents beneath it, no counting the days until Santa
came, no rushing down the stairs on Christmas morning to tear the wrapping off boxes of toys and other stuff. No
Christmas! This just simply wasn’t acceptable.
“I have to do something,” Sebastian realized. “But what can I do?” He thought about it a minute, then got an idea.
“I know; I’ll get a job myself!” Sebastian exclaimed. “How hard can it be? I’ll get a job, then we’ll have some money
to buy presents so we can have Christmas.”
Sebastian had to think for a while before coming up with an idea as to how a person went about finding a job.
Then he remembered seeing his mother going through the want ads in the newspaper and calling the phone
numbers in the ads. He rushed downstairs to the front door and opened it. There was the morning paper in a
plastic bag on the front step as usual. He brought it inside, spread it on the kitchen table, and started going
through the ads for new jobs.
“This is good that I’m hitting these jobs while they’re still fresh,” Sebastian said. He took in a deep breath that
smelled of barely-dried ink and newsprint. These jobs even smell fresh, he thought.
There were a lot of jobs listed in the morning want ads, pages of them. “How can anyone not find a job when there
are so many of them?” Sebastian wondered. “I just don’t think my mom has really been trying. This is going to be
easy,” he said. Then he started dialing numbers.
*****
“Acme Precision Machinists, can I help you?”
“Yes, I’m calling about your ad for a mechanical draftsman.”
“Ah….how old are you, son?”
“Eight.”
“I see. Do you know anything about mechanical drafting?”
“Well, I know mechanical means something about robots. And drafting is like when you feel a draft. Then you have
to shut the door or something.”
“I’m sorry, son, but we’re looking for someone with a little more experience. Good luck to you.”
Click.
*****
“Amalgamated Business Services, can I help you?”
“Yes, I’m calling about your ad for a web designer.”
“Uh huh, do you know what a web designer does?”
“Design webs? Like spider webs or something?”
Click.
*****
“Nutritional Systems Incorporated, can I help you?”
“Yes, I’m calling about your ad for a food service manager.”
“Do you know anything about food service management?”
“Well, I eat food. And my mom lets me help pick stuff out at the store. Except sometimes I pick out the wrong stuff
with too much sugar and my mom makes me put it…”
Click.
*****
Sebastian was discovering that finding a job was a lot harder than he thought. No wonder his mom was frustrated.
It was time to come up with a different plan. “I know, I’ll ask Ariel. Maybe she’ll know how we can save Christmas.”
“Mom, I’m going to Ariel’s house,” he called.
“Okay, honey. Be sure to put on your jacket and cap.”
Sebastian did as he was told, then went out the door. Ariel’s house was just down the street, two houses away.
“We need to talk,” he said when she answered the door.
*****
“Okay, tell me again why you aren’t having Christmas,” Ariel asked as she put some butter and syrup on the
blueberry pancakes she was having for breakfast.
“The conomy is broken.”
“What’s a conomy?”
“I don’t know, but that’s what my mom said.”
“Who broke it?”
“How should I know? It wasn’t me. I didn’t do it.”
“Maybe if we could find out what a conomy was, we could fix it,” Ariel suggested.
“That’s a good idea,” Sebastian agreed. “Let’s ask your mom and dad.”
“They’re out Christmas shopping.”
“Great.”
“Maybe my big sister knows. She’s in middle school.”
Ariel led Sebastian to her big sister’s room, but big sister was too busy chatting with her friends on the computer
to answer her little sister’s question.
“Now what?” Sebastian asked.
“We could look it up in the dictionary.”
“Okay.”
Ariel and Sebastian went to the living room and pulled the big dictionary off the shelf. They walked to the kitchen,
flopping the massive dictionary open on the table. Then they sounded out their best idea for the spelling and
started flipping pages; eventually they got to what they believed was the right page.
“Connive, connote, conquer…nope, no conomy,” Sebastian reported.
“I’m not sure there even is such a word,” Ariel said. “Maybe we should just forget it.”
“Nooooo!” Sebastian squealed. “We can’t just forget it. I’m not going to have Christmas if we just forget it! I’m not
going to get any presents if we just forget it! WE CAN’T JUST FORGET IT!”
“Well, what do you want me to do about it?” Ariel asked. “You’re the one who’s not having Christmas! It’s not my
problem!”
At that moment Ariel’s big sister walked into the room to make herself a sandwich after taking a break from
chatting with her friends on the computer. “Who’s not having Christmas?” she asked.
“Sebastian and his mom,” Ariel answered. “Not our problem.”
“I hate to break it to you, sis, but we might not have Christmas either.”
“What? I thought mom and dad were out Christmas shopping?”
“That’s just a story they made up; they didn’t want you to know. They’re out talking to a realtor about putting the
house up for sale. Dad thinks he might get laid off. He thinks we need a less expensive house.”
“What?” Ariel said. “We really might not have Christmas?”
“Really.”
“What’s a conomy?” Sebastian asked.
“Conomy? You mean economy?”
“Maybe. Is that something that’s broken?”
“Oh yeah, it’s broken all right,” big sister said.
“How do we fix it?” Sebastian asked.
“If you can figure that one out, you should run for president.” And with that, big sister was out the kitchen door
and heading back to her computer.
“Well,” Sebastian said, “I guess I’m off to find the economy so I can see if I can fix it.”
“I’ll come with you,” Ariel said.
“I thought you didn’t want to help with my problem.”
“That was before I knew it was my problem too. Where should we go?”
“We should get some tools so we can fix the economy when we find it.”
“Juan’s dad has tools in their garage.”
“Let’s go get Juan.”
“Okay. I have to tell my big sister.”
*****
Sebastian and Ariel walked up to Juan’s door and rang the bell. When he opened the door, his eyes were red like
he’d been crying.
“What’s the matter?” Ariel asked.
“My dad says we can’t have Christmas because we can’t afford it,” Juan sobbed.
“Wow!” Sebastian said. “This is really getting around. It’s like the flu.”
“Do you want to come with us to find the economy and help us fix it so we can all have Christmas?” Ariel asked.
“Okay. Where’s the economy?”
“We don’t know,” Sebastian said, “but we’re going looking for it. Somebody broke it and we can’t have Christmas
until we fix it.”
“Okay.”
“We need to borrow some of you dad’s tools,” Sebastian added.
“Okay.”
They walked into the garage to the worktable, above which Juan’s dad had all his tools hanging on pegs. Juan
pulled up a bench to stand on so he could reach the tools. “Which ones do you think we need?”
“A hammer. Most things that need fixing, you need a hammer for,” Sebastian said.
“And a screwdriver,” Ariel added.
“Maybe a monkey wrench, and a pliers,” Sebastian said scratching his head. As for the rest of the tools hanging
on the wall, he didn’t know the names or what they did.
“How about sandpaper?” Juan asked.
“Couldn’t hurt,” Sebastian said.
“Better grab the duck tape,” Ariel said after recognizing the only other item hanging on the wall whose name she
knew. “My dad fixes everything with duck tape.”
“Good call,” Sebastian said.
*****
Back out front of Juan’s house, the party of three considered its next move.
“So where exactly is this economy?” Juan asked.
“It would help if we knew what it was; then we might know where to go to find it,” Ariel suggested.
“I think it might be some kind of machine,” Sebastian speculated, “like a microwave, or maybe a leaf blower.”
“Why do you think that?” Ariel asked.
“Cause machines are always breaking. Most things that are broken are machines.”
“That makes sense,” Juan said.
“Maybe we should go to Super-Duper-Mart. Super-Duper-Mart has about every kind of machine there is,” Ariel
said.
Sebastian’s eyes opened wide. “That’s a great idea! Super-Duper-Mart has everything. They’re bound to have an
economy there. Let’s go.”
“Do you think we should tell our parents?” Juan asked.
“Probably,” Ariel answered. “But what if they tell us we can’t go?”
“Then we can’t find the economy and fix it,” Sebastian said.
“Then we can’t have Christmas,” Juan added.
“We should just go,” Ariel said.
“Yeah, we should just go,” Juan agreed.
“We’ll come right back as soon as we fix the economy,” Sebastian said. “They won’t even know we’ve been gone.”
It was a long walk to the Super-Duper-Mart, about the longest walk any of them had ever done. On top of that, the
tools, which were too big to fit in their pockets, got heavier as they went. Finally, they came into the Super-Duper-
Mart parking lot. It was jammed with cars, everybody taking advantage of the big Black Friday sales. The party of
three walked up to the entrance. A man dressed in a Santa suit was ringing a bell next to a hanging bucket with a
slit on top for donations. He smiled and said “Happy holidays” when they came near.
“Happy holidays” all three said in unison. They were about to walk into the store when the bell-ringing Santa
asked a question.
“What are the tools for, kids?”
“We’re not kids,” Sebastian said. “We’re all eight.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend. I’m just curious – what are the tools for.”
“We need to fix the economy so we can have Christmas,” Sebastian said.
“Do you know it there’s one here?” Ariel asked.
“One what?” he asked.
“One economy,” Sebastian said. It’s broken.”
“We thought we could find the economy here at Super-Duper-Mart,” Juan said.
“Oh, you’ll find the economy here at Super-Duper-Mart alright,” the bell-ringing Santa said. “At least part of it. It’s
going gangbusters today.”
“Great!” Sebastian said. “Let’s go!”
Into the Super-Duper-Mart the three friends marched, all still carrying their tools in their hands. Through the
automatic sliding doors they strode and up to a silver-haired man who greeted them with a pleasant “Welcome to
Super-Duper-Mart.”
Behind him, a wild scene was playing out. Scores of shoppers crowded around a line of tables piled with boxes of
toys and games and laptop computers, and gift baskets piled with fruit and colorfully wrapped cheeses, and
towels and bedding, pots and pans coated with Teflon, sweaters and other clothing, and rolls of Christmas wrap
and lights and decorations. And much, much more. People were pushing and shoving, elbowing their way closer
to the tables to get at all the piles of stuff, and shouting and arguing, sometimes fighting over a toy or a set of
pillowcases. To the three friends, it all looked rather dangerous.
“What’s going on?” Ariel asked.
“Black Friday,” the silver-haired greeter said. “People looking for bargains. Can I help you find something?”
“We need to find the economy so we can fix it,” Sebastian said.
“Well, you found it,” the greeter answered.
“Where?” Juan asked.
“Right in front of you.”
“It’s in one of those boxes?” Sebastian asked.
The greeter looked down at Sebastian with a confused expression. “Just what exactly do you think the economy
is?” he asked.
“Some kind of machine,” Sebastian replied.
“We heard it was broken so we were going to try and fix it with these tools,” Ariel explained.
The silver-haired greeter chuckled to himself. “I’m afraid you have a mistaken notion about what the economy is,
my young friends. It’s not a machine you can fix with hand tools. It’s a whole network of businesses and sales and
money and credit cards. All those people in line buying things – that’s the economy. The economy is stores and
delivery trucks and trains and banks and stock markets and everything. It’s all the economy. The economy is
everywhere. It’s like the air.”
“Whoa,” Sebastian said, “that’s different. How’d it get broken?”
“That’s complicated,” the greeter replied. “And if you ask ten different people they’ll give you ten different
answers.”
“If we don’t find a way to fix it, we can’t have Christmas,” Juan said.
“Sorry to hear that,” the greeter said. “But it’s not just you. A lot of people are in that predicament this year. A lot
of us are cutting out Christmas.”
“You too!” Sebastian exclaimed.
“Me too. As a matter of fact, the whole town is cutting out Christmas. Our mayor here in West Paradise says the
town can’t afford city decorations or celebrations this year. It’s either that or no police and fire department.”
“NO WAY!” the three friends cried out.
“And no Christmas parade either,” the greeter said. Then he turned his attention to two shoppers fighting over a
toaster oven.
“No Christmas parade!” Sebastian gasped.
“Now what do we do?” Ariel asked.
“Let’s go home,” Juan said. “This is too big for us.”
Ariel and Juan started walking toward the sliding doors. They stopped and looked back once they realized their
friend wasn’t following. Sebastian appeared frozen in place, a perplexed and defeated look on his face.
“You ready to go home, Sebastian?” Ariel asked. “Sebastian? Helloooo! You ready to go?”
“I guess,” Sebastian said.
The three walked home, their heads hanging low. It didn’t look like there was going to be any Christmas for any of
them, or the whole town for that matter.
*****
Sebastian moped around the whole weekend. “What’s the matter, Sebastian?” his mother asked.
“Nothing,” Sebastian said.
“Are you feeling sick?”
“No.”
“Would you like something to eat?”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Would you like to play your video games or watch a movie?”
“No.”
The truth was, Sebastian wasn’t much interested in anything. Except sleeping. And kicking his soccer ball around
the back yard. First he’d kick it to one end of the yard, then he’d kick it back. Then he’d start over and do it again.
He kicked his soccer ball to one end of the yard and back for hours. This was how he managed to while away the
rest of the weekend, just kicking a stupid ball around.
*****
For the next three weeks, Sebastian sulked. He sulked at home. He sulked at school. In fact, Sebastian sulked for
so long that, had anyone been keeping track, he probably set the Guinness world record for sulking. At school,
whenever the teacher called on him to answer a question or try to solve a math problem, he would answer that he
didn’t know. When the other kids at recess asked him if he wanted to join in a game of kickball or tag, he would
say that he didn’t care. When the playground bully cornered him and demanded he hand over his lunch money if
he didn’t want to get beat up, Sebastian said, “Whatever.”
“Don’t you even care if you get beat up?” the bully asked.
“Not really,” Sebastian replied.
“What if I call you Lawn Mower Head; then do you care?” (It was the nickname some of the kids teased him with
because of Sebastian’s short buzz-cut hair)
“Not really.”
“Aw, you’re no fun,” the bully said. “You don’t even care if you get beat up.” He threw up his hands and turned to
look for someone else to pick on.
“Sorry,” Sebastian said to his back as the bully walked away.
Finally, the last day of school before Christmas break arrived. All day long Sebastian’s schoolmates acted excited
about the coming vacation time. By the time the bell rang, they were all shouting and laughing and running to the
busses or jumping on their bikes. But not Sebastian. After the bell rang, Sebastian walked slowly to the coat closet
at the back of the room and put on his jacket and cap. Then he walked even more slowly out to the busses. Then
he even more slowly, so slowly you could hardly call it moving, got onto the bus and took his seat.
“Sebastian,” Ariel called. She was seated two rows back. She and Sebastian usually sat together, except lately
Sebastian didn’t seem to care who he sat with. “Sebastian!” she called again.
“What?” he answered without turning around.
“Are you ever going to get over this?” she asked.
“Get over what?”
“This moping around.”
“I’m not moping around.”
“Yes you are. You’re moping around because your not having Christmas.”
“Who cares?” Sebastian said. “Besides, you’re not having Christmas either.”
“Yes we are. We’re having ‘Christmas-lite’ my dad said.”
“Christmas-lite?”
“Yes, it’s like Christmas without all the expense. Everybody gets one small present. We have a wreath instead of a
tree. We spend the day singing carols and whatever else we can think of that doesn’t cost money. And instead of
a turkey with all the fixings, we have meatloaf. My mom and dad said you and your mom can join us. It’ll be better
than nothing.”
“No thanks.”
“Auggghhh! You’re terrible!” Ariel groaned.
“Sorry,” Sebastian said.
On the bus ride home Sebastian sat quietly and didn’t talk to anybody. He thought again about what a lousy deal
Christmas had turned out to be this year. No presents, no fun, no excitement, no lights or decorations for their
town of West Paradise, no parade. What a lousy Christmas vacation this was going to be.
Part Two: Saving Christmas
The first day of Christmas vacation, just four days before Christmas, Sebastian wasn’t quite sure what to do with
himself. He tried kicking the ball around the back yard for a while. Problem was, kicking the ball around aimlessly
was really getting old. There must be something else I can do, Sebastian thought.
He considered going over to Ariel’s house. Except she would probably ask him again if he wanted to join in their
Christmas-lite celebration. He hadn’t changed his mind about that. Christmas wasn’t something you could replace
with a thin, watered-down substitute, like lowfat yogurt. Christmas was something you either did whole hog or not
at all as far as Sebastian was concerned. So going over to Ariel’s was out.
Maybe he could go over to Juan’s. That seemed safe enough. That’s what he would do, he would go over to Juan’
s house. At least Juan’s family wouldn’t be talking about Christmas-lite.
On the way over, Sebastian thought again about what a lousy deal not having Christmas was. Christmas had
always been his favorite day of the year. He loved the presents and the attention. He loved watching all the
animated Christmas specials on TV and playing with all his new toys. This year, a new PDQ 5000 Super-Game-
Player had been at the top of his list. That and the latest version of his favorite video game, Ultimate Disgusting
Blood-soaked Death Warrior III. If he’d only gotten those two things, he’d have been happy.
But he was going to get neither of those things, or anything else for that matter. All because the economy was
broken and his mom lost her job, and the mayor cancelled Christmas. Stupid economy. Stupid mayor. Stupid
Christmas.
As he approached Juan’s house, Sebastian could see that something was up. There was a truck out front with its
back door open and a ramp attached for loading. Furniture and boxes were all over the front yard waiting to be
loaded in the truck. Sebastian found Juan in the garage helping his dad put stuff into boxes.
“Juan, what are you doing?” Sebastian asked.
“We’re moving out,” Juan said. “The bank took our house.”
“What? How can they do that?”
Juan’s dad glanced down toward Sebastian, a tired look on his face. “It’s called foreclosure,” he said. “They do it
because they can. I lost my job and couldn’t keep up with the payments. Plus the value of the house went down.
Now we owe more than the house is worth. So they kicked us out.”
“But where will you live?” Sebastian asked.
“We have some relatives in another town we can stay with for a while, until I find a job and we can get a new
place.”
“You’re going to be in a whole different town!” Sebastian said to his friend, Juan. “But how will we play together?”
“I guess we won’t,” Juan said; then he started to cry.
“This is awful,” Sebastian said. “It’s not fair.”
“You won’t get any argument from me on that one,” Juan’s father said.
Sebastian looked at his friend and opened his mouth but he didn’t know what else to say. He could see in Juan’s
eyes that his friend was really unhappy. Sebastian felt bad for his friend.
Suddenly, his own problems didn’t seem so bad. All along Sebastian had been preoccupied with his own lousy
non-Christmas. Now his friend’s Christmas looked far, far worse. Sebastian realized he’d been going about this
Christmas thing the wrong way. He’d only been worrying about himself, his presents, his fun, his needs. Now his
friend’s family was facing something far more serious. He had to find a way to help. Wasn’t that what Christmas
was all about anyway, helping other people? Sebastian knew he had to do something, and this time whatever it
was he came up with had to work. He decided he had to get Ariel’s help again. But first, he needed to stop at
home to get something if the plan that was just beginning to hatch in his brain was going to stand a chance of
succeeding.
*****
“Ariel, come on; we have to help Juan,” Sebastian shouted up to Ariel’s bedroom. A moment later she stuck her
head out the window.
“What happened to Juan?” she asked.
“The four closers are kicking them out of their house.”
“What are closers?”
“I don’t know but there are four of them and they’re from the bank.” In his mind Sebastian pictured the ringwraiths
– the dark hooded figures on horseback from The Lord of the Rings. “They’re evil, I think.”
“What can we do?”
“We have to go talk to the mayor. It’s our only chance.”
“How will talking to the mayor help?” Ariel asked.
“The mayor is like the president, right?” Sebastian said. “He’s like the president of a town. He can do anything. He
can stop the four closers from taking Juan’s family’s house. And he can take back canceling Christmas. We can
kill two birds with one stone. COME ON! WE HAVE TO DO IT!”
“OKAY, for Pete’s sake. I’m coming down.”
Ariel was down in a minute. “I thought you didn’t care about anything,” she said. “What happened to that?”
“What difference does it make? I care now.”
“Okay, well, I’m glad the real Sebastian is back. I didn’t much like that other person. So, how do we find the
mayor?”
“I have a plan,” Sebastian said. “First we have to walk up to a busy street. Let’s go.”
*****
“TAXI! TAXI!” Sebastian called out.
“Sebastian! We don’t have any money for a taxi,” Ariel pointed out.
“I told you, I have a plan. Trust me.” A yellow taxicab pulled over to the curb. Sebastian and Ariel got in the back
seat.
“Mayor’s house please, my good man,” Sebastian said with as low a voice as he could muster and an air of great
self-assurance like he’d seen in movies, as if he were some famous fabulously rich person, like a politician, or a
baseball player or something. Ariel gave him a sideways look that said do you really think the cabdriver is going to
fall for this?
“The mayor’s house? That’s where you want to go?” The cabbie asked.
“Yes, my good man. That would be quite satisfactory.”
Ariel shook her head and rolled her eyes. This is your so-called plan, she thought.
“Do you mind my asking,” the cabbie ventured, “whether you…um…have money to pay for the ride.”
“Well, of course we…I mean…I have money to pay for it. Money is no object, my good man. I have tons of money.
Tut, tut. Now, let us be off to the mayor’s house. I haven’t seen the old boy in weeks. Chop, chop! Off we go.”
Ariel hid her face in her hands. She doubted she’d even been so embarrassed.
“Um, if it’s not too much trouble, would you mind showing it to me?”
“Show you what, my good man?”
“The money.”
Now we’re dead, Ariel thought.
“No trouble at all,” Sebastian said. Then, from his pocket he pulled out a crisp twenty dollar bill and showed it to
the cabdriver.
“Alright then,” the cabbie said. “To the mayor’s house it is.”
Ariel was aghast. After the cab started moving and the cabdriver’s attention was on his driving, she whispered to
Sebastian, “You stole money from your mom?”
“I didn’t steal it,” he whispered back. “It’s my money.”
“Where did you get twenty dollars?” Ariel asked.
“It’s my birthday money. I was saving it.”
“You’re spending your birthday money? Your mom’s not going to like that.”
“Look, we have to help Juan. And to do that, we have to talk to the mayor. I couldn’t think of any other way.”
“You’re mom wanted you to save your birthday money,” Ariel repeated.
“Couldn’t be helped,” Sebastian said.
Ariel just shook her head. Neither of them said another word the rest of the way to the mayor’s house.
*****
Sebastian and Ariel walked up to the huge, thick hardwood door of the mansion that was the home of the mayor
of West Paradise. The whole front of the enormous house as well as several trees and hedges in the front yard
were decorated with strings of Christmas lights and other decorations. On the door was a massive wreath with
lights and a big red bow printed with the words “Happy Holidays.”
“Well, at least the mayor didn’t have to cut back on his own Christmas,” Sebastian said.
“Do you really think he’s going to talk to us?” Ariel asked.
“He better,” Sebastian said.
“He better or what?”
“I don’t know. He just better.”
Sebastian pushed the button to ring the doorbell, then they waited. After about a minute they heard someone
fussing with the locks and deadbolts on the inside. A moment later the big wood door opened revealing a woman
who was dressed like a maid.
“Yes, can I help you?” she asked.
“We have to talk to the mayor,” Sebastian said in a tone that was a little too demanding.
Ariel stepped forward. “What my friend means is we’d like to speak with the mayor if it’s not too much trouble.” She
glanced back at Sebastian and delivered a stern look that was intended to let him know she would handle the
talking for the moment.
“Whatever,” Sebastian mumbled under his breath.
“Do you have an appointment? Is His Honor expecting you?” the maid asked.
“Yes,” Sebastian said emphatically.
“Shush!” Ariel whispered to her friend. “No, I’m afraid we don’t have an appointment. But we do have a matter of
great importance that we would like to bring to His Honor’s attention, like I said, if it’s not too much trouble.”
“My goodness,” the maid said, “such a well spoken young lady. Wait here just of moment. I’ll see if His Honor is
available.”
Ariel gave Sebastian a smug sort of smirk. See how this works when you know how to talk to people, the smirk
said. Sebastian responded by shrugging his shoulders. He was willing to let Ariel take the lead during this part of
the proceedings. Once they got in front of the mayor might be a different story.
A moment later the maid returned. “Follow me,” she said. Both Sebastian and Ariel’s eyes opened wide. They
were actually going to see the mayor. They followed the maid down a hall and into a room full of books with a big
desk and a couple of stuffed chairs facing the desk. “You can sit here,” the maid said. “His Honor will be with you
shortly.”
Sebastian and Ariel climbed into the two big stuffed chairs. The chairs made them look and feel very small. “He’s
not going to listen to us,” Ariel said, feeling suddenly quite unimportant.
“Yes he will,” Sebastian stated. “We’ll make him listen.”
A few seconds later, his Honor the Mayor walked into the room and sat in the even larger chair behind the desk.
He was big enough that the chair didn’t make him look unimportant. In fact, seated behind the huge shiny wood
desk, he looked very important indeed.
“Hello children,” he said. “First of all, let me ask, do your parents know where you are?”
“Well…” Ariel started out hesitantly.
“Yes, of course they do,” Sebastian jumped in. “We need you to help us because the four closers are taking our
friend Juan’s house away and it’s all because you cancelled Christmas on account of the broken economy and we’
re thinking if you changed your mind and allowed Christmas, maybe Juan wouldn’t get kicked out of his house and
our friend wouldn’t have to move away and the whole town could still have Christmas.”
“Well,” the mayor said, “that’s quite a bit to deal with. When you say ‘four closers,’ I assume you mean your friend’
s house is going through foreclosure. Is that right?”
“I guess,” Sebastian said.
“Do you know how many people are facing foreclosure in this town?”
“No,” the two friends responded in unison.
“Well, to tell the truth, neither do I,” the mayor said, “but it’s a lot. We’re in the middle of a recession and it’s going
to get worse. On top of that, our town of West Paradise is broke. We don’t even have enough money in our
budgets to pay for basic necessities like fire and police protection. We’re going to have to borrow money just to
do that. So you see, this is a very difficult time for everybody. I’d like to help your friend, but then what would I say
to the thousands of other people in the same predicament? I can’t help just one without helping everybody else.
And where would the money come from? As far as reinstating the town’s Christmas celebration, you have to
believe me that the demands of fiscal responsibility….blah, blah, blah…”
By now Sebastian had quit paying attention to the words. To him it sounded like the blaring notes of a trumpet,
like in the Simpson’s episode when the humans speak to the dog. The actual words were unimportant anyway.
Sebastian could tell by the tone of the man’s voice that they were not going to get anywhere with His Honor the
Mayor. He started listening again when it sounded like the mayor was wrapping it up.
“…so in conclusion, let me just say that I’m always here to listen to your problems. And again, I wish I could do
more; but my hands are tied. Any questions, children?”
“I…don’t…think so,” Ariel said.
“How about you young man?” The mayor asked.
Sebastian remained silent. He felt like he was being asked to accept defeat.
“Sebastian,” Ariel ventured; “do you have any questions for His Honor?”
He sat silently a few more seconds, his head down, staring into his own lap. Finally, Sebastian mumbled, so low he
could hardly be heard, “It’s not fair.”
“What was that, young man?” the mayor asked.
“I SAID IT’S NOT FAIR!” Sebastian shouted.
“No, it’s not,” the mayor agreed. “Sometimes, life isn’t fair. I’m sorry you have to learn it at such a young age. Now
children, I must get on to other matters. If you’ll excuse me.”
The maid returned to show Sebastian and Ariel out. At the front door, she asked them if they needed help getting
home.
“Why yes,” Ariel started to say, relieved that Sebastian wouldn’t have to spend any more of his birthday money.
“Nope!” Sebastian said.
“Sebastian,” Ariel pleaded. “If they’re willing to give us a ride…”
“Nope!” Sebastian repeated. Then he started walking toward the street in a determined manner.
“What are you doing?” Ariel called out.
“I’m gonna make Christmas happen,” Sebastian said without breaking stride.
Ariel turned back to the maid. “We’ll be fine; thanks anyway,” she said. Then she ran to catch up with Sebastian.
*****
Ariel helped carry the pile of school supplies to the store’s checkout counter. The pile included colored
construction paper, paste, magic markers, cellophane tape, and a scissors. Sebastian paid for it all with the last of
his birthday money; then he asked for a cardboard box to carry it all. Back out front of the store, Ariel was still
clueless.
“What is all this stuff for?” she asked her friend.
Sebastian walked up to the nearest lamppost. He set the box down. “We’re going to make decorations out of this
stuff. Then we’re going to decorate this lamppost. Then we’re going to go on to the next lamppost and decorate
that one too. Then the next one after that, until we decorate all the lampposts on this street.”
“Sebastian, there must be hundreds of lampposts in West Paradise. Are we going to decorate them all?”
“Eventually,” Sebastian said. “Might take a few days.”
“This is crazy!”
“Somebody’s got to do it,” Sebastian reasoned. “Maybe after enough people see us doing it, some of them will
come help us.”
“You’re right,” Ariel said; “somebody’s got to do it. Why not us? Hey, I’ve got an idea. We can use this box to
collect donations for Juan so they don’t lose their house.”
“Perfect!” Sebastian said. He dumped the supplies to empty the box, and then taped it shut. Then he used the
scissors to cut a slit in the top of the box for donations while Ariel wrote up a sign to tape to one side. The sign
read “For Juan’s family who are getting kicked out of their house.” They set the donations box in front of the post
and started making decorations. They made chains of looped construction paper, and cut-out snowflakes, and
green Christmas trees, and red Santas, and whatever else they could think of to decorate the pole, attaching it all
with the cellophane tape.
When one pole was thoroughly decorated as far up as they could reach, they went on to the next lamppost further
down the street and started decorating it. When people came by and asked what they were doing, they said they
were decorating the city because the mayor couldn’t afford it. And they told people about their friend Juan and
pointed out the donations box. Many of the people made a donation of a dollar or some coins.
“Wow!” Sebastian said. “At this rate, we’ll have no problem getting enough money for Juan’s family so they can
pay for their house.”
Things were going rather smoothly, and they already had several lampposts decorated when a police cruiser
came down the street and pulled over right up onto the curb a few feet from the lamppost they were currently
decorating.
“Uh oh,” Ariel said.
The policeman got out of the car and walked over to where Sebastian and Ariel were making their paper
decorations. He was large, and wearing dark glasses that hid his eyes. He stood over the two friends for a few
seconds before he spoke.
“Do you mind my asking what you’re doing?”
Sebastian and Ariel exchanged a glance. Do you want to take this one or should I, the look said. Finally,
Sebastian launched into it. He told the policeman the whole story about his mom losing her job and telling him
they would have to skip Christmas, and going with Ariel and Juan to the Super-Duper-Mart on Black Friday to find
the broken economy so they could fix it, and the bell-ringing Santa telling them the mayor had cancelled
Christmas for the whole town, and Christmas-lite, and Juan’s family getting kicked out of their house, and the four
closers, and taking a cab to the mayor’s house and paying for it with his birthday money, and getting to see the
mayor who’s hands are tied, and buying the stuff to decorate the lampposts, and collecting donations for Juan’s
family…and everything. The whole story just came spilling out like someone had opened up the floodgates. When
he was done he was in tears, and so was Ariel.
“We’re just trying to help our friend,” she said.
“And save Christmas,” Sebastian added. “That’s all.”
“Hmmm,” the policeman considered. Both Ariel and Sebastian worried about what he was going to say next.
Whatever it was, they didn’t think it was going to be good.
“You know, the funny thing is that I’m having trouble keeping my own house. And I’ve already told my kids that we
were going to have to cut back on Christmas ourselves. Celebrate Christmas-lite like you say. I hated to do it; but I
didn’t feel like I had any choice.”
Sebastian and Ariel both looked up at the policeman, a glint of hope in their eyes.
“Hmmm,” he pondered again for what seemed a long time. The two friends looked at each other and wondered
what he was thinking.
“Kids,” he finally said (Sebastian was willing to let him get away with calling them kids, this time), “I’m going to
make your day. It might not seem like it at first; but trust me, I’m going to do the best thing I could do to help you
given these circumstances. What I need you to do is pick up all you stuff and get in the car. Then we’re going for
a ride.”
Ariel and Sebastian did as they were told. They got in the back seat with all their stuff. The policeman got in front,
started the car and pulled away from the curb.
“Where are we going?” Ariel asked.
“You’ll see,” the policeman said. Then he got on his police radio and called in, rattling off a string of numbers and
letters that didn’t make sense to Sebastian and Ariel. After that, he called someone on his cell phone.
“Jill, this is Officer Metcalf. I’m bringing something in you’re going to want to be there for,” he said. “Yeah, this is
big. Bring a photographer. And you might want to call some of the big boys, like CNN and Fox. You don’t want to
miss this one, believe me.”
“What’s that all about?” Ariel asked.
“Just setting the bait,” Officer Metcalf said.
He continued driving. To Sebastian it seemed as if he was going around in circles, wasting time. Must be giving
whoever it was he called more time to get to wherever we’re going, he thought.
Finally, after driving around aimlessly for a while, he pulled the cruiser into a parking lot filled with other police
cars next to a large gray building. He got out, then came to the back seat door, which he opened, and leaned in. “I’
m going to have to do something now that you might not like. But it’s necessary. Just think of it all as one big
show. We’re all actors here. Play your parts well. Now step out of the car and place your hands behind your
backs.”
What the heck? Sebastian thought. He and Ariel exchanged looks. She looked as puzzled as he was; but then
they did as they were told. After stepping out of the car they both placed their hands behind their backs. Officer
Metcalf put handcuffs on both of them, although their wrists were so small the handcuffs wouldn’t even stay on.
“Try to keep those over your wrists,” he said. “Remember, it’s all a show. And it wouldn’t hurt if you two cried a
little for the cameras.”
By then some people were running across the parking lot towards the cruiser. A couple of them carried what
appeared to be TV cameras.
“Here we go,” Officer Metcalf whispered. “It’s show time.”
“Now come along you two,” he said changing his tone and upping the volume. “Walk towards the front of the
building, side by side.”
By then the reporters and photographers had caught up with them and were swarming all around. Ariel and
Sebastian were both blinded by the flashes going off from the cameras.
People were shouting things out. “What have we got, officer?” and “What are the charges, officer?”…things like
that. Some questions were shouted at Ariel and Sebastian too, but the entire situation was so confusing they didn’
t even try to answer.
“March, you two,” Officer Metcalf ordered.
They walked toward the front doors of the police station. “What’s going on?” Ariel whispered to Sebastian.
“I think we’re being arrested,” he answered.
“What?” She said.
“It’s all for show,” Sebastian said, catching on. “Start crying.”
“Why?”
“Just start crying. Remember he said we needed to play our parts.”
Ariel was starting to catch on too. Soon big crocodile tears were streaming down her cheeks. It took Sebastian a
few seconds to work it up, but eventually he managed to produce a few tears as well.
“Awww, what have I done?” he wailed loud enough for all the reporters to hear. “What have I done? My poor mom
didn’t raise me to be a criminal. BWAH, HA, HA, HA…”
“Careful,” Officer Metcalf whispered; “don’t overdue it.”
“What are the charges? What are the charges?” the reporters demanded.
Officer Metcalf paused at the top of the Police Department steps, and turned to make a statement, directing Ariel
and Sebastian to stand directly in front of him. “Keep the tears coming,” he whispered.
“These two children are about to be charged with numerous crimes including defacing city property, soliciting
charitable donations without a license, and possibly loitering and criminal trespass. I, or the Chief of Police, will be
making a formal statement shortly. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to take these two inside and see that they get
properly booked for their crimes.”
“What do you have to say for yourselves?” one of the reporters shouted.
“Go ahead, answer it,” Officer Metcalf whispered, “and lay it on thick.”
“We we’re just trying to help our friend who was kicked out of his house,” Sebastian bawled.
“And we put up some Christmas decorations because the mayor couldn’t afford it,” Ariel wailed.
“And I used my birthday money to pay for it, and now my mom is going to be mad…BWAH, HA, HA, HA….”
“You’re overdoing it again,” Ariel whispered.
“Sorry.”
The reporters were shouting out a thousand more questions all at once, but Officer Metcalf ushered Ariel and
Sebastian inside the station and let the door close behind.
“Good job,” he said.
“Thanks,” Sebastian said. “You were good too.”
“Can we take the handcuffs off now?” Ariel asked. “They’re kind of uncomfortable.”
“Soon,” Officer Metcalf said. “Just as soon as we’re through booking you.”
“You’re really arresting us?” Ariel asked.
“Oh yes. If this is going to make national news, we’re really going to have to charge you with these crimes.”
“What?” They both said.
“Don’t worry. The charges will all be dropped eventually, after the big backlash develops. And there will be a
backlash; you can count on it. I just hope I don’t lose my job over this.”
Officer Metcalf took them through the booking process – mugshots, fingerprints, the whole works. Then he placed
them in a holding cell (by themselves) and took back the handcuffs, which simply slipped off their wrists as soon
as they quit trying to keep them on. Then Officer Metcalf called their parents for them after collecting their home
phone numbers. He said he thought it would be best if he broke the news.
“You might want to keep up the pretense that this is serious for your parents sake,” Officer Metcalf said. “If they
know it’s all a show, they might give it away to the press.”
By half an hour later, the parents had arrived to pick them up. On the ride back home, both Sebastian and Ariel
did their best to explain exactly what in the name of all that is sacred they’d been up to.
*****
“This is Wolf Blitzer, and you’re watching The Situation Room.
“Welcome. We have this breaking story from West Paradise, Florida. Two young children, each of them eight
years old, have been placed under arrest and charged with numerous crimes for the act of putting up their own
homemade Christmas decorations on city lampposts after it was announced that the city wouldn’t be putting up
Christmas decorations this year due to budget cuts. And get this, one of the crimes they were charged with was
soliciting donations without a license after they put out a donation box for their friend who’s family was in the
process of being evicted from their home. Wait, it gets better. The two children – a young boy named Sebastian
and a young girl named Ariel – paid for their efforts with young Sebastian’s birthday money. We have our
reporter, Jessica Cookiecutter, on the story. She’s coming to us live from the front yard of one of the children right
now. Jessica, what’s the latest? Are the West Paradise authorities continuing to press charges against these two
well-meaning kids?”
“Hello Wolf. Well, the answer to your question is…yes, West Paradise authorities do continue to press charges in
spite of a growing public outcry…”
It was all over the news. CNN ran the story about the two “Florida Christmas vigilantes.” Bill O’Reilly of Fox News
ranted how it was another example of the “War on Christmas.” Lou Dobbs and Nancy Grace were all over it,
posting hourly updates about the two school kids in Florida arrested for putting up Christmas decorations and
trying to save their friend’s home. Keith Olberman labeled Officer Metcalf the day’s “Worst person in the World.”
And Katie Couric ended her evening news program with a feature story about the kids from Florida who tried to
save Christmas by putting up homemade decorations paid for with their own birthday money, and got arrested for
it.
And at both of their homes, it was like the whole national news media had moved into their yards. There were
trucks with big satellite towers, and swarms of reporters and photographers, and protestors with signs demanding
that authorities drop all the charges against the two “Holiday Heroes,” and people dressed up in goofy costumes
just to get on TV, including one guy dressed as a space alien in tin foil hat with wire coat-hanger antennae, and a
juggler in a Superman costume. In other words, it was a zoo. Towards the evening, both Sebastian and Ariel
appeared on their doorsteps along with their lawyers (the lawyers were their parents’ idea, since charges had not
yet been dropped) to read prepared statements. Both Ariel and Sebastian mentioned Juan’s family losing their
house even though the lawyers weren’t sure it was a good idea.
By the next day the donations started flooding in, most of them for Juan’s family. From all over the country the
donations came.
“I guess we’re going to have to set up a charitable foundation,” Sebastian’s mom said. “Or at least open a bank
account. Some of these are for the city of West Paradise, so it can afford Christmas decorations and a parade. I
guess we can just hand those over to the mayor. Then there are some just for us. What are we going to do with
all this money, Sebastian?”
“Um…buy some presents?”
Two days later, Christmas Day, Sebastian and Ariel handed over to Juan and his family a big fat check while a
gaggle of reporters with microphones in hand stood in front of TV cameras and filed live reports. Then they
handed over another check to the city of West Paradise for the decorations that had already gone up the
previous day. The mayor had relented once he heard people were sending money. Plus, he didn’t want to look
like any more of a Grinch than he already did. That evening the city had its annual Christmas parade, albeit a little
late and a little thrown together, but a parade nonetheless. Ariel and Sebastian got to ride in a shiny convertible
as guests of honor.
And when they got home, they both found Christmas trees with piles of presents underneath, and fresh-baked
steaming turkeys on the dinner table along with all the fixings. The next week, Sebastian’s mom started the new
job she’d been offered by a total stranger who’d seen the story on the news. Ariel’s dad found out he could keep
his job. Juan’s family moved back into their old house. The city of West Paradise finally did drop the charges
against Sebastian and Ariel. And Officer Metcalf got to keep his job after a brief suspension, which he served
enjoying Christmas and New Years with his wife and kids.
“This was the best Christmas ever,” Sebastian said.
“Yes it was,” Sebastian’s mom agreed.
And that’s how Sebastian, with help from his friend Ariel, and a big boost from their new friend Officer Metcalf,
saved a West Paradise, Florida Christmas.