Intermission: Christmas, part 2.

December 21. 2009. 5:50 AM
Sam’s car had been beaten up so badly over the years it was barely recognizable as a car. It was rusted nearly as red as the original paint. It still drove however, and Sam stared cautiously out of the splintered windshield with tired eyes. He reached down and sipped his coffee again. He couldn’t tell how far he’d traveled, because no map had ever been made featuring the road he traveled on. Still, he knew what was coming, and the staccato sound of rocks and other things pelting his car only startled him for a moment, this time. Out the side window he saw the beasts that inhabited this place. Some had too many eyes, or arms, or oddly colored fur. Some of them looked like people, just different. These things on the road were not his concern, and he slammed his foot down on the pedal. He remembered his father’s old motorbike. It had passed down from his grandfather. Sam’s father had crashed it one desperate Christmas eve, but he had gotten home by Christmas morning. Sam wondered if his son would get this car. It wasn’t a bad car, just ugly. This led Sam to wonder if he’d be getting home, and he had to push his thoughts elsewhere.

Sam drove for another hour, he guessed. His watch and the car’s clock stopped working here. A glistening castle the color of the sky loomed ahead, and even though Sam knew it was there, he had trouble seeing it. His car skidded to a turning, spinning stop, and clipped a pair of bells to each glove. He took a few deep breaths, finished his coffee, and opened the door.

He approached the castle gates, and the ice swirling around the place solidified into a pair of human shaped guards. They had of course seen him before. Sam shook his head and took a small piece of cardstock from his coat. He held it up to the guards. “Sam C., Citizen.” It said. The things at the door had seen it many times. Twenty years ago, it had said Sam’s fathers name. Sometime, hopefully in the far future, it would say Sebastian C. The things disappeared, and the gates swung open. Sam cast a final look at the sun, and headed in. The gates swung closed behind him.