I'm on a nice little roll with contests this winter. Happily, I placed in Susanna Leonard Hill's annual Holiday Contest—and ended up winning 9th place overall. This year's rules were to write a story of 250 words or less, featuring a holiday "bad guy." My story, The Humbug House, was inspired by Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
| The Humbug House It was Christmas Eve. Santa would soon arrive. “Bah. Humbug!” rumbled the rickety house on Holly Street. Inside, by a cozy tree, Natalie and Noel arranged cookies for Santa to nibble. |  |
“How will Santa find us?” Natalie wondered, using a moving box as a table.
“He’ll come down the chimney, of course,” said Noel.
“It’s too small and sooty,” Natalie worried. “Let’s leave the door unlocked, just in case.”
“And slide a window open,” said Noel.
That’s exactly what they did.
Off the siblings went, to bed.
But the house…the house had heard every word.
“Allow an intruder to enter? Never!” creaked the house. “Santa has never been here before. Santa will never barge through my door.”
click-clack
The door locked.
slip-shift
The window shut.
flip-flap
The flu snapped.
The house groaned, “Now, without a doubt, I’ve locked that sneaky Santa out!”
Soon, a distant Ho-Ho-Ho drifted on the snowy air, growing closer.
“I’ll show him!” said the house.
It battened down its hatches, shuttered its stovepipe, and scooted its attic floorboards together.
“If Santa Claus arrives, away he’ll be sent! He won’t slip through my crack or vent!”
All through the night, the house stood alert—a fortress.
But in the dawning light of day, it found…
pretty packages under the tree.
Santa Claus had found a way!
For somehow, Santa is received in any house where kids believe,
and any house where children roam accepts a gift--
becomes…
a home.
“Welcome Christmas day!” squeaked the cozy new home.
“He’ll come down the chimney, of course,” said Noel.
“It’s too small and sooty,” Natalie worried. “Let’s leave the door unlocked, just in case.”
“And slide a window open,” said Noel.
That’s exactly what they did.
Off the siblings went, to bed.
But the house…the house had heard every word.
“Allow an intruder to enter? Never!” creaked the house. “Santa has never been here before. Santa will never barge through my door.”
click-clack
The door locked.
slip-shift
The window shut.
flip-flap
The flu snapped.
The house groaned, “Now, without a doubt, I’ve locked that sneaky Santa out!”
Soon, a distant Ho-Ho-Ho drifted on the snowy air, growing closer.
“I’ll show him!” said the house.
It battened down its hatches, shuttered its stovepipe, and scooted its attic floorboards together.
“If Santa Claus arrives, away he’ll be sent! He won’t slip through my crack or vent!”
All through the night, the house stood alert—a fortress.
But in the dawning light of day, it found…
pretty packages under the tree.
Santa Claus had found a way!
For somehow, Santa is received in any house where kids believe,
and any house where children roam accepts a gift--
becomes…
a home.
“Welcome Christmas day!” squeaked the cozy new home.
RSS Feed
