A Steampunk Christmas

@2011 Lowe Runo Productions LLC/So Nice Productions

The Adventures of Bel & Soni

It was midnight in the Village of Odds and Ends.

The Christmas Bells rang at midnight, and Santa had

arrived at the home of two little girls.

One had yellow locks of hair, as pretty and as

smart as could be for a little girl of her age. The

other was not like the first.

She ran when the first walked. She shouted,

when the other talked. She leaped when the

other cautiously considered consequences.

She was more curious than her cat…

and even her cat thought the second little girl

was daft.

The first little girl was named Soni.

The second was called Bel.

Both little girls were excited to see

what Santa had brought them. The

presents rested patiently under the

tree. That was something that Bel

could not do. Wait!

She did try, oh she tried. She waited and waited, holding

her breath, clenching her fists, and about to burst.

Blue in the face, she could not wait any longer.

She just had to know.

The black cat was curious, and remained close by the tree.

Bel looked at Soni. “You gotta see this!” she said.

And so it began. Bel had unwrapped the largest gift,

and was pleased at its contents - a strange robot mouse,

and it barely fit the box. A curious item to say the least.

It began to walk around the tree.

Soni could not resist, and opened the

second gift, a calculator. All seemed

to be in order.

Well, almost…

Bel was delighted. Even Soni was at first amused. But it

was an unruly beast, with a short fuse and a long tail.

For Bel, it was a dream come true. The robotic mouse

leaped upon the dining table, decorated for the evening

feast. “I love it,” she exclaimed, in awe of the toy!

“Oh, this is so terrible, terrible,” said Soni, under her breath.

Soni knew what was about to happen next. Bel, looking at

her sister - maybe once, twice, thrice - and she DID IT!

She opened the front door.

The cat chased the mouse, with the two little girls in pursuit.

The mouse raced out the door through the streets.

And the story begins. The three were on their way!

Bel, such a hoot, was

up for any adventure.

Soni, usually the smarter of the two, refrained

barely a second. Nonetheless, being young

and slightly curious, for an ounce of wonder

is enough for such matters, she tagged along,

joining in the madness, as they ran through the

village on Christmas in the early morning

hours of darkness.

The cat followed closely behind the mouse, thinking

perhaps it was edible. But Bel, as always, was more

curious than the cat.

The girls soon became aware they

were no longer in their Village…

rather in a large factory city of rotating gears and gadgets,

and towers, curvy pipes and hollowed ramps that

connected building to building.

The mouse slipped away in the night to play,

as the girls were bewitched with the sights

of the city.

Bel began testing this and that, exploring here

and there. Soni watched on with awe, careful

not to fall.

Then, as in cases, like this, when things go awry,

apart from one’s guardians with no supervisor

to spy, when little girls misbehave in the midst

of the night, now with a breathtaking view of

mortality in sight.

On the edge of a ramp, and the moon as the lamp -

questions need to be asked, and problems must be solved, a

solution that might even require thinking to be involved.

Two little girls, gears

spinning through

their heads, thinking

this, and then that,

even what if, what if,

they went splat.

Soni thought to

herself, “How awful it

would be for a pretty

girl like me - to end

Christmas like that.”

The tower bell proclaimed the arrival of Christmas

morn, with authority, six tolls of the bell rang loudly

and clearly. The winter sky still dark. The girls grew

weary, and truthfully it was kind of scary even for Bel,

being so far in the air, and so so far from home.

Moreover, they had to get back before their Uncle and

Aunt awoke. Oh, Bel was desperate for ideas, and so she

inquired of the cat. Now that was a stretch.

But all was fair game, and

the cat might actually

know, a twitch of the tail

might give them a sign.

And it is more than some

legend, cats land on their

feet.

They are masterful explorers, all know that, and all

possibilities had to be explored, none left undone.

The girls watched as the cat scratched its head,

thinking of this and then that, but mostly

cheese, milk and fish frying in a vat.

And Bel thought, "This cat is of

no use."

Soni muttered "We are

certainly in trouble, certainly

in trouble now."

Just then, out of nowhere, the mouse ran past the cat. Teasing

the cat to chase it, like this and like that. The cat lunged toward

the mouse, and caused quite a scene. Its paws were no match

for its metal back plate.

The force thrust the cat forward, knocking poor Bel off to

her fate. The cat tumbled too, with Soni soon after, all

falling down from the ledge toward the ground.

One girl fell with eyes wide-opened, the other had them

shut tight. Both were in flight. Bel grasped a limb and

reached for the cat, and Soni grabbed for this and for that,

and finally the cat, catching its tail as she sailed by.

The robot on its way down bounced

off a cog or two to slow down its fall.

Bel’s fingers grew

tired, and the cat

was in pain with its

tail being pulled,

being stretched.

Soni’s hand began

to slip off.

The girls had to let go, and thought this was it.

And they fell to the ground. And they heard a

big splat.

It was a vat of sweet pudding in which they

found comfort, not hitting the ground. But the

cat, where was that? The mouse, it was gone.

The girls were too tired to move, and they

noticed they were home. How could that be?

And furthermore, they were sleeping, with their heads

upon the dining table near their eggnog pudding, having

not finished their dessert on this night, passed out in

slumber.

And the cat nearby watching, having found its way home.

The aunt and uncle smiled to themselves. With the little

ones sleeping quite deeply, they could put out all the toys

around the tree, and maybe enjoy some tea, quietly, without

noise or mischief. It was still Christmas night, and the

girls never left the house, or did they?

Sometimes curiosity makes us ponder;

sometimes it is only our mind that wanders.

What makes a story real, a place real, is if you

believe. Now that is not the morale of this tale.

Alas, this story has one more beginning...

It was midnight, Christmas Day, in the Village of

Odds and Ends.

And so the story goes, two little

girls on Christmas Day. One had

lovely locks of yellow. She was

not like the other. She slept

through the night.

The other little girl, she was not

like the first.

She was wild, crazy, and

free and she wondered,

“It’s Christmas! Where’s

the mouse?”

So off went two, the

second little girl with

the cat by its side. The

first little girl remained

snug inside.

Epilogue

If curiosity doesn’t

kill you, technology

might. Or it might

add some spice into

your life. It’s all

how you think of

this, and then that.

The cat returned

home, after she

conquered the night.

The mouse never made it

home. It was discovered at

the city square, with various

parts strewn here and there.

An odd sight for even the

Village of Odds and Ends.

Who did this dastardly deed?

All I can offer up as a hint is,

Bel was more curious than

the cat.

Merry Christmas 2011. Happy New Year 2012, from

Sonicity Fitzroy, Belinda Barnes, and Kara Trapdoor.

Thank you to Lowe Runo for special effects and

animations and this and that.

Special Thanks to Kara Trapdoor, featured as the “cat.”