Throwing Up Sashes Copyright ©1998 by Peter Prellwitz CIS: 73051,1502 All Rights Reserved.

Ahhhh.... the joys of tradition during the holidays. Chestnuts roasting. Carolers at your door. Jolly Saint Nick bearing presents for good children and coal for naughty ones. Truly, one of the great joys of Christmas is its history, its stories, its traditions.

Then again... If you're born on Mars...

Tuesday, September 10, 2080

Mars Date: Tudec 24, year 16

Notes:    Ages have been converted into Terran years.

                Tudec is the second December of the Martian year.

I sat down in the rocker beside my kids' bunk beds. David had the top bunk, but for reading time he always cuddled under the blankets with Erica in the bottom bunk. I gave them a warm smile, opened the book, and began:

"'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;"

"Daddy, what's a mouse?" Erica, my four-year-old, asked. I smiled at her. She and her brother, a very precocious five years old, had been born on Mars, unlike my wife and I, who'd emigrated from Earth eight years prior.

"Well, Sweetie, a mouse is a small, furry creature that sneaks in from outdoors and scurries around the house when everyone is asleep."

"But wouldn't it pop on the outside?" David objected. "My friend Stevie took his parakeet outdoors to the surface to see how fast it could fly, but it only flopped some before it explo..."

(continued)

Appearing in Short Story Form in the anthology

TWISTED TAILS

Available NOW at:

DOUBLE DRAGON PUBLISHING and FICTIONWISE

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