Silent Night, Page 2

entire transcript of his speech. He thought that maybe the deaf and dumb people were smiling these past days. "Damn the luck," he thought.

  The President of the USA had written the following:

  "My fellow Americans. Something has taken away our voices and hearing. Nobody at this point knows what happened. However, I can tell you it's in every corner of the world. The only ones who can speak and hear are our children under the age of twelve.

  Our leading scientists are working on the situation as we -- sorry – I was going to say- speak, but obviously that is not the case. One thing I can tell you is our International Space Station has reported by text message that a strange looking satellite is in orbit around our planet. It was not there until sometime after midnight Christmas Eve. That coincides with all adults and teenagers losing two of our senses.

  The USA is sending a space shuttle up as soon as we can to see what alien satellite it is. Meanwhile we must adjust to our new way of life for the present time. I'm told that some suggestions will be sent over the visual airwaves soon.

  One last thing fellow citizens: We are Americans and as such we overcome any problem big or small in our history up to the present time. This is just a stumbling block that will be overcome by us hardy Americans. Good day and my God watch over us."

  Throughout the world laughing was heard by those who could hear. Adults, who were around their children at the time, wondered why they were staring at the ceiling. Others ran to the windows and looked out. Some kids even ran outside and looked around wondering where the laughter was coming from. Then as suddenly as it began it quit.

  Johnny was among those who had run outside to look around. His parents scrambled after him thinking something was happening outside. Dan wrote a note asking why he was outside looking around. Johnny wrote that laughing was heard and very loud at that.

  At the White House, the Kremlin, Ten Downing Street and other capitals of the world, they were reporting the same hysterical laughing heard by the kids. Later they discovered that where no electricity was available no sounds of laughter were heard. Somehow the laughing traveled along the lines of electricity. Unfortunately identifying how it was transmitted did not reveal how it entered the lines or who did the laughing.

  At the North Pole, inside a dwelling with a warm fire crackling, sat Santa Claus and his Chief Elf Naby. For the most part he looked every bit an elf, but his nose had some bumps on it. Hence the nickname Naby. Naby said, "Santa, we've done a magnificent thing to the humans down there. It's only been in recent years that society has even slightly recognized the handicapped of the world. This should teach humans a lesson in humility. Humans just take it for granted all the nice things they have without sharing much to the ones who are disabled for one reason or another. Governments spend billions on killing other human beings because of reasons that are just silly. Look at America's civil war. Here thousands were mutilated and had arms and legs cut off without any atheistic to speak of. What, may I ask, did the government pay them for fighting and any disability benefits? Well, sorry Santa, but the claims are longer than our gift list for children to help the handicap of the world."

  "Quite alright Naby. What is our plan then to return the sound and hearing to the masses," asked Santa.

  "We're going to hold the governments responsible for providing benefits to all the handicap of the world. I want to see wheel chair people in vans at no cost to the disabled. More handicap parking and sever fines to those who abuse the parking area set aside for the disabled.

  Downtown areas should have wheel chair lanes only for wheels chair bound people. They have bike lanes why not handicap lanes. Violators will have their vehicles taken away, sold and given to the handicap fund. Similar things are for the blind. A service shall be provided when a blind person wants to go shopping. A car comes and picks them up and takes them where they want to go. You get my drift now don't you Santa?"

  "It's the time of year for giving and I'm right behind you elves. I look forward to the next few weeks to see what happens," said a laughing Santa Claus.

  On the following day, every country in the world received a notice as to what was demanded from an unknown species. All country leaders were at first perplex and then after it was explained to them, they started fuming. Why were they fuming, because they were being blackmailed and did not like it one bit. It was not the money so much as they were being held hostage for a social thing that went against their grain. Strangely enough, some, not many, inwardly smiled at what an idea someone had come up with.

  After the dust settled, all leaders agreed to a vote on the demands of the thieves who stole their voices and hearing. The United Nations was the logical place for such a vote. They decided five days would be time enough for each nation to send a representative.

  It was not easy for the airlines to fly without sound or speech. Remote lights in the cabins indicated whether a pilot took off or a plane was landing. Also pilots were thankful that they had instruments to tell them if the engines were working or not. Regardless, it took many innovations to the whole infrastructure of the planet to adjust to the new afflictions they felt.

  In Washington DC the President of the United States sat in his Oval Office stewing about the new monumental situation facing not only America, but all over the world. His wife reminded him that if they could take away two of the five senses, he should be careful that more are not forthcoming. For example, what would happen if all the adults of the world went blind?

  He shuddered to think about it. He decided to play along and see what happened. He appointed a new Secretary of the Disabled. His job was fix a budget and submit it to Congress for approval. The president suck in a breath wondering what this was going to cost the taxpayers.

  The secretary was also to have it ready in five days.

  Back and Johnny's house, Christmas vacation was the best he could remember. Mother was not nagging him to clean his room or anything like that. He enjoyed playing with his new Playstation every chance he got. He called up two of his friends and the next door neighbor girl with whom he walked to school with most days.

  They formed two teams and the games were on! Meanwhile, Johnny's dad hung out at the hardware store doing the best he could. The local stationary store was out of stock when it came to notebooks and such things like that. To say the adults were exasperated would be an understatement.

  The adults had heard the demands by an unknown source and the reply was telecast by subtitles across the USA. E-mails were sent, letters were sent and children called the White House to demand that the ransom be paid regardless of the expense. The president's kids manned the phones.

  There was a rush to by tablets to type messages to their parents with. Also, some businesses experimented with kids answering phones to do business with. Alas, that did not prove to be effective at all. Young kids just did not understand the nuances of big business. However, it worked well for small businesses. Kids manned the counters and other kids purchased what their parents wanted or needed. Meanwhile the owners stocked the shelves and did the clean up where once it was the kid's job to clean and restock the shelves. Needless to say, kids loved the change in the pecking order well, to a certain degree.

  As the New Year approached, and after the UN had decided to succumb to the wishes of the blackmailers, slowly life came back to, what the elite called, normal. Normal for them was that everyday business came back with a vengeance, but the real winners were the average families who became a new social unit.

  In other words, the new family unit was just that: a close family that truly enjoyed each other. Johnny after school hurried to his father's store. There he waited on customers while doing his homework. After the store closed, he walked home with dad. They ate together, talked about life and business. After dinner they sat down and played Pt 4 together. This was pretty much the same all over the world. It truly was a blessing for many billions of people.

  Santa and his elves took a late night trip across the world. It wa
s not so much what he saw, but what they all felt: Happiness was layered across the planet like a warm blanket on a cold winter night.

  Chief Elf Naby turned to Santa and winked.