COMMA by Vishal: MY FAVOURITE X'MAS STORY

THE GREATEST CHRISTMAS STORY EVER.

Long, long ago I read a simple Christmas story and it has remained with me as probably the most appropriate Christmas fable I have ever read. I tried to look for it and even Google failed to locate it for me.

So this Christmas I will try, in my limited way, to retell that story again.

My literary skills may be lacking in finesse but I hope I am able to bring out the essence of that simple little Christmas story.

Here Goes:

David was sweet, simple boy studying in the 4th Grade. A little chubby, he was always smiling and was a very kind and gentle boy. But he was a very slow learner and constantly failed his exams. Infact the other children often teased and called him “Duffy”. But David never got angry and he always tried his best to keep up with the others in his class.

It wasn’t his fault that he could not always understand things as quickly as the others.

He did, after all, try his best. And that was what counted, he reckoned.

The month was November and the children were all excited to begin preparations for the annual Christmas play and this year the 4th graders had been assigned the Nativity Play.

David too had always wanted to act in a play but had never gotten a chance. But this year too, during auditions, he waited in line. Silently he stood in the back as each child around him, one by one, got assigned a role. David never gave up hope. He just stood there smiling.

The teacher in charge of the play, Miss Diane, looked up at him.

I hate to leave David behind, she thought to herself, but he will just not be able to remember the lines.

As David stood there, alone in the back of the hall, still smiling Miss Diane looked at him and saw for the first time a faint sadness in that chubby face.

Oh let it be, she thought, it’s Christmas after all.

“David, come here,” she said “Along with Mark, you will be one of the 2 Inn owners who turn Joseph & Mary away.”

As David ran across the hall, his chubby smile was bright enough to light a hundred Christmas trees.

“M…Mi…Miss” he asked panting nervously “What do I have to say?”

“Don’t worry,” said Miss Diane “all you and Mark have to say is ‘We have no room here. Go Away.’ Now can you remember that David?”

“Yes Miss, Yes Miss” replied David grinning like a fat little Cheshire cat.

As Christmas Eve approached, all the other kids got busy with their shopping and gifts and decorating the trees in their front yards, but David did nothing but repeat, over and over again, his one single line of dialogue: We have no room here. Go Away!

Finally it was Christmas eve and all the parents gathered in the school auditorium eager to see their children perform.

As the 3rd graders sang their off-tune version of Jingle Bells on stage, David began to nervously fiddle with his fake beard and robe.

Finally the giggling 3rd graders were ushered off stage and as the curtain came down the teachers all quickly began to set up the stage for the Nativity play.

As David nervously waited, he was pulled and taken behind a fake door by Miss Diane where he was to wait till Joseph and Mary came knocking.

We have no room here. Go Away! We have no room here. Go Away!, he silently repeated to himself.

From behind the fake door he heard the curtain go up and all the parents clap. My parents are also sitting there, he proudly thought.

Then he heard Joseph & Mary come onstage with a donkey, which he knew was actually Peter and John under a donkey costume. David smiled to himself, remembering how the two had fidgeted endlessly during rehearsals driving Miss Diane crazy.

Then it was time for Joseph & Mary to knock on the first Inn door.

They knocked on Mark’s Inn.

“Dear Sir,” said Joseph “could you spare a room for my wife and me?”

“We have no room here. Go Away!” said Mark.

“But we are tired and it is night already,” pleaded Joseph “even a small room will do sir”

“We have no room here. Go Away!” repeated Mark as sternly as a 4th grader could and then he slammed the door shut on Joseph's face.

In the audience, Mark’s parents almost burst with pride.

Next was David’s turn.

We have no room here. We have no room here. Go Away! repeated David silently for the final time even as Joseph knocked on his door.

David opened the door and saw Joseph & Mary standing before him and behind them he saw a hundred eyes in the audience, all looking at him.

But David was not nervous. Afterall he knew his line.

“Kind Sir, can you please spare us a room at your Inn?” said Joseph.

“We have no room here. Go Away!” said David proudly, with what he hoped, was a stern voice.

“My wife is tired and we have been walking the whole day” said Joseph “please kind Sir, spare us a small room”

And then little David froze.

He could not utter a single word.

“Can you spare us a room Sir,” repeated Joseph once more.

And yet David was mute.

Miss Diane stood in the wings frantically prompting him his one single line of dialogue:

We have no room here. Go Away!

But David didn’t utter a single word.

Many parents in the audience were beginning to fidget nervously by now.

“Just say your stupid line, Duffy,” hissed little Pam who was playing Mary “Just say your line stupid.”

But David still stood there unmoving.

In the back of the hall, someone began to cough.

“Please dear sir,” tried Joseph once again, trying desperately to save the play “my wife is with child and we are hungry. Please sir, please spare us a room”

AND then David spoke.