Once Upon A Time: ‘A Rock for Christmas’

You made us laugh, you made us cry, and, OK, in a few cases you creeped us out, all of you who entered the Review-Journal's Christmas story contest. In all, 83 fictional stories were entered in the contest, with the winners chosen from three age categories.

Darlien C. Breeze of Las Vegas took first place in the adult category for her "A Rock for Christmas." Stephen Boyd, 14, of Henderson won the category for youths 12 through 17 for his "Reason for the Season" and Fallon Clayton, 10, of Las Vegas won in the 11-and-younger group for her "Holly and Carol's Christmas Adventure." Breeze and Stephen win $75 each, and Fallon $50.

Breeze, who's a member of the Henderson Writer's Group, said she wrote the story in about a half-day.

"I just did the premise of the naughty little boy who gets something in the end anyway because he was creative," she said.

Stephen said he found out about the contest the day before the deadline. "I was very stressed." A home-schooled student, he said, "I want to be a journalist when I grow up, so I thought it would be good practice." Way to work on deadline, Stephen.

And Fallon, who learned about the contest from her teacher at Staton Elementary School, said her inspiration was a Christmas bear named Holly that her Nana gave her. And she admits that, like Holly and Carol, she has always wanted to go to the North Pole.

Our thanks to all who entered. A selection of other entries appears on the Review-Journal's Web site, www.reviewjournal.com.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all, good reading.

"A rock in my sock!" Frankie yelled. "What's this? I've been good all year."

"Ummm," said his sister, Mirabel. "What about my birthday? Remember, snake -- backpack?"

"A mistake. How'd I know you didn't like snakes? Well, OK, I've been good most of the year. It wasn't my fault. I got a late start."

"Salt in the Valentine's fudge; was that a mistake, too?"

"A slight miscalculation. I thought everyone was on a sugar-free diet."

"Ummm," Mirabel said, again. "And substituting green food dye for the red in Mom's hair coloring?"

"Helloooo! It was St. Patrick's Day! She said she didn't have anything green to wear. You know, Erin Go Baaa and all that stuff."

"Ummm?"

"OK, OK, so maybe I didn't think that one through, but I've been good the rest of the time."

"Easter; need I say more?"

"Now admit it, that was funny. And no one broke a real tooth. You can't count Grandma's dentures. Even she said they could be fixed."

"Ummm."

"I've been pretty good, some of the time, anyway." Frankie thought for a moment. "I'd say I've been good close to 50 percent of the time."

"Should I mention Fourth of July?" said Mirabel, giving Frankie the squinty eye. "Explain how the red rocket got exchanged for dynamite that blew up Uncle Bill's car."

"Ha! I can explain that. Yes, I can! Just give me a moment ... actually, can we get back to that one? OK, maybe 30 percent."

"That's what I thought. And Halloween, would you say you were good on Halloween?"

"What? Are you saying I wasn't good?"

"Let me ask a stupid question: Was shaving Barky and painting glow-in-the-dark skeleton bones on him your idea of good?"

"You know how it is; one person's good is another person's not-so-good. Besides, it was hot; dogs don't like the heat. In all fairness, maybe I've been good 10 percent of the time."

Mirabel rolled her eyes. "Now, for the jewel in the crown of the year, Thanksgiving. The live turkey you hid in the roaster. When Aunt Maude lifted the lid, out jumped the turkey, feathers and all. Poor Aunt Maude fainted. Uncle Bill laughed until Mom hit him with the soup ladle, making him spill his eggnog. Dad rushed in, slipped in the liquid and split his new pants. How good was that?"

"How about we go for 'good intentions'?"

"Maybe I do deserve a rock," Frankie declared. Disgusted, he threw the rock, breaking the living-room window. Both of them stared wide-eyed as Santa stepped through the hole.

"Frankie, I'm not sure being good 100 percent of the time is in you. Just promise to try for better next year." He handed Frankie the new Nintendo he had wished for.

"Is this for trying to be good?"

"Ho, ho, ho!" said Santa, with a twinkle in his eye. "This is for creativity."

By DARLIEN C. BREEZE