Climbing the Christmas Ladder

This is a short story I wrote last christmas for a writers group in adrian. The challenge was for everyone to write a story about christmas. This was my attempt.

Climbing the Christmas Ladder.

By Jordan Schug

A flow of electrically charged particles, traveling close to the speed of light, are moving in what seems like countless numbers through these thin copper wires. Their speed is so fast that time must bend to compensate for their velocity. These particles, called electrons, age much slower than anything traveling at lower speeds. Their paths are guided, for the most part, by we human beings, who by comparison age extremely fast. Humans have created this electron highway, and have given these electrons a reason to flow through this wire. Human beings have made a lot of electron highways. And this particular electron highway is not unusual. It's a seasonal highway, and these constituent electrons find themselves careening through this plastic covered path. Along this path they are guided to through a strip of coiled tungsten. It heats up from these passing electrons and shines by its own light. This radiation emits from several filaments along the path in all directions. It would go unnoticed without eyes to see it, and forgotten without brains to know it. I have those eyes and brains. I have created this situation to please the pair.

The eyes have a simple task, to collect energy from the outside world and, consequently, beyond it. If they could stand alone, they would be taking information to nowhere. A conveyor belt with no destination. The eyes clearly didn't come first. Their information does go somewhere. A place that recognizes light, and recognizes a string of lights. It sees the shape that the many lights create when added together. And at times of darkness, the lights appear to float. Even though I can deduce that they are being supported, it can be fun to pretend. The brain is fascinated with these dots of light, perhaps the same way previous generations were fascinated by a starry night sky. I am pleased.

A rush of inferences comes to me. A string of questions are constantly being asked and answered, eventually creating what's called understanding. Why are these lights here? Someone put them there. Why did they put them there? It's an attempt to appeal to what fascinates you. Why would they want to fascinate me? Because this is the time of year where many people celebrate a holiday. What's a holiday? Who celebrates this holiday? Are there other forms of this celebration? One question leads to another, which leads to another. The natural function of the human brain. A vast network is being created. Eventually I can answer many questions about this holiday. And not just me either, we all have memories, we all interpret the same information in slightly different ways. But the similarities are far more present than the differences. Many people have celebrations huddled around this solstice. The day when the sun finally begins to rise. We've endured the winter so far, the sun will slowly travel higher now and will make us warm again.

I, and almost everyone I've met, know who Santa Claus is. So well in fact, that we could write an entire book about Santa Claus. Page after page of the Santa Claus story is sitting in our heads. From the Christian saint, to coca cola. I won't explain this to you reader, because I'm betting that it wouldn't be necessary. Because you understand English, and can read this, I think you know the story well enough. You may not know physics, but you almost certainly know Christmas. I simply need to remind you of what you already know: Stockings, coal, red and fuzzy white hats, mass, snow men, wrapping paper, trees, ornaments. I got that for Christmas last year. Did you get your shopping done yet? Dad's are always hard to buy presents for. Not a creature was stirring. I've been eating cookies for the past 4 days, I don't want to see a cookie again. The boy looked out the window, and saw his neighbor's display. There were a lot of presents this year. This is her 80th time celebrating Christmas. There are a lot of people out there celebrating Christmas.

Electrons.