Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #21 December 2015 | Page 49

Unidentified Flying
Reindeer

to good children. From what he knew, though, he
reasoned that an elf-type being who could travel
amongst the stars might know more than his mother
did.

by Lyra Shanti

Watching the stars carefully, Johnny waited
and waited. Ten o’clock became eleven, and eleven
soon became midnight. Johnny was beginning to lose
faith, and his eye-lids drooped against his will.

Johnny couldn’t sleep. It was Christmas
Eve, and magic was in the air. He had tried to be a
good boy so that Santa would come to his house and
maybe even deliver a gift, but he just couldn’t close
his eyes. The window was right next to Johnny’s
bed, and even though frost covered each corner, the
window beckoned his eyes to peer through the glass.
He watched and waited, hoping for a sign of the
legendary winter wizard and his reindeer-led sleigh.

Just then, he saw it - a small red dot glowed in
the sky as it slowly crawled across the darkness of the
star-filled sky.
It’s Rudolph! thought Johnny. He’s lighting the
way for Santa!

At five years old, Johnny’s mind was fresh and
new, like a snow-filled winter’s morning. Anything
seemed possible, even if improbable, and tonight was
no exception. He yawned as he watched the twinkling
stars in the vastness of night; how beautiful and
infinite it appeared to be.

Unable to contain his excitement, he opened
the window and felt the cool breeze from the snowy
world outside. He then tightly wrapped his comic-hero
blanket around him and peered upwards at the sky.
The red light slowly moved to the right, and
for a moment, his logical side took over. Maybe it’s
just a plane, he wondered, pouting at the idea. The
doubt was short-lived, however, when the red light did
something awfully strange.

He had always been a curious child, more than
most. So he was used to being looked at in a strange
way by adults when he’d ask questions