The Evil Tree That Almost Ruined Christmas

First Place, children's stories

Val Jackson |

12/18/2008 - 12/19/08

Once upon a time, a boy named Eustace, who was a very mischievous boy, got himself into the worst kind of trouble ever — even worse than the time he tried to steal a plasma TV out of a store.

Because of all the bad things he did, he had no presents at Christmas, and his parents made him wash floors. This enraged Eustace so much that he decided to get back at Santa. So he downloaded a magic spell off the Internet and used it to enchant a metal tree. He programmed the tree to grow 10 times bigger and to acquire evil powers like breathing fire. Then it was supposed to attack Santa's workshop so no one would get any toys this year.

But since Eustace did not have a credit card, the spell didn't work right. His parents found out and grounded him for three months. They called the National Guard to come and take the tree away — it had an evil smile — but everyone laughed about it and left the Evil Tree outside Eustace's house. The Evil Tree snuck away at nighttime and grabbed onto the tail of a big airplane.

It was very windy and cold, and the Evil Tree forgot to pull his legs and branches up when they flew over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, so he tripped and fell into Santa Fe, where a boy named Cyrus lived.

Cyrus was just finishing his snowman when he heard the screaming and thudding. He knew he wasn't supposed to leave the yard, but he had never heard such an enormous sound before. He ran over to the town Plaza, his long hair blowing in the wind.

In the middle of the Plaza he saw a giant Christmas tree, bigger than a two-story building. Only it wasn't standing. It was lumbering around, smashing into cars and setting buildings on fire everywhere it went. Debris littered the snow-covered ground, and people in the streets ran for cover.

The Tree had two arms and two legs of steel, red eyes, and a mouth that emitted noxious flames. Policemen struggled to stop the Tree with their batons and shotguns, but their struggle was in vain because the Evil Tree seemed invincible.

It was nearly night on Christmas Eve, and the Tree continued to ravage and destroy the small town. Several helicopters hovered above the town and rained bullets down on the tree. Cyrus ran back home, a plan forming in his head on how to stop the Tree.

As the Tree left the Plaza and headed to DeVargas Center, Cyrus ran out of his house with his robot and control pad. He saw that the massive Tree was coming near some power lines. He saw lights shining off the Tree, so that it must be metal that could get fried on the lines. Cyrus put his robot in the middle of the empty street, then he ran and hid behind the bush with the controller.

Cyrus used his robot to make some very offensive gestures at the Evil Tree, which was coming nearer. When the Evil Tree saw this, it became enraged, because Eustace had modeled the Tree's personality on his own personality. The Evil Tree began blowing hot flames in the air and charged toward the robot, completely disregarding the power lines nearby — so of course he got tangled in them. Cyrus made the robot back up a little more, so the Tree continued to charge, foolishly ignoring the power lines.

When it was so close it seemed he might stomp the little robot to death, and even crush the bush Cyrus was hiding in, the Tree fell forward into the lines, and, in 15 seconds, was a giant fireball bigger than Zozobra. It was fried to a crisp.

As sparks flew everywhere, the hot remains of the metal Christmas Tree formed a lumpy pile on the asphalt.

Soon the police vans drove up. Cyrus stepped out from behind the bush, went into the street, and got his robot back. The police chief was very impressed, and he made Cyrus explain what had happened.

The chief took Cyrus to the mayor's house, and he got a medal of honor. But when he got home, his mother was very upset and wanted to know where he had been. "You were supposed to clean up your room an hour ago!" she said.

"Sorry mom, I got a little bit carried away while playing outside," Cyrus said.