Hi, I’m Olivia Ostwald! I attend Beacon High School as a freshman in Manhattan, New York City! I play for my school’s ultimate frisbee team and hope to be on the University of Michigan ultimate team, where I’ll graduate in 2017 with a Ph.D in meteorology.

This is the longest story I’ve ever written outside of school.

A GAMBLING DECISION

“Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas Smickleifigus!” Santa said with excitement.

“Santa, I’m afraid that this will be my last Christmas for I am too old to continue my Christmas traditions.” Smickleifigus said with regret.

“Why Smicky, what has happened? Did I do something wrong? Surely I can fix it!”

“Santa, Santa! I can assure you it’s not you, it’s me! I just feel like I have grown too old and it is time for my retirement. I had a dream, a grand dream last night! And as you once told me, I must follow my dreams, literally.”

“Please do go on about this dream…”

“Well,” Smickleifigus began telling his Santa about his dream when he noticed that he was accompanied by Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, Blixen, and even Mrs. Claus. Smickleifigus continued, “I was in a place; a place full of sun and warmth. I was walking down the street when I had the idea to open a theatre, a grand one! I guess the idea hit me when I was mistaken for the actor who played Frances McDormand’s child in Raising Arizona. I decided that I needed to turn around and go back a few blocks where I had seen a vacant lot. I started building a theatre when I woke up.”

“Well, Smicky, you seem quite determined. I do not want to stop you from fulfilling your dream, so I can only try and help.”

“Thank you Santa.”

* * *

The next day, Smicky had all of his bags packed. As he went outside after saying his goodbyes, he was disrupted when his fellow elf, Zippy, came running out with a present.

“Smicky! Me and all of the other elves made you something.”

Smicky opened the present and to his surprise it was a pair of sunglasses.

“Zippy! Thank you! Thank you for my gift and thank you for believing in me!”

“It’s not just me who believes you, it’s everyone who believes in you!”

* * *

Hours and hours passed as Smicky anxiously awaited his arrival in Florida (Smicky chose this as his sunny and warm place to make his dream a reality). He finally arrived. When he got there he was too excited to unpack and he went straight out and found his empty lot. When he returned, he had countless missed calls from Santa. He was too eager to return them and he ran out to start building his theatre. His hard work was endless; Hours turned into days, days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months and before Smicky knew, a whole year had passed and finally, it was finished.

After his hard work was shown, there was one last completion to be made-getting an act to put in the theatre. Smicky searched and searched for talent but nothing was discovered. Just when he lost all hope, he thought up an idea-a one man act: Smickleifigus: The Untold Journey of One Man’s Transition From Everything to Nothing. Smicky worked and worked, practiced and practiced his monologues and created what he thought was the perfect show.

When Smicky was ready to perform his show in front of an audience, ironically enough, it was around the holidays. This got Smicky thinking about when he was back in the North Pole and what he would be doing. This made him a bit depressed thinking if he made a huge mistake leaving that all behind.

Days passed before Smicky was ready. He made a huge gamble by not pre-selling tickets and having them go at the door. The big night came. As Smicky prepared and practiced his lines over and over, the clocked was showing 8 o’clock and Smicky was exploding with excitement. It was time. He went on stage, closed his eyes and the spotlight hit him. The curtains opened, as did his mouth; but no words came out as shock erupted from his body when he saw an empty theatre. Everything he had put into this resulted in nothing. This certainly was one man’s journey from everything to absolutely nothing.

###

(My cards were elf, retiree, phone calls are not returned, and empty theater)