Welcome
to ‘GZ Christmas Stories’. A special series of stories written by
our wonderful staff of reviewers about a special Christmas memory or a
fictitious story written for Christmas fun.
Two more to follow….
The Girl
Who Fell in Love with a Boy Named Link
There once
was a six-year-old girl named Little Natalie who fell in love with a boy named
Link. Now Link wasn’t exactly a normal boy by any means. Link didn’t go to
Natalie’s school nor did she live next door to her like the weird little boy
that once tried to prove his love for her by eating two earthworms (really, the
only one that kid would have impressed was the producers of Fear Factor
or Jackass).
You see Link
wasn’t a real boy. He was a videogame character she came across one evening when
she slept over a friend’s house and discovered a slew of old Nintendo video
games. The cartridge was solid gold and shiny and even the title seemed epic:
The Legend of Zelda. At first nothing came up on the screen, the console
was old indeed, replaced now by something called the Super Nintendo. Natalie
tried it and suddenly a somber tune could be heard … a somber tune that
suddenly came to life as if to announce that this was going to be something
larger-than-life.
The pudgy boy
in green came up on screen and soon both girls were slaying beasts that shot
rocks out of their snouts and bulldog beasts with spears. The little girl named
Natalie fell in love that evening and darn the friend’s mother for announcing
bedtime. For the next few nights all the girl could think about was the boy
named Link. She dreamed of Hyrule and of the battle to save a princess named
Zelda taken by someone called Gannon. She loved Link so much that with the money
she made by removing her elderly neighbor’s weeds, she bought a used NES in a
yard sale and hunted down a copy of The Legend of Zelda. And then she
heard about Zelda II: The Adventures of Link.
With no money
left and Christmas right around the corner, Little Natalie turned to the only
man that could give her the game she was dying to play – Santa. There was a mall
tucked somewhere in Berkley and the little girl stood in a long line to talk to
the jolly man in red. When it was her turn, Santa bellowed his trademark
laughter and asked her the questions she was waiting for.
“So, Natalie,
what do you want for Christmas?” Santa asked.
Little
Natalie didn’t even hesitate. “Zelda II: The Adventures of Link.”
Santa laughed
and the little girl had the impression that Santa didn’t know what Zelda was or
who Link was for that matter. Yet this was Santa Claus, he knew when you were
sleeping and he knew if you were bad or good so he has to know, right?
“It’s a
videogame,” Little Natalie said, just to be on the safe side.
“I know,”
Santa said with a laugh. “A Nintendo game.”
The little
girl’s eyes lit up. He did know! Santa knew!
Christmas Eve
came and the little girl was excited and knew that come morning she would be
playing the sequel to her favorite game. The anticipation was killing her that
she made all the preparation in time. Cookies … check! Milk … check!
Thank-you letter … check! Yet she couldn’t sleep so she headed downstairs and
decided to nap there.
She heard no
sleigh nor boots on the roof of their home but when she opened an eye she saw
none other than Santa Claus … and boy, did he lose a lot of weight. Why just
two weeks ago when she talked to him he was as fat as her Uncle Mike (who,
incidentally, had too much wine during Thanksgiving that he managed to get stuck
for a good two hours attempting to climb out a window). It was him, though and
she was so excited that she leapt from the couch.
“Santa! You
came!” Little Natalie said and ran over to Santa to embrace him.
“Little girls
should be fast asleep,” Santa said. “If you don’t go to sleep, there won’t be
any presents. You don‘t want that, right?”
“I’m sorry. I
just couldn’t wait to open my presents, especially my game.”
Santa froze
in place and Little Natalie took it as a bad sign.
“You didn’t
forget, did you?” The little girl asked.
Santa shifted
uncomfortably and when he talked it was with a slight stammer. “Well, um, I
brought you a Barbie. She’s dressed like a fairy princess.”
Little
Natalie crossed her arms. “Look, Santa, I’ll level with you. I lost interest in
Barbie when she started driving pink Corvettes. I love games. I love videogames.
Most specifically, I love Zelda. What gives?”
Under the
pressure of such a grilling, Santa began to sweat. “Well, you see, Santa has a
big list so sometimes Santa forgets …-”
“Oh, I see,
you know when kids were bad or good, but you can’t remember a simple request. I
see now, why wasn’t I born Jewish instead?” Little Natalie said. She was so
disappointed that she walked past the cool red bike with her name on it.
“Wait a
minute,” Santa cried out, obviously crushed. “Don’t you want to see what else
I’ve brought you?”
The little
girl shook her head. “It can wait until morning.”
The next
morning the little girl opened her presents and liked a good portion of them.
She wasn’t ungrateful and she wasn’t upset. She was disappointed and a
bit sad that Santa had forgotten the gift she wanted the most. A day later, her
father didn’t show up for dinner and it was getting pretty late. When he came
home he took a stroll around the house and very casually picked something up
behind the couch.
“What’s this?
Looks like Santa must have accidentally kicked something behind the couch. It’s
for you, Nat.” The little girl’s father said and handed the neatly wrapped
package to her.
She excitedly
unwrapped the present and Little Natalie was looking at a new copy of Zelda
II: The Adventures of Link. And oh look, the price sticker is still on it
along with the name of the store (why Santa has to shop at Software Etc., the
little girl will never know). Little Natalie was happy and that little crush she
had on Link turned into a monster crush because the game was even better than
the original.
As it turned
out, it was one of the little girl’s best Christmas gifts, one she cherished
long after she stopped believing in Santa. Yet there still remains, to this very
day, that little crush left over from when she was once a girl who fell in love
with a boy named Link.
Previously Posted
Christmas Stories:
An ‘Odyssey’ into the
World of Gaming
A Christmas Gift
Leads to Gaming Joy
A Shining Star
from a Galaxy Far, Far Away
