A Cartridge in a Bare Tree

My Christmas tree stayed right in that spot for the whole month of December, quietly grooming itself with the finest array the dingy, drab, dirty factory had to offer, until finally I was told with no uncertain terms that the parts would have to relinquish the Christmas tree in order for us to use them in the starters we were building. The little tree did not like that too much, and it promptly put a death grip on that copper wire that could not be broken without removing branches from the tree itself. Poor thing practically wilted under its own nudity.

I kept trying different things to decorate that little tree, but it just would not have it. It rejected nearly everything I offered, and the whole tree just seemed to sulk more with each passing day. Finally, one afternoon while eating more than a few pieces of chocolate, I discovered while crumpling up the foil wrapper, that the resulting misshapen ball somewhat resembled a miniature Christmas tree ornament. That was the revelation my little tree needed to get a brand new zest for life. I did my best to decorate that tree all by myself but the chocolate binge gave me a sugar buzz like you would not believe.

Finally, I incorporated a few friends to help me eat a bucket-load of chocolate candy and saved all of the wrappers, squashed them into little metallic balls, then stuck hooks through them and hung them on the tree. Somehow, it just was not the same. It seemed to pale in comparison to the one I used to have. Now people really were looking at me oddly, but I didn’t care, at least I still had my little bit of Christmas down at the factory. And that tree wore its new uniform just as proudly as the old one, even if people laughed at it every time they walked by. Or were they laughing at me? Only the tree knows for sure and it isn’t telling.