Mario Di Giacomo and Jason Low
		    with assistance by Heidi DuMont
				present
		     GD-19: THE LITTLE CHEETAH GIRL

DECEMBER 23

 "What seems to be the matter, Britanny?"
 Brit looked up with a start from her task of making lunch. She was in the
downstairs kitchen, borrowing some bread, and she hadn't expected to hear any
other voices, since there was no one else in the room.
 As she spun around, though, she saw a tall, golden man standing before her,
his six arms folded in front of him, a gentle smile on his face.
 "Aw, nothin', Dao," she responded, turning and grabbing the bread. "Don't
worry about it. It's nothin'."
 "Your body language betrays you," he observed, his upper left hand rubbing his
bearded chin. "You've been slamming things around ever since you came
downstairs."
 Cheetah sighed and faced the Djinni again. "It's just that.. well, I'm not
sure if you'd understand.."
 "I might surprise you," Dao prodded.
 "All right," Cheetah said. "I guess I'm feeling indebted to Stripe.. he's
spent the whole season so far telling me stories of holidays on his homeworld,
or at least, his home city of El Dorado.. but I don't have very exciting tales
to tell him in return."
 "Not of your own youth? I would certainly think THAT would be interesting."
 "I have," she said. "What I remember, that is. I think I tended to block out a
lot after Mom was taken away.." Brit shivered as she realized what day it was.
"This very day, 18 years ago."
 "Forgive me for saying such a thing to a lady, but you're certainly over 18
years of age," Dao said. "Surely there must be some fonder memories from
before."
 Brit shrugged in response. "Like I said, I musta blocked 'em out."
 "Well, all you needed to do was ask, dear child," Dao said, stepping forward
to urge her out of the kitchen and towards the lift, an arm guiding her. "Let
us go refresh your memory."

DECEMBER 23
19 YEARS PREVIOUS

 Theodore Diggers and his father Jonathan stood in the living room of the
younger man's home, admiring the view before them.
 "Thank you, by the way, in case I didn't say that when we put it up last
week," Theo said.
 "You're welcome, and you did," the elder Diggers acknowledged. "It would go
easier, though, if you would let me use a spell, or use one of your own."
 "Father, it's a time of year I prefer to follow traditions," Theo said,
nodding to the live Christmas tree erected before them. "Besides, Julia would
accuse me of being 'a weakling' if I didn't. The year before last, she put it
up herself."
 Jonathan joined his son in smiling. "I understand," he told Theo.
 Just then a young girl in a winter coat, hat, boots, and mittens worked
herself in between them. "Daddy," she complained, "They said it would snow
today and it hasn't!"
 "Oh?" Theo said, looking outside. "Are you sure?"
 Gina turned and gasped, then ran up on the couch to stare out the window at
the sky and the white fluff falling from it. In a matter of seconds since she'd
run inside, the entire sky had clouded over, and sure enough, it began to snow
considerably.
 "YAY!" Gina cheered, bounding off the couch and hurrying back out the front
door again.
 Jonathan grinned at his son. "Following traditions, hmm?"
 Theo offered a smile as he closed the front door behind his daughter. "I won't
tell her if you won't."
 "Agreed." Jonathan looked around. "Is there anything left to do?"
 Theo shook his head. "It's all over but the waiting now."
 "Ah yes," Jonathan smiled. "And the Lady Brigand arrives at noon, does she
not?"
 Theo visibly winced. "Yes, she does," he answered finally.
 "Still haven't smoothed things out, hm?" Jonathan observed. "Pity."
 "Please just don't take her side this y.." Theo began, but trailed off as he
looked out the window and saw something odd: The tips of the antlers of a very
short creature, followed by Gina, laughing and giggling. From the angle and how
much was visible above the windowsill, it looked like Gina was sitting on
something, being dragged around the yard by the poor creature.
 As Theo headed for the door, being followed by his father, he realized the
'antlers' were simply twigs, and he had a pretty good idea of what exactly the
poor creature was.
 As he rounded the side of the house, Julia did the same from the back,
apparently having seen the goings-on as well. "Gina!" she scolded. "You take
that rope and those sticks off your sister RIGHT NOW!"
 "But mom, she LIKES it!" Gina protested. Britanny, for her part, was thankful
the jig was up, so to speak. Instead of continuing to strain to pull her big
sister's sled around the yard, she relaxed and collapsed into a small furry
heap.
 "She does not!" Theo said, bringing up the rear. The snow stopped falling as
he untied the sled's pull cord from Britanny's midsection. Julia was carefully
removing the twigs held against the werecheetah's head with rubber bands. Theo
added: "Once you've put your sled away, go to your room."
 "Awww!" Gina protested, but ended up the recipient of vicious glares from both
her parents. The four-year-old rolled off her sled, picked up the pull cord and
dragged her sled dejectedly towards the back porch of the house.
 "Practice your lines for tonight," Julia ordered.
 "Okay," Gina said quietly as she turned the corner. "I'm sorry, Brit."
 Britanny mewed in Julia's arms and Julia held her comfortingly. "You're okay,
Britanny, you're not hurt," Julia reassured her. "And you should be back to
normal just before supper time, and I'll stay with you until then."
 The three adults went back into the house. "Maybe Santa should bring her some
coal this year," Julia suggested.
 "Oh, she's but a young girl," Jonathan answered, seeing as how he played
'Santa' for the girls every year. "Children do these sorts of things."
 "See, she knows all the presents are bought and wrapped," Julia explained.
"She figures she can get away with this so close to Christmas because of the
'she's just a kid' factor. She's smarter than you think."
 "Come, Julia. She's in her very first Christmas pageant tonight. She's
probably just as excited about that as you are about your mother visiting,"
Jonathan said.
 Julia sighed. "It shows?"
 "Everything will be fine," Theo reassured her, putting an arm around her
shoulders and hugging Britanny between them.

 A couple of hours later, Julia was busying herself putting finishing touches
on Gina's angel costume when she heard a low, rumbling voice behind her.
"Hello, dear," it said. "I found my own way in."
 "Hello, Mumsy," Julia smiled, standing and turning to face her mother. She
made a concerted effort to keep smiling and said, "How are you? Was your trip
okay?"
 "Fine, dear, fine," Mumsy nodded. She looked around the house, as if
appraising it. "He hasn't brought home any more children for you to take under
your wing, has he?"
 "No, Mumsy.. just Britanny," Julia forced out. "She's growing up to be quite a
beautiful little girl--"
 "And what do we have here?" Mumsy said, stepping forward and picking up the
angel costume. "A ceremonial holiday dress?"
 "Of.. sorts," Julia began slowly. "It's actually a costume for a pageant."
 "A costume? Oh, the so-called 'moderns' on Earth confuse me so with their many
words meaning the same thing.."
 "It's for Gina," Julia explained. "She's taking part in a play tonight. Sort
of a skit, her class at school is putting it on."
 "Oh, I'm sure she'll do well," Mumsy smiled, holding the costume up and then
putting it back down on the table. "They picked the best little girl for the
star, in any case."
 "Actually, she's not the star," Julia admitted. "Just an angel."
 "Just an angel?"
 "Just an angel in the choir," Julia nodded. "But she does take center stage--"
 "It is obvious this is not a talent-related 'pageant', or my granddaughter
would be the main attraction," Mumsy rumbled.
 "Well," Julia said, not believing she was suggesting it, "there's a dress
rehearsal this afternoon; we can all go and see exactly what it's all about.
Does that sound all right to you?"
 "Excellent! I can show them the errors of their ways.."
 "No! Mother, please.. they don't understand your, uh, your way of dealing with
things here on Earth. Please, just be an observer. Please?"
 "Oh, all right," Mumsy said. "For you, dear. Just an observer."
 Julia sighed with relief.

 Two o'clock found the family in the gymnasium of the elementary school. Mumsy
looked around at her surroundings and hmm'ed. "Why can't they hold this event
in a fine outdoor ampitheater?" she asked. "Certainly there must be some around
here.."
 "No, mother dearest," Theo murmured. "Not for the school's use, at least."
 "Hush your mouth, mage-boy. Had you done your job, she would've been the star
attraction, and you could've had your choice of venu--"
 "She's about to come on," Julia hissed, and the others fell quiet and looked
up to see Gina and two others shuffling onto stage. Garbed in their white angel
costumes, halos of coat hangers covered in tinsel, wings of balsa wood and
papier-mache, the three looked at their teacher for guidance as they arrived at
their assigned spot, the other cast members having stepped aside to watch them.
 Britanny stirred from her slumber and raised her head off her mother's lap,
remembering where she was and what was going on. She saw Gina on stage and
growled a little, tail flicking about and ears folding back. Julia stroked
Brit's fur, trying to calm her, to no avail.
 "Okay, girls," the teacher said in a hushed voice. "On three; one.. two.."
 Suddenly, Britanny leapt out of Julia's lap and raced for the stage, not even
sure why she was doing it. She realized it mometns later: she was still stuck
as a cat for another hour or so, and for that, she wanted revenge.
 She leapt from the floor up to the stage, ignoring her mother's plea to stop.
Brit bounded right for Gina in the next instant, tackling her, sending both of
them tumbling to the floor as the other cast members screamed and ran away.
Gina screamed as well, though for her it was more out of protest than fear.
 Brit looked up and around as she realized what she'd done, then jumped off of
Gina as the teacher hurried towards them. She tried to escape, running towards
the door she knew led from the back of the stage to the hallway, but it was
blocked with scenery. With the teacher hot on her tail, Britanny scampered up
the scenery pieces and along them, claws leaving gouge marks in the styrofoam
all along her route.
 She ran out of space at the other end of the stage and climbed over the
scenery, hoping to hide behind it; however, it wobbled and pitched her off the
top, and she yowled all the way down to a box of Christmas decorations stowed
backstage.
 Gina stopped bawling as a thoroughly embarrassed grandfather collected her up.
Theo began an apology to the teacher, while Julia was storming towards the back
of the stage to find her other daughter.
 "You know, dear, I'm starting to like this arrangement a little better," Mumsy
said as she followed her daughter. "I had no idea this was an
audience-participation event.."
 Julia pushed a piece of scenery aside to find a cowering Britanny tangled up
in a mass of Christmas lights. Brit looked up with a pleading, apologetic look
on her face as her mother scowled down at her.
 "Son, let's take the scenery aside and repair it while the ladies take care of
the little ones," Jonathan suggested, nodding towards the door to the hallway.
 Theo knew exactly what his father meant: They'd get the props out of sight and
use their magic on it to make them like new. He again apologized to the
teacher, who, thankfully, said she understood, that accidents happened, and
that helping wasn't necessary.
 Theo smiled and insisted, thankful to beat a hasty retreat from the stage and
the scene of the crime.

 Just after the family arrived home, it was time for Britanny to change back to
human form, and change she did, quite promptly.
 "And now to your room with you," Theo said. "What you did today is
inexcusable. Your sister worked hard to be a part of her play."
 Britanny snorted, as much as a young child can. "So what? It's only a stupid
play.. wasn't even any Santa in it or anything."
 Julia looked livid, but Mumsy crossed the room and took Britanny's hand,
leading her off to her bedroom. "Julia, you and Gina go and mend her costume.
Mage-boy.. you go do.. whatever it is that you do. And I will have a talk with
the little one."
 "Mother.." Julia said warily.
 "Fear not, daughter. Just a talk. That's all."

 "I don't wanna get spanked," Britanny pleaded as Mumsy closed the door.
 "I'm not going to punish you, little one," Mumsy said, turning and pausing
briefly, before crossing the room to sit on Britanny's bed. She picked the girl
up and set her on her knee. "That's for your parents to decide. I'm just going
to talk to you about Christmas."
 "You are?" Brit said, looking up at her grandmother.
 "I am," she confirmed. "Well, what you know as Christmas. The holiday season,
in other words. Something you said tonight disturbed me, and we need to talk
about it."
 Mumsy paused, then asked: "What do you think this holiday season is about,
dear?"
 Britanny thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. "Idunno," she said.
"Getting presents."
 "That is only a tiny, tiny part of the season," Mumsy clarified. "There wasn't
always gift-giving involved."
 "What did they do, then?"
 "Many things. They prayed for the sun, made offerings to it so that it would
return to them."
 "Why?"
 "Because they believed it needed help to come back. Have you noticed the
nights are longer and the days shorter this time of year?"
 "I guess.." Brit shrugged.
 "The sun is farther from us now than at any other point in the year. And
people believed that it needed help to find its way back to us, so they had
bonfires and candles and lanterns. In fact, that's probably why you have lights
on your tree today."
 "Really?"
 "Yes, really.. And as for gift-giving, they weren't giving each other gifts
back then, they were trading with one another. Let's say you're the leader of a
tribe on one side of the creek, and I'm the leader of another on the other
side. You can reach the creek better, so your garden gets watered, and you have
lots of fresh vegetables all year round. Do you ever help your mother in the
garden?"
 "And dad," Brit nodded.
 Mumsy shrugged. "And your father.. that's interesting. Anyway, you know what
hard work it is, isn't it?"
 "Uh-huh.."
 "Well, let's say your tribe works hard at the garden, very hard, and everyone
comes home very tired all the time. It sure would be nice if there was a way to
make things easier."
 "Now I come along with my tribe, on the other side of the creek. It's winter,
and I have too many animals and not enough food. What should I do? I see you on
the other side of the creek.. coming home SO tired every night.. carrying all
those delicious foods you grow in your garden.."
 "Okay," Britanny said, thinking she knew where this was headed.
 "So I send some of my tribesmates over with some of my animals, to make a
trade. You need animals that can help you work the gardens, and I need fresh
vegetables to keep going through the season. So we make an exchange and both
come out better for it. Right?"
 "Right," Brit nodded, smiling.
 "Here, over time I suppose, as things got more and more efficient.. at the
cost of some intimacies with the land, which I won't get into now.. people had
more and needed less, to the point where trading things at this time of year
wasn't necessary. Because of tradition, though, the exercise carried on."
 "But what about Santa?" Brit wanted to know.
 "Ah yes, Santa.." Mumsy said. "That is why I wanted to talk to you. You said
that the play your sister was in wasn't important because Santa wasn't in it.
The play didn't have anything to do with Santa Claus, that's true; instead, it
dealt with the birth of a very special person in some of your world's culture
and religion. This is something very important to this time of year as well."
 "Does Santa come to your home on Jade?"
 "No, dear, Santa stays here on Earth. But on Jade, the season has more to do
with the return of the sun and the celebration of the trees."
 "Trees?" Brit questioned.
 "Yes, dear, the trees which shelter us, which provide us with warmth when used
in a fire, which we use to make things to help us get through the days. "
 Britanny thought for a moment, then looked up to her grandmother and said, "Is
that why we have Christmas trees?"
 Mumsy ruffled Brit's spotted hair. "Such a smart girl!" she enthused. "Some of
your mother is rubbing off on you. The question remains, though.. do you
understand why we talked about this?"
 Brit nodded and said, "I think so."
 "Santa Claus is but one of the many elements of the festive season," Mumsy
summarized. "And the absence of him from a play does not make the play stupid,
nor does it make it any less representative of the season."
 "Thank you, Grammy," Brit said. "And I'm sorry."
 "Don't apologize to me, child," Mumsy said, standing up and letting Brit slide
off her lap to the floor. "Just promise to me that you won't behave like you
did tonight, ever again."
 "Never ever ever again," Britanny echoed with a nod. "I promise."
 "And you'll make up with your sister."
 "I will," Brit said energetically.
 "Good. Come now, let's go see how your mother's doing." Mumsy took Britanny by
the hand and opened the door with the other, to a sudden barrage of angry
words. "Oh! It's all stretched and torn, I'm never going to get this done in
time for tonight!"
 Mumsy walked into the sewing room with Britanny in tow. "Daughter," she said
to Julia, "is there anything the two of us can do to help?"

 Stripe and Britanny cuddled together on the couch. Dao had just left, after
finishing up his work of magic and being thanked profusely for it.
 "It was rather nice of Dao to show you that, even if it was only one days'
worth of memories," Stripe told his wife.
 Britanny nodded. "It's twice now he's done that for me.. somehow I have to
figure out a way to thank him." Suddenly, after a moment's pause, she sat up
straight and blurted out, "That's it!"
 "That's what?"
 "Oh, all these years and I hadn't thought of that," Brit said, getting to her
feet. "C'mon!"
 Stripe stammered, "Wh-where are we going?"
 "To the mall," Brit said with a grin. "We need to get Gina a present that'll
knock her socks off."
 "Now?" Stripe protested. "Christmas is two days away.. the malls will be
horrific." He saw the gleam in her eye, then said, "Wait.. you'd prefer it that
way, wouldn't you.. call it a challenge."
 She grinned again. "Get your shoes," she said. "I've got a promise to make
good on."

		   MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS
			     to one and all
				    
			       Jason Low
			    Mario Di Giacomo
			      Heidi DuMont