Chapter 2: The Tour and the Truth
Morning. The 20th of December. Young Kelly Coon woke up to the smell of flapjacks cooking in Sandy's kitchen. Kelly stretched yawned and got some new day clothes on. After she was dressed, Kelly then walked to Sandy's kitchen. When she got there, she saw Sandy placing a nice stack of flapjacks onto two plate. Sandy saw Kelly coming in. "Good Mornin' Kelly." said Sandy. "Just woke up in time for breakfast." "Mmm, smells good." she said. Sandy set the two plates outside on the picnic table that had already been set. Kelly got there shortly. She sat down, said Grace, and started to eat. "So did you ever think of an idea for how you're gonna tell the story of Christmas to everyone?" Sandy asked in curiosity. Kelly shook her head. "No, but I prayed last night for help." she said . "Aw, don't worry Kells." said Sandy. "You'll think of something." Kelly nodded. She hoped Sandy was right. "Well today's no day for sulking." said Sandy trying to cheer her friend up. "Today's that big tour of Bikini Bottom Spongebob promised."
Kelly smiled. "Thanks for the reminder." she said. "Let's get our suits on and go see him." said Sandy. "Ok." said Kelly.
They put their suits on and took a brisk walk over to Spongebob's house. Sandy knocked on his door. Spongebob was of course, the answerer. "Sandy, Kelly!" Spongebob said with joy. "Come in, come in." Sandy and Kelly walked into his pineapple abode. "So how about that tour?" said Sandy. Spongebob laughed. "Of course." he said. "Let me show you Gary." "Who's Gary?" Kelly asked. "Gary's my pet snail." said Spongebob. Gary then slithered to Spongebob's side. Spongebob picked him up. "Gary, this is Kelly. She's Sandy's pen pal." said Spongebob. Gary meowed. Naturally, Kelly was shy around him. She slowly reached out and gently petted his eyes. Gary purred and meowed at Spongebob. "Aww, Gary likes you." said Spongebob. "He thinks you're very nice." Kelly smiled. "I think Gary is nice too." said Kelly. Gary purred as Kelly stroked him. "He's sweet." Kelly said. Gary meowed as to say "Thank you." "Where do you guys want to start? Uptown or downtown?" asked Spongebob. "Uptown sounds like a good start." said Kelly. "Alright then, let's hit the road." Spongebob said with a smirk. Kelly and Sandy followed him. They soon arrived at a part of town filled with upscale shops and malls selling all kinds of goods. Fine restaurants serving exotic food dotted the street corners. All lined with Christmas lights and decorations. "Wow, it's beautiful." Kelly said, awed by the sight of the brilliant lit uptown. But her smile didn't last. "Kelly, is something wrong?" asked Spongebob. "Oh, I'm ok." said Kelly. "You sure?" Sandy asked. "Yeah." said Kelly. She then noticed a guitar shop. Kelly smiled. "Hey look!" she said, pointing. "Cool," said Sandy. "I do need some new strings." Kelly high fived her. "All right then." she said. The three walked into the shop. As Sandy and Spongebob were looking for guitar strings, Kelly found a 'ukulele. She smiled. She picked it up and began to strum it, marveling at how it sounded. Then she began to sing.
"Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say
On a bright, Hawaiian Christmas day.."
Spongebob marveled at her singing. "Wow." he said. Then he remembered something. Kelly's voice sounded like the voice he heard the night thought for moment, and then realized that it WAS the voice he heard the night before. "That was you!" said Spongebob. Kelly stopped playing. "What what did I do?" she asked. "I heard you singing last night." Spongebob said. Kelly blushed in embarrassment. "R-Really? She asked. "Yeah." Spongebob said. "You've got a great singing voice." "Thanks." said Kelly. "Kelly is a good singer." said Sandy carrying a bag with new guitar strings.
Spongebob nodded. "What song were you singing last night anyway?" Spongebob asked. "I've never heard it before." "One of my favorite Christmas songs, O Holy Night." said Kelly. "It's a Christmas song?" Spongebob asked. "It didn't say anything about Santa or anything." "Well Christmas is about more than Santa." said Kelly. Sandy nodded. "Oh? What is it about?" asked Spongebob. Kelly had an idea. "Let's take a detour downtown. There's something I'd like to show you." she said. Sandy smiled. She thought that this was the answer to Kelly's prayers. "I don't know what you mean." Spongebob said. "You'll see when we get there." said Kelly. She began to walk out of the store. Spongebob was confused but he and Sandy followed their friend.
Kelly, Spongebob, and Sandy walked and walked. As they were walking Kelly was looking for something. Soon the got to an old church. It looked like no one had been there for years."Ah, this'll work." said Kelly. "Ok, let's go inside." Spongebob looked at Sandy with a look on his face. "Trust her." said Sandy. "Ok." He said, and followed her inside. In the old church, The church was deserted. Nearly all the pews were covered with rot and some were broken in places. Only the color of the stain glass remained. "This place is abandoned." Spongebob said. "Why are we here Kelly?" "What better place to tell the true story of Christmas?" said Kelly. Spongebob was confused. "What do you mean?" He asked. "It'll become clear in a minute." Sandy said. "Go on." she said to Kelly. Kelly smiled and sat down on up front. Spongebob and Sandy sat down on a nearby pew, one of the few that was stable. Kelly reached into her suit and pulled out a book. "What's that?" asked Spongebob. "This," she said, "is my Bible." Kelly flipped through the pages. "I always carry it with me." said Kelly."What's it about?" Spongebob asked. Sandy shushed him. "Just listen." she said. Kelly cleared her throat.
"It all began in a tiny village called Bethlehem, in a part of the world called Judea." said Kelly. Spongebob listened with open ears.
"Caesar Augustus had issued a decree for the world to be taxed. A young couple, Joseph and his wife Mary, went to Bethlehem after she had discovered that she was with child by the Holy Spirit." she said. "After arriving the time had come for the baby to be born, but seeing that there was no room in any inn, one innkeeper gave them a place in his stable for Mary and Joseph to rest and for Mary to have her child."
Spongebob smiled. Sandy did as well.
"Later," Kelly continued. "there were shepherds in fields with there flock of sheep that night. Then an Angel of the Lord appeared before them. The shepherds became frightened. The Angel said unto them, 'Do not fear, for I bring good news to you. This very night in the town of David a savior has been born. He is Christ the Lord. Let this be a sign to you, you will find the baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.' Soon many other angels joined him saying, 'Glory to God in the highest. On Earth peace and goodwill toward mankind."
Spongebob listened with rapt attention. Kelly continued. "The shepherds went to Bethlehem following a bright star sent by God and, lo and behold, there was the child wrapped in cloth and placed in a manger, just at the angel had told them."
Spongebob gasped. The story Kelly was telling was truly amazing and heartwarming. "Then," Kelly continued. "three wise men from the east had heard about this miracle as well and came to Bethlehem bearing gifts for the child. Gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. To honor this child who would grow up to be our savior. The king of kings. The prince of peace."
"What was this baby's name?" Spongebob asked. Kelly smiled. "His name was Jesus. A name given by the Lord above." she said. Spongebob smiled. Sandy did too. "You see Spongebob, Christmas is about more than just presents and Santa Claus and all that. It was the day our Lord and Savior was born. That's what makes it special." said Sandy. "It's about giving to others as well." Kelly added. "And about peace and goodwill towards others." Sandy added. "And the very first gift of Christmas was that baby boy. Jesus Christ. " said Kelly. "Wow." said Spongebob. "Does Santa fit into any of this?" he asked. "Santa show's the same love that God showed us that night." said Sandy. "Giving to others to make people happy. God did the same thing." said Kelly. "But," Kelly said with a frown. "I've noticed that many people around here have thought that Christmas was about getting free stuff." "I never thought about that." Spongebob said. "I guess I've never really noticed it." Kelly smiled at Spongebob. "Last night I prayed to God that I would somehow find a way to tell the true meaning of Christmas to everyone in Bikini Bottom." she said. "So far, I haven't really gotten anywhere." "Well you told me, and that's a good start." said Spongebob trying to comfort Kelly. Spongebob thought for a moment. Then he had an idea. "I've got it!" he said. "What is it buddy?" said Sandy. "Why don't we put on some kind of show about this story?" Spongebob said. "A show?" Kelly asked. "But there's only three of us. What can we do?""I bet I can get some folks to help us." Spongebob said. "Who? And what if they won't listen to us?" Kelly asked with a tear in her eye. After the tear hit the inner surface of Kelly's air helmet, a ray of light shone through the stained glass windows. "Wow." Spongebob said. Kelly and Sandy gasped in awe. Spongebob felt the strong urge to start praying. He kneeled down and began a silent prayer.
Another tear ran down Kelly's cheek. But she wasn't so sad that time. Kelly closed her eyes, facing the beam of light. Sandy stared in wonder at this event. Spongebob remained in prayer. "Wow, what's this?" Sandy said. A wind blew inside the building though no window was open and no open hole exposed the outside. The wind blew away the dust and the cobwebs away. Spongebob had finished his prayer, and was opening his eyes when the wind began to blow. "Oh my." he said. Kelly still had her eyes closed. She turned and faced an old organ that was in the church. The wind stopped. Kelly opened her eyes. "Wow." Sandy said. "That was strange." Kelly walked to the organ and pressed a single key. The note the key played echoed through the entire church. Surprisingly it was in tune. Kelly gasped. "Music." she said.
Spongebob smiled. "We can use music to spread the message." Kelly said. "That's a great idea!" Spongebob said. "How can we do it?" asked Sandy. "Why not make a musical about the true meaning of Christmas?" Spongebob said. "Using songs that bear that same truth." Kelly added. "But we have less than a week to do it." Sandy said. "If we all put our heads together, there's nothing we can't do." Spongebob said. "Whaddya say, you girls in?" Spongebob put his hand out. Sandy put hers on top of Spongebob's. "I'm in." she said. Kelly put her hand on top of Sandy's "Absolutely" said Kelly. They all whooped and cheered. "Where can we have it?" asked Spongebob. "How about right here at this church." Sandy said. "What better place than this?" "Good thing that wind blew all that dust away." said Spongebob. "What about the songs? " he added. "I can teach you a few." said Kelly. Spongebob smiled. "Thanks. This is gonna be great!" he said. Kelly smiled. She then noticed how late it was getting. "We'd better finish up this tour and head home." she said. "Good idea." said Sandy. Kelly led them out of the church. They decided to go get something to eat again before they returned home. They returned to the Krusty Krab and ordered some more tasty Krabby Patties and happily discussed their plan on the way to their respective homes. "Let's go over the game plan again." Sandy suggested. "Ok." Spongebob said. "We create a musical about the true meaning of Christmas. Where should we start?" "Well we need to write it first of all." said Kelly. Sandy had an idea. "What better way to tell this story then by telling it the way it is?" she said. Spongebob also had a stroke of inspiration. "And we can sing the songs you know in between parts of the story." he said. "But who will be the storyteller?" asked Kelly. Sandy and Spongebob looked at Kelly smiling. "What me?" Kelly said. "I can't go up in front of hundreds of people." "Sure you can." Spongebob said. "We'll be right behind you. And next to you" Kelly sighed and smiled. "Well, what we need to do now is straighten up the old church, learn the songs and advertise." said Kelly. "That's the spirit Kells." Sandy said, patting her on the back. "We can start tomorrow with the church." said Spongebob. "I can't wait to tell Gary what you told me Kelly." The young raccoon smiled. "I just hope the people will listen and understand this." said Kelly. "They will." Sandy said. "Even if we don't reach everyone, we'll reach some people. If we can reach one, we've done our job." "You helped me to understand." said Spongebob "I can design some posters tonight" said Kelly. "Excellent." Sandy said. "I can select some songs." "What can I do?" asked Spongebob. "You can make costumes." Sandy suggested. Spongebob cheered with glee. "Sounds like we've about got everything figured out." Kelly said. "All we need to do now is round up some help and we're all set." "Let's meet back at the church tomorrow morning." said Spongebob. Kelly and Sandy agreed. "All right." Sandy said. "I'll see ya tomorrow, Spongebob." Spongebob said his goodbye to Sandy and Kelly as they went inside Sandy's treedome.
"Whew, what a day." Sandy said, sitting down on a couch and taking a winded breath. "You're telling me." Kelly said sitting next to Sandy. "That was quite a walk." Sandy said. "But more than a productive day, I'd say." "And what happened at the church was amazing." said Kelly as she got her Krabby Patty out of a it's paper bag. "Yeah it was." Sandy said. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" Kelly laughed. "I'm not a mind reader Sandy." she said before taking a bite from her burger. "I'm thinking... it was a sign." said Sandy. Kelly smiled. "I think so to." she said. The both smiled at the thought as they ate their meal. Before they headed to bed, Kelly was making a flyer for the Christmas show. The flyer was painted light blue. In the center was a gilded cross, rose vines entwined around it. Musical notes and stars danced around the cross. Lavender letters were painted on the top. They read: "Hear the real story of Christmas, and hear the real meaning of the season. You'd surprised." The bottom of the poster read: "To take place at the old church off of Clam Shell Avenue on Christmas Eve. Admission is free."
Kelly stood up and admired her work. She felt confident now that things were falling into place. She tucked the finished poster into a desk drawer. She would take it to the copy shop in the morning. She yawned widely. She decided to get some sleep. She changed into her pajama's and slid into bed, turning off the light. She thought of everything that had happened today, and a peaceful smile fell across her face as she drifted off to sleep.