It’s a Holiday week!   Since many people will be traveling this week, I decided to write a 700 word short story about how traveling changes you.

(I was going to publish one of my favorite short stories, “The Good Lion”, by Ernest Hemmingway.  But I didn’t want to get into trouble with the Hemingway Society who owns the rights to his work, so I wrote my own story.)  Enjoy your weekend, and God bless you on your adventures through life.  Enjoy your travels, like the Hawaiian Reindeer, enjoyed his.

THE HAWAIIAN REINDEER

One afternoon, a Reindeer was struck by lightning on an Alaskan river bank.  The Reindeer collapsed to the ground, but it didn’t die.  When it stood up, it realized wings had grown on its back and it could fly.

But after being struck by lightning, the Reindeer became afraid of getting hurt again, and so it never used its wings.

For the next few years, the Reindeer never left the Alaskan river bank where it grew up.  It drank from the same river, and he ate the same grasses it always had.

As another storm approached, a lightning strike hit an old tree that the Reindeer was hiding under.  A massive, heavy branch broke off the tree, and it crashed down right in front of the Reindeer and almost killed him.

At that moment, the Reindeer with wings, realized that horrible things can happen in life, even if he avoided every risk.  He realized he at least wanted to try his wings and see new parts of the world before he died.

So the next day, the Reindeer with wings decided to fly out into the world.  He flew down the pacific coast, and rested in San Diego.  While smelling the warm ocean air for the first time, and relaxing on the beach, he saw an airplane flying overhead.  The plane had the words, “Hawiian Air” painted on the side.   The Reindeer with wings became curious as to why human beings would fly over the ocean to a place called, Hawaii.  So the Reindeer decided to fly across the ocean to see this distant island called, Hawaii.

The Reindeer flew over the ocean all night long.  In the morning ,he landed on the island of Hawaii and looked around.  The landscape was so magnificent compared to the Alaskan riverbank where he grew up.  The air was so perfectly warm at all times, and the lagoons were so blue they looked like crystal.  The plants were blooming with colorful flowers, and their flowers never died.   The Reindeer tried eating new fruits he had never tasted before called Pineapples.  He used his hoofs to crack open coconut shells he’d never seen before, and one of his favorite things to do was drink coconut milk on the beach and watch the sun rise and set every day.

The Reindeer with wings lived in Hawaii all winter.  But as the earth’s rotation began to change, the Reindeer with wings realized it was going to be summer again in Alaska.  He remembered how much he missed Alaska every spring when the snow began to melt, and the plants grew in the mountains again.  So rather than being homesick on the beautiful beaches of Hawaii, the Reindeer decided he was going to fly back home to see Alaska again.

When he finally reached his home in Alaska, the other Reindeer he grew up with trotted out to meet him. They all asked where he had been?  What did he see with his wings?  He told them all about his great journey to Hawaii, and how he lived on the beaches, and swam in the ocean all winter long.

The other Reindeer were amazed by his stories about this strange land.  After the excitement died down, his Reindeer friends invited him to eat lunch.

The Reindeer with Wings took a mouthful of Alaskan mountain grass that he had missed so much while he was living in Hawaii.  He chewed it.  He then looked up with a quizzical look on his face and said to his friends:

“These grasses taste great, but they sure would be better with a side of Pineapple.”

His reindeer friends looked at him strangely and asked, “What is pineapple?”

At that moment, the Reindeer with wings realized how much his life had profoundly changed because he had taken the risk to travel.

The End. 

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