Doctor Who: If Only In My Dreams (Christmas Special 2023)

Stave 4: A Grown Up Christmas List

     Now that was a weird dream. I haven't watched that show in a long time. Why did I dream about it? To be honest, I've had weirder ones. Compared to the others, that one was actually quite normal.

     That's when I heard that noise again. Was this a dream inside a dream? If it wasn't, how could I be hearing that wheezing, groaning sound.

     The TARDIS materialized at the foot of my bed. I walked up to it, and put my hand against the door. It felt real, but reason told me it couldn't be here.

     I knocked on the door.

     No response.

     I knocked on it again.

     The door flung open, and a familiar face peered out. It was the face of Doctor Who.

     "Hello again!" he grinned.

     "What?" This wasn't possible. "You're just a character from a TV show! You can't be here!"

     "Yet here I am!" Doctor Who replied.

     "But how!? You're like Santa! You're not real, just a story!"

     "Stories are the most real things of all. Stories make us do things we would've never done before. Your Mum stayed up all night last night just to find you the perfect Christmas present... Do you wanna know why?"

     I nodded.

     "Because of the story of Santa Claus. She knows you don't believe any more, but that didn't stop her. The story of a man who gives out of the kindness of his heart motivated her."

     "That little girl I saw in the vision, no one was motivated to help her."

     "You can..."

     "What?"

     "I have a time machine!" he said. "That little girl is still sitting there on Christmas day, hoping for someone to notice her."

     That's when we piled into the TARDIS, and went to that Christmas to a London street corner. I poked my head out of the box, and saw the girl sitting there.

     Doctor Who handed me an envelope.

     "What is this?" I asked.

     "Oh not much," he replied. "Just 1000 pound."

     My jaw dropped to the floor.

     "What are you doing with your mouth hanging open? Go give it to her! We don't have all day!"

     "Actually, we do, time machine and all that," I said.

     Doctor Who pushed me out of the TARDIS. "Go on!"

     "Wait! I've got a better idea!" I ran back inside to the control console. I flipped a yellow switch and yelled, "Activate TARDIS interface 11!"

     Suddenly, a fuzzy hologram of a blank avatar appeared. "Please choose an avatar for the voice interface," it said in a monotone voice.

     A looked over at Doctor Who and smiled, "SANTA CLAUS!"

     The hologram fizzled into a blur, and then formed itself into an old fat man dressed in red. It was a perfect recreation of Father Christmas.

     "There's a little girl sitting out there all by herself," I said. "Give her this envelope." I handed it off to Santa, and he marched out with his big heavy boots thundering against the ground.

     Doctor Who glanced down at me. "You know what?" he said. "You are good!"

     We looked out the door as the little girl's face lit up when Santa handed her the Christmas gift.

     "Are you ready to go home now?" Doctor Who asked me.

     "No, because I've realized, I may not feel the same joy of Christmas that I used to, but I can still give it to others. There's a lot more Christmases to visit."

     Doctor Who turned to the console, "Where do you want to go? You have all of time and space at your finger tips... Besides the first Christmas. I've already been there three times, and I've run out of gifts to bring."

***

     We flew through the night sky in a sleigh being pulled by the TARDIS. The levers were attached to two ropes Doctor Who was holding.

     "Do you want a go!?" he asked.

     I eagerly grabbed the ropes off of him. Logic told me none of this was real, that this couldn't have happened. Christmas has never been a holiday for the head though, but one for the heart. And if Doctor Who can be real, why can't Santa Claus?

THE END