Athena's First Christmas

What's Christmas?

It started off like any other day.

Athena was walking around Tomorrowland with Frank Walker. It was early in the morning, and they had just woken up from having a sleepover.

The sleepovers with Frank Walker were always fun, although her use of this word confused her.

Fun.

She was not programmed to have fun. Happiness was not supposed to be in her programming either. She was not programmed to feel anything. Yet she frequently found herself feeling an emotion that was, without a doubt, happiness. It normally occurred when she was doing something with Frank Walker.

Brushing these thoughts aside, she thought back to their sleepover.

It had been a normal one, if sleepovers with Frank Walker could ever be considered "normal".

It started off with her bringing her overnight things to the lab where he worked on his inventions. Governor Nix insisted that Athena should be as much like a human as possible, so her overnight things consisted of normal, ordinary, things: toothpaste, toothbrush (although she rarely needed to brush her teeth; she couldn't eat), sleeping bag (she didn't really sleep, either), pajamas (those she did need, whoever heard of laying down in a dress?), a hair brush (another thing she actually needed), and a few other things.

After they finished working on his inventions for the day, they packed up and headed to his room. Frank Walker was only 12, so he lived in the Youth House.

The Youth House was where all the Dreamers in Tomorrowland under the age of 16 stayed. It was basically a large apartment building, but with adults to help take care of the younger kids. Most of the older kids, like Frank Walker, wanted to be more independent, and mostly provided for themselves.

Athena lived in Governor Nix's mansion, although she was free to come and go as she pleased. Ever since Frank had asked her who her parents were, it became apparent that she should have a story to explain why he had never seen them.

Nix had come up with the story. Her parents had died when she was a baby, and he was her uncle who took her in. Athena thought it would take more than that to explain why she and Nix were so distant from each other, but Frank dropped the subject. Having never been that close to his father, he seemed to understand how such a thing was possible.

So they went to his room in the Youth House, which was basically its own small apartment. There they watched tv, Frank ate dinner (Athena told him she had eaten a Tomorrowland Energy Bar for breakfast, and those bars were designed to keep a person full for the day), and talked.

Athena found long ago that she rather enjoyed talking to Frank. Of course she could not explain why. Joy was not in her programming. Surely it meant there was a glitch in her empathy programs, but she hadn't reported it... something stopped her. She could not explain it.

They talked for hours. That was a sign of how close they really were: they never ran out of stuff to talk about. Athena found herself smiling more often than not, and though it confused her, she didn't question it.

Then, after a movie, a game, and a lot more talking, Frank fell asleep on the couch.

Athena always told him to let her sleep on the couch. She could handle it, she told him, she could fall asleep anywhere (of course, she never really needed to sleep). But Frank always insisted that she sleep on his bed. She could never convince him otherwise.

Now it was the next day, and she and Frank were walking around Tomorrowland.

The air had gotten colder, as it always did this time of year. It was December 17. She and Frank had both out on coats. Hers was lighter, as she only needed it to make her appear more like a human.

Frank was talking about how much he loved this time of year, when the trees lost their leaves and when the snow began to fall. Of course the trees in Tomorrowland never lost their leaves. They only changed color. And snow did not fall in Tomorrowland. It was deemed a nuisance, and therefore was blocked from falling.

Athena didn't even know what snow looked like. She had heard about it, yes, but had never really seen it. From the information she had gathered, she imagined it was a bit like rain, only frozen.

That was another problem. She shouldn't be able to imagine. She was an AA. AAs couldn't imagine things. That was surely a glitch in her systems. She knew she should report it... but again, she didn't. Why didn't she?

She was listening to Frank as they walked. Then he said a word she hadn't heard before, "Christmas".

"What's Christmas?" She asked curiously. Frank stopped and stared at her with his jaw open.

"You don't know what Christmas is?" He asked in disbelief.

She thought for a while, but came up empty. Judging by Frank's tone, it must be important.

"No... Should I?" She asked with a hint of nervousness. She would never admit it to anyone, but she was a bit ashamed at not knowing something so important to Frank Walker. But shame was not in her programming.

Frank still looked stunned. "You mean, in all the years you've lived here, you've never celebrated Christmas?"

She looked down. Frank stared.

"Oh my gosh." He said. "We have to get you back to Earth!"

She looked up at him. "Earth? What for?"

He smiled. "So I can show you Christmas."