Once upon a time a long time ago there lived a boy in Alaska. He lived with his mom and dad, and brothers and sisters, and a Malamute. He lived on the banks of the Cheena river in a log cabin. When he went to school he had to cross the river and go down a short road to catch a bus.
In the summer time he rode a boat across the river. There was a cable that stretched across the river and the boat was tied to wheels on the cable at each end. There were two ropes that attached to the boat and those ropes had two rings on each one. When the boy wanted to go across the river he would have to shorten the rope on one end of the boat and lengthen it on the other end. The river was very fast and the river current would carry the boy across the river. In the winter the river would freeze over and the boy would walk across the river to a road then catch a bus.
One day when the boy crossed the river a young moose was on the road waiting for him. The boy did what he always did when he faced a moose. He jumped up and down and waved his arms and yelled. The young moose had never seen a man before and when it saw all this commotion it ducked it's head ready to bolt. But nothing happened and it's curiousity got the best of it so it raised it's head again to look at this strange creature called man. The boy jumped and yelled and waved his arms again and again the young moose ducked it's head but this time not so far. The boy decided he needed a little time to think so took a step backward thinking to move slow. The young moose took a step forward to get a better look at this strange creature. The boy took another step backward and again the moose stepped forward. Soon the boy was running for dear life, knowing he couldn't outrun the moose but hoping to buy time to figure out what to do. The young moose ambled along behind the boy trying to figure out what was going on.
The banks of the Cheena river were steep on the side of the river where the cabin was and someone had cut steps in the bank. The boy made for those steps, not daring to look back, thinking the steps might slow the young moose down. As the boy reached the top of those steps he turned to look. The young moose was at the bottom of the steps looking up. The boy tried what his mother always did and yelled"Shoo. Shoo" moving his arms like his mother did, then turned to run into the cabin. His mothers flower box was long buried under the snow and the boy tripped over the flower box and fell into a picture glass window of their cabin. The window slowly fell over and landed softly on the couch with out breaking. The boy looked back and didn't find a trace of the young moose. It was cold in the cabin untill the boys dad came home and put the window back in.
Time passed and the boy answered his countries call for duty. He became a man and traveled from job to job as his fancy suited. Somehow many years passed.He finally managed to spend a Christmas with his mother at the age of 49(he was seventeen the last time he spent Christmas with his mother). His brother met him at the airport yet he was still worried about how his family would accept him. It had been many years. His sister in law had heard of the moose story through the years and so thought to give him a hand puppet of a moose as a welcome gift. To this day there is no treasure in the world I value more highly. May all of you have the love that the Christmas moose gave to me.
