Doctor Who: Ode to Joy

"Beautifully written and utterly charming... one of the finest Doctor Who short stories"
- Doctor Who Magazine

I was asked to write a short story for the Doctor Who anthology History of Christmas. The editor wanted to emphasise non-traditional Yuletide celebrations. I toyed for a while with something to do with the Vikings, but then hit upon the idea of combining a number of traditions I had learned about from Japanese television. So I decided to write about the secular traditions of a Japanese Christmas Eve, and to note that nobody in Japan seems to ask too many questions about what goes on all year behind the giant, slab-like walls of the imperial gardens in the middle of the city.

You can buy it here.

_____

'The Shogun's palace,' he said, with a smile.

The fox tittered to herself, her multiple tails shaking with excitement.

'He is not here,' she said. 'He is gone, gone. A thousand moons ago and more.'

'You don't happen to know what year this is, do you?' he asked.

She stared at him, uncomprehending.

'The man, the man who is a god,' he said. 'The man who lives in that mansion when he is not elsewhere,' he said.

'What of him?' she asked.

'What is his name?'

'He has no name. He has only a reign.'

'What is his reign, then?'

'Achieving Peace,' she said. 'But two winters ago.'

'Well, I'll be,' he said. Tokyo, somewhere around 1990.

He took a few steps away from the pond, gesturing to her to remain still, his feet crunched on gravel in a driveway big enough to take a hundred cars, now all but empty.

'I can see the world outside,' she said, the merest hint of a boast. 'Would you like to?"

"Why yes!" he said, the smile returning. 'But if memory serves me, such as you can't leave.'

'I don't want to leave,' she corrected him. 'But I can look.'

The Fox led the way, darting from rock to rock, a hidden haphazard staircase of boulders leading up to the wall. He followed her, at first trying to maintain a bipedal stance, then giving up and clambering like her on all fours.

'You know,' he said, breath heavily with exertion. 'I know where we are. This park isn't all that large. It seems…'

'Bigger on the inside than the outside?' she asked.

'Yes,' he smiled.

'Yes,' she agreed. 'I get that a lot.'