In The True Rock Holiday Spirit, Flo & Eddie present... BUDDY
Once upon a time — I think it was on a Thursday a week before Christmas on a cold and snowy night — the stars reflected brightly on the snow already fallen as a baby reindeer was born. His name was Buddy. And, not far away, Mother Nature had caused yet another miracle to occur: a sapling named Maurice poked his tiny, leafy head above the frozen soil.
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In The True Rock Holiday Spirit, Flo & Eddie present... BUDDY
Rick Wakeman's New Christmas-Ecology Rock Opera (A Scenario)
Once upon a time — I think it was on a Thursday a week before Christmas on a cold and snowy night — the stars reflected brightly on the snow already fallen as a baby reindeer was born. His name was Buddy. And, not far away, Mother Nature had caused yet another miracle to occur: a sapling named Maurice poked his tiny, leafy head above the frozen soil. The baby reindeer — the largest I’d ever seen — grew rapidly and with plenty of spunk and moxie. The tree grew, too. And that was good.
One afternoon — I think it was a Tuesday — while sauntering through the woods white with the sun, Buddy nearly ran smack-dab into Maurice, who had become a handsome and sturdy oak.
“Well, hello there, Mister Tree!”
“Well, hello there, Little Reindeer! Isn’t it a lovely day? And what a lovely set of budding antlers you have! Wouldn’t you love to rub them up against my bark? It will make them strong and hard.”
And so, day in and day out, the reindeer and the tree would always be seen together, frolicking on the forest’s carpet of white, talking, keeping each other company, spending their precious growing-up days together.
One day, Buddy realized that he was rapidly out-growing this playful frivolity and that it was time to go out into the world to fulfill his Wanderlust.
“Goodbye, Maurice. ”
“Goodbye, Buddy. Gee, it’s going to be lonely here in the forest without you. ”
Time passes.
August, 1951. January, 1957. September, 1962. Calenders flipping. Winds'blowing., Riots in Chicago. 1970. 1974. Wooosh. Mood music builds.
It’s Christmas, 1975. A light snow falls over Happy Valley. Focus your attention on the one lone tree in the middle of what is to become the world’s largest condominium|complex .. .Happy Valley Condo World and Ski Universe.
Poor Maurice. Where are all of his little animal friends now? Now that he is old and withered. Neglected and Unloved.
But wait! What’s this? Who is that Mighty Buck that stands triumphantly at the entrance of what used to be the forest?
Is it Buddy? Our Buddy? Coming home to see his old friend Maurice after all these years? A Christmas greeting, perhaps.
The first thrust caught the old tree off-guard.
“Buddy, Buddy! Don’t you remember me?”
Another attack. Antlers piercing bark. The tree screaming in uprooted agony. Deeper and deeper. Again and again, the horns of the great stag plunging.. .destroying.
At last, all.is silent. Hot breath trails like jets from Buddy’s nostrils. As the moon rises over the snow, Buddy tries hard to remember an old tree and all that had happened to him over the many years. On his side, the branding iron had left its mark: “Happy Valley Condo Watch-Reindeer.”
Buddy must go now. They want him elsewhere. Two •small, perfectly round holes spaced symmetrically on either side of his antlers throb painfully as he hurtles through the snow.
