O Christmas Tree

by DITD

Summary:

Julie, I/O, and Earlie the Pearlie prepare to spend yet another Christmas forgotten and alone

Earlie the Pearlie and Julie were trapped, alone in EPCOT’s old Computer Central. The old computers were still there, but what was once central, was now decentralised. Computers were all over the park. That’s all they knew. That and that it was Christmas.

They could hear the muffled Christmas carols coming from outside. Voices speaking; “merry Christmas”, “happy holidays”. 

‘Do you think it’s Christmas Day, or Christmas Eve?’ asked Earlie the Pearlie. 

‘It might be earlier,’ said Julie. ‘But it’s probably time to start decking the halls, so to speak.’

I/O, the little ball of computer energy he was, let out a synth sound to express his excitement. 

‘A Christmas tree sounds like a fantastic idea, I/O,’ said Julie. 

‘Where are we going to get a Christmas tree from?’ asked Earlie the Pearlie. 

I/O zipped around the hall, focused on the ground when -

Ta Da! he let out with his synth vocals. He’d picked up a Sharpie pen. 

‘Excellent!’ said Earlie the Pearlie. ‘One of the workers must have left this behind last time they were servicing the computers.’ 

‘Are you going to draw a Christmas tree, Earlie?’ asked Julie.

Earlie the Pearlie beamed at Julie. ‘Why of course I am!’ he said happily. ‘And I will draw it on the wall!’ 

He made his way over to the nearest wall and, reaching as high as he could, mapped out the outline of a very simple Christmas tree over the wall, down to the bottom. 

Using his electrical output, I/O spelled out ‘Tin sel’ with himself.

‘That’s right, I/O. You can’t forget the tinsel,’ said Julie.

Despite being pure electrical energy, I/O snatched the permanent marker from Earlie the Pearlie and began to scribble his own interpretation of tinsel on the drawing of the tree. 

Ta Da! he let out again in his synth voice. 

‘It looks very nice, I/O,’ said Earlie the Pearlie. 

‘If I may,’ said Julie, taking the marker from I/O, to add circles on the ends of the branches of the Christmas tree drawing. 

‘Baubles?’ asked Earlie the Pearlie. 

‘We need lights too,’ said Julie. 

Earlie the Pearlie took the marker again. ‘Say no more.’ He began to draw small ovals around the tinsel scribbles. ‘Just imagine they twinkle different colours and aren’t black.’ 

‘They look beautiful, Earlie,’ said Julie. ‘But we’re missing presents.’ She took the marker back, plucking it from Earlie the Pearlie’s fingers. Then she crouched down and drew some rectangles under the lowest branches. 

The three stepped back to admire their handiwork. 

‘There’s something missing,’ said Earlie the Pearlie. 

‘A star to top the tree,’ said Julie. ‘But neither of us can reach.’ 

I/O let out another synth sound and grabbed the marker. He floated above to the top of the tree and began to draw his interpretation of a star. Then he rejoined the others. 

‘Looks good,’ said Julie. ‘Happy Christmas. There’s nobody I’d rather be forgotten here with than you two.’

Notes:

In the 80s, back when EPCOT was new, they had an attraction called the Astuter Computer Revue to show guests that computers weren’t scary. It ran for a little over a year and in Disney World’s 51 years, it’s the shortest lived attraction. It was promptly forgotten and quickly replaced by Backstage Magic, which ran for about 10 years.
When CommuniCore went away, so too did Backstage Magic. Which was also super duper forgotten. The old EPCOT computers are still there, where they were. And they do get serviced still.
It’s just kind of depressing to think about how quickly these two attractions went away, never to ever be mentioned by Disney ever again.
Earlie the Pearlie is British. He would call the Christmas ornaments “baubles”, though to us Brits, baubles and ornaments are different things - baubles are the round decorations that go on the tree, ornaments are any other shape - e.g. a Mickey Mouse shape.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 8 of Disney Parks Advent Calendar Series
• Part 41 of The EPCOT Chronicles