The Year They Forgot What-cha-ma-call-it

About the Book

The land of NOW is in a dither. People everywhere are scurrying about, running around like chickens with their heads cut off, buying up everything they can get their hands on.

         And nobody knows why.

         They know there's a reason. There has to be a reason. There's always a reason. They just can't remember. It must be some sort of holiday coming up. But what? And when? And what are all those silly looking men with big bellies and white beards and red suits doing wandering their quiet little community? Why are they crying out "HO, HO, HO" wherever they go? And what's all this stuff about deer with antlers and funny names like Dasher and Dancer and Donner and Blitzen, somebody named Rudolph with a red nose? Rumor has it that, at the appointed moment – nobody knows exactly when – their ring-leader and his reindeer will be flying through the air, landing on neighbor's roots, coming down chimneys, and leaving a bunch of gifts in his wake. What's up with that?

         The people of NOW are suspicious. Breaking and entering through chimneys? Yeah, right. Leaving gifts for no reason? Yeah, right. "Arrest these evil-doers," they cry out. "Protect our beloved town of NOW, NOW!"

          “But there are no laws against what they are doing," respond the authorities.

         "Then pass some," the people reply. "Make deer with antlers against the law. Make men with red suits and white beards against the law. And most of all, make What-cha-ma-call-it against the law. Anyone caught with the word "What-cha-ma-call-it" or its equivalent on their lips should be tossed in the pokey."

         Things are getting out of hand in the once peaceful land of NOW. Somebody please help the people remember What-cha-ma-call-it. The adults have tried; they can't do it. If it can be done, it is going to take a little child .

         And The Year They Forgot What-cha-ma-call-it is a story for children of all ages.

About the Author

Reverend Thomas F. O’Donnell, Esq., is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ serving as pastor of Plymouth Bethesda Church in Utica, New York. He is the author of numerous other works, including his most recent works of fiction, The Damnation of Tucker Tolliver and The J, E, D & P Murders.