A Poor Man's Christmas

A Poor Man's Christmas is a oneshot story written by Daniel as a rare piece of general fiction. Notably, it is the only story to not feature any of his characters and the only one to not have any spoken dialogue (indeed, quotation marks are completely absent).

Old Plans
While the story was being written (the same day it was published), the author had several ideas:


 * The Young Girl was going to be a thinly-veiled Hannah Benfield, as evidenced by the Girl being in a war-torn country holding a glass of cold water that dulls pain.
 * The glass would've contained two quickly-dissolving pills at the bottom, which given Hannah's presence would've been Zepehydrine and Hydefrizene (pills which instantly chill water and quickly relieve pain, respectively). This was dropped simply because it, in that situation, would've led to the Man either pushing it away (likely signing his own death warrant) or risking death from what could very well have been the enemy.
 * Hannah's yellowish-red hair was also going to be referenced near the very end.
 * The original intent was for 2012 to be referenced as the current year somewhere along the way, which was dropped to keep the story "timeless" (as it were).

Regarding the timeline, the story as published is unconnected to any other stories and makes no reference to any of Daniel's characters (indeed, no characters used in the story are ever named). The original concepts, put together, would suggest DBE Series 10 (the Earth-bound period from 1864-2034); the first war the Man participated in most likely being World War II; and Hannah's appearance subsequently between Blue Rain (1927) and Phases of the Moon (1984).

Thematic Connections
While there are no direct connections to any of Daniel's other stories, a few recurring themes are present here:


 * During the war scene, the Man feels "as if the hands of Death were closing upon him". Chrissie MaCockenshipiel felt a very similar way from The Reason Why onward.
 * At the end, the Man – having lost everything – commits suicide. One ending of Last Peace has this as the outcome for Hannah.

Links

 * On DeviantArt