The Orpheum Miracle

By Pat Henshaw

Christmas joy is a matter of perspective. For some, it’s the happiest time of the year. For others, not so much. 

Twenty-nine-year-old Mick, the son of crack addicts, isn’t exactly a dyed-in-the-wool Scrooge. Mick’s been on his own from childhood. As a teen, he lived in a shelter, where for a short time he had a boyfriend. After the boyfriend left, Mick moved to the Orpheum Theater. While squatting there and taking care of the grand old building, Mick watched others celebrate the holidays from a distance, never able to share in their merriment. 

Only his Technicolor dreams liven his dull, mechanical life until one day the world around him begins to change. Mick is surprised when a man named Jim buys the vintage Orpheum and plans to restore it. Something about Jim makes Mick think they’ve met before. In fact, Jim rekindles Mick’s longing for a better life and a little holiday magic for himself.

A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2016 Advent Calendar "Bah Humbug."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
• Release date: Dec 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9781635331660

Reviews for The Orpheum Miracle

[serenayates · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

‘Orpheum Miracle’ focuses on a special kind of ‘Bah Humbug’ in this year’s Advent Calendar – the kind where there was just never any reason to celebrate Christmas in the first place. My heart went out to Mick, who grew up without his drug-addicted parents, spent his teenage years in a shelter, and has managed to survive by working (and secretly living) in the Orpheum theater. He is now twenty-eight and has never had a happy Christmas, or anyone to care for him- except another boy at the shelter for a short year. As a consequence I thought that Mick really deserved a Christmas miracle!

Mick does not have it easy. He has managed to stay off the streets by working odd jobs at the Orpheum Theatre, his favorite place in the world. I can see how a place of movies and dreams might attract him and it made me sad to realize that is all he ever had. Mick’s determination to remain honest and somehow make something of his life impressed me, and his indomitable spirit was an inspiration. I so hoped my suspicions about how the happy ending might come about would be right – and they were!

If you like hurt/comfort stories about a deserving character who finally finds happiness, if you believe that movie theaters carry a special “magic” all their own, and if you’re looking for a read that will tear at your heartstrings and is as sweet as it is cute, then you will probably like this short story as much as I do. After all, it contains a real Christmas miracle of the best kind!


NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review.

[schatzi_5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Mick doesn't really get into the holiday season. The children of drug addicts, Mick was abused before (apparently) running away and finding refuge in a shelter. His only good memories of his childhood are the times that he spent with Randy, another kid in the shelter, who disappeared without word long ago. Now, over ten years later, Mick is working for minimum wage in the Orpheum Theater and secretly sleeping in the building at night. When yet another new owner, Jim, takes over, Mick expects more of the same. But Jim wants to know Mick and seems vaguely familiar...So it's pretty obvious who Jim is right away - in fact, as soon as his name is mentioned, it's very clear who he is. But I'm okay with that. The story is very short - too short, really for my tastes, because the relationship that develops between Jim and Mick takes place almost entirely off page - but it does pack an emotional punch right into the feels. I just really wish that this story was longer, because I feel like it would have been a great full-length book, or at least a meatier novella. As it is, however, I did enjoy it - it just felt like it needed some more added to it to knock it out of the park for me.