
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 even lived in a shelter, where for a short time he had a boyfriend.
After the boyfriend left, Mick squatted in the historic Orpheum Theater. While living there as its self-appointed custodian, Mick has watched others celebrate the holidays from a distance, never able to share in their merriment.
Only his Technicolor dreams enliven his dull, clandestine life until one day the world around him begins to change.
Mick is surprised when a man named Jim buys the Orpheum and plans to restore it. Something about Jim rekindles Mick’s longing for a better life and a little holiday magic for himself.
Can Jim give Mick the hope he needs to accept his happily ever after?

The Orpheum Miracle By Pat Henshaw In early November, a new banner across the Orpheum Theater went up saying: Welcome to Christmas, the happiest time of the year. Coming soon. Far as I could tell, Christmas was when children danced around like clowns on crack. Besotted parents cavorted around them like ninnies in a stupid race. And the rest of us stood back waiting for the inevitable explosion. Despite how it started, Christmas had been morphed by the rich into a season of greed. It had nothing to do with whether a kid was good or bad, but how much money his folks had. Take the kids I knew down at the shelter. s**t, they could be as good as little angels, and the best they’d ever get was someone’s cast-off pity. That wasn’t going to do them a damned bit of good when the holiday parade
