Prologue...

Just over ten years ago at the largest factory in the world that makes Christmas tree light bulbs, something very strange happened late one hot July afternoon when the air conditioning system failed. The man in charge of the long, long, long conveyor belt, which sent the newly made bulbs to the machine that placed the bulbs on cords, got very tired and fell asleep because it was so hot.

As he dreamed of the big lunch he had eaten only minutes earlier, his head bobbed back and forth and he snored loudly even though he was only asleep for a few seconds. Just before he was about to awake his head fell forward and he hit his nose on the belt. “Ouch!” he screamed as he awakened to the burn of the belt on the tip of his nose. Stepping back from the moving belt he gently touched his nose. It hurt, but nothing else seemed wrong and he thought all was okay. However, he was badly wrong. Looking up he was shocked to see bulbs flying everywhere.
Over his head, onto the floor, off the front of his shirt and even on his face where one beautiful new blue bulb smashed into his nose and actually stuck in his nostril.

Now this did hurt. The scrape on the end of his nose began to bleed slightly. As bad as it was, it would have been very, very funny if there hadn‛t been a much bigger problem than a bulb in his nose. He stepped over as many bulbs as he could among the dozens now rolling around the floor. Reaching for the lever to stop the conveyor belt he gave it a pull.
A big bolt of electricity shot from the generator box shocking him for just a couple of seconds.

He jumped backwards and slipped on the rolling bulbs and grabbed for the conveyor belt to keep from falling. When he touched it, the belt SCREECHED to an abrupt stop. The rest of the bulbs on the belt flew
off, scattering across the floor, flying off the walls, and landing on other pieces of machinery throughout the giant factory‛s main floor. As for him, well, he went KERPLUNK, and hit the floor with a THUMP. Then he heard lots of other workers yelling from all over the factory. “What‛s going on?”
“Why did the belt stop?” “Where are the bulbs?”

People came running into the room to see what had happened. What they saw were smashed and broken bulbs everywhere. There in front of them lay the man in charge of the conveyor belt. All of the employees were now staring at him and beginning to laugh and point. The old man didn‛t understand why. They should be feeling sorry for him, he thought, but they were laughing instead.

“What have you done, and why do you have a bulb stuck in your nose?” someone shouted. The old man was so embarrassed by what had occurred, he didn‛t realize the bulb was still hanging from his nose.

He quickly grabbed the deep blue colored bulb and threw it on the floor as hard as he could. Everyone was laughing until the boss of the factory
came charging into the conveyor belt room. The laughter stopped and they all hustled back to their work areas.

The boss looked at the old man and then at the floor covered with broken bulbs. He looked at the conveyor belt which was empty. Beneath the belt lay about two dozen bulbs that were not broken. Elsewhere things were in shambles.

It was a mess. “Clean this up!” shouted the boss pointing to the man on the floor. “I‛ll see you in my office later, and send those bulbs that aren‛t broken to the strand machine.” The old man nodded as the boss stomped away. He grabbed a broom and began sweeping the broken glass off the belt onto the floor. Beautiful bulbs that weren‛t broken smashed into tiny pieces as they fell.

As he looked down at the debris, the old man was taken back. That blue bulb, which he thought was the darkest blue he had ever seen, was the same one which had stuck in his nose. It was lying on the floor. When he had tossed it away a moment ago it had clanked off the concrete, bounced into the air and somersaulted forward. The bulb had bounced three or four times, twisted around like a spinning top, and then rolled into a corner. As he stood there staring at it, the old man thought, “One tough bulb.” Maybe that was the reason he did what he did, although no one will probably ever know for sure. He bent down with a smile on his face and
picked through the mess. Brushing away sharp shards of glass, he found the blue bulb and placed it in the palm of his left hand and moved it around. He then played with it for a moment and decided he might keep
it as a token from what had happened. But then, just as quickly, he changed his mind again. He didn‛t need any reminders about this catastrophe. He placed the blue bulb and the few others that weren‛t broken back on the belt, reached up, and pushed the lever back. The
belt slowly whined and twisted itself into motion, and the two dozen bulbs that had survived the accident were carried to the next position and joined together in a strand.

And it‛s here our story begins.
There will probably be only a few people who read this story of Bobby Bright and actually believe a Christmas tree bulb can talk and also understand human language. Most will think this is not possible, and maybe they are right.

But will we ever be able to know for sure? Haven‛t you heard of strange things happening in your city? Is there a special strand of Christmas tree lights in your home? Why don‛t you look and see this Christmas when
your folks bring out all of those bags and boxes from where they have been stored all year. Most of you won‛t think it‛s possible and that‛s okay.
But before you say nothing like this could happen, remember, maybe you are like me. Maybe you too will find “Bobby Bright”. If you do, make sure you place him at the front of your Christmas tree. These next few chapters will explain why.

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