The Thirteenth Day of Christmas is a mystery short story by Isaac Asimov.
Part of the Larry Mysteries series, it was first published in the July 1977 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. It was later collected in The Key Word and Other Mysteries and Opus 200.
Summary[]
Larry, the son of a police detective, recounts a tense Christmas period when his father's department was on high alert due to a bomb threat against the Soviet offices at the United Nations on Christmas Day. The day passes without incident, and the city begins to relax.
Days later, on 6 January, Larry is performing in his school's Christmas pageant, which is based on the "Twelve Days of Christmas" song, ending on the traditional twelfth day. During the performance, he realizes that the bomb threat might have been made by someone using the Julian calendar, which the Russian Orthodox Church follows. On this calendar, Christmas Day falls on 7 January, the thirteenth day after Western Christmas.
He interrupts the post-performance applause to alert his father. His father confirms the calendar discrepancy with the department. The security forces are re-mobilized, and the Soviet security, now looking inward, identifies and apprehends the would-be bomber from within their own ranks, preventing the attack on the true date of the bomber's Christmas.
Characters[]
- Larry
- Larry's father
- Larry's mother
- The bomber