Page 33 of Run, Run Rudolph
No pressure.
And what about Rudolph? Was he like a normal caribou? Would I even be able to help him?
Tamara, her toque pulled down low, and her scarf wrapped all the way up her face so only her eyes were exposed, was still hanging out the back door. She must have frozen half to death on the drive over, but knowing Tamara, she wouldn’t have it any other way. Because Rudolph needed help, and she’d literally freeze before letting him come to harm.
Well, other than accidentally hitting him with her car.
She let out a squeak like something had surprised her, and I began striding toward her. “Are you okay?”
“Nothing. Yes. Fine. Just fine,” she said, over her shoulder, her voice tight and high. She slipped through the door, into the dark alley, saying, “Just need to get something from my car.”
Then she slammed the door shut behind her.
Chapter 10
~ Estelle ~
“What are you doing here?” Tamara growled at me as I appeared before her in the dark, snowy alley behind Haden’s veterinarian office.
Her snappish tone received some interesting looks from the reindeer milling about. I nodded to the boys and swept closer to Tamara, my ankle-length faux fur coat dragging through the piling up snow.
The snow wasn’t actually landing on me, since I wasn’t truly here. Thanks to a splitting spell, I was as snug as a bug in my Calgary office, all warm and toasty. Me being in Eagle Ridge was simply an illusion, as if I’d stepped into a long-distance projector.
“I didn’t make a wish,” Tamara added. She crossed her arms in her bulky parka. “I’m never making a wish again.”
“Well, you should. Then I could help you tonight.” Hopefully. I would be circumventing some magical world consequences for the way she was interfering with Christmas, one of our most important holidays. But, as long as we moved now, and quickly, Gram-Gram and I figured a good wish could mend this problem before Christmas was truly ruined.
“I don’t need help,” Tamara insisted.
“That’s not what Char told me.”
“I needed you to call Santa. That was all.”
The reindeer shifted, all eyes on Tamara. She lifted her arms in their direction. “What? This was before you guys started talking to me! Now I know that you’re trying to stay out of trouble.” She turned to me. “You don’t need to call Santa.”
“You boys aren’t supposed to be down here, are you?” I asked, turning to them.
“We can leave at any time. There’s no rule,” Blitzen said. The party animal had ornaments hanging from his antlers, a clear indicator that they’d been up to some serious shenanigans.
“That is correct,” Prancer said primly.
It was an implied rule. Gram-Gram and I had looked it up.
“So,” I asked innocently, “why are you trying to keep it a secret, then?”
They remained silent, their eyes pleading with me.
I sighed, understanding their need for a bit of secrecy. They were in a sticky situation, and Mrs. C., one of their bosses, so-to-speak, was scary. And I liked the reindeer. When she’d flipped her lid at the summer solstice party after some innocent flirting with Santa, the reindeer had tried to console me. Hugo, the little evil minion elf, had run straight to Mrs. Claus, simpering and trying to calm her. But he’d only made things worse.
Considering that the word on the street was that Mrs. Claus and Santa were still fighting, the reindeer could end up stuffed and mounted above Mrs. Claus’s fireplace if word of this disaster got back to the North Pole.
But I could maybe help. If Tamara made a wish.
I reassured the herd with the truth. “I couldn’t call Santa through the regional communication system, so nobody knows.” I turned to Tamara. “You should know that interfering with Christmas is a serious offence. We need to extract you from this situation.”
“I’m not interfering. I’m trying to help Rudolph.” She pointed to the unmarked metal door behind her. “He’s in there getting an x-ray.”
“You’ve injured Rudolph within twenty-four hours of Christmas Eve, and you’re failing to protect the magical world from more human interactions.”
