Page 63 of Run, Run Rudolph
“No. No, no, no!”
“Possibly. It’s quite bad,” I added, fascinated by his meltdown.
He sat cross-legged on the straw-strewn dirt floor, head in his hands, his little striped hat slipping to one side.
“He’s taking it better than I thought he would,” Prancer said, looking down at the elf.
“Christmas is ruined,” the elf moaned.
“Well, you chose your side, so this really isn’t your problem.” Donner addressed the rest of the reindeer. “I vote the narc out of here.”
“We can’t, though, can we?” Cupid said sadly.
“Why does he even care about Christmas? He chose his side,” Donner said, giving a huff as he moved to the other side of the barn, far from the elf.
“I still care!” the elf wailed. “All I do is care!”
“You just went and told Mrs. Claus everything,” Donner said. “How is that supposed to help us or Christmas?”
“She can fix this.”
“Will she though?” I asked. “Or will she put us all on the naughty list?”
“Naughty list?” Haden whispered to me.
“It’s real,” I mumbled to him under my breath. “And it’s not about toys.”
“Chilling.”
“So, is Mrs. Claus coming?” I asked the elf. “Christmas is her holiday, too, right?”
“She does lots of stuff behind the scenes to make the holiday work,” Prancer said.
“I really like Christmas.” I gave a little pause, trying to signal to these goofballs just how important this holiday was to many of us on the non-magical earth.
“I do, too,” Haden added.
“Baking cookies with my Oma and wearing the same sweatshirt is a tradition I look forward to every year.”
Nobody said anything, and I continued, even though I was laying it on pretty thick. But I spoke from my heart, hoping to spur them into some form of action involving teamwork and a solution. “And seeing people donate to the less fortunate, to ensure they have a good Christmas always makes me smile. It renews my faith in humanity, and I always feel so proud of my community. Christmas is a holiday that brings out the best in people during one of the coldest and darkest months of the year.”
We were all watching Hugo.
“Well?” I prompted. “Will her most magical being come and help us?”
His voice was small with shame as he said, “She said this doesn’t concern her.”
A few of the reindeer gasped. My heart dropped, and I momentarily doubted my plan to try and fix all of this without Estelle’s magical fairy godmother assistance.
But if I made a self-serving wish at this point, it wasn’t going to help the ongoing problems at the North Pole. Christmas might be doomed no matter which option I chose—wish, or no wish.
I chewed on my lip, unsure which plan of action was the best.
“Has she forgiven me?” Santa piped up, his tone hopeful as he looked over at me.
“Doesn’t sound like it,” I told him.
“Oh.” His shoulders drooped.
