The Magic of Christmas
Chapter 9: An Age Old Problem

The beginning of June saw Travis more and more in the Village. The vast majority of the Elves returned from their holiday and with a little help from his Christmas magic, the making of new toys went into full production. The Elves were tireless, working a full 24 hours a day in a three-shift pattern that had new toys rolling off work benches, painted and wrapped at a rate Travis found hard to comprehend.

His own training in the use of the magic began. Clumsy and frightened at first, he soon became adept in the sleigh becoming quite fond of the reindeer, and spent more time than he needed flying over the Arctic wastes revelling in the freedom and excitement this form of flying gave him. He marvelled at his red suit. What he thought was nothing more than a costume for the benefit of children, he soon found to be something he needed when soaring through the sky with the reindeer. It insulated him with the wind, rain, and snow having no effect on him. As soon as he dressed in it, his hair went white and grew to shoulder length, and his clean-shaven face sprouted a big white bushy beard; both beard and hair protecting him from the elements. Sᴇaʀch Thᴇ FɪndNovᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

He practiced present distribution; the more time he spent in the village the stronger his magic became; a mere thought took him anywhere in the world he wanted, this was a skill he put to good use within the confines of the village, appearing out of thin air in front of a usually terrified Cedric who still regarded him as evil incarnate, despite Travis increasing his chocolate allowances.

Rosie began getting to know the Elves in the wrapping department. She became protective of them, making friends with them, closer than the friends she had in the outside world. She would bore Travis stupid at times showing him wrapping paper designs, ribbons, sticky tape colours and demanding boxes and cartons that wouldn’t show what was inside, especially to someone who was getting a bike for Christmas. Sue fell in love with the reindeer, eventually badgering Travis to let her and Phil look after them. This upset a few Elves who had done the job for hundreds of years, but Travis soothed their outraged indignation by letting them manage the reindeer when Sue and Phil were not in the village or asleep. It wasn’t an ideal solution but it calmed the Elves down and soon they, Sue and Phil worked with each other in total harmony.

The only real problem Travis faced was Bethany. As they lived more and more in the village, she quickly became bored with the Elf friends she made; she had withdrawal symptoms over the lack of her beloved Facebook and never stopped moaning about how she missed her school friends, especially Gill, who not not walking to school with her every day, had found someone else to be friends with. Travis felt sorry for her and against all his better judgement went to see Arnold, the Solicitor Elf.

‘This is serious,’ Travis said after explaining Bethany’s problems, only to be met with blank stony stares from the Elf. ‘This is supposed to be the Christmas village, the spirit of goodwill and all that, yet we have a child here who is miserable. I’m asking what can be done about it?’

‘The short answer is nothing,’ Arnold replied very seriously. ‘What is happening to Bethany, is the reason Santa shouldn’t have children living with him, here in the village.’

‘Let’s get one thing straight here,’ Travis snarled, his anger rising at the attitude of the Elf. ‘I didn’t want this job, it was forced on me, remember? It was also forced on my family, and that numb nuts includes my daughter Bethany. As I said, she is miserable in a place that is supposed to promote goodwill and make kids especially, happy beyond words,’ Travis’s voice was rising, becoming shrill, ‘and I want to know what can be done about it, and the next one to say nothing because children shouldn’t live here, will be locked in a room until Christmas with only the union Elf for company.’

‘Sorry Santa,’ Arnold replied, gulping a lungful of air down as he became very contrite. ‘I meant no disrespect or slight against Bethany, but a long time ago we had a Santa who had young children and things didn’t end happily. That’s why the Christmas magic has always selected a Santa without children, until you of course.’

‘Why, what happened?’ Travis asked.

‘They walked out into the snow without telling anyone.’ He replied softly, ‘and were never seen again; we didn’t even recover their bodies. It was a desperate time in the village, so bad Santa resigned his post.’

‘I thought it was impossible to resign?’ Travis perked up thinking there might be a way out of this yet.

‘It is,’ the elf replied in hushed tones. ‘That was the year Santa wasted away in grief as the Christmas Magic consumed him. He died in agony and Christmas nearly ended before it had even begun.’

‘OK,’ Travis muttered, ‘but that doesn’t help me with Bethany. I’m still new at the magic thing, but it seems stupid to me, I can use magic for all things to do with Christmas, but I can’t use it to let one of Bethany’s friends stay here?’

‘I don’t know,’ the elf replied scrunching his face up in bewilderment. ‘I don’t remember anyone ever trying, as I said children of Santa are a rare breed.’

Travis sat thinking for a moment, if he could get one of Bethany’s friends here, he should also be able to get the winners of the competition here too. A smile crossed his features, more of a lop sided grin that terrified the elf; when asked later he described Travis’s look as something between a halfwit and Dracula.

‘OK,’ he said making his mind up, ‘I suppose I better get the Chief on board with this; I would hate to ruffle his feathers.’

‘While you’re at it Santa,’ the Solicitor smiled a smile of pure, unadulterated devilment, ‘don’t forget the Union Elf, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, the Fairies, the Sprites, Mrs Santa and for good measure I’d throw in the Hobgoblins.’

‘Hobgoblins!!,’ Travis exclaimed, ’Where in the name of floppy bunny ears; (he didn’t mean to say floppy bunny ears, but in the Village or dressed in his Santa suit, he couldn’t swear) ’floppy bunny ears! floppy bunny ears! ice cream lollipop, floppy bunny ears!’ Travis was seething and on the verge of jumping up and down to relieve his frustration when the Solicitor tried to calm him down.

‘I only suggested the Hobgoblins,’ he hurriedly said, eyes widening at Travis and his antics. ‘Sometimes if you leave them out of things they get mischievous, then heaven help us; they’ve even been known to loosen all the wheels on the Christmas gifts, we nearly didn’t make our lists that year.’

’What you’re saying, is, I have to call a full blown Marshmallow Snowman Council meeting?’ Travis groaned at the thought of the Chief Elf, the Tooth Fairy and the Union Elf in the same room together. ‘Mind you,’ he thought, ‘given the union Elf’s negotiating skills, I should save a fortune on hot chocolate.’

‘I’m afraid so,’ Arnold smiled.

‘Hang on a minute,’ Travis said thoroughly fed up. ‘Are you telling me I can’t invite someone here without agreement from everyone?’

‘Santa,’ the Solicitor said, sorry he had opened his mouth. ‘You’re the boss here, what you say goes. You don’t need agreement from the elves and fairies, but if they think their noses are being pushed out or ignored over something, they could make life difficult. It is easier to call a meeting, that way they won’t take umbrage and life will toddle along without a hic-up.’

’Well strawberry lollipop me with a rag man’s trumpet,’ Travis muttered shaking his head.

The meeting went the way Travis imagined. What should have taken two seconds, stretched to three hours of nonsense that even made Rosie roll her eyes to heaven? The chief Elf flat out refused to contemplate a possible none believer being allowed to know about or visit the Village. Cedric, the union Elf wanted to negotiate terms for his members, and the employment of bodyguards to protect them from the behaviour of two unruly teenage girls. He did however, agree to a reduction in the hot chocolate allowance without fainting, subject to Bethany’s friend not visiting during the week, when the elves were at their busiest.

The Easter Bunny was adamant that whoever Bethany brought to the village, she wouldn’t be allowed to sample the chocolate because as everyone knows, what is left over from Christmas, goes into the making of Easter eggs. This led to an almighty row between the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, the latter insisting the visitor should be force-fed chocolate to rot her teeth. After lengthy negotiations’, the union elf agreed with whatever Travis said, vigorously nodding his head whenever he opened his mouth. The fairies buzzed and fluttered about making intricate patterns in the air; their small bodies dancing in unison, light shimmering, as it caught in the wings of the fragile creatures, turning the air into a living rainbow of vibrant, flashing and pulsating colour, that had the sprites complaining the fairy wings were giving them epileptic fits.

After three hours of brain numbing stupidity, Travis had agreement from the Council, for Arnold to check the validity of allowing Gill into the village, thankful it didn’t need another Council meeting to tell him he could, or could not, whatever the answer would be.

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