by Kevin Kardos, SUNY Cortland
Posted in on Thursday, Dec 23
Children across the world had begun the countdown… only three days left till Christmas. Wish lists had been postmarked and sent, stockings had been hung over the fireplace, and evergreen trees had been brought to life by countless strands of dancing and flashing colored lights. Carolers were already making their rounds, and the Christmas spirit was in full swing. Meanwhile, at the North Pole…
“Terrible! Just Terrible!”
Bobo, an overly plump and excitable elf was hollering as he bounced into the toy factory.
“Gather round! Gather round my fellow elves!”
Bobo was doubled over with exhaustion as he had run straight from Santa’s house to the toy factory, only a distance of a hundred yards or so, with the news.
“Take it easy, Bobo. Take it easy,” replied Otto, the chief elf in charge of toy production at the factory. All of the elves had formed up, waiting for Bobo to catch his breath.
“Bobo my good elf, you must lay off the truffles and sugar cookies,” said Otto, “Now tell us, what is wrong?”
“There has been an accident! A most dreadful accident! Rudolph has hurt his leg. I overheard Santa and Blitzen talking, and it seems that Rudolph was practicing pulling the sled this morning and has strained a muscle in his hindquarter. From what I heard, he will not be able to fly in three days!!”
The crowd exerted a collective gasp. Elves are prone to panic and high drama. Immediately after the announcement, dozens of worried conversations broke out among the group and pandemonium ensued. As the elves struggled to regain their composure, the big guy himself walked through the door.
“Settle down my little friends. Settle down.” Santa Claus was wearing his usual pair of coal-black boots and had on a pair of blue-overalls that strained under the weight of his ‘bowl full of jelly.’ He looked at his group of toy-makers with a warm grin on his face and waited for them to calm down.
“I see that news travels fast here in the North Pole,” Santa said smiling at Bobo whose red cheeks turned an even brighter shade of crimson. “I see my inquisitive little friend Bobo has told you that we have suffered a minor accident. It is true that Rudolph has been injured, and although he will not be ready to go on the big day, the injury is not serious and he will recover just fine.”
The group relaxed on hearing the news that their dear friend Rudolph was going to be O.K.
“However, this does present a small problem; as you know, the sled does require the strength of nine reindeer to complete the journey. I have spoken with the other reindeer and their families and Rudolph and I have come up with a plan. The day after tomorrow at noon, we will be holding open tryouts for another reindeer to fill the vacant post. Rudolph and I will be judging, and I am most confident that we will find an able replacement to fill in this year.”
The elves stared back-and-forth at each other in amazement.
“Now my little friends, there is much work to be done and Mrs. Claus is expecting me for dinner. Don’t worry yourselves, all will work out just fine.” Santa gave the group one last smile and turned to head home.
As soon as he left, the excitable chatter broke out in the toy factory. “Try-outs! Who do you think will win? Dasher’s boy Swifty is a strong young fellow... Prancer’s daughter Pirouette is an excellent flier…” and on and on. In the corner of the toy factory, with broom in hand, the quiet little elf Toby watched with excitement.
Toby was small, even for an elf. At a little over two-and-a half feet tall, he was a good six inches shorter than the others. He was shy and timid, which is very unusual for an elf. He was the only elf who did not work as a toy-maker. As fate would have it, Toby was just no good at making toys. In school, the electric trains that he made only worked in reverse. His wooden tops failed to spin even for a second, and most embarrassingly, the heads of the dolls that he made always seemed to fall right off. No matter how hard he tried, toy making was just not his specialty. This was even more disconcerting, since his grandfather had been the renowned toy-maker, Shamus. The very Shamus who had invented the yo-yo AND the hula-hoop. It was a tough shadow to grow up under, and Toby preferred just to hide beneath it. Instead of toy making, Toby was put in charge of cleaning up and sweeping the toy factory every night. It was not a job that he was proud of, but he felt very fortunate to still be a part of the magic of Santa’s toy factory.
On the night of the announcement, Toby was indeed excited. He was sort of an outsider in the elf community and did not have many close friends with the exception of Ed the reindeer. The two were inseparable. So, having been informed of the big news, Toby hurried to finish up cleaning and rushed to tell Ed, who slept in a stall behind the factory the big news.
Ed was not your typical North Pole reindeer. Like Toby, he was small and very shaggy. His hair was coarse and grainy like broom bristles and was always very messy. He was overweight and his antlers were twice the size of his body. He looked more like a potbellied moose than a reindeer. Ed was a distant cousin of Dasher, and when he was younger had dreamed of one day being called up to be a part of Santa’s sled team. Unfortunately, Ed had one major flaw that kept him from realizing his dream. He was afraid of heights. He would get no more than five feet off the ground and become paralyzed with fear and come crashing down in a heap. So for years, Ed had worked as a janitor at the toy factory, pulling sleds filled with trash to the dump, always dreaming that he was actually pulling Santa’s sled through the sky. Sadly, the years passed by and Ed had begun to lose hope. So when his best friend Toby arrived with the news of the tryouts, Ed was anything but hopeful.
“You can do it Ed!! I know you can! It’s the chance you’ve been waiting for!” an enthusiastic Toby declared.
“I don’t think so Toby. As much as I appreciate your enthusiasm, you seem to be forgetting that I can’t fly! Besides, I am not a young reindeer anymore, and I am not in what you call peak physical shape.”
“Nonsense,” replied Toby, “we can do it together. The tryouts are not for two days yet. You and I will train together! I know you can do it!”
“Toby, there are dozens of younger and stronger reindeer than myself. I would not stand a chance.”
“What are you saying to me? You will not even try? What have you been telling me these past years? You tell ME not to give up on my toy-making, even though all the tires still fall off my wooden trucks and my jack-in-the-boxes keep exploding into a thousand pieces. You are always telling me to stick with it and not lose hope. Well, now it is your turn. I will not take no for an answer. I will see you in the morning, and we will start getting ready.”
Toby left Ed feeling slightly ashamed because of his doubt, but was even more concerned for his own safety.
Toby arrived as promised at sunrise. He and Ed went a good ways outside the village so that they could practice in private.
“O.K. Ed, I will be right here on your back. Do not be afraid, and for goodness sake, do not look down. Just let yourself lift off and soar through the air. You can do it; I believe in you.”
“You have your helmet on tight, don’t you Toby?”
“You bet. I made this one myself.”
Ed took a deep breath to steady his nerves and started to run. He thrust himself up in the air and lifted off the ground without a hitch, his eyes slammed shut the entire time. As he rose off the ground about ten feet, Toby hollered, “You’re doing it Ed! You’re doing it!” Just then Ed opened his eyes and saw the ground falling farther away. Ed instantly became very dizzy and started to swerve from side to side.
“Ahhhhhh!!!” He and Toby screamed as Ed fell into a tailspin and crashed back to Earth with a THUD!
“Are you O.K. Toby?!!” a distraught Ed asked as he clambered up to his feet.
Toby lay facedown a few feet away and with a muffled voice answered, “I’m fine. But we got a lot of work to do.”
The rest of the afternoon continued in the same fashion. As soon as Ed would open his eyes, he would get dizzy and down he would fall. It was getting dark and frustration had more than set in.
“I appreciate you helping me Toby, but I think we’re a lost cause. I don’t know what happens. I just get so nervous and lose all my control.”
A bruised and kindhearted Toby replied, “That’s O.K. my friend, at least we tried.”
They returned to the village and said goodnight to each other. Ed, exhausted and battered, returned to his stall behind the toy factory feeling sad and forlorn. “I wish I was able to do it,” he thought to himself as he rested his weary bones in his bed of straw. “I feel so bad for letting down Toby. The little fella had such high hopes.” He closed his eyes and tried restlessly to fall asleep.
The next day, the village was abuzz with reindeer practicing for the tryouts. Toby and Ed sat outside together and watched the other reindeer float through the air. They watched young Pirouette, who was indeed a graceful flier, soar effortlessly in the sky. Swifty and many others were practicing take-offs and landings and many appeared to be very skilled and able. Santa and Rudolph, with his leg bandaged sat on the porch of Santa’s house and watched the going’s on.
“There are many fine candidates,” Santa said to Rudolph as they watch the action unfold.
“Indeed,” replied Rudolph, “I think we will have a tough decision to make tomorrow.”
Toby and Ed sat quietly together. “I am proud of you for trying, Ed. I guess it was just not meant to be. I have to get back to work, the other elves have been busy and I have much cleaning to do.” Toby said goodbye, and Ed remained watching as the sun began to set.
It was well past midnight, and Ed, who was still not sleeping soundly, was awakened by the distinct smell of smoke. He rushed out of his stall and was confronted by a sight that he could not understand. Smoke was pouring of the toy factory and the building was engulfed in flames. Ed ran around to the front and saw a panic-stricken Bobo pacing wildly back-and-forth.
“What happened?” shouted Ed as he approached the portly, terrified elf.
“I was testing the new model EZ-Bake Oven earlier and made myself some cookies, and I think I may have left it on!” shouted Bobo as he began to sob.
Ed peered at the factory and noticed that toys were being thrown outside from the windows.
“Bobo, is anybody inside?” asked Ed as a sudden grip of fear overcame him.
“It’s Toby. He ran back inside. I begged him not to go, but he kept saying, “The toys! We have to save the toys!”
Without hesitation, Ed sprinted through the fiery front door. “Toby! Toby!” shouted Ed as he grappled to see through the smoke.
There in the corner lay Toby. He was not moving and Ed rushed to his side. He used his giant antlers to scoop Toby off the floor and lay him across his back. A wall of fire blocked the front door and Ed could not even see the back entrance through a wall of flame. Ed paced back and forth as the flames drew closer and closer. He looked up at the west wall of the factory, and there, some thirty feet up was an opening. He could see a window that was not yet engulfed and he knew what he must do. He took a few steps and lifted-off the ground as the flames nearly reached up and grabbed his hooves. He rose higher and higher, never taking his eyes off the window.
Outside, the rest of the village was gathering in a frenzy. Elves and reindeer were looking at one another with tearful eyes. Santa and Mrs. Claus, still in her nightgown, were standing with them. Rudolph and a few other elves were trying to console a devastated Bobo as he wept uncontrollably.
With a sound of shattering glass, the entire village gazed up at the factory. Up in the air, soaring out of the flames and smoke, Ed crashed through the window and into the sky. He climbed higher and higher to safety and then turned and landed carefully.
The entire village rushed to his aide. Ed, exhausted and overcome by the smoke lay in the snow with Toby on his back. Santa took a few steps forward and lifted the little elf off of Ed’s back. Toby was covered in soot and appeared to not be breathing. With a sudden cough, the little elf came to life. He looked up at Santa and said, “Did we save the toys?”
Santa smiled warmly and replied, “Relax my little friend. Everything is fine. We have plenty of toys.”
“Santa,” Toby asked, “how did I make it out? All I remember is fire, and then I could see stars. I felt I was so high in the air that I could touch them.”
Santa set the boy down and pointed toward Ed, who was lying in the snow. “That brave reindeer is the one who saved you.”
Toby knelt down and petted Ed’s wiry fur. Ed, who was too exhausted to speak, looked up at his friend and smiled. All of the other elves and reindeer gathered around to see. Rudolph walked up to Santa and said, “I think we have found my replacement.”
It was a magical evening. The sled was loaded with toys and presents. The entire village was lined up, as was the custom as Santa and his team of reindeer departed on Christmas Eve.
“On Dasher, on Dancer, on Prancer, and Vixen, on Comet and Cupid, Donner and Blitzen!” shouted Santa as the sled pulled away. “And most important of all,” bellowed Santa, “ON ED!!!” Ed was up in front with the lead spot. He turned to look back at Santa, and was overcome with joy as he saw sitting next to the big guy himself, his best friend Toby.
DESIGNER: Greg Montano, New Media Design, SUNY Cortland, USA
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