Santa's Newest Reindeer (12 page)

Earth. Some you can see from Holly Valley, and some you can-

not. From our viewpoint on Earth, the stars in the constellation

of Orion seem to outline the picture of a hunter. Orion, in Greek mythology, was a giant hunter killed by the goddess Artemis.”

The twins were fascinated by Jeepers’s knowledge. He knew

more than their teachers did! They were like sponges, soaking

up Jeepers’s words of wisdom. Their only movements were the

natural blinking of their eyelids.

“Two constellations are thought to look like bears—Great

Bear and Little Bear. The tail and hips of the Great Bear are

also known as the Big Dipper. Polaris is the last star in the

handle of the Little Dipper. It shines to the north and is called the North Star. The two stars at the end of the bowl of the Big

Dipper always point in the direction of the North Star.

“Santa uses the constellations and the stars within each pat-

tern as a celestial roadmap guiding him on his annual worldwide

sleigh ride every Christmas Eve. Other space travelers, like

Santa’s elves, also use this means to navigate on their destina-

tions. Needless to say, Rudolph and the eight tiny reindeer are

the critical in-flight navigators.”

Wil and El ie strained left and right, trying to see what

Jeepers was talking about.

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“There it is. See it! There’s the North Star. And there is the

Big Dipper!” they hollered in unison, drowning out Jeepers’s

explanations.

“I think I see Orion,” exclaimed Will, nodding his head

toward its position in the sky.

“Yes, I seee it!” yelled Ellie. She thrust her right arm from

under the comforter, drawing a line of sight on Orion. Simul-

taneously, a stab of ice-cold air dove under the opening in the

comforter caused by Ellie’s excitement. She quickly repositioned

her arm and closed the gap.

The two stargazers screamed aloud as Cosmos misjudged his

speed and turned too late. The cutter’s sharp runners scraped the North Star’s surface, plowing deep scars in its surface. Normally it was a short, direct flight from Idaho to the Arctic Circle, but not with the wayward Cosmos. He had his own ideas of how and

when to get to a destination. But Jeepers was ready for him this

time. Jeepers’s muscles flexed tightly as he pulled back on the

reins. The cutter bounced and swerved several times before he

regained control. Cosmos arched upward, swinging the reckless

cutter to the left and back to the right. He was showing off for

the twins—a smart-alecky move that Jeepers did not like one

bit. He snapped the reins again, and Cosmos responded with

a burst of lightning speed, pulling the careening cutter back

into alignment. Jeepers shook his fist at the spirited reindeer,

muttering under his stubby beard. Cosmos didn’t seem to like

Jeepers’s reprimand. He dropped his head and budding antlers

and kicked his rear hoofs high above the little driver’s head in

an act of defiance.

“Sorry ’bout that,” the elf apologized, tweaking the reins and

catching his breath. “I told you Cosmos is a very young reindeer

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and is in training. This is his first solo flight without another reindeer copiloting,” explained a flustered Jeepers, avoiding any blame for the inattentive driving. The twins didn’t seem overly

bothered by the rough ride, nor did they hear Jeepers scolding

the rebellious reindeer. Ellie and Will were enchanted by the

endless beauty of the starry universe.

“Tell us more! Tell us more! What are the stars made of?”

begged the twins, who by now were leaning over his muscular

shoulders to get a better view.

“If you promise never to tell anyone, except your parents and

grandparents, I will tell you a secret, but you have to promise

me,” threatened Jeepers, looking first into Ellie’s eyes and then into Will’s. When he was convinced that he could trust the two

earthlings, the little driver cleared his throat.

“Cross your heart and hope to die?”

“We prommmise,” they vowed, marking their hearts with

the form of an X.

“All the twinkling stars you can see, and those stars you can’t

see, are the souls and spirits of former elves who worked for

Santa at the North Pole. They are here all the time—day and

night—but you can only see Santa’s elves when the elves want

to be seen, and that is always at night.”

The two were overwhelmed by the secret Jeepers had just

shared. They stared at the millions upon millions of twinkling

stars. They felt they were not alone. The twinkling stars seemed

to wink at them. Will and Ellie tried to ask Jeepers questions,

but the tightness in their throats prevented any words from

coming forth and nothing more was said. To them, Jeepers’s

secret was simply more proof that Santa Claus did exist. Millions

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upon millions of stars could not all be wrong. The Milky Way

was proof in itself. Ellie and Will were more convinced than

ever that they were on their way to Santa’s Village.

Jeepers directed the twins’ attention to a point directly

between Cosmos’s antlers. “Straight ahead is the Arctic Circle.

During the winter, the sun stays below the horizon and no

human can see Santa’s Village. During midwinter or twilight

time, light is provided by the moon and stars in addition to the

magical northern lights and a clean, bright cover of glistening

snow. The secret of the Arctic Circle is that regular time changes into magical time for Santa’s elves and reindeer. Anything is

possible at Santa’s Village. Remember, you promised not to tell

any secrets I share with you, right?”

The small celestial cutter seemed to be suspended in midair as

the twins heard Jeepers talking to someone other than Cosmos.

They strained to eavesdrop, but their body harnesses held firmly.

Magically, a clear glass dome appeared abruptly on the hori-

zon. The cutter stopped nearly on top of it. The twins looked

down and saw a small village with little buildings, little people, little trees, little roads, little animals, little everything!

“We have been cleared to enter the Globe. Santa is here, and

he and all the residents are looking forward to meeting with

you,” reported the wee helmsman.

The twins were speechless. Ellie and Will had seen hundreds

of snow globes. Their Aunt Gail had collected snow globes

for a long time. Santa’s Village looked identical to the snow

globe on her mantle. She had boxes of snow globes stored in

her closets and as many boxes in her attic. It was fun running

through her house, shaking as many of the snow globes as

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possible before they were yelled at. Aunty Gail said the twins

were going to get all of them as a gift someday. Mom hoped

the twins had their own house by then, but they never asked

what she meant by that.

Jeepers smiled and winked at them. “Ha, ha, ha! Ho, ho, ho!

Oh what fun! We are in a holding pattern for an open runway

that has a gentle uphill slope just in case Cosmos overshoots

his coordinates. Don’t worry. We practice this precaution with

all reindeer trainees. Once in a while it’s necessary, but it rarely happens.” Based on what happened as they skirted by Orion,

Jeepers hoped it would not happen again. One close call per

trip was one too many.

The fog separated, creating a clear landing path for the

travelers. Jeepers jerked back on the reins, and Cosmos’s speed

slowed. The cutter dropped forward into a deep descent, which

thrust their bodies against the straining body belts. The com-

forter fell about their feet as they grabbed the back of the

driver’s seat. The action reminded the twins of the rocket

whirly ride at the state fair. They couldn’t get enough of that

daredevil ride and usually spent nearly all their money on that

one ride. The cutter leveled off at about fifty feet, floating

above the domed village.

“What you see is Santa’s Village. It is sealed in a silvery

glass bubble top and a weatherproof base. Yes, it looks like a

snow globe because
it is
encased in a snow globe. Of course, you know what a snow globe is. The bubble protects the village

and all its inhabitants from stormy weather and intruders. You

could fly over this spot all day and never see it, but everyone

in the village sees you.”

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The sled jostled from side to side as it tilted forward and

backward, gliding between the two thick fog banks. Jeepers’s

many years of experience were being tested, steadying the craft’s pitching and rolling. The fog banks blended together behind

them, erasing any evidence of the cutter’s pathway into the

snow globe.

“Welcome to Santa’s Village!” yelled the wee elf as the sled’s

runners glided smoothly onto the icy tundra. “Ha, ha, ha! Ho,

ho, ho! Oh what fun!”

Ellie and Will shrieked with joy.

“Nothin’ to it. Been there, done that many times,” smirked

the veteran driver.

The gigantic sliding glass doors closed, sealing the globe

from all inhospitable elements. While Jeepers led Cosmos and

the cutter to the reindeer barn, happy faces and robust cheers

welcomed them. Ellie and Will rubbed their eyes and pinched

each other. They could not believe what they were seeing.

Gathered before them were endless numbers of little people

in multicolored clothes and stocking caps. They saw short people

and even shorter people. That is to say, Ellie and Will were as tall as the elf adults, and the elf children stood only up to the twins’

waists. Even the dogs and cats were miniature size. Could they

really be at Santa’s Village? Certainly they must be dreaming.

Every Christmas Eve, Mom would read “’Twas the Night

Before Christmas” to them. When everyone had retired for the

evening, the twins would sneak downstairs and hide behind

the couch, hoping to see Santa Claus come down the chimney.

While they believed in Santa Claus, not only were they going

to see Santa, but they were going to meet him.

Seeing is believing, but meeting is convincing!

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The wind caught the storm door and slammed it against the side

of the house, nearly scaring Peg and Grams to death. The noise

scared them out of their comfortable chairs and propelled them

to see what had caused the commotion. They tippy-toed their

way through the dark rooms, fearful of banging their shins into

a protruding table or chair. As they peered around the kitchen

corner, Bill lunged to keep the door from crashing again.

“Did you find the kids?” begged Peg, helping to close the

door. She only counted two people, and they were big people.

“Where are my babies?”

“No, but . . .” replied Gramps. Before he could utter another

word, the two women quizzed them endlessly on where they

searched and who they had recruited to help them.

“We need something hot to drink—coffee, hot chocolate,

tea—anything to warm our innards,” demanded Bill as the two

men removed the last of their winter clothes.

They warmed their bodies near the wood-burning kitchen

stove until the hot drinks heated them from the inside out.

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Shuddering with spastic chills, Bill recounted the steps they

had taken on their quest to find the children. He related how

they came upon unusual animal tracks and footprints that sim-

ply disappeared into thin air. From there they trudged to the

neighbors’ houses, but most were unwilling to leave their homes

and families, and some neighbors were not home or did not

answer the door. Those who were willing to help would do so

when the storm let up and it was safe to go outside. Bill and

Gramps knew it would be a difficult chore to get people to

help, even though children were missing. They made plans to

meet at the Taylors’ front gate when the storm broke. Since the

power lines were down, no one knew what the weather forecast