Christmas with the Calvins

Chapter Seventy-Seven

Using the information from the booklet Scott was able to call and book himself. a ticket on the NorthPole Airlines. It was a high speed commercial jet that was going to make the seven-hour flight from Chicago to the Pole in just three and a half hours. Scott used his time on the plane to reflect on everything he'd seen. Despite what he'd originally thought, it seemed Jess was better off being at the North Pole married to Bernard. He might not be able to remember her but at least they loved each other. He couldn't believe what had happened to Neil! Sure he hadn't like the guy at first but now he was a part of the family. Everyone was better with him around, even Scott himself. One thing was for sure, he needed to find Charlie and Lucy and they needed to put thing back the way they were meant to be.

"I still don't understand why we are doing this!" A man from behind Scott was complaining to his family. "I mean going on Vacation to the North Pole? It's ridiculous!" Scott peeked around his seat because for some reason the man's voice sounded familiar. He was entirely surprised to see Bud and Sylvia Newman seated just two rows behind him.

What are the chances of that? Scott asked himself. He turned back around so the Newman's wouldn't know he was listening in on their conversation, but he kept an ear open, hoping to hear some news about this reality's Carol.

"Now Bud, it's been a long time since we've done something that's just the two of us and with Carol living in England now..." Slyvia was saying.

"Yeah!" Bud made a disgruntled noise. "Our daughter, she used to be something you know! Then she ran off with that professor from Northwestern. We should be flying to see her, not this ridiculously overpriced resort."

"Carol said she didn't want to see us, Bud. We can't force her to want to spend time with us." Scott was lucky there was no one around to see him reacting to what the Newman's were saying. His Carol had been so torn apart about not being able to see her parents, he couldn't believe that the version of Carol that wasn't married to him wouldn't want her parents around! It seemed impossible, it seemed like one person's actions couldn't have that much of an effect on the people around them. He really needed to get to the North Pole and find Charlie and Lucy.

Things at the North Pole were far worse than he could have pictured. When they stepped off the plane, the North Pole Airlines passengers were shuttled from the airport to the center of the town square. Right away Scott could see the differences. The small village of houses that all of the elves were meant to live is was gone. In their place was a large ten story hotel. It was now the tallest building in at the Pole, it looked to be even bigger than the main workshop.

Scott followed the crowd through the main door of the Workshop where one of the elves was taking people's tickets. Scott handed his ticket to the elf, who's name was Busby, and noticed that all of the elves were wearing hunter green polo shirts with ELF embroidered in bright red across the chest.

"Talk about a scarlet letter..." He mumbled to himself when Busby handed his ticket back. The inside of the workshop looked nothing like the factory floor that he remembered. It looked more like EPCOT at Disney World or a World's Fair with dozens of little booths set up everywhere. Each of the booths were advertised with bright red neon signs. From the entrance Scott could make out a build-a-toy station and directions to a reindeer petting area. Even worse was the fact that the entire floor was covered wall to wall with people. Everywhere they were pushing and shoving to get to the overpriced merchandise.

"Santa?!" Scott had been in this freaky alternate reality long enough to know that if anyone was calling for Santa they certainly weren't looking for him. He continued making his way inside, remembering to keep an eye out for Charlie, Lucy or even Curtis. Anyone who could help him put things back to the way they were supposed to be. As he neared the reindeer petting zoo, Scott heard someone calling for Santa again.

"Scott Calvin!" That got his attention all right. Scott looked his left to see what looked like a teenage boy in a security uniform waving him over to a dark corner of the workshop. Normally Scott wouldn't accept an invitation under such strange circumstances, but everything else in this reality was so upside down that well, what really could go wrong? When Scott was close enough to see the security elf's face he recognized him in an instant.

"Bernard?" Scott could hardly accept what he was seeing. Of all the people or elves he'd expected to find at the North Pole, he hadn't imagined a Bernard who remembered who he was.

"Oh thank Christmas you know who I am!" Bernard visibly relaxed as he huffed a sigh of relief. "follow me!" Scott didn't think twice before following Bernard down a quiet hallway that was secluded from the chaos of the main workshop. It felt so natural having the huffy elf telling him what to do again.

"So you know who I am?" Scott asked once he was certain there was no one else around. "I don't understand, you know that I'm..."

"Santa Claus?" Bernard filled in the gap. "Yes, and you know who I am? You know that I am married to your daughter?"

"This just doesn't make any sense!" Scott put a hand to his forehead. "No one else remembers our real life. I saw Jessie, Laura, and I came here looking for Charlie and Lucy. I don't understand how you can remember but no one else can."

"I've been alone here for a very long time." Bernard sighed. "You have no idea what a relief it is to have someone recognize me."

"Trust me," Scott scoffed, "I do!"

"I've been trapped here for about two years. One minute I was inspecting Christmas lights and then..."

"You fell off the roof." Scott explained. "Jessie and I begged you to come down and when you got on the ladder you lost your footing and fell. After that you woke up thinking it was 1994."

"But I didn't wake up!" Bernard insisted. "I woke up here, in my worst nightmare! My wife isn't my wife here, we don't have kids together, I have no family actually. There's no secret of Santa Claus, and Curtis is Head Elf! But something must have happened to bring you here, because I've seen the Scott Calvin who belongs here and he didn't recognize me."

"Well how did you know I was me?" Scott asked.

"You're the only person who looked as horrified about the way this place is run now." Bernard explained. "I assumed you were my Scott Calvin and I took a chance, but you're avoiding my question. What happened to bring you here?"

"Ah, yeah..." Scott rubbed the back of his neck. Bernard was going to be the first person that he'd have to admit what he'd done. "I accidentally used the Escape Clause..."

"Accidentally?" Bernard raised his eyebrows while trying not to simultaneously raising his voice. "How do you accidentally hold your personal Santa snow globe and say the very specific phrase 'I wish I'd never become Santa at all' on accident!?"

"It's complicated!" Scott sighed. "You don't understand. You haven't been around...Carol's parents came to visit...Christmas was in crisis and somehow Frost got my snowglobe..."

"Frost as in Jack Frost?" Bernard very much wished that he was in his own reality where he could scream as loud as he wanted to without drawing in unwanted attention. Instead he dropped his tone down to a sharp hiss. "What in the name of sleigh bells did you do?"

"Relax." Scott told him. "I'm going to fix it. Will you help me find Charlie and Lucy?"

"Anything. To help get us back home." Bernard nodded. "I'll search the East side and you can check the West. We'll meet back here if either of us finds them."

"All right." Scott agreed. He let Bernard return to the workshop floor first knowing that it would be suspicious for the two of them to appear from a secret hallway together. The elves might not remember who he was but Frost certainly would and he wanted to be able to take the icy trickster by surprise.