Christmas with the Calvins

Chapter Ten

Bernard was sitting at his desk writing the outline for his post-Christmas speech. The new Santa didn't seem to be much of a planner, so motivating the elves would most likely fall into his lap again this year. Jessie had followed the head elf into his office without really thinking about it. There was no place for her to go now that the toys were finished and deliveries were being made. Sure she could have sat with Judy and Quintin while they listened in on Santa's progress, but the Research and Development Department was overcrowded with elves. Bernard's office was quiet. The only noises in the room were coming from the quiet scratching of the elf's calligraphy pen as it danced across his parchment and the occasional crunch whenever the teenage girl bit into a new cookie.

"How did you learn to write like that?" Jessie questioned Bernard while she watched his hand create beautiful swirling letters.

"Write like what?" He looked up from his notes. He didn't see anything special in his handwriting. It was the way most elves wrote.

"The Calligraphy. Can I take a closer look?"

"Be my guest." Bernard had never let anyone look at his post-Christmas outline before, but there was something about Jessie's warm, trusting presence that softened his tough exterior. She stood next to him to get a better view of the artistic handwriting.

"You should see how ugly my handwriting is..." A light laugh, that reminded the head elf so much of a bell's jingling, escaped from the girl's lips. He was about to offer her calligraphy lessons when two elves burst into his office. It was Judy and Quintin.

"We've got a problem!" Judy announced worriedly. "Santa was at the Miller's, but he's not responding."

"I think it's time to deploy E.L.F.S." Quintin suggested.

"Did he just say it's time to deploy the elfs?" Jessie asked.

"No, he said E.L.F.S. it's an acronym for..." Bernard began to correct her.

"It's easier to just show you." Quintin insisted.

"Right," The head elf agreed. The group of four ran to the main floor of the workshop where Bernard tugged on a rope that hung from the ceiling. This sounded an alarm in the E.L.F.S. office. Jessie watched four elves dressed in flight suits run out of their office and towards the sleigh room.

"E.L.F.S." She read from the window above the office. "Effective Liberating Flight Squad."

"They're a highly trained team of elves." Bernard promised her. "We created E.L.F.S. hundreds of years ago for situations like this. How do you think Santa's gone so long undetected?"

"What about Charlie?" The boy's sister asked. "E.L.F.S. will make sure he's alright too?"

"Well we're certainly not going to leave him stranded on a roof!" Quintin assured her.

Stranded on a roof was exactly where Charlie Calvin found himself that night after watching the police arrest his dad. The sky was dark with only the stars for light. He might have thought it was pretty if he wasn't too worried about being stuck on Neil's roof forever. Four small figures, Charlie instantly knew to be elves, landed on the roof around him.

"Charlie?" One of the E.L.F.S. agents asked.

"Yeah." He answered cautiously.

"Don't worry, we're the good guys." The agent promised. "C'mon, let's go save Santa!" He offer a hand to the son of Santa.

"We can't." Charlie said, getting to his feet. "The police are watching this place."

"Yeah, they probably are." A second member of E.L.F.S. agreed. "But you see we weren't figuring on walking out the front door. "

"We find that we can get around a lot faster if we fly. Now, grab hold of my hand." The first agent offered out his hand again. Charlie took it this time without hesitation. "Okay, now hang on tight. And Charlie?"

"Yeah?" The boy asked.

"Don't ever try this without elf supervision."

"Bernard, can you take me to Mom and Neil's?" Jess asked the head elf.

"Transporting humans is difficult." He said with a frown. "I've never tried it before."

"I trust you." She promised before holding out her hand to him. Bernard knew it would probably help Santa if his daughter could smooth things over with Laura, but he also knew that if he lost the girl somewhere he'd lose his job. Sighing he gripped Jessie's hand tightly.

"Whatever you do, do not let go." He ordered. "And don't talk, I have to concentrate." Jess did as she was told. Holding Bernard's hand tightly she waited to be transported to Neil and Laura's house.

Two sets of feet landed safely in the center of the Miller's house. Immediately Laura and Neil rushed out of the kitchen to see what was going on.

"Jess!" Her mother threw her arms around her. "Oh where have you been? Where's Charlie?"

"Laura," Neil marveled. Hi stepdaughter and her friend had just appeared from seemingly nothing. "He's sucking us into his delusions!"

In the mean time, Charlie and the E.L.F.S. squad had arrived at the police station. A portly cop with a red handlebar mustache was chomping away at a doughnut.

"We're looking for Santa Claus." Charlie told the officer.

"Go home kids." The officer grumbled. "Visiting hours are over."

"We're not kids." The head of E.L.F.S. said. "and we're not visiting."

"We're here to bust out my dad." Charlie explained.

"You're the Calvin boy!" The office recognized him from the photos. "Who are these other kids?"

"We're your worst nightmare." One of the E.L.F.S. agents promised. While the officer was distracted the three other agents snuck behind him and forced him into his chair. "Elves with attitude!"

"I shouldn't have had that doughnut!" The office remarked as he was spun around in the chair. The E.L.F.S. team wrapped layer after layer of Christmas ribbon around the policeman to secure him to the chair. This gave the elves the opportunity to liberate Santa from his jail cell.

"Charlie!" Scott yelled at the first sight of his son.

"Are you okay Dad?" The boy asked, running over.

"I am now!" Santa breathed with relief when he spotted his E.L.F.S. team. Without another word the head agent removed a few stands of tinsel from his pocket and rubbed them along the hinges of Scott's cell. The tinsel cut through the hinges like butter allowing Scott to lift the door off the cell out of his way.

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