Summary: When Curtis takes Santa's sleigh out for a joy ride, he crashes it, losing 7 of Santa's 8 reindeer. It's up to Bernard and Curtis to find them and fix the sleigh before Santa Claus finds out.

Joy Ride

It was June, on the first day of summer. Santa Claus's elves milled about, and had been working hard all year round to make Christmas perfect. Bernard, the head elf, strolled down the fanciful halls of the North Pole, clipboard in hand. He was hurriedly taking inventory of the toys. "Come on, Timmy," he told a red-haired elf half his size, "I told you we need forty Slinkys, not twenty-nine. You need to pick up the pace."

"Sorry, Bernard," little Timmy replied sheepishly, fiddling with the metal spring.

The head elf scribbled a note on his clipboard. "I'll be back to check on you later," he said, and walked away.

Bernard glanced over to a specific workstation, doing a double take. "Hey, Judy," he snagged the brunette elf's arm, "where's Curtis? He hasn't been at his station all morning."

Judy shrugged. "I don't know. Last time I saw him he was over by the sleigh with Comet."

Bernard let out a long sigh. Judy grinned at the agitated look on his face. "Get back to work," Bernard snapped.

He trudged toward the sleigh room, his dark brown curls bouncing under his beret with each step. "Hi, Bernard!" the reindeer groomers greeted him. "Did you see the liftoff? The reindeers' coats looked lovely, didn't they?"

"Liftoff?" pondered Bernard.

"Yeah," one of the elves explained, "Curtis came in here saying to get Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen—"

"Okay, okay! I know their names! What did he say?" the impatient head elf interrupted.

"He said to get them ready, that Santa was going for a sleigh ride," another groomer answered.

Bernard dropped his clipboard. "But . . . I saw Santa a few minutes ago. He wasn't going anywhere."

The shocked elves exchanged looks. "What do we do?" the first one asked Bernard.

"Nothing, I'll handle this. But don't you dare tell Santa or I'm cancelling the Secret Santa this year!"

Heads bobbed up and down in agreement. "Well, the sleigh took off before Blitzen got hooked up, so you can take him to go find Curtis," the second elf suggested.

00000

Bernard had used the sleigh GPS tracker to locate Santa's sleigh, which had landed in the Canadian wilderness. He rode Blitzen there, and was searching for any sign of Curtis or the sleigh. "Curtis!" he called at the top of his lungs.

"Sheesh, I'm right behind you!"

Curtis was stuck in a tree, hanging on the lowest branch by his coat. "Curtis, what are you doing up there?" Bernard questioned.

"Oh, right, like I hung myself in a tree on purpose!"

Bernard helped the bespectacled elf get down. Curtis wiped off his shirt and adjusted his suspenders. "Where's the sleigh, genius?" Bernard demanded.

"I, uh . . . crashed it."

Bernard put his hands on his hips in frustration. "You crashed it!?"

Curtis pressed his lips together. "I'm sorry! I just wanted to go for a ride! It was an accident!"

Bernard forced himself to take deep breaths. "Where are the reindeer?"

"They flew away," Curtis peeped.

The head elf rubbed his forehead. "Santa's going to kill us," he muttered.

"Us? But I did it. Why would you get in trouble?"

"Because I'm in charge of you! Ugh, Curtis, if you'd just done what you were told we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"I said I was sorry."

"Sorry's not going to fix the sleigh! Or find the reindeer!"

Bernard began breathing faster, as if starting to hyperventilate. He burst out laughing strangely. "You crashed the sleigh," he stated midlaugh, "and lost the reindeer!"

Curtis stared uncomfortably at his friend's nervous laughter. "Are you okay, Bernard?"

Grinning falsely, Bernard exclaimed, "Fine! I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be fine?"

"Because you're doing that thing you do when you're having a panic attack," Curtis told him, an eyebrow raised.

Bernard's smile turned to a frown, and he sighed depressedly. "We have to find those reindeer and fix the sleigh before Santa finds out."

"Bernard, relax! I'll fix this, I promise. I saw where the reindeer went. Dasher, Dancer, and Prancer flew East. Vixen and Comet headed South. Cupid and Donner went Northwest."

"Good, at least we aren't searching completely blind. Where'd the sleigh crash?"

"Behind the tree I was stuck in," Curtis said, pointing to the tall tree.

The two of them walked around the tree to find a partially intact sleigh lying on its side. "Curtis! You said you crashed it!" cried Bernard.

"I did."

"You didn't crash it, you mutilated it! Look at this!" Bernard picked up a chunk of sleigh, which crumbled in his hand. "It's irreparable!"

"Then we'll just . . . make a new sleigh!" Curtis recommended enthusiastically.

Bernard let his head droop forward. "We're so dead," he moaned. "We'll be in so much trouble, he'll kill us, bring us back to life, and kill us again!"

"Chill! I made an almost perfect replica of Santa once, so I can definitely make a new sleigh."

"Yeah, and that turned out so well! We were enslaved by a plastic Santa who wanted to give all kids coal!"

"Well, in this case, if I mess up, it's not like the sleigh can do that!"

"Oh, just get on Blitzen! We should find the reindeer before someone sees them. We'll worry about the sleigh later," Bernard said, hopping on Blitzen.

"Fine," Curtis grumbled, getting on their ride.

00000

Bernard and Curtis flew around the globe, following Curtis's vague directions, but they never found a single reindeer. They even retraced their flight paths several times, to no avail. Eventually, they gave up and went back to the North Pole. They'd just have to explain the situation to Santa Claus, and hope he doesn't kill them. After putting Blitzen away, Bernard and Curtis reluctantly inched down the hallways toward Santa's room. When the two made it to his room, they paused at the door. "Way to go, Curtis," Bernard retorted hushedly.

"I said I was sorry!"

"Hey, Bernard, Curtis," Santa greeted them from behind.

They spun around. "Santa!" the head elf nervously replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

Curtis burst into tears. "I'm so sorry, Santa! I took the sleigh for a ride without asking! I crashed it by accident, and lost the reindeer! I'm SO sorry!"

Santa rested a hand on Curtis's shoulder. "Curtis, it's okay! All the reindeer came back. And the sleigh you crashed was a decoy."

Curtis sniffled. "What?"

"You forgot already? You built a decoy sleigh for me a few years ago, remember?"

Curtis smiled. "That's right! I can't believe I forgot!"

"A decoy sleigh?" Bernard echoed in bewilderment.

"Yep," Curtis replied proudly. "That's why it crashed. It wasn't meant for flying long distances. After plastic Santa took off with the real sleigh, I built the decoy in case someone else tries to steal it."

"So, you're not going to kill us?" Bernard asked Santa.

Santa bellowed a laugh. "I'm never that harsh on you guys. Just don't do anything like that again, Curtis. And Bernard, don't let Curtis out of your sight, okay?"

Bernard nodded. Curtis snickered at the head elf, "And you thought he'd kill us twice!"

"Actually," Santa said, "I would've killed you three times."

Bernard gasped. Santa chuckled. "I'm just messing with you! Don't be so serious all the time, Bernard," the jolly man reassured him, and patted him on the back.

When Santa Claus walked away, Curtis laughed at Bernard. "Ha! You should've seen the look on your face!"

Bernard scowled at his friend. "If you ever do that to me again, I'll kill you four times," he said calmly, and headed back to get hot cocoa and check on Timmy.

EvergreenGirl: I hope you enjoyed the first Misadventure of Bernard & Curtis! I'll publish the next one as soon as it's finished. :) Please review!