Christmas Wish
Chapter 2
"How was school, Pumpkin?" Rick asked his daughter as she entered the car.
"It was great, Daddy!" Alexis said enthusiastically. She helped her daddy close the door to the car, and she reached for the seat belt. She was only five years old, but she knew what to do.
"Great, huh?" Rick started the car and got in line to exit the school. "Shall we pick up a pizza on the way home?" Rick already knew the answer to that.
Alexis grinned at her father. "YES!" She loved pizza.
"Pizza it is," Rick told her and saw her wide smile in the rear view mirror.
~oo0oo~
"Here, you hold the pizza and don't eat it," Rick told her.
Alexis scolded him for thinking she would eat it. "I wouldn't do that!" She did open it to look at it. It was half her daddy's and half hers. Never mind that she couldn't even begin to eat that much pizza. Half was hers. She closed it and breathed in the aroma.
"Hurry, Daddy!" Alexis was hungry.
~oo0oo~
Rick pulled into the underground parking, parked, and got out of the car. He went to the passenger side, opened the door, and took the pizza from her so she could unbuckle the seat belt and get out. He handed the box back to her, and they walked to the elevator.
Alexis was silent on the way up. Rick looked at her and saw that she was completely focused on holding the pizza box. He grinned and waited for the door to open.
Walking down the hallway to the door with Alexis right behind him, he unlocked the door and let her go in. Rick closed the door behind him and turned get Alexis' coat. But what he saw wasn't what he was expecting. Everything was different!
His place still had Christmas decorations up, and they still were, but these weren't his. "Daddy?" Alexis' voice trembled. What she saw wasn't home! Yes, it was a Christmas tree, and it was decorated, except it wasn't the one she was expecting to see. Nothing looked right.
"I see it, Alexis." Rick put his hand on her shoulder to try and keep her calm. "What the hell is going on here?" he said under his breath.
Then suddenly someone came out of his study or what was supposed to be his study. "It's about time you showed up!"
"Who are you?" Rick demanded.
She walked up to him. "My name is Abagail. I'm the head Elf here."
Rick frowned. "Elf? Elf of what?"
"Walk with me." She began to move away. But she stopped cold. "Is that pizza?"
Alexis held the pizza box closer to herself if that was possible. Abagail laughed a little at her reaction. "Please come with me." She went farther into the room.
"This is the kitchen, and you can eat your pizza here." Abagail waited for them to open the box. "Ooo, meat lovers and veg. Half and half. Don't worry, I don't want any of your pizza."
Rick was starving and took a bite of his. "What's going on here? What happened to the loft?" Everything was different, and this definitely wasn't their home.
"I have a story to tell you, so don't interrupt," Abagail told him. "Christmas is over, and it's been a little over a week since then." It was January 9, 1999. "Our Santa suddenly decided he didn't want to be Santa anymore. Straight out of the blue, he up and told us he was quitting. That caught all of us by surprise, needless to say."
"What's that got to do with me?" Rick asked. Then a thought hit him. "You want me to be Santa. The answer is yes. Yes, yes, yes! I accept the job."
Abagail blinked. "Well, that was easy." She was taken aback somewhat. She was expecting to have to sell it to him.
Rick stopped eating his pizza and looked at her. "I'm right, aren't I? You want me to be Santa. Please say yes."
Abagail nodded. "We want you to be our Santa." To her great surprise, the man up and hugged her, then he kissed her. On the lips!
"Where do we live?" Rick was thinking practically. He had a daughter, and he had a home already.
"You live here. Right here, to be precise," Abagail replied.
"This is Santa's workshop?" Rick asked her.
Abagail shook her head. "No, that is a separate building. This is your residence. Everything you will need is here. There's no reason to go home."
"You really want me to be Santa?" Rick couldn't believe it. It was a dream come true.
Alexis wasn't following very well and was a little scared. "What are you doing, Daddy?"
"We get to live here because I'm Santa. The real Santa. This is real, right?" Rick looked at Abagail for confirmation of that fact.
"Yes, it's real," she said impatiently. "I have work to do, so I'm going to leave you two to explore on your own. Welcome to the North Pole." And with that, Abagail left.
Alexis' voice trembled when she asked, "You're Santa?" It was a lot for a five-year-old to take in. Just a moment ago, he was Daddy, and they had pizza. Now he was Santa, but they still had pizza.
~oo0oo~
Alexis abandoned her pizza to find her room like Rick told her to. So upstairs she went. She found her room and saw clothes that would fit her in the closet. "Daddy, I have clothes!" She looked around, thrilled to bits. Even her toys and books were there. And more importantly, so was Monkey Bunky. "Wow."
"I know, right?" Rick was still in awe. It had a Christmas tree. A Christmas train went around it, and another went around the room over his head. There was even a bridge over the door. The place said Christmas everywhere.
"You have clothes?" Rick caught up to what she had said. Except Alexis didn't confirm it since she was looking around his room. He had a really big bed.
They slowly recovered. "You have clothes?" Rick asked her again.
"Yep," Alexis confirmed. "My toys and books are here, too. And Monkey Bunky!"
That told Rick that they were expected. He strode over to the closet and looked inside. He found clothes that would fit him. Every piece had a Christmas theme to them.
They found a third bedroom and two bathrooms on this level. So downstairs they went. They explored the living room, dining room, kitchen, and study. Each was its own room. This place didn't believe in open concept living.
"Let's go outside and see," Rick suggested and saw Alexis nod. But then she asked, "Pizza?"
That got Rick to delay going outside to see what there was. After they ate, they went outside. It only took a minute to find the stable, and inside they saw a reindeer. Rick read the sign on the door. "It says Comet." Comet came over and stuck his head out, causing Rick to back up. Alexis, however, was interested, and she walked up and rubbed the reindeer's nose.
Alexis giggled. "Soft!"
That was enough to get Rick to stroke his nose. A man interrupted them. "Who are you?" Then he realized to whom he was speaking. "Oh! My apologies, Santa."
"You know who I am? I mean, you know what I am?" Rick asked.
"Of course, you're Santa, and she's your daughter, Alexis." He corrected himself, "You're the new Santa."
"I suppose I am. I don't feel like a Santa. I don't look like a Santa." Rick knew he still looked like Rick.
"That will change the closer we get to Christmas. Which is 11 months from now," he said. "I beg your pardon, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Edgar. I run the stable and see to every need of each Reindeer."
Alexis' face lit up. "There are more?" She hurried off, looking for them. To her great delight, she found them. Each one was in their stall, and she petted every one of them.
~oo0oo~
Alexis didn't want to leave the Reindeer, but her daddy made her. Well, not so much as made her. More like coaxing her to leave the Reindeer and see what else there was.
The first thing they found was a dormitory for male Elves. Next was a shopping area. Alexis didn't understand why her daddy went outside, then came back in several times. Rick finally worked it out. "It's bigger on the inside!" The building was small on the outside and large on the inside.
Next came finding out what was for sale in all of these places. They looked and were repeatedly asked if there was anything they needed. Rick said, "No, but thank you for asking." Not that he didn't find anything, he just didn't need anything.
Then there was the Cafeteria. Even now, it was busy. Neither of them ate anything since they were both stuffed with pizza. Once again, Rick noticed that the area was bigger on the inside than on the outside.
They retreated to the house. And again, Rick noticed that the space on the inside was definitely larger than the outside.
Alexis was yawning by now. They had walked a lot, and she was exhausted. It didn't take much for Rick to talk her into sleeping in her new room. Now he was clear to search the house from top to bottom. But he was interrupted when he spotted Abagail sitting on the love seat in the living room.
Rick didn't sit next to her. Instead, he chose a chair. "This place is amazing. Everything is larger on the inside."
"There are thousands of Elves living here. Most of them live in dormitories. The space we would take up would be huge if not for that." Abagail didn't explain how it was done, though.
"Do you really want me to be Santa?" Rick asked her.
"Yes, you are in your 30s, well, almost 30s, and you believe in Santa Claus. That makes you a perfect choice," Abagail said. "You think like a child does. At least part of the time," she shrugged.
"Thanks, I think." Rick wasn't sure if it was a compliment or not.
Then Abagail said something that could keep him from being Santa. "You can never go back again. Your life in that world is over. You live here now."
"Never?!" Rick exclaimed. "But I have things there. Objects that mean a lot to me." Rick discounted the furniture. He was talking about the little things.
"You will find them here," Abagail revealed. "Everything you think you needed there, you will find here. They are simply not in the same place. We planned ahead."
Rick's eyebrows shot up. "Really? How much planning?" How long had that Elf been poking around his home?
"Our Santa told us the second he returned from delivering presents. We decided on you the following day. We then spent the time between then and now searching your place and deciding what needed transferring. You never saw us, so don't even try to remember."
Rick didn't know what to think. He leaned back in the chair. They had searched his home, and he never saw them. He rarely left the loft since he worked from home.
"What about my work?" Rick asked. "I'm a writer."
Abagail shook her head. "No, you're Santa now. Contrary to what you may be thinking, you will be kept busy here till the day you deliver presents. However, if you decide to write something, you are free to do so. Just know that anything you write will never leave here."
"I see." Rick thought about that. Writing was in his blood. "Is there a school for Alexis?"
"Yes, we have kindergarten, grade school, junior high school, high school, and college. Some of the best in the world, in my opinion," Abagail replied. "Any other questions?"
Rick was quiet while he thought about that. "You said I would be busy. Doing what?"
"There is the Naughty and Nice list. You will be working on that up to the day you deliver presents. You are responsible for the maintenance of all the buildings. You are responsible for all the Reindeer, even though someone is assigned to care for them.
"You are responsible for the warehouse, keeping up with whatever is made for you to deliver. You are responsible for your Santa suit. Any repairs that are required and any updates that you feel are needed. There are others, but those are the main ones." Abagail folded her hands in her lap.
Rick was silent for a while. "You have 24 hours to decide if you want to accept the job. If you chose not to accept it, you, your daughter, and whatever else here that belongs to you both will be returned to their original location. You will remember none of this." Abagail got to her feet.
"Remember, 24 hours. Think about it. You were selected for a reason." Abagail turned and left.
~oo0oo~
Rick spent most of the night thinking about it. He was a writer. He was due to have another book out soon, another Storm series of books, and even had an advance from Black Pawn. Gina would be so pissed off at him. But he wouldn't be there.
Then there was his mother. She lived in New York City but didn't live with him. She was married to Chet Palaburn and had her life. Rick supposed he could leave her something every time he left presents. She would just be another stop every Christmas Eve.
Rick owned the building the loft was in, making him a landlord. He also owned a house in the Hamptons. And a Ferrari and a Mercedes. He didn't know what would happen to all of those things.
Alexis' education was taken care of, so long as they had a school system. On the positive side, there would be more toys than he knew what to do with. They made anything and everything here, right?
~oo0oo~
He was still up and awake when Alexis woke up that morning. She was even showered and dressed. Rick had lost track of time and was surprised to see her.
"Hi, Daddy. What did I miss?" Alexis asked.
"Miss? You didn't miss anything," Rick tried to tell her.
"You got the same clothes on," Alexis said, "and I don't think you went to bed. Your bed's still made." She had him there.
Rick gave up. "I…you're right, I didn't sleep," he admitted. "I couldn't. There was too much going on in my head."
"You're Santa, Daddy." Alexis thought that was so cool.
He shook his head. "Not just yet, I'm not. Abagail gave me 24 hours to decide what to do."
Alexis climbed up next to him in the chair. "What do you wanna to do?"
"I don't know. At least not yet. Abagail answered some of my questions but not all of them. The thing is, if we stay here, we can never go back. Never go home. This will be our home." Rick watched to see her response.
"Oh." Alexis was quiet for a time. "What about school?"
"Abagail said they have schools all the way from kindergarten to college even. But we can never leave here, Alexis. All we will know is here. No vacations, not anywhere," Rick tried to explain.
"Okay," Alexis agreed. She was just old enough to understand but didn't know what to do about it. "This is the North Pole, right?"
"Yes, it is. I wonder how big it is," Rick mused. "Not including the bigger on the inside part."
"Huh?" Alexis didn't understand.
"You didn't notice how big the dormitory was? Or the cafeteria? Everything is bigger on the inside," Rick said.
"Cool." Alexis liked the idea.
"Yeah, it is cool, isn't it," Rick agreed with her. "But the question is, how did they do that?"
Alexis thought it was simple. "Just ask Abagail."
"All right, but what else do I ask her?" Rick queried.
Alexis tried to think. "What about Grams?"
"Oh, God. Mother!" He scrubbed his hand over his face. "We can never leave here. I'm sorry, sweetheart, but Grams is on her own." Rick hugged her. "But maybe... Maybe I could leave her a message every Christmas Eve."
"Okay." Alexis could see that. "And my friends?"
"You get to make new ones. On the bright side, they'll all be Elves." Rick tried to make it sound like a good thing.
"I lose...all my friends." Alexis was quiet. Finally, she said, "I can do that. ...I think."
"You'll be fine, Alexis. You'll make new friends, I promise." Rick hugged her. "So what else do I ask her?"
"Phone! Can you give Grams a phone?" Alexis asked hopefully.
"Leave her a present that happens to be a phone with just one number programmed in it. I can do that. Good thinking, Pumpkin!" Rick squeezed her tight and kissed her.
"All right. It's time to decide. Do I accept the offer, keeping in mind that we'll be stuck here for the rest of our lives?" Rick asked her. He truly wanted her opinion.
Alexis thought it was a no-brainer. "You're Santa, Daddy."
"Yeah, I am, aren't I." Rick smiled at that. "And where did you get those clothes?"
"In the dresser." Alexis defended her choice of clothing. "They fitted me."
"You know, I think I should take a shower," Rick said. He had gotten a whiff of himself, and it wasn't good.
Alexis made a face. "Yeah, you really stink." He had hugged her more than once to prove he needed a shower. Alexis shuddered to reinforce her point.
"Okay, okay. I'll be right down, and then we can go to the cafeteria for breakfast." Rick tried to hug her again, but she pushed him away this time.
Smiling wide, Rick whistled as he headed upstairs to shower.
~oo0oo~
Alexis went first through the line in the cafeteria. All she wanted was a small spoonful of scrambled eggs and two slices of bacon. Her dad couldn't seem to make up his mind as to what he wanted, so by herself, she went out to where the many tables were.
She saw someone sitting alone. Well, alone was subjective, given how many people were in here. But she looked like she was alone.
Alexis put her tray down across from her. "Hi."
"Hello," Kate replied. Kate looked around and didn't see anyone with her. "Where are your parents?"
"Daddy's still in line. What's your name?" Alexis asked.
"I'm Kate, and what's your name?"
"Alexis." Alexis picked up her fork and took a bite of her scrambled eggs.
"You're sure your dad is here?" Kate asked her. So far, she was all alone and she couldn't be any older than 5 or 6.
Alexis was positive. "Yep."
Kate decided to just go with it. Then suddenly, he showed up. "Alexis, there you are." Rick joined them.
"Hi, Daddy." Then Alexis introduced her new friend. "This is Kate. I think she's an Elf."
Rick corrected her. "I'm pretty sure everyone here is an Elf, Pumpkin." He sat next to his daughter. "I'm Rick, by the way."
"Hello." Kate smiled. She was almost done and needed to get back to her station soon. "I need to get back to work now, but it was nice meeting you."
"Same here." Rick watched her get up and dump her trash. She carefully put her tray on the stack and walked away.
"She's pretty," Alexis hinted.
"Yes, she… What are you up to, Alexis?" Rick wanted to know what was going on in that head of hers. Alexis just smiled and ate her eggs.
Alexis noticed her dad had a pile of pancakes, a lot of bacon, and way too much sausage. She watched him smother his pancakes in maple syrup. If he wasn't careful, soon he would fit into Santa's suit without a problem.
"Um, Daddy?"