Chapter 4: Long Conversations
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Prancer and Chet landed easily at Charlie and Jennifer's. The pair dismounted quickly and walked inside, leaving Prancer and Chet to stare despondently after them.
Jennifer tossed her purse on a chair and went to sit down at the kitchen counter. Her husband sat down on the couch, opposite her, and for a few minutes, the pair didn't speak to each other.
"Do you think we did the right thing?" Asked Jenn.
"I don't know."
Silence persisted again.
"Do you want a divorce?"
"Maybe we should talk about this first." Pleaded the wife, getting up. Jennifer paced around the kitchen, always watching Charlie from her vantage point.
"Do you want a divorce?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know?"
"No, I don't."
"How do you expect me to make any kind of decision, and you can't even tell me if you want a divorce or not?" Stated Charlie, his voice rising slightly.
"Don't yell at me!"
"I'm not yelling!" Though now he most certainly was.
"Charlie, what if the neighbors hear?"
"I don't care if the neighbors hear it! Who gives a damn what the neighbors think?"
"I do! I don't want them to think we're like this!"
"Right now, Jenn, I think we are like this." His voice was lowered but he got up from the couch and walked towards her, "Why don't you know?"
"I don't know because I don't know. Part of me wants a divorce, and part of me still wants to be married to you."
Charlie ran his hands through his hair, "Wow."
"What do you want?"
"I don't want to get divorced. I didn't like the fact that my parents just gave up on their marriage."
"They're happier now though Charlie."
He slapped his hand on the kitchen counter, sending a loud noise ringing through the house, "This isn't about them! You know what the problem is here?"
"No, why don't you tell me?"
"You never had to live in a divorced family. It's all okay for you to just give up on a marriage."
"I never said that!" She paused, "Who would be living with it Charlie? Who is in this marriage besides you and me?"
This made him stop, "You're right."
"We're not hurting anyone but ourselves."
"I don't think you're hurting half as bad as me, Jenn. Christ, you can't even make up your mind if you still want to be married to me anymore!"
"You wouldn't be having a problem here if you weren't doubting it too."
"That isn't true. I wouldn't be having a problem if you hadn't told me that you were having doubts."
"You mean to tell me that you're completely happy? You don't ever feel trapped?"
"Trapped? Trapped in what? We have a good home, a good life. Isn't that what you want?"
"I don't know Charlie. I want to…" She stopped and leaned back against the sink, "I need something else."
"Something else?" Charlie was confused beyond his patience.
"I'm still young; we're only 25 for heaven's sake. I want to travel, I want to learn, I want to go out with our friends before we're tied down for life."
"Oh God." Charlie realized what was going on, "This is about kids again, isn't it?"
She conceded the point, "You want children right now, Charlie. I don't want them now, maybe later."
"We've been married for seven years, why don't you want children?"
"I think there are still a lot of things that you and I can do together. There's all this fun we can have before we add kids to the mix."
He sighed, "If we're still together, right?"
"What?"
"You said it yourself, Jenn. We don't have any kids. If we get a divorce, we're only hurting ourselves."
"Charlie, what are you saying?" She grimaced, "Do you want a divorce now?"
"I'm saying, I need some time away to think about it. But if you can honestly say that you don't know if you still want to be married, then I think we have more problems here than you know."
Charlie marched out the back door to where the reindeer were still waiting. Jennifer ran after him, "Charlie! Where are you going?"
"I'm going back to the North Pole."
She placed her hand over her stomach, rubbing the sweater fabric slightly, "Wait!"
"Why?"
Turning her eyes to the ground, she thought about things for a moment. Her resolutions stood firm, "Nothing."
"If you change your mind, you know how to contact me." Charlie's look was a mixture of anger and sadness. He had been incensed against his wife and was broken hearted by her declarations all in one day.
Petting Prancer's neck a few times, he climbed aboard the reindeer, "C'mon, let's go."
Chet and Prancer reluctantly lifted off towards the North Pole. Charlie couldn't understand them, the sooner they returned to the Pole, the faster they could tell about the runaway twins.
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Melody tripped on a pile of fallen branches. She went sprawling forward onto the snow covered ground. Christopher stopped in his tracks and doubled back for his sister.
He helped her up, "Are you okay?"
She brushed off her dress, thinking that her mother would scold her for getting it so dirty, "Yeah."
The twins began to really observe their surroundings. It was closer to nighttime than either of them had really realized. With every second, the forest around them grew darker and darker.
"I'm scared."
"How do we get back to the houses?"
Glancing back and forth, neither saw anything that resembled the neighborhood they had once been in.
"Let's keep going this way." Christopher pointed forward. Knowing no other alternative, the pair trudged on. Their pointed shoes kicked up snow and the bottom of Melody's skirt and Christopher's pants became wet and heavy.
Ten minutes passed before a very weary and tired Melody raised her head and truly looked into the distance. She nudged her brother with her elbow, "Look!"
The forest line abruptly ended a few feet ahead of them, "We can ask those people for help!"
"Wait!" Christopher shouted. She turned back around and gazed at him, "What?"
"What if they find out?"
"That we're elves?"
"Yeah."
"I dunno." Melody looked again. "We can stay there!"
She indicated with her finger the presence of a gardening shed that was set partially into the woods. They ran to it, their little bodies tired and fueled only by the adrenaline that was born from fear. Luckily for them, no one had placed a lock on the shed, and they slipped inside undetected. Christopher climbed up onto a riding lawn mower and pulled on the metal chain. A dim light illuminated the shed. Melody looked around. The walls were lined with gardening tools and other objects for summer weather that she'd never glimpsed before.
Christopher jumped from the mower and took a cue from his sister, "Hey!" He stood on his toes and pulled down a sealed plastic bag. The clear plastic allowed for them to see a few stored quilts that had obviously been used to cover machinery from the cold winters. They quickly opened the bag and threw one of them on the ground. Setting down atop it, the pulled another one on top of themselves. Huddled together for warmth, the twins lay in the shed, thinking before sleep.
"I miss mommy and daddy."
"Me too."
"Do you think we'll see them again?"
"I hope so."
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Noel was getting curious. Even if Judy had put the children in their rooms, she hadn't heard from them in awhile. She questioned every passing elf as to if they had seen the pair. Each responded in their own turn that they hadn't.
Dinnertime was approaching and she wanted to take her children for a family meal. She knocked on the door before opening it. Not only was the room before her completely empty, it was clean and quiet, as if no one had been there for the longest time.
Her intuition began to work and her stomach felt extraordinarily sick. Noel ran back to the workshop. She brushed past elf after elf, trying her best not the knock anyone into the walls. Bounding up the workshop stairs, she called out,
"Everyone! I need to find Judy and the twins! Has anyone seen them?"
From his position in the technology department, Bernard saw the agitation in his wife's face. So when a certain young elfess tried to sneak behind him to get out the workshop, he wasn't about to let her go so easily.
"Judy!" He called after her and followed. She stopped, knowing that she couldn't get too far.
"Did you put the twins back in their room?"
Noel came running up to them, eager to hear her explanation.
"I… uh…"
"Judy, please."
She shook her head, "I couldn't catch them."
"They ran from you?"
"Well, it wasn't on purpose. They were upset and they ran off and hid."
"What upset them?"
Judy bit her lip, not about to lie but wanting to protect Curtis from the wrath of two head-elves, "Curtis got mad at them. He yelled."
"Why would Curtis yell at them?"
"I don't know the exact reason. I only caught the end of the whole thing. He told them that they were bad elves and he didn't want them in the workshop anymore."
Bernard and Noel looked at each other in disbelief, "How could he say something like that?"
"Which way did they go?"
"They ran towards the stables, but I lost them."
"Thanks Judy." The two parents took off towards the stables, panting and gasping.
Three reindeer were missing.
"Okay, I know that Prancer and Chet took Charlie and Jennifer home. So, who's missing?"
"Bernard!" Noel point to the last stall, "Lucky's gone. The baby."
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Charlie landed back at the North Pole with Chet in tow of him and Prancer.
"Thanks guys." The reindeer didn't stick around to listen; they practically galloped back to the stables.
Santa's son avoided the workshop and took off towards the guest quarters. He pried open the big wood doors and chose the first available room. He wanted some time to think before announcing his return to his father.
His hopes were shattered when he came upon a small form hiding out in that particular room.
"Curtis? What are you doing in here?"
"Close the door. I don't want Bernard and Noel to find me."
Charlie laughed, "Why not? Did you mess up? Three mistakes in 900 years?"
Curtis sat on the edge of the bed, "I did something I shouldn't have, and I think something bad's gonna happen."
"What did you do?"
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Bernard and Noel led Comet and Cupid from their stalls.
"Judy, you're in charge while we're gone."
"I'll do my best."
"Tell Santa that we went to Charlie's house. Tell him that Prancer told us about the twins getting to the mortal world, and we'll be back as soon as we can."
Judy nodded.
The frightened parents climbed up onto the reindeer's backs. It was the quickest exit from the North Pole that anyone had ever seen.
