The North Pole Part 1

Previously:

Just then, the Conductor came out and said, "Hey, you five. We just crossed it. Latitude 66 degrees 33'. The Arctic Circle. And do you see? Those lights in the distance. They look like the lights of a strange ocean liner sailing on a frozen sea."

Kat and Sapphire could hardly wait for him to say what they knew he would say next.

"There," he said, before pausing for dramatic effect, "Is the North Pole."

Once he had uttered those fantastic words, Katja and Sapphire looked eagerly towards the city that was the North Pole, and the reason for their traveling all the way from their word into the world of the Polar Express.

"We're nearly there, Sapphire," she murmured, and looping her arm through that of her friend's, they headed back into the train, singing the wonderful song about the Polar Express.

"It's a magic carpet on a rail

That never takes a rest

Flying through the mountains and the snow

You can ride for free and join the fun if you just say "Yes"

'Cause that's the way things happen on the Polar Express

Whoo-whoo, the whistle blows

That's the sound of her singing

Ding, ding the bell will ring

Golly, look at her go.

You wonder if you'll get there soon,

Anybody's guess

'Cause that's the way things happen on the Polar Express.

When we get there, we'll scream "Yay!"

We'll arrive with a bang, bang, bang

Boom, boom, boom, laughing all the way

As they sang, the delighted Conductor cried out, "We made it, with five minutes to spare. We made it." He then headed back inside, just as Sophie said, "There should be elves. Where are they?"

"More than likely," Sapphire said, "They're in the center of the city."

The Conductor nodded, and added, "That is where Santa will give the First Gift of Christmas."

Luke eagerly asked, "Who gets the First Gift of Christmas?"

The Conductor raised an eyebrow, and said, "He will choose one of you."

Just then, Katja spotted elves out of the corner of her eye, marching to the beat of "O Tannenbaum," which everyone eagerly watched. The Polar Express was slowing down, and finally stopped.

Katja and Sapphire looked at each other eagerly. This was another of their favorite scenes: in this one, Chris accidentally knocked the front of the train from the back, eventually ending up in Santa's Sack of presents.

"I think we should go with them," Kat said, referring to the others who got caught in Santa's Sack.

Sapphire looked somewhat skeptical. "Remember that bridge they had to cross?" She asked.

Kat sighed, as they got off with the others.

But then, she and Sapphire decided to go with Sophie, Chris, and Billy. Surely, they'd find a safer alternative, and if not, they could probably balance their way across.

Page Break

They hurried back to persuade Billy to come with them, but he firmly stated, that even though they had been nothing but kind to him, Christmas had never worked out for him, so he wasn't going. Just then, the train shook, and when Chris opened the door, the rest of the train was rolling away.

To make matters worse, their compartment started moving backwards. And just when it seemed everything was going to be fine, the track switcher changed, sending them on the wrong path.

There was no break to be found, of course, but that didn't matter, 'cause they were soon heading into a tunnel. A minute after that, they found themselves spinning around for some time, before the train carriage finally stopped.

The familiar tune of "Winter Wonderland" made Sapphire cringe; it had never been her favorite Christmas song. Then she gulped nervously, as there was no way out but by crossing those bridges.

Determined to not look down, she gingerly went first, slowly but surely moving, often asking the others if they were okay.

After some frightening minutes, everyone had made it across, and were racing towards the tunnel. As they raced out of it, they heard a record of "Silver Bells," which seemed to stick on the "ring-a-ling bit."

They heard the sounds of bells, and followed Sophie into a room filled with elves, telephones, and images of sleeping children.

An elf came by to say that the last present had been finished, and had been wrapped in candy-striped red with a number seven Holly-green bow.

"A number seven bow? When we're this close to lift off?" An elf asked. "What are they thinking down there? Are they meshuggener? Where's it heading?"

"To the United States. Grand Rapids, Michigan."

Chris softly exclaimed that he was from Grand Rapids, but Sapphire and Katja both knew that he wasn't the only one among them from Grand Rapids.

Suddenly, the red "Naughty" button began to flash, causing one elf to exclaim, "That's all we need on our busiest night. What's his 20?"

"Apparently, some kid from Maple, New Jersey stuck some chewing gum in his sister's hair." One elf said.

The same elf wondered if he was the same kid who stuck a tack under his teacher's chair the year before. It wasn't.

"So, do we alert the Big Man? Does it mean that he gets nothing for Christmas?

The kid was then called, saying "I didn't do it."

One elf relented, saying that was almost Christmas, and to be on the safe side, put him on the check twice list for the following Christmas.

Then they shut everything down, and climbed aboard the pneumatic, knowing it was the fastest way to get to the square on time. "And time is money." Said the chief elf.

"Let's go," Sophie whispered, as they waited for the elves to leave.

AN: I would love to write more, but even good authors need sleep. So goodnight from me, and there will be more chapters tomorrow, and that's a promise.