Chapter 2

"Preparing the Polar Express"

Within 15 minutes of his meeting with Santa, Tom found himself down in the roundhouse where the North Pole's fleet of 4 Polar Express engines were stored. Each engine always traveled an assigned route collecting children on Santa's list who were eligible for receiving the first gift of Christmas. But, this year would be different.

"Boss wants you to prepare engine number 1," Tom remarked to Elf General Patton as they looked at the prime of the Polar Express fleet. "In any case, this is the engine we will use to collect the medicine."

"She was steamworthy last Christmas, Tom, aside from that minor damage on Glacier Gulch."

Tom then placed his hand on the engine and closed his eyes briefly.

"This year is just too important to travel on Glacier Gulch, George," he said. "There has to be another routing. Can't the navigators do something about it? Santa hasn't spoken to them yet."

"We'll have to wait and see."

Stepping into the engine's cab, Tom inspected the large amounts of coal that would be needed for the long journey to fetch the vaccines. Despite the fact that there were coal refueling depots, time was of the essence.

"I'm thinking we have Smokey and Steamer piloting this engine," Tom said. "And make sure that the light is working at the front. I don't want them being up front like that one time."

"With all due respect, Tom," remarked Elf General Patton. "It was because they were needed at the front that you did not throw off that one girl."

But Tom gave his general a hard stare.

"Now, why would I do a thing like that? The world has gone enough yucky as it is and the last thing I want is to get it more yucky. Besides, Smokey and Steamer are more than qualified to pilot this particular engine."

With his mind made up, Tom and Elf General Patton disembarked from the engine and then proceeded towards the area of the roundhouse where all the coaches were kept in the offseason. To transport such important cargo, both Tom and Elf General Patton knew that one of the coaches needed to be cleared of passengers and kept at a certain temperature.

"As for where we will put the vaccine," Tom said, pointing to the rear coach. "I'll put it here. There is someone I know who can keep an eye on the vaccine as we bring it here."

"That lonely boy, Billy?"

"Yes, Billy."

Stepping onto the coach, Tom walked down the length of the coach carefully studying how many seats would need to be removed to accommodate the vaccine.

"I'm thinking Pfizer will go in the front," Tom said, gesturing where the boxes would be placed. "Moderna will go back here where you are standing. And a divider in the center, to accommodate the different temperatures each vaccine requires to be at."

Still, Elf General Patton had his doubts.

"But what if there is more to load?"

"This won't be the only coach to carry medicine, silly," answered Tom, stepping off the coach and looking over to the other coaches. "I'm thinking three of our coaches will carry the vaccines to at least cover the entire population."

But as the excitement grew over what was to come, there still was one question that went through the back of Tom's mind:

"But will every elf take the vaccine?"

…

Meanwhile, back at Santa's estate, the navigators were hard at work trying to determine the best route for the trains to go. After all, we would be making more than one stop on our journey.

"Here's what I'm thinking, sir," said a navigator, directing Santa to study his maps. "I'm thinking we follow the recommendations that we were given: starting here in Chesterfield, Missouri, then proceeding to Andover, Massachusetts before traveling north towards Puurs in Belgium. Pfizer has designated those are distribution centers."

"Very good," Santa remarked, taking a puff of his pipe. "What about Moderna?"

"Moderna says that we can just have one stop with them at their distribution center in Norwood, Massachusetts. Which we can use to our advantage."

I will say that in Santa's mind, the less stops for Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine batches, the better.

"How about the others in question, Johnson and Johnson and Novavax?"

"And Astrazeneca which may be able to help?" remarked another elf navigator. "Sorry, Santa. They say that they need more time along with Novavax."

But Santa knew that two types of vaccines were more than enough to protect the entire elf population of the north pole. Sure, the elves were used to getting their shots, but this was different.

"I believe that the less brands, the less we are forceful on the elves. I've seen plenty of instances where people were forced to do things that they don't want to do," sighed Santa. "And they never deserved any of that."

Patting his navigators on the shoulders, Santa retreated from the meeting hall and was met by his loving wife, Jessica.

"Nick," she said, noticing his troubled look. "I couldn't help but overhearing what was going on. Is everything all right?"

"Yes it is, Jessica," said Nick. "We'll be offering two types of vaccines: Pfizer and Moderna. The others will not get done in time."

"Well, it's better than nothing, I suppose," said Jessica, leaning herself on her husband's shoulder. "I just want this to be over, Nick. Why must people be denied the chance to celebrate Christmas?"

"I've often wondered about that myself," Santa sighed. "Ever since March, the entire world has fallen into disorder, catastrophe, anarchy, chaos, moral disintegration."

"In short, a ghastly mess?"

"Yes, Jessica," said Santa. "And what is worse is that people are having a hard time believing in the spirit. It's up to us to get them their spirits back."

Just then, one of the doctors from the North Pole Hospital came in, wearing a visor and facemask to protect himself from the virus.

"I'm sorry, sir," he said. "We lost ten more elves this morning. 60 more cases have been diagnosed."

For a brief moment, Santa turned away and threw his fist against the wall in anger. At this rate, the entire elf population was at risk.

"Nick?" asked Jessica. "Nick, remember your blood pressure."

"Do you think that matters to me, Jessica?" Santa groaned. "Does it?"

"Nick, please calm down," Jessica cried firmly, trying to get her husband to calm down. "Something is going to be done, but it's going to take time."

"We've taken enough time as it is," Santa snapped. "As soon as the engine is ready, we're getting that medicine!"

Storming off, Santa slammed the door to his study, leaving his shocked wife alone and worried for her husband's well being. True, the preparations were well underway, but would we end up saving as many lives as we can to ensure Christmas 2020 would go on?

…

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