popthirdworld

[popthirdworld]

I mean, we knew, but it's nice to hear so succinctly

[popthirdworld]

If anyone tells you voting for Greens is a waste of time remember:

Children have dental in Medicare because of the Greens. The right to disconnect is because of the Greens. Labor's housing future fund only guarantees money towards housing because of the Greens. Our corporate tax laws are more transparent and improved thanks to the Greens. Labor continues to approve expansions for coal and gas projects but Greens managed to secure a ban on using the national reconstruction fund for investment in coal and gas projects and native logging. The list of Greens achievements goes on and on.

Your healthcare, your ability to ever afford a house, the regulation of corporations, the environmental protections we have and more are BETTER because of the Greens.

While it's very sad that they've lost their seats in the House of Representatives, they still solidly have the balance of power in the Senate. Labor needs to either get Greens approval or Coalition approval in the Senate to pass ANY bill and THAT is incredibly valuable.

Labor may want you to think it can take credit for anything good that happens this term - but I assure you it's the Greens negotiating with them that will secure the important amendments that improve Labor policy and actually get the outcomes we need.

You owe a lot to the Greens.

I'm so grateful that so many of you support them and helped make sure they got a strong presence in Parliament. Thank you.

[popthirdworld]

[popthirdworld]

Amazing vintage festive hairdos for Christmas from the 1950s and 1960s. See more photos here…

[popthirdworld]

Chapter 22 - The World

This is a Christmas story told in 25 parts – with one chapter released each day of December ‘til Christmas. Enjoy!

… the sleigh gently landed on the grubby street in front of the Kangula Youth Shelter where George lived.

Keya exhaled. George let go of her shoulder. They gazed around and could not quite believe that they were back in Sydney. Keya took out her phone and showed it to George. Through the cracked screen, they saw the time flick to 5:01am and looked at each other in amazement. It all happened magically in a blink of an eye. In between being at the mansion and shelter, they had seen the whole world.

They had flown through the sky as the reindeer gracefully weaved the sleigh around clouds and skyscrapers. They had seen incredible sites up close and afar – the Sahara Desert, Tokyo City, the Amazon, the Alps and the Taj Mahal, to name only a few. They had landed on the rooftops of millions of homes in countries across the globe to deliver toys. They had slid down chimneys, climbed through windows and, with the help of fairy dust on occasion, magically slipped through keyholes, pipes and air vents. They had often found delicious sweets waiting for them as they entered – cinnamon-spiced mbatata in Malawi, sugar-dusted kourabiedes in Greece, caramel-filled alfajores in Chile – all laid out for Santa’s arrival.

It all felt like a dream. The adventure of a lifetime had been compressed into a fraction of a second and, miraculously, George and Keya remembered all of it in vivid detail. Their heads were swirling with wonderful memories. Yet, as they sat in the sleigh outside of the shelter, trying to process everything that they had just experienced, less pleasant memories bobbed to the surface.

A lot of the children that they had visited did not have homes. They slept on the streets, under bridges, in dilapidated tents on the outskirts of towns. Along with toys, Santa had left them clothes and other care items to help them and their loved ones. Ana had laid blankets over kids shivering in the cold. Lolly had hung stockings filled with food for families going hungry. One girl in Serbia slept beside her mum in a beat-up car. She had decorated the cardboard pine tree air-freshener, dangling from the rear-view mirror, with gold star stickers and crayon scribbles. Santa had placed gifts and care packages across the dashboard, under this makeshift Christmas tree swaying on a string.

Keya was confronted by what she saw. She had no idea so many kids around the world lived like this and felt a bit ashamed that, before tonight, she had never given it much thought. Visiting every single one of them, all in one go, was overwhelming. It opened her eyes and broke her heart.

George, however, was not so shocked. Near the end of their journey, they were soaring above the clouds, over a stretch of land that was completely dark, unlike the lands surrounding it littered with dots of city lights.

“Can we stop here?” he asked.

“Why?” Lolly replied confused, Ana signing her words. The elf scanned the long, unfurled scroll with every child needing a delivery listed upon it. “There’s no one down there?”

“I know”, George replied. 

Santa realised where they were and why George had asked. He interjected before Lolly could query it further.

“Of course we can”, he signed. “Are you sure you want to?”

“Yes”, George answered.

Santa tugged on the reins and the reindeer guided the sleigh below the clouds. A storm was raging. Since time had essentially stopped, however, the rain did not cause any trouble. Each drop hung in mid-air, perfectly still, appearing like a billion tiny chandelier crystals floating around them.

The sleigh landed on rubble. All of the buildings, as far as they could see, had been demolished.

George exited the sleigh first and the others followed. He surveyed the barren, lifeless surroundings with an intense, mournful look that Keya did not understand.

“Where are we?” Keya asked Ana, under her breath.

Ana answered her gently. “Palestine, dear. George’s home.”

Keya’s eyes widened. She went to George.

“Is … is … this where you’re from?” Keya stammered.

George nodded. He pointed to a husk of a building to their right. “That was a bakery.”

Keya did not know what to say, so just said, “Oh.”

George pointed again. “Me and other kids played soccer there.” He then pointed into the distance. “Down that street, that was my house. I mean, Amir’s house.”

“Amir?”

“He was my friend, but more like a brother. We were bombed when I was little. It killed my parents and left me deaf. Amir was another deaf kid. We learned to sign together. We did everything together. His parents took me in like I was their own. I …”

A lump formed in George’s throat, making it hard to talk. All night, Keya had barely heard George string two sentences together and now really did not feel like the time to push it.

“We don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to”, Keya offered.

Santa signed her words.

“No”, George replied firmly. “I want to. I don’t want them forgotten. I …” George trailed off, trying to find his words. “Do you see that church?”

George pointed to a church that looked centuries-old amid the debris. It was disfigured on the outside, but still standing.

“Amir’s dad took me there every Christmas. They were Muslim, I was Christian, but it didn’t matter. They wanted me to keep connected to my parents’ church. We went there every Christmas. They were really good people.”

“How did you end up in Australia?” Keya asked.

George’s eyes lowered. The lump in his throat was now too big to speak over, so he signed instead. Santa translated for him.

“We were bombed again. Amir and his family didn’t make it. I did. I don’t know why. I survived, got given a refugee visa to Australia, and left.”

Keya held back tears. Lolly had them flowing freely. 

George just looked around. A little phrase that Palestinian Christians often said came to mind: “Jesus ate breakfast here.”

That is what you would say to describe how old and historic everything is in Palestine. You would point to a building and say, “Jesus ate breakfast here.” But he looked around. On this night, in the birthplace of Jesus where Christmas began, he couldn’t see Jesus in any of it. 

Ana looked to her left. Santa did not know what to say. She looked to her right. Keya and Lolly were also silent. Ana stepped forward.

She walked through the rain drops hanging in the air and went to George’s side, placing her hand on his shoulder. 

“Do you want to light a candle for Amir?”

George thought about it, then nodded in agreement. He took Ana’s hand and they walked down the debris-covered road to the battered church.

Santa, Keya and Lolly walked behind them. The girl felt like she was about to burst if she did not ask the question pounding in her head, so turned to Santa accusingly and asked it.

“A candle?!”

“Excuse me?” Santa said, not exactly sure of the question.

“Can’t you do more?”

“More?”

“For George. For all of these kids we saw tonight without food and homes. You help then on Christmas but … what about the rest of the year?”

Santa could see the concern in Keya’s eyes.

“There’s a lot I can do, especially when not trapped in a globe. I can make toys, fly, fiddle a bit with time to satisfy tight delivery deadlines”, Santa glanced at the raindrops, glistening around him. “But, what you’re talking about – giving children new homes, new lives – these needs stem from complicated problems that magic can’t fix. Only humans can do that.”

Keya hated that answer. In the distance, a lightning bolt had been very slowly unfurling across the sky. Keya watched it spread as she contemplated Santa’s words.

“I was hoping that you’d say …”

“What?”

“The complete opposite”, she admitted. “That you’re free now, full-sized, and stuffed with Christmas magic, so can snap your fingers and fix everything, for everyone, forever.”

Santa put his hand on her shoulder. “If I could resolve things so easily, I would have done so a very long time ago. All I can do is give what I can, using what I have, and hope that others take the suggestion.”

At the church, George entered with Ana, while Santa, Keya and Lolly ushered in quietly behind them. George dipped his hand into his pocket, picked out a coin and placed it in the collection plate by the door. It seemed a bit silly – the coin was an Australian dollar with kangaroos on it and there was no one there to collect it. Nevertheless, he did it because that is what you do before taking a candle. He picked one from the pile that sat next to the collection plate, wiping off dust that had accumulated on it.

George moved through the church, sidestepping the bits of ceiling that had fallen to the floor. He stopped at a brass box of sand. Other candles were sitting in the sand, most of them lopsided and burned out long ago. Two, however, were still flickering with light. George lit his candle with one of them, and then gently dug the candle into the sand, trying to get it as straight as possible. George stood there, thinking of Amir and everyone he missed so much that normally would be outside those church doors, living their lives.

It was so quiet. The rain was falling through a hole in the roof but, stuck in time, did not pitter-patter. George began to cry. Since time was acting funny, he did not know if he had stood in that spot and cried for a few minutes or a hundred hours. Lolly’s impulse as an elf was to fix anything she saw that needed fixing. Elves are fixers. She no longer had her hat filled with magical solutions and golden thermoses of comforting hot chocolate. Lolly knew, though, that nothing in her hat would do much good. Instead, she put her tiny hand in George’s and did not let go.

[popthirdworld]

Chapter 21 - The Return

This is a Christmas story told in 25 parts – with one chapter released each day of December ‘til Christmas. Enjoy!

“My baby girl, you’re hurt!”

Keya was laying on the floor in the large foyer at the mansion entranceway, still in pain from Sable hurling her to the ground. The magical dust that had allowed Keya to fly from the Winter Forest to the mansion seemed to have worn off. She was barely conscious and lacking the energy to even open her eyes, but could hear the distinct, concerned voice of her father. 

“Sweetheart, speak to me!”

“D… dad?” 

“Yes, honey, come on!”

Keya slowly flickered her eyelids open, but did not see her father. She saw Sable, standing in front of her. A jolt of fear shook Keya from her stupor but as she tried to get back on her feet, golden handcuffs manifested from nowhere, cuffing her wrist to the leg of the grand piano nearby.

“Finally, you’re up!” Sable said in Mayor Paul’s voice, before reverting to her own. “Where is the necklace?”

Keya was aghast, wondering if she was hallucinating as she saw her father’s voice leave Sable’s lips. Before she could respond, Keya saw George swoop down from the ceiling as fast as he could. It was a desperate attempt to try and stop Sable, but the siphon easily swatted him away. George crashed into the mahogany wardrobe on the other side of the foyer that contained the auction guests’ coats.

“Give me the necklace”, Sable commanded, dangling the key to the handcuffs from her perfectly manicured fingers.

“I don’t have it”, Keya replied, weak and exhausted.

Sable exhaled with disdain and moved to punish the girl. She raised her arms, summoning her magic, but was surprised when nothing came. Sable felt no power coursing through her body. She could no longer sense a connection to the energy that she had locked in the red jewel. Sable stared at her hands, confused.

At the same time, she felt a sudden drop in temperature. The mansion was now ice cold. Sable noticed that the fairies, who had been scurrying along the floor, were now glowing again in bright colours and had regained their powers of flight. The yetis in her vicinity seemed once again able to turn invisible at whim.

Then, a rumbling could be felt under Sable’s feet. Cracks began forming in the marble floor. Sable followed the cracks with her eyes to determine their source. They led to a spot just outside of the door to her second dungeon where she was keeping … oh no!

Sable realised what was happening just as the cracks burst open and, with a spectacular flash of red light, a gigantic figure appeared from below. It was Frosty, many times larger than the other yetis, with an extravagant crown of glowing red antlers from which the light was emanating. On his back was Santa, free from the globe and full-sized, clinging tenuously to the giant beast’s thick white fur.

A horde of other extraordinary beings sprung forth from the opening that Frosty had created. Centaurs leaped out, carrying mermaids in their arms. Howling ghosts filled the air. Witches on broomsticks flew straight through these spectres, while gremlins and leprechauns clung to their brooms, hitching a ride. They had all been prisoners of Sable; finally freed from their globes on the shelves of the dungeon and eager to run, crawl, hop, swim and fly home.

Frosty raised a leg to lift himself out of the mammoth hole that he had created and slammed his foot onto the foyer floor. It landed near George, who looked in astonishment at the mark left. It matched the footprint from the Winter Forest.

Amid the sprites, gnomes and other creatures, Puddles rushed out of the hole in the ground towards his master, yapping at a hectic pace. Sable ignored the dog. Her eyes were fixed on the great yeti. Frosty was no longer the small deer that Sable had transformed him into and imprisoned. She had done this, not out of mercy, but because Frosty was only useful to her alive - his antlers could not store her powers otherwise. Now, he had returned to his original form. So too had the jewel she had worn on her necklace, as was evident from the antlers sprouting again from the yeti’s head.

Sable stood there in defiance, trying to conjure a spell to use against the beast. Her efforts were in vain. Without the gem, her stolen powers had returned to their numerous rightful owners, many of whom were now stampeding through the mansion. Frosty stopped and met Sable’s gaze. After a few long seconds of contemplation, he crouched down and put one finger to her head. She froze in place, now still and lifeless like the piano, wardrobe and other objects surrounding her.

George watched Frosty lumber away from the ice-cold statue that had become of Sable. He knew he had no time to waste. George rushed over to her, stared briefly into her expressionless eyes, then unceremoniously snatched the handcuff key from her hand that could free his friend.

He did his best to avoid the unicorns galloping by him and serpents slithering around his feet as he tried to reach Keya. One of the witches accidentally smacked George on the head with her basket of sweets as she flew by, apologising in Italian over her shoulder. Not so accidentally, a gang of goblins pushed George to the ground. The cheeky little devils did so for the fun of it, happy to add to the surrounding chaos.

The cracks in the floor spread and widened, destabilising the foundations of the entire mansion. Debris began falling from the ceiling. Frosty continued to cause damage as he tried to find his way out of the mansion, smashing whatever lay in his path.

Everyone in the building did what they could to escape. They jumped out of windows and rushed through exits. The auction guests and Sable’s staff crammed into the limousines and sports cars parked outside of the mansion entrance, speeding off as fast as they could. The trolls, no longer under Sable’s spell, assisted the other magical creatures to flee the imploding building.

Atop the giant yeti, Santa spotted George at Keya’s side. He had finally reached her and unlocked the cuffs. The boy then attempted to help Keya up so that they could escape the collapsing building, but was not having much success. Santa climbed down from the back of the beast and raced towards them. Before Keya and George could comprehend what was happening, he tucked a child under each arm and hurried out of the way of a marble pillar smashing down onto the ground.

Santa called out to the fairies. They lit a path that directed him through the thick dust to the showroom. In the centre of the room sat the sleigh. Elves were pushing the giant sack of presents into it. Ana was strapping in the frazzled reindeer. Yetis were howling in unison at Frosty. They got his attention. The giant yeti paused his reign of destruction and turned his attention to a giant window to his left. With no effort at all, Frosty elbowed out the glass – SMASH! – creating a hole big enough for Santa’s sleigh to fly through. Frosty was a massive, lumbering, frenzied beast but, still, he was happy to help a buddy.

Santa quickly placed the kids in the back of the sleigh.

“Are you alright?” he said and signed at once.

“You’re big”, is all George could say in response.

The boy could not quite believe what he was seeing. Santa was free from the globe and, as George could now see, a mountain of a man. But he was not exactly a man. Santa had an otherworldly glow, as if joyful energy was emanating from him like the sun emits heat. He also smelled like cookies.

A chunk of concrete fell from the ceiling and smashed the grandfather clock that, up until Sable’s recent plunder, had sat in the Workshop atrium for untold centuries.

“We have to go. I’m taking you home”, Santa signed, before glancing at the big sack of toys yet to be delivered. “We’ll just make some stop-offs everywhere around the world first.”

Keya glanced at her phone. It read 5:00am. Was Santa honestly thinking that they could still deliver presents before the sun came up?

Lolly jumped in the sleigh between Ana and Santa, who had hurriedly taken their places in the front seat.

‘Go! Go! Go!’ the elf shouted.

Keya held her breath, wracked with nerves. George grabbed her shoulder, excited about what was to come. Santa pulled on the reigns and they took off through the window that Frosty had “opened” for them. And then …

[popthirdworld]

Chapter 20 - The Cage

This is a Christmas story told in 25 parts – with one chapter released each day of December ‘til Christmas. Enjoy!

Santa pushed the globe with every bit of energy that he had, racing towards the piece of jewellery lying on the floor. Puddles started racing towards the necklace as well.

Santa reached it first and pushed the priceless item through the doorway, past the remnants of the metal door that the yetis had torn away, and down a flight of stairs.

Santa tumbled after the necklace, bashing around the sides of the globe as it bounced from one step to another. His descent finally ended when he landed, with the necklace, on a hard stone floor in strange new surroundings. 

He found himself in a small austere chamber. The yetis were sombrely standing along its shelved walls. These shelves were filled with rows of globes, just like his, each emitting a faint white light. Their content was impossible to make out. The glass exterior was too cloudy. 

The yetis had no interest in these globes. Their focus was on a steel cage at the centre of the room, holding a young deer with a long, jagged scar across the top of his head. The animal looked fragile and weary, as if the scar, or what had caused it, remained an ongoing source of pain. 

He did not look how Santa expected, but Santa knew who this creature was. Santa pushed on the sides of the globe to nudge the necklace closer to the deer. The animal bowed its head, sniffing at the gem and desperately pressing his scar against it.

Nothing happened.

Then, a yeti walked forward. She dug her hand underneath her fur. For a moment, Santa thought that the creature was simply scratching herself. She was, in fact, reaching for a stowaway. The yeti kneeled by the cage and gently placed her clenched fist on the ground nearby, opening it to reveal a small green fairy sitting on her palm.  

The tiny creature hopped off the yeti’s hand, and pitter-pattered over to the space between the deer’s head and the necklace. She looked in awe at the deer, as if she could not believe what she was seeing, and burst into tears. She sombrely hummed what could roughly be translated as, “We thought you were dead”.

The fairy placed one small hand on the scar. Her other hand went to the jewel. The necklace began glowing a magnificent red. The fairy then turned from green to red herself, matching the crimson shade of the necklace. She was acting as a conduit for the gem’s energy. Its powers transferred through the fairy, to the deer. The animal closed his eyes, appearing to gain strength from the tiny healing hand that the fairy had placed upon him. Soon, the deer was glowing red too and the whole room was awash with bright red light. 

At this moment, Puddles came bounding down the stairs. The sight of the herd of yetis bathed in the light emanating from the caged deer sent his tail straight between his legs. Puddles yelped, turned and raced back up the stairwell in fright.

[popthirdworld]

Chapter 19 - The Necklace

This is a Christmas story told in 25 parts – with one chapter released each day of December ‘til Christmas. Enjoy!

Sable looked around the showroom, outraged that the auction that she had planned so meticulously had descended into such chaos. She could not let this continue. Sable stood on a table, above the fray, and began to conjure a hex with the help of her necklace to freeze everyone in the vicinity. Only then, could she deal with the troublemakers in her midst.

The siphon was interrupted, however, when a figure suddenly appeared in front of her face. It was a small boy, hovering in the air, smiling at her. Sable recognised him as the unimportant child who had the globe in Sydney and who she thought she had left in the Winter Forest. She was surprised to see him flying.

“Hello”, George said cheerily, bobbing up and down in the air a few inches from Sable’s nose.

She was taken aback. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m a distraction”, he answered.

Sable did not understand what George meant until he flew out of the door and down the corridor. He was followed by Keya, also flying, with something sparkling in her hands. Sable put her fingers to her collarbone. The necklace! It was gone! Keya had unclasped it from behind her, Sable realised, while George had her attention in front. 

Sable’s stolen powers still worked while the red jewel on the necklace was nearby. It was imperative that she not let those children get far. Sable propelled herself into the air with the power of flight that she had drained from the fairies. Sable flew after the children, pivoting around her guards still bouncing about the ceiling. 

Amid the chaos on the ground, Sister Roula looked up to see George and Keya flying overhead. She gasped and grabbed Mayor Paul’s arm, pointing vigorously in the air.

“KEYA!” Mayor Paul tried to scream, though no sound came out.

George and Keya did not see the two adults among the crowd below, waving their arms furiously in their direction. The children’s attention was solely on Sable flying after them with a murderous look in her eye.

Sister Roula and Mayor Paul saw Sable swooping past. They could not speak but both knew with a shared frightened look that they were thinking the same thing. Sable looks intent to hurt their children. Somehow, they needed to stop her.

The nun and mayor bolted through the crowd in the direction that Keya and George had flown, making their way desperately through the hoard of auction bidders, yetis, elves and fairies in their path.

Keya and George weaved through the rooms of the mansion, staying close to its high ceilings removed from the fray below. The building felt like a maze and they did not know their way out. George glanced behind him and, strangely, could no longer see Sable trailing them. Had they outpaced her, George thought?

“No!” Keya shrieked.

In the corner of his eye, George spotted Keya, no longer flying beside him but being dragged backwards by some invisible force. It seemed that something had grabbed hold of her leg. As Keya screamed and kicked at the unseen menace, flailing erratically in the air, the girl knew that it must be Sable. She was using the power of invisibility that she had extracted from the yetis. 

Suddenly, Keya received help from below. Sable was being pelted by auction paddles, mince pies and cutlery. It was Mayor Paul and Sister Roula, hurling whatever they could lay their hands on to help the frightened child escape Sable’s grip. 

The siphon would not have it. She flung Keya to the ground, where she crashed by the mansion entranceway. The necklace flew out of her hand and slid across the floor. It landed between Santa and Puddles, near the doorway that the yetis had just forced their way through.

“KEYA!! KEYA!!” the mayor tried to yell with tears in his eyes, as he and Sister Roula ran to help her. Sable, hovering overhead, opened a portal underneath the feet of the nun and mayor. Before they could reach Keya, and before Keya or George even knew that they were there, Mayor Paul and Sister Roula plummeted down through the chasm beneath them, screaming in terror while no sound left their mouths. The portal promptly closed as if gobbling them up, leaving no trace of the two adults in the spot that they had just been occupying.

Santa was unaware of what had happened to Keya, Sister Roula or Mayor Paul. All of his attention was on the necklace. He knew what he had to do.

[popthirdworld]

Chapter 18 - The Raid

This is a Christmas story told in 25 parts – with one chapter released each day of December ‘til Christmas. Enjoy!

In the showroom, Sable was delighted with how the auction was faring. Those in attendance were in a frenzy to snap up the extraordinary items on display. The auctioneer could barely keep up as bidders shouted figures at him and flung their numbered paddles in the air with competitive gusto. When it was time to announce the last auction lot, Sable guzzled down her champagne and took to the stage.

“Friends”, she pronounced. “We come to the climax of a gratifying night. I know that we have some elite collectors among us, seeking the most exclusive trophies from the magical realms. In the past, we’ve auctioned the heads of dragons, the pelts of kirins, the fins of mermaids. The final item tonight might very well surpass them all. I present to you the very heart of Christmas itself; the larger-than-life figure that embodies the magic and wonder of the festive season - resized, ossified and placed behind glass for your private pleasure and displaying convenience. I give you, Santa Claus!”

The lights went down as the red velvet curtain pulled back. What it revealed, however, was a pillow on a pedestal with nothing sitting on top of it. The globe was missing.

Sable stared at the empty pillow in shock. She could hear her guests’ bewildered murmurs behind her. She desperately looked around the pedestal and under the pillow but saw no sign of the globe. Sable then scanned the ground. There, behind the feet of a prominent businessman who had bought elaborate elf-designed cupcake ovens, she saw Santa. He was not frozen in position but slowly pushing on the sides of the globe to roll himself across the floor, trying not to attract attention.

Sable and Santa locked eyes. She raced towards him and Santa jumped into action. With no hope of remaining inconspicuous now, he began rolling the globe across the marble floor as fast as he could, careening towards the slightly ajar door at the back of the room, dovetailing through people’s feet. Several guests screamed, some waiters dropped glasswear and one CEO of a chain of toy stores attempted to swat at Santa with his auction paddle.

Santa was rolling the globe at a fantastic speed before the orb was abruptly halted in place. It began sliding backwards, scraping across the marble underneath it, no matter how hard Santa pushed in the opposite direction. Sable had thrown a hex on the globe and was summoning it to her. 

When it settled at her feet, Sable picked up the orb and grimaced at Santa. She, then, moved to address the crowd of agitated billionaires with a clenched smile on her face.

“I’m sorry for the small interruption”, she said, trying to regain her composure. “Please take your seats, I assure you that …”

Sable did not get to complete her sentence before being rammed by reindeer bursting through the door behind her. They were followed by Ana, Mayor Paul, Sister Roula, a pack of elves and a mob of yetis, twinkling with fairies in their hair. Guests fumbled out of the way as Sable was gored repeatedly and fell onto a table of canapés.

CRASH!

Salmon puffs, brie and charcuterie flew into the air, as did the globe containing Santa. The orb landed on the floor before being kicked by a rich older woman struggling in her tight satin gown to run away from the hoard of people, animals and mystical creatures charging in her direction.

The showroom was now chaotic. The attendees were fleeing in all directions. Santa did his best to shift the globe out of the way of their feet but ended up essentially becoming a soccer ball being volleyed about. This made it difficult for Ana to find her husband as she scoured the room, even with the help of Mayor Paul and Sister Roula.

Meanwhile, the reindeer were eating canapés off the floor. The fairies were climbing up on pedestals to repossess vials of their magical dust that Sable had put up for sale. The yetis were smashing at the auctioneer’s podium, while elves wrestled items from the hands of successful bidders.

“I have the certificate of authenticity!” one tuxedoed guest shrieked, waving a piece of paper in the air, as he attempted to bat Lolly and three other elves away from the giant Workshop grandfather clock that he was clutching. A yeti nearby grabbed the paper and ate it. 

A dozen guards burst into the showroom. They were led by the muscle-bound guard who had finally freed himself from the dungeon below. He was looking particularly enraged, wanting to settle the score with the miscreants who had trapped him in that prison cell. 

These guards intended to regain order. They had little luck. Almost as soon as they entered, the guards began sporadically flying up into the air involuntarily one by one. Each ended up stuck on the ceiling like a helium balloon let go at a shopping mall.

“What’s happening?!” the burly guard from the dungeon yelled, furious to find himself once again hovering mid-air out of reach of those he wanted to pummel.

The guard looked down and saw the answer. The fairies had been running across the floor, sprinkling a vial of highly concentrated “floating” dust onto the guard’s feet. The officers could do little else now but try and grab hold of a chandelier so as to stop bouncing about the ceiling.

At the feet of the billionaires, yetis, elves and reindeer moving erratically in every direction, Santa managed to navigate his globe out of harm’s way. He found himself in the hall outside of the showroom. 

It was there that he noticed something odd.

Down this hallway, four trolls were stationed in front of a large metal door. Despite all of the mayhem nearby, they remained stalwartly in position. Why were these trolls not helping the security guards try and regain order? Whatever was behind that door, Santa figured, must be something Sable was very serious about keeping hidden. 

Perhaps more curious was the fact that several yetis seemed to have noticed this door as well. They were pushing people in the crowd out of their way as, one by one, they approached the door with great interest and, even, reverence. The yetis appeared to be instinctively drawn to the door or, more accurately, what they sensed was behind it. Seeing the yetis’ reaction, Santa was beginning to get an inkling of what “it” was.

The trolls bashed their stony hands against the marble floor, their way of warning the yetis to stay back. This warning was not heeded. The yetis continued to lurch forward defiantly, intent on getting to the other side of the door, until one troll broke rank and threw a punch at the yeti nearest. This particular creature, with the squat body and long arms of an orangutang, hit the ground hard. He barely had a chance to shriek in pain before another troll grabbed two fistfuls of fur and hurled him across the room, crashing him into Sable’s version of a Christmas tree (a triangular steel sculpture with stolen Workshop Christmas ornaments hanging from it, price tags attached).

This set the yetis into a frenzy. They launched at the trolls with full force, kicking, scratching and doing whatever they could to overpower them. The four trolls were intimidating opponents but clearly outnumbered. The yetis with horns prodded them. The taller yetis attacked from above, while the shorter ones aimed for the ankles to trip the trolls up. The crowd of yetis only dispersed temporarily when their orangutang-like buddy returned with the steel Christmas tree in hand. He swung it like a baseball bat and knocked the trolls out of the way in one fell swoop. 

While several yetis kept the trolls at bay, the rest began beating at the door. The pounding of their fists and bodies on the metal reverberated through the hallway, shaking the ground under Santa’s globe.

Among the roars of the yetis tearing down the door, Santa noticed the sound of a distinct growl nearby. It was Puddles, who had heard the commotion from his three-story palatial doghouse in the garden outside, and was now standing mere metres away from Santa, ready and eager to pounce.

[popthirdworld]

Chapter 17 - The Escape

This is a Christmas story told in 25 parts – with one chapter released each day of December ‘til Christmas. Enjoy!

From behind the curtain, Santa heard the doors to the showroom open. The previously silent room was now filled with Sable’s guests, murmuring excitedly about prices and slipping into their seats. 

Sable took to the podium and banged the auctioneer’s gavel. The crowd immediately went quiet.

“My esteemed friends”, she said grandly. “You’ve had a chance to inspect the items up for sale. This silver sleigh with hand-crafted details. This burlap bag that provides endless storage. The deeds to the North Pole Workshop that could be easily transformed into an exclusive luxury ski resort for high-end clients”, Sable pointed to each item as she described them. “They’re all impeccable. This is a once in a lifetime auction and everything must go tonight.”

A round of applause from the delighted crowd followed.

“Now, I will hand matters over to our auctioneer.”

The applause continued as a tall, thin man in a suit and tie standing behind Sable moved towards the podium.

“Alright bidders, get your paddles ready”, the auctioneer exclaimed with the speed and zeal of a racehorse announcer. “We’ll start small with Lot 1, the giant ornaments that hung on the humungous Workshop Christmas tree, encrusted with emeralds, rubies and sapphires. They can be kept as is, or melted down and sold for parts, up to the lucky bidder!”

_________

As the auction proceeded, the dungeon underneath Sable’s mansion was still silent. No one dared speak as the intimidating guard roamed up and down the corridor between the prison cells.

The detainees were all trying to deal with their nerves. Lolly, the mayor and Ana paced their cell. The yetis fidgeted in their constraints. The reindeer restlessly stomped their hooves. Sister Roula, however, was perfectly still. The nun was watching the guard intently, observing his every movement. She knew that the guard had been drinking a lot of coffee every time he went back to his office desk near the dungeon doorway. Soon, he would need to pee. 

When the guard finally exited to use the restroom, Sister Roula sprang into action. The nun jumped up and plunged her hand into one of the many pockets of her habit. She pulled out Knuckles’ chunky set of keys. Buried among the dozens of keys, Sister Roula fished out a small boxcutter keychain. The blade was relatively dull, due to constant use by Knuckles to open up boxes of grocery deliveries, but she hoped it would suffice.

“What are you doing!?” Lolly asked in an anxious whisper.

Sister Roula still could not use her voice, and did not have time to explain herself with a game of charades. She rushed over to the bars dividing her cell from that containing the yetis, thrusting the boxcutter through the bars and hacking away at the bindings tying the arms and legs of the long-limbed yeti that had stolen the globe back at the Winter Forest.

Once her arms were free, the yeti reached through the bars and began yanking on the chain connecting the fairies’ cage to the ceiling.

“Wait!” Ana whispered.

The yeti stopped tugging on the chain. Ana took off her thick red cloak and, retaining her grasp on one end, threw the other end between the bars across the corridor towards the cell containing the elves. She and Mayor Paul held their side of the garment. The elves held the other.

“OK go”, Ana instructed.

The yeti put all of his might into the final few yanks at the chain until the heavy cage came tumbling down to the ground, landing gently on the safety net created by Ana’s cloak with a small bounce. The elves grabbed the cage and CLONK! – Marshmallow ripped the tiny metal door off its delicate hinges. The fairies were now free! 

Unable to fly, the fairies scurried across the concrete floor of the dungeon towards the guard’s office space. They climbed his chair, walked across his table and retrieved the keys to the dungeon cells. 

“Stop!” the guard yelled while standing at the dungeon doorway, gobsmacked. He did not expect to see the fairies free and crawling all over his desk after his loo break. 

The furious guard raced towards the fairies but did not get far. The long-limbed yeti grabbed his foot from between the bars and dangled him high above the dungeon floor.

The guard was not able to right himself from this strange position, but attempted to muster up whatever authority he had while flapping about bottoms up. 

“Put me down! Put me down!”

The fairies made their way to each cell to deliver the keys. Soon, everyone was free - the elves, reindeer, fairies, yetis, nun, mayor and Mrs Claus.

The long-limbed yeti threw the guard into a cell and Lolly locked the door behind him. 

“Big mistake”, the guard seethed as he rose to his feet. He began brutally punching and rattling the metal bars with extraordinary force, bending the metal slightly with each assault. 

The now-liberated captives knew that it was only a matter of time before the guard had let himself loose. The fairies climbed up into the yetis’ fur to hitch a ride, several elves jumped on the backs of reindeer and everyone else, on foot, raced out of the dungeon and up the stairs towards ground-level. Behind them, they could hear the clanging noise of the furious guard bashing away at the bars that imprisoned him.

[popthirdworld]

Chapter 16 - The Hunt

This is a Christmas story told in 25 parts – with one chapter released each day of December ‘til Christmas. Enjoy!

The spell Sable cast on George and Keya, paralysing them in position, had finally worn off. As soon as they could move again, they ran to the spot in the Winter Forest where they had left the horse-drawn carriage. It was not there.

“The horse must have run away”, George said crestfallen, “or flown away or something.”

Keya tried calling for help on her phone again, but it could barely turn on. George then saw her frantically start checking her pockets. He asked her what she was looking for, but could not understand the answer - it was too dark to read her lips and the girl was too distracted to keep her head still. Keya did not find what she wanted but gestured for George to follow her, heading in the direction of where they had just been; the crater where they had first met the fairies. They barely made it ten steps before Keya gripped George’s shoulder, pulling him backwards.

DONG! DONG! DONG!

Keya heard a bell ringing once again and the sound was moving closer. She pointed to the trees behind them. Something was lurking there, out of sight. When Keya realised what it was, her grip on George’s shoulder grew tighter and, with a haunted expression on her face, she turned to the boy and mouthed a single word.

“Cat.”

George did not need the heads up. Right then, an extraordinary black feline, the size of a truck, slinked into the clearing. She was, at once, beautiful and terrifying. Killer eyes that glittered with a kaleidoscope of red and green flecks. Sharp gold teeth that matched her sharp gold claws. A sturdy rope around her neck held in place a rusty church bell, making her appear like an oversized house cat. George and Keya had no idea who had collared the formidable creature but could definitely understand anyone’s desire to be on constant alert if she was nearby.

This was the Yule Cat, which fed at Christmas, that Lolly had warned them about. The elf, however, did not mention anything about kittens. From the bushes behind her swishing tail, four giant kittens, with black fur and white patches, trotted out. They were almost adorable, despite sharing their mother’s intimidating size, eyes, claws and teeth.

The five cats stared intensely at George and Keya. Their reason was clear - they were starving. Their ribs were protruding from under their skin. The destruction of their forest had left little to eat and the children knew that the Yule Cat was not going to let this rare opportunity to feed her young slip away. 

The cat dug her claws into the earth then pounced, crossing a massive stretch of land in a single leap. Keya was so flushed with fear that she could not move. George grabbed her hand and dragged her with him into the thicket behind them. They zigzagged around the trees in their path as quickly as possible, barely able to see the ground ahead. Without the fairies, the only light in the forest came from the moon and stars peeking through the craggy branches of the canopy above.

The cats could not fit as easily though the narrow gaps left between the trees, but they compensated for this with brute force. They bashed their bodies into the brittle husks of the dead pines, bulldozing them out of their way. Torn apart wood, bark and splinters calamitously rained down on Keya and George as a result. One branch knocked George to the earth. Another tripped Keya after it crashed in front of her. Both children were petrified but found their feet and continued running. They would worry about any wounds later.

George’s mind was consumed with raw thoughts of survival - keep going, do not look back, just keep going. Another thought, however, fell into his head. Keya had wanted to leave the Winter Forest. He had delayed her. She might be safely at home right now if it were not for him. George might be out of harm’s way, himself, if he had gone with her. The guilt seized him tightly. If anything happened to Keya, George knew he would forever blame himself.

As bad as the situation was, it soon got worse. George glanced over and could no longer see Keya running beside him. In the darkness, he realised, they had gone in separate directions. George looked around desperately. There was no sign of the frightened girl. Why had he let go of her hand? He was now running for his life, alone, not knowing if his friend was somewhere screaming for help.

The ground began to slope downwards underneath George’s feet. The trees around him were becoming sparser, which was good news for the cats and bad news for him.

Soon, he was totally exposed. The downward slope had led him to another clearing, one with an enormous river cutting through it. George galloped down the hill, unable to slow himself down in time to avoid falling into the mud at the water’s edge.

SPLAT!

Covered in filth, he frantically looked left, then right. The river appeared to extend forever in both directions. The water was relatively calm, but George still panicked. He had never learned to swim. George turned to see the cats speeding towards him, mowing down the last few trees in their path. His only chance for escape was through the river. 

George ran in, petrified, hoping it was not too deep. At first, the water stayed around his ankles but before long, it splashed at his knees. Once the water reached his neck, George had no choice. The child attempted to swim, furiously kicking his legs and stroking his arms. He did his best to propel himself through the water, but could barely stay afloat, let alone place much distance between him and his predators. While the kittens stopped on the riverbank, their mother charged into the water. At that point, terror overwhelmed him. George was drowning, the Yule Cat was encroaching and it was all happening in almost total darkness.

This was until a strange light filled the sky. It illuminated his surroundings and George could suddenly see with incredible clarity every ripple on the surface of the water engulfing him; every knarly tooth of the Yule Cat nearby. The light confused the beast. She paused to gaze up and determine its source. When he managed to temporarily steady himself, George did the same. What was creating this strange light?

George gasped. Up in the heavens, he saw a star. It was spectacularly bright, outshining every other. For a moment, the forest was still - George, the water, the mother and her kittens. The star had seemingly transfixed everything and everyone. Staring directly at the star hurt George’s eyes but he could not look away. He peered closer. Could it be? The star was moving. It was getting bigger … no … nearer … first slowly, then with speed. Soon, it was hurtling towards the Earth … hurtling towards him.

The Yule Cat tore out of the water to escape what appeared to be the incoming fireball rushing their way. George had no chance of escape - he could barely keep himself from sinking - and screamed as the star approached before it abruptly stopped a meter away and kicked him hard in his terrified face. He bobbed back up and saw a terrified face staring back at him.

“KEYA!?” 

The girl was glowing brightly, hovering just above him, awkwardly trying to right herself mid-air. The star was not a star at all, George realised, but his friend. He held out his hand. She did not take it. Keya dumped a vial of fairy dust over him, instead. The boy began to glow, then slowly rose from the river, as did three fish who happened to have been sprinkled with the dust as well. The spooked fish flittered away, swimming through the air, before diving back into the river with a PLOP!

George grabbed Keya’s hands to steady himself. He stared in awe at the girl, thoroughly baffled as they drifted upwards.

“You’re … you’re flying?” he stammered.

Keya was very aware that she was flying. She did not look happy about it one bit and clung just as tightly to George as he clung to her. George felt the now empty vial in one hand and something small and crumpled in the other. He looked closer. The crumpled item was Lolly’s hat. Keya wanted to explain everything - she had been using the hat to fan Lolly when the elf had fainted. That is why Keya had wanted to return to the crater where she knew she must have dropped it. She split from George to race there, found the hat, and used the vial marked “FLIGHT” within it to escape one of the ravenous Christmas kittens that trailed her.

Before Keya could even attempt to explain any of this, a giant paw swiped at them both. The two children were knocked into the water by the Yule Cat who had re-entered the river, furious to see her prey fast floating out of reach. The kittens join her, slashing and pouncing at the glowing spot in the river where George and Keya had landed. Luckily for George, flying was easier than swimming. The children shot out of the water. With a small kick of their legs, they propelled themselves high into the air at an incredible speed. 

One final swipe from the Yule Cat did not stop their escape but momentarily connected with Keya, scratching her leg. She shrieked in pain and dropped Lolly’s hat, as well as the empty vial that she was holding. The kittens ripped the hat apart as soon as it hit the riverbank and a wealth of items spilled out, including dumplings, tarts, tacos, pies and a range of other edible treats. The cats would have their feast after all.

While the animals gorged themselves, Keya and George slowly drifted up into the night sky. They clutched hands once again and stared at each other, so deeply relieved that neither of them had been eaten.

This lovely moment was interrupted by an electronic version of “Jingle Bells”. Keya looked around confounded and was shocked to realise that the muffled Christmas tune was playing from her pocket. This could only be one thing - her phone! The reception was better this high off the ground and the device was finally showing some mild signs of life. Keya yanked it out and scrolled vigorously through all of the features. She could not call, text, play Words with Friends, google, write notes or tweet. But she could use the Maps app. It was a Christmas miracle.

She showed the app on her screen to George.

“Where do you want to go?” Keya asked.

“It’s totally up to you”, George replied.

[popthirdworld]

Shel Silverstein for Playboy, 1965

[popthirdworld]

Chapter 15 - The Dungeon

This is a Christmas story told in 25 parts – with one chapter released each day of December ‘til Christmas. Enjoy!

A portal opened in the dungeon that sat deep below the ground underneath Sable’s mansion. The dungeon was dirty and cold, made up of a series of iron-barred cells and a cage dangling from a chain high overhead. The siphon stepped out of the portal with Puddles. She opened the brown sack and, with a wave of her hand, a gust of wind carried the fairies out of the bag and dropped them into the cage. Sable then waved her hand again and the yetis flew out of the sack too. They were slung into a cell with the door slamming behind them. 

Lastly, Sable dipped her arm deep into the bag and pulled out Lolly. The elf was already feeling groggy, having just fainted. She was left feeling worse once Sable hurled her into a cell, landing on a hard concrete floor with a THUMP! 

The yetis immediately began jumping up and down in their prison, flickering from visible to invisible. The fairies flittered around their cage in protest, bashing into the solid metal netting encasing them.

Sable was not about to tolerate such disruptions. She manifested thick black ropes to tie up the yetis and used her powers as siphon to suck out their vanishing abilities. The yetis howled as they felt their powers being extracted from them. Sable then turned her attention to the fairies. Sable drained the beings of their powers of flight, watching them fall to the base of their cage, one by one. 

As the yetis writhed helplessly in their restraints and the fairies let out a mournful hum, Sable summoned another portal and, with Puddles in her arms, disappeared into it. 

After Sable had left, Lolly opened her eyes and slowly tried to raise her body from the floor. The first thing that she saw was reindeer huddled together in the neighbouring cell, staring back at her.

“Comet? Vixen?” Lolly managed to squeak out in her frail state. “What are you … we … where are we?”

Dasher reached an antler through the bars for Lolly to hold onto to help lift herself up.

“Lolly!”

The elf heard an anxious voice behind her. She turned to see Ana, rushing in her direction to check her head for lumps and bruises. Ana was resplendent in the thick red cloak with white trimmings that she had been wearing back at the Workshop. She stood out among the filthy grey walls of the dungeon. Lolly noticed two other figures in the cell with them but, in her hazy state, could not make out their faces. 

“What’s going on?” Lolly murmured. 

“Sable is liquidating the Workshop and selling off its assets at an auction upstairs”, Ana recited from a piece of paper in her hand.

“Wha … ?” Lolly said, more confused than before. That did not sound like Mrs Claus.

The other two figures in the cell came into focus as they kneeled beside the elf. It was Mayor Paul and Sister Roula. They had been thrown into the dungeon by the trolls who had hauled them out of the showroom earlier. The nun and mayor still could not speak due to Sable’s hex. That is why, Ana explained to the elf, Mayor Paul had to write down what they had learned upstairs on the piece of paper she was holding. He had written it with his office ballpoint pen on a scrap of parchment from Ana’s pocket (on the other side of the parchment was a draft list of children in Angola who wanted scooters).

“Do you know where Santa is, and the two children?” Ana asked urgently.

“I … I was with them. We were in the Winter Forest. But … I don’t know where they are now. I’m sorry. I don’t know.”

With that, the elf watched as the look on the faces of Ana, Sister Roula and Mayor Paul turned from mildly hopeful to despairing.

“Lolly?” someone to her right shouted out. “Are you alright?”

Lolly recognised the voice. It was her friend and fellow elf, Lemon. Lolly turned and saw him and the other elves packed into the cell across the corridor. 

“Lemon! I’m OK. How are you all?”

“We’re fine”, a gruff elf named Marshmallow said curtly. “Ana, make sure you put some pressure on Lolly’s head. That wound looks nasty.”

Ana took out an embroidered handkerchief and pressed it against Lolly’s forehead. “I’m on it”. 

BANG!

A security guard heaped with muscles on his massive frame pounded his fist against the bars of their cell. Everyone in the dungeon jumped. The bars bent slightly from the impact. Even in her hazy state, Lolly could deduce that Sable must have imbued this guard with super-strength, just as she had with Puddles. He looked like figurines of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson that Lolly had wrapped and ribboned countless times over the years, but this muscleman was not so delightful. 

“No talking”, the guard ordered.

He strode over to sit at his desk stationed by the door. The prisoners had little option. As instructed, Ana, Mayor Paul, Sister Roula, Lolly, the other elves, reindeer, yetis and fairies fell silent.

___

Upstairs, the portal opened in the empty showroom. Sable, with the globe in her hands, marched past the various exhibits towards the pedestal with the red velvet pillow in prime position under the spotlight.

Santa, standing motionless within the globe, looked on with shock at all of the Workshop items he held dear so coldly displayed in this clinical white room. Beside each item were plaques with price estimates written upon them.

Sable placed the globe on the pillow, drew the velvet curtains and turned off the spotlight overhead. Left in the dark on the podium, the reality of what was happening dawned on Santa. He was one of the items for sale.

“Brent”, Sable called out to her personal assistant as she marched out of the room.

“Yes ma’am?”

“The auction can begin.”

[popthirdworld]

Chapter 14 - The Plan

This is a Christmas story told in 25 parts – with one chapter released each day of December ‘til Christmas. Enjoy!

“We’re sitting ducks”, Keya mumbled as she nervously paced in the snow, away from the yetis and fairies.

“We’ll be OK”, Lolly said, trying to calm Keya down. 

Neither of them were paying attention to George and Santa who were signing rigorously to each other under the lone Christmas tree still alive in the Winter Forest.

Keya shot the elf an unconvinced look. “Frosty is not here to protect us …”

“Yes.”

“… because the person we’re hiding from killed him.”

“Well, uh”, Lolly stammered. “Yes”.

“That’s sitting ducks”, Keya threw over her shoulder. “We need a plan.”

“Keya”, George said, standing in the girl’s path to stop her pacing and gain her attention. “Santa has one.”

Lolly and the children huddled around a rock on which the globe was perched. The yetis formed a circle around them while the fairies hovered overhead. Santa was holding court, humming to the fairies and simultaneously signing to George.

“What’s he saying?” Lolly asked the boy.

“That we’ll need a few things”, George replied. “He’s asking the fairies if they can perform a cloaking spell so that Sable can’t track us down with magic wind again.”

“Good idea”, Keya said.

“He’s also saying we need to figure out Sable’s location.”

“1374 Keating Estate”, Lolly recited.

George, Keya and Santa stopped and stared at the elf.

“How do you know that?” Keya asked, astonished.

Lolly pointed at the globe. “It’s on the business card that Sable gave Santa that he showed me earlier.”

Santa whipped out the card in his pocket. Lolly was correct. He gave a thumbs up to the elf and then turned to George to sign the next part of his plan.

As Santa signed, George felt his stomach sink. The next part of the plan, apparently, was for him and Keya to be taken home.

“Home?” George signed with alarm. “As in the shelter?”

“The most important thing is your safety”, Santa signed back. “We need to get you out of harm’s way.”

George had a visceral response to Santa’s words that he did not quite understand. His heart started pounding. Adrenaline flooded his bloodstream. Santa was talking about keeping him safe, yet safe was the last thing he felt in that moment. 

“I want to stay and help”, George could feel his hands quiver as he signed. “No one can understand you without me.”

“Even so, I can’t drag you any deeper into danger. At the shelter …”

“I’m useless”, George interjected. “Here, I’m finally … I’m not useless. Please.”

“What’s going on?” Keya queried, detecting tension between Santa and George from the flurry of hands signing back and forth.

“Santa wants to send us home”, George replied despairingly, after Santa relayed her question.

“Great!”

“Great?”

“Of course”, Keya said. “Lolly, is there a way we can get back?”

“Let me think”, Lolly responded, pondering the logistics. Elves love logistics. “Maybe you can take the horse and carriage. Or maybe I have something in here that can send you home, let me see ...”

She began rummaging through the vials of fairy dust in her hat. Keya helped her, holding the Christmas wreath, mince pies and advent calendars that the elf pulled out as she searched. This was all moving too fast for George.

“Wait a minute!” he protested.

“Why?” Keya asked. 

“I just think we need to think about this.”

“Think about it?”

“Yes.”

“There’s nothing to think about.”

“But …”

“We need to get out of here now.”

“What’s the rush?” George asked.

“I have a family at home worried sick about me, that’s the rush!”

Keya realised immediately that she had put her foot in it. She tried to apologise.

“I didn’t mean …”

“You’re right”, George said, trying to contain a bad combination of rage and sorrow bubbling up in the pit of his stomach where he felt he had just received a gut punch. “If you want to go, go. But I’m staying.”

The boy turned to Santa, picking up the globe and holding it tightly. He had nothing left to say to Keya.

“Please”, he whispered, his face so close to the globe that his nose touched the glass. “Let me stay here with you.”

Santa saw so much worry in George’s eyes. He understood why. Being Santa, he knew every child’s story. George had been running from danger his whole life. He just wanted somewhere to belong. At the shelter, however, he could not communicate and felt so alone. With all his magic, Santa could not change any of this, but he also could not let the boy stay with him in this desecrated forest and risk his life. There was nothing Santa could do. Trapped behind glass and a fraction of his size, he could not even give the boy a hug. In his very long life, Santa could not remember when he had felt so powerless.

Then, an anguished scream filled the air.

Everyone, but George who could not hear it, jumped in shock. The cry had come from Lolly, who promptly fainted and fell to the ground, landing at the feet of a pair of yetis standing nearby. Keya rushed over to Lolly to try and help her, using the elf’s hat to fan her face. Several fairies joined Keya, hovering over Lolly to inspect her unconscious body. 

George was flummoxed. “What happened?!” 

A yeti with majestic long horns like an antelope roared and pointed his leathery finger to a pile of rocks a few feet away. On top of this pile stood a small dog – Puddles. Keya, the fairies and yetis looked at the pup, baffled. Only George and Santa knew why Lolly was right to be so afraid.

The dog threw back his head, opened his mouth and let out a loud, otherworldly howl. The massive noise was in complete disproportion to the tiny body that it had come from.

“AYWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

In a flash of light, a portal opened. Sable stepped out. She was carrying Santa’s sack and had a look of satisfaction on her face. Puddles had finally tracked down their target and his howl had summoned her.

“Run!” George shouted. 

But before anyone could make a move, Sable placed two fingertips delicately over the glowing jewel on her necklace. Everyone, other than Sable and Puddles, was frozen in position. The yetis crashed to the ground like felled trees. The fairies dropped from the sky mid-flight, their light going out as their limp bodies hit the snow.

The globe slipped from George’s hands and landed by his feet. George tried desperately to move from his stiff stance to grab the globe and protect it but he could not budge an inch. The boy watched helplessly as Sable glided towards him in her evening gown and picked up the globe, triumphant. Santa stood within the globe motionless, pretending to be stuck in the same pose he was in when Sable first trapped him in the magical orb. He did not know what else he could do.

Sable pocketed the item and then pointed to the bag. The bodies of Lolly, the fairies and yetis all flew up into the air spectacularly, like a powerful tornado had just snatched them from the earth. The intense wind then funnelled them all into the burlap sack, where they landed on the mountain of presents that Santa was meant to be delivering that night.

“Roomy”, Sable muttered to herself as she tightened the ribbon on the rim of the bag, the bells attached to the ribbon softly jingling. The siphon then walked back through the portal, with the sack and Puddles, disappearing in an instant.

The terrifying sound, light and swirling winds from a moment ago were gone. The Winter Forest was now still, dark and quiet. All that was left was George and Keya, the two small children completely alone in this enormous forest, paralysed in place but trembling with fright.

[popthirdworld]

Chapter 13 - The Showroom

This is a Christmas story told in 25 parts – with one chapter released each day of December ‘til Christmas. Enjoy!

“An auction?” Mayor Paul and Sister Roula said in unison, bewildered.

“Yes”, Sable coolly replied, as she slowly made her way towards them.

Behind Sable, two very large trolls entered the showroom and shut the doors. Sister Roula glared at Sable defiantly. Mayor Paul began sweating profusely. 

“Mr Claus and his associates have not been using their assets correctly. They were using all of this”, Sable gestured at the room of spectacular items, “to give toys away for free. This is a waste.”

“My associates”, Sable continued, referring to her guests who could be heard making chit-chat down the hall, “are the biggest names in business. They’ll be able to use these assets more productively to make toys and other consumables far beyond what Mr Claus was willing and able to do. So tonight, I’m selling them off in the greatest – one-off, closed door, invite only – auction in history.”

“You’re doing all of this because you think what Santa does is a waste?” Sister Roula exclaimed. “Christmas is the only time my kids, and millions of others, get new toys! What Santa does is … is … it’s a lot of things, but it’s not a waste.”

“And, um, with respect, this isn’t yours to sell”, Mayor Paul added, trying to strike a diplomatic tone as Sable and the trolls inched forward. “These things belong to Santa … they belong to everyone.”

“They belong”, Sable replied, “to whoever can get the most value from them. You have no right to anything in this world if you’re not squeezing all that you can out of it. These materials, machinery, magical objects – far more can be gained from them if they’re put in private hands.”

“She sounds like you”, Sister Roula grumbled at the mayor. 

“Not now”, Mayor Paul hissed, absolutely drenched in sweat at this point.

The nun turned her attention back to Sable. “So, you’re going to dismantle Christmas like an old car and sell it for parts?”

“Of course”, Sable answered, looking a tad puzzled that the nun would question the legitimacy of such action. “In life, we must all move from one frontier to the next and take what we can from them. I just happen to have been born with certain abilities that allow me to access some of the more magical frontiers that others cannot”, she added, glancing at the heads of fantastical creatures mounted on her wall.

Sister Roula was now livid. “Life isn’t about sucking the world dry until it looks like a prune! It’s about giving, not … not … sucking! That’s what Christmas is about, what Santa is about and what just being a decent person is about, you weird ghoulish mongrel parasite!”

The nun had a lot more to say, but after the words “weird ghoulish mongrel parasite” no sound left her lips. Mayor Paul looked at her with confusion as she moved her mouth and clasped her throat with increasing desperation. The mayor tried to ask her what was wrong but discovered that he, too, could not speak. 

They both turned to Sable. She had a fist in the air. The jewel on her necklace was glowing. Sister Roula and Mayor Paul realised that she had magically seized their voices with a hex.

“I don’t have time to argue with you”, Sable said in a clipped tone, pointing at her smartwatch as if the nun and mayor should know her schedule. “Nor will I have you ruining my night.”

Sable gave a small nod to the trolls who proceeded to grab Sister Roula and Mayor Paul. They tried to resist and scream for help but their attempts at both were fruitless. 

The siphon did not bother looking at the nun and mayor as they were hauled away through a side door, out of sight from the auction guests. Her eyes remained focused on the one empty pedestal in the showroom. A small red velvet pillow sat on top of it, surrounded by matching velvet curtains and positioned under a spotlight. It was a display pillow with nothing on it to display. Sable needed to find Santa as soon as possible so that the auction she had planned so meticulously could begin.

[popthirdworld]

Chapter 12 - Frosty

This is a Christmas story told in 25 parts – with one chapter released each day of December ‘til Christmas. Enjoy!

“Don’t be frightened, they’re friendly”, Lolly said.

At first, Keya thought that the elf was assuring her and George. Lolly was, in fact, talking to the fairies. The tiny winged beings flittered around the children, looking at them curiously.

A few fairies were drawn to Keya’s knee that had been badly scraped when falling into the crater. Keya stood still as they inspected the wound. After what seemed like careful consideration, the fairies moved aside the bandages Lolly had wrapped around her knee and laid their tiny ice-cold hands on the injury. To her astonishment, Keya’s pain soon vanished and the gash closed up.

“Fairies are healers”, Lolly explained. “They nurture everything in the forest to help it grow. They also use materials here to concoct the most amazing magics and medicines.”

George realised that it was these fairies who must have made the dust that enabled the horse to fly. He wanted to keep his eyes on Lolly’s lips to understand more about the fairies, but it was hard to look away from the incredible beings themselves. They now seemed very comfortable with him. George had fairies feeling his face, examining his ears and lounging in the hair on his head.

“No offence, but if they’re so good at healing the forest”, Keya inquired, “why is everything dead?”

Lolly looked around, unnerved. She did not know the answer.

“Um, hi”, George said politely to the fairies all over him. “Have you seen Santa Claus?”

“He’s shrunken down?” Keya added. “In a ball?”

The fairies seemingly answered with a soft humming sound similar to that released from Lolly’s piccolo. All of a sudden, the tall creature who had stolen the globe appeared beside the tree. She apparently had been standing there the whole time, invisible. A dozen other creatures then emerged from their hiding spot in thin air as well, roused by the fairies’ sweet humming. 

These giant creatures all had thick white fur and green eyes like the one holding the globe. While they looked as though they belonged to the same family, they each had different body types, faces and features. Some were round and squat, like gorillas, others were leaner, like gibbons. A few even had horns and antlers sprouting from their heads. None were as tall as the creature with the globe, yet they were all much larger, and standing more upright, than regular apes. George and Keya had never seen anything like them.

“L … Lolly?” Keya stammered, not as instantly enchanted to be surrounded by these creatures as she was the fairies. “What … who … what are these?”

“I can’t remember what humans call them”, Lolly replied. “Yetis? Bigfoots? Bigfeet? They like cold temperatures and to be left alone.”

The tall, lanky one looked down at the glowing ball in her hands and, after a moment’s pause, offered it back to George.

“Thanks”, he said, relieved to see Santa again.

A fairy glowing with purple light fluttered over to the globe in George’s hand. She seemed to be able to hear Santa through the glass and the two of them had a conversation of sorts to which George, Keya and Lolly were not privy. 

After the purple fairy had finished humming, Santa turned to George to relay what she had told him. He looked distressed.

“As I thought, Sable is behind this”, Santa explained. “She vanquished Frosty and the forest perished without him.”

Before George could repeat this to Lolly and Keya, he had to ask one important question.

“Huh?”

“Frosty is a yeti as well”, Santa answered, “but far more ancient, far more magical, and much, much larger than his kin. He is essentially the heart of this forest. Frosty exudes the cold and would roam these woods to create its ice and snow. He is the winter. Without him, the forest is out of balance. There is only so much that the fairies can do to keep it alive. And this forest’s destruction has ramifications far beyond this place.”

“Wait”, George said, thinking back to their snowy Christmas at the shelter. “Is that what’s made Australia weirdly cold?”

“Among other places”, Santa responded. “Everything in nature is linked. With Frosty gone, the weather throughout the world is warped.”

“That horrible witch!” Lolly snapped, once George had relayed this information.

“Sable’s not a witch”, George corrected her. “She’s a siphon.”

“What’s a siphon?” Keya asked.

“Santa says it’s someone who has no special powers of their own”, George replied, “other than the magical ability to extract power from others.”

“So, she just takes, takes, takes”, Lolly grumbled. “That sounds right.”

“Her strength, her ability to do spells and make portals, all of it she nabbed from actual witches, as well as sprites, goblins, centaurs and more”, George said. “This is why she targeted Frosty. Sable had stolen too much power. She needed somewhere to store it. She learned that Frosty’ antlers would do the trick. But to get them she …”

George trailed off. 

“She what?” Lolly said.

“She killed him”, the boy replied reluctantly.

Lolly’s hand went to her heart. The elf thought back to the torn down trees and erratic footprints that they had passed. That must have been the site of Frosty’ and Sable’s struggle.

“They fought. He fell. And his body made this crater”, George continued. “From a distance, the fairies saw his body decay into snow as soon as Sable cut off his antlers. She then magically twisted them into a tiny jewel.”

“The one on her necklace”, Lolly said, putting the pieces together.

“She’s basically using it like a fridge to keep her powers on ice,” George confirmed.

Lolly’s eyes dropped to the snow under their feet. The elf shivered, not from the cold, but the haunting knowledge that she stood on the remains of the beloved winter beast, the forest’s heart. She then looked up and saw the mournful expression on the fairies’ and yetis’ faces. This great figure in their life was gone. Everybody looked solemn - except Keya, who did not read the room.

“So he’s dead?!” she cried.

“Keya …” George began, very aware of how she was unsettling the Winter Forest inhabitants.

 “We came all this way …”

“Keya …”

“… and he’s dead?!”

“Mate”, George stated firmly, grabbing Keya’s attention as only a sharply said “mate” can do to an Australian. He had been in Australia just long enough to learn that one.

The boy motioned to the gloomy faces of everyone surrounding them. Keya realised that she was being insensitive and begrudgingly went quiet, keeping her anxiety and outrage to herself.

Lolly crouched down and gently touched the snow. 

“There’s just one thing I don’t understand”, the elf said. “I get that Sable wanted the antlers to store her stolen powers. But, why did she want our Workshop?”

[popthirdworld]

Chapter 11 - The Winter Forest

This is a Christmas story told in 25 parts – with one chapter released each day of December ‘til Christmas. Enjoy!

Lolly landed the horse-drawn carriage in a large desolate clearing. While Keya exited the carriage elated to be back on solid ground, Santa and Lolly were stunned by their surroundings. This was not the Winter Forest that they had expected to see. The tall pine trees around them looked dead. The field only had small patches of snow scattered about, mingled with dirt. Perhaps the most surprising thing was the temperature. It was warm. George and Keya did not need the winter coats that Lolly had provided them.

“I thought you said that this was a magic forest?” George asked.

“It’s barely a forest”, Keya added, while fiddling with her broken phone.

“I don’t get it”, Lolly said, looking around bewildered. “This place is normally piled up with snow. It’s normally freezing cold. And the trees are normally, you know, alive.”

“Sable must have done this”, Santa signed to George, who was carrying the globe. “But I don’t understand how.”

“Ugh!” Keya grunted at her phone. “I’ve tried my parents, grandma, friends, randoms. Calling, texting … nothing works.” 

She held out the phone to George. 

“Do you want to try anyone?”

He shook his head and turned his attention to his feet. Keya realised that a kid in a shelter probably did not have a big contact list and it was probably rude to draw attention to it.

Luckily, Lolly stumbled into a ditch, breaking the tension.

“Ouch!”

While Keya jumped into the ditch to help the elf, George was taken aback by its peculiar shape. The ditch was a gigantic footprint. Whatever creature had made this mark must have been enormous. 

“Who did that?” George asked Santa, unsettled.

“Frosty”, Santa signed in reply, peering down at the footprint.

George’s eyes widened. This Frosty person we are looking for is a giant?

Before George could ask more questions, something dark and hazy appeared around the globe, blocking his view of Santa. The vague obstruction had materialised from nowhere, but quickly became clearer. George saw two large, wrinkled hands with long, thin fingers clasping the globe. The hands quickly tightened their grip and yanked the item from George in one swift upward motion.

“No!” the boy shouted desperately. “Stop!”

When he looked up, George saw a frightening ape-like creature towering over him with piercing green eyes. Her long limbs and spindly body were covered in ragged white fur.

The creature ran off between the trees, vanishing into thin air, from where she had emerged, but leaving a trail of dust and footprints (much smaller than the one left by Frosty) as she raced away.

George, Keya and Lolly had no time to think. They ran as fast as they could in pursuit, but keeping up with the thief was difficult. Her footprints were hard to see in the dark. With every misstep, the children and elf were scratched and stabbed by the lifeless branches shooting out from the trees around them. 

Making matters worse, the deeper they ran into the forest, the stranger everything became. George noticed that the creature was running in the same direction as Frosty’s footprints. Those prints were becoming more erratic, as if Frosty had been going in circles at certain points.

Lolly noticed something else.  The trees around them were not only dead, but often torn out from their roots and ripped apart. It seemed that Frosty - this mammoth creature who Santa hoped could protect them - had been in a scramble, knocking down trees, running for his life. 

Perhaps strangest of all, as she ran, Keya could hear a church bell.

DONG! DONG! DONG!

The girl had no idea where the sound was coming from but it was unmistakable, echoing loudly throughout the forest.

The ringing only disappeared into the distance after the ground beneath them took a sudden, steep drop. Keya, George and Lolly did not see it coming and tumbled into what appeared to be a gigantic crater the size of a football field. George and Lolly landed on snow. Keya landed on a jagged rock.

“Argh!”

The girl’s knee was badly cut from the fall. Blood poured onto the rock beneath her.

Lolly rushed over to help Keya. Elves are good in a crisis, always looking for ways to fix things. She dipped into her hat, pulled out bandages and began wrapping it around the girl’s leg.

George was frozen in place. He was staring at her wound. Haunted. Shaking. Traumatised.

Keya did not understand the grave look on his face. He was transfixed and horrified. Even though she was the one in pain, Keya felt the need to comfort the scared-looking boy.

“It’s OK”, she offered. “It’s just blood.”

George did not seem comforted. As he stared at the blood, however, he noticed it drip from the rock and onto white. Unlike the rest of the forest, the crater was somehow filled with thick snow. The temperature in the crater was cooler too, causing steam to leave their mouths as they huffed and puffed from exhaustion. The crater looked desolate, except for something glowing brightly at its centre. The curious sight managed to snap George out of his fixation on the blood.

Lolly and the two children cautiously approached the light. They discovered that its source was a beautiful Christmas tree - not one cut down and put in a pot, but rooted in, and growing from, the snow-filled Earth. It had plump healthy green foliage, unlike the bare corpses of pine trees looming over them on the outskirts of the crater. The tree glowed because its decorations were thousands of small twinkling lights.

Keya and George were confused. The tracks of the creature who stole the globe were present in the snow but ended at this tree. Why did her footprints stop here? And who would decorate such a wonderful Christmas tree in the middle of an empty forest?

Lolly appeared to have answers. She reached into her hat and, after some fumbling, pulled out a small brass piccolo. When she blew on it, a soft humming noise came out and the lights in the trees began flickering in response.

Then, the lights rose from the branches and began flying towards the elf. The air was now filled with a rainbow of colours. As these specks of light flew closer to Keya and George, the children realised that these were not inanimate Christmas decorations as they had assumed moments ago. They were Christmas fairies.