Lani's Blog

Santa's Boy

Prompt:WHO --- SANTA


WHAT --- SANTA ... KEELS OVER


WHEN --- AT A MEAL ON CHRISTMAS EVE











What was he doing behind Santa's sleigh? Heading toward North America at a breakneck speed because of the late hour, Ronald will hardly have enough time to complete his mission: filling in for his sick dad. Santa Clause collapses at the Annual Christmas Eve luncheon. Ronald could see the headline in the North Pole morning news. He couldn't screw up. Too much was at stake. All those children expecting their presents and Santa's reputation.





Ronald hoped that the reindeer knew where they were going. And that the elves assigned to help him couldn't see how his hands shook holding the reins. It was one thing to ride with Dad these past 90 years, but to actually take the route made Ronald hands shake harder. Fortunately, it was only the North American route he had to cover. His brothers were already covering their own well established territories. Michael was Father Christmas in Great Britain, Joel, Pere Noel in France, Herman, Christindl in Germany and so on.. They promised to help if Ronald got behind. He needed to do this on his own. To prove he was more than the youngest screw-up in a large prefect family.





"Okay Santa, here we are at the first house," said Dash.





"Don't call me that. That's Dad's name!" said a stricken Ronald.





The elf looked up from the list that he held. "Santa is the office. Kris is your Dad's name as in Kris Kringle."





"Tonight you are Santa, Ronald. Don't worry. We'll help and after the first house it get easier." said Dot who was loading the knapsack.





"Look, guys. I've ridden with Dad lots of times, but I don't know all of this really works. When I would ask, he just said magic. How do I go down the chimneys and get back up without being seen? How do I know what to leave?


What about alarms? What if someones sees me? " Ronald's words came out in a rush.





The elves looked at each other concerned and then turned to Ronald. Dash, the more experienced elf, asked," Did your Dad give you a ring tonight? It has a star on it."





"Actually Mom gave it to me. She said to wear it tonight in honor of Dad." He held out his right hand and the elves saw a large ring with a bright green stone that shined like as a star.





Both elves let out a sigh of relief.





"It's alright then," said Dash. "The ring is the source of Santa's magic. It was given to him by Mother Nature when he took office. Transports you from the roof to the Christmas tree. Going down chimneys is a myth.  Makes you invisible when you need to be. Lets you walk through wall. "





"Although, some children who are true believers will see through the invisibility." said Dot. "I got your knapsack packed. Ready for your first house?"





"As ready as I can be. How do you start this thing?" Ronald said nodding toward the ring.





"Uh..I don't know," said Dot. "Dash?"





"We're just the delivery boys, not Santa. He never really told you in all those ride?"





Ronald thought about it. Santa always twisted the ring and smiled and disappeared before his eyes.





"Maybe he thinks about getting by the tree after he twist the ring." he told the elves.





"Try it now. We're running behind," urged Dash.





Ronald gave the ring a nervous twist and put on a weak smile and disappeared. The Christmas tree glowed with a familiar light.





"Ronald! What in the Name of Mother Nature are you doing back here!" thundered Santa. Sitting in his favorite chair by the fire, he looked anything but sick. Ronald was too surprised to be in his own home to notice.





"Dad! I twisted the ring and smiled and ended up back here! he cried. "I don't know what happened."





"Did you say the child's name?" his dad asked.





"I didn't know that part of it." Ronald said lowering his eyes.





"It's okay son. My fault. I forgot to tell you and the elves. Just say the name of the child or the place where you want to be after twisting the ring. Now say sleigh and get out here!"





Still in a bit of shock, Ronald did what he was told and found himself on the same roof with Dash and Dot.





"Well lets get this show on the road." said Ronald as looked at the relieved elves. "I need the name of the child we are visiting tonight."





"Shondra Marks, Santa." promptly replied Dash keeper of the list.





"Okay, here we go," said Ronald as he twisted his ring then whispered the name. His smile was weak, but a small twinkle lit his eyes. With hardly time to finish whispering her name, he appeared next to Shondra's tree. Unloading the gifts turned out to be easy as Dot had only put in the knapsack what he needed. It all took less time than he expected. Before he could say Hot Chocolate, he was on to the next house.





And so it went. Ronald popped into a house by the Christmas tree, delivered the presents, ate a cookie, drank some milk and popped back up to the sled for the next house. He only had two scares that night. The first was a little girl who waited up to talk to him.





"Santa, I wrote a list, but I don't want anything on it now." said the teary eyed girl named Katlyn. "My daddy is out of work and needs a job. Can you get him a job? Please. He works on car and trucks. Daddy says you can't help us, but I know you can." Her face was resolute.





Surprised, Ronald dropped his bag when the little girl spoke to him. He listened to the girl talk and tried to think of a solution. Maybe Dad can help her later," mused Ronald. "I'll do what I can,"he said gently. "Now its time to get into bed."





Ronald's next scare came from a grown-up as he was setting presents around the Christmas tree. A weary father was putting together a bicycle.





"I'm so tired from all the overtime at the shop and now its Christmas Eve and I'm seeing things," mumbled a bleary eyed father. By now Ronald had better idea of how his ring worked. He twisted it and whispered fix bicycle. The tired father jumped back in surprise as the bike assembled itself.





"Hey Santa, you wouldn't happen to have an auto mechanic in your bag would you? My shop is overflowing with work and no extra help," said the tired dad. Ronald smiled and melted before his surprised eyes. The dad would find a note in his stocking with the phone number of Katlyn's dad.





The first fingers of dawn were lighting the sky when Ronald turned the sleight toward home. Dot and Dash exhausted from the night labors, snored in the back seat.  He was feeling pretty smug. "Finishing on time without my brother's help," Ronald thought. "Wait till I tell Dad. Getting sick on Christmas Eve my asteroid!  Pushing me out of the nest is just Dad's speed. I can't wait to thank him."








Merry Christmas everyone. Sorry this is so rough. Will fix it up later