Milton the Reindeer

MILTON THE REINDEER

by Barbara Ann Garrick


As a baby, Milton was always a happy-go-lucky reindeer. He was very mischievous. For example, he liked to pull on Santa's beard for extended periods of time. Santa and Mrs. Claus tolerated his antics and never reprimanded him. They were too permissive, for one day when Milton was just two years old, he pranced over to Santa, tore off Santa's cap, grabbed his expensive toupee and threw it into the fireplace.
"Milton, how could you?" shouted Santa. "I got that toupee in Paris, and it cost one thousand dollars!"
Milton exclaimed, "The whole world should know that Santa's as bald as an eagle!" (There are no eagles in the North Pole. Milton knew about them from a picture book.)
Santa was very angry indeed. None of his helpers or reindeer had ever made him that mad. So he proclaimed, "Milton, you will regret that you were so naughty today!" Since Santa has magical powers, he turned Milton into a small toy reindeer. He became white because he was so shocked that he had been turned into a toy.
"You will no longer dwell with us at the North Pole", Santa declared as he threw Milton into a closet. Milton was shivering with fright and could not sleep the whole night.
The next day Santa wasted no time to be rid of Milton. Santa put him in a knapsack, and he took the next plane to New York City. He thought Milton belonged in New York because he already was a young hoodlum. After Santa arrived in the big city, he brought Milton to a Sears department store, where one of the managers was Santa's close friend. "Sell this reindeer for any price you so desire," Santa said to the manager, "and you can keep the money for yourself." Santa took in a few Broadway shows, and then he flew back to the North Pole.
Milton was placed on a shelf in the Toy Department and was sold that very day to Mrs. Henrietta McCard, who bought him as a Christmas present for her five year old daughter, Gretchen. Henrietta was a waitress in a fancy restaurant with the hopes of owning her own diner one day. Her husband, Tony McCard, worked the night shift at the post office. Like Henrietta, he was very nice. He was helping to save money for Henrietta's diner.
Henrietta had Tony wrap up Milton because he was far better at wrapping gifts than she was: her packages always looked laughable. Since Tony was so well-organized, he wrapped Milton up two weeks before Christmas. Milton was afraid he'd suffocate in the wrapping paper.
On Christmas Day, Gretchen had several packages to open and received nice presents: a pretty dress to wear for best, a pair of jeans and a Tweety sweat shirt and two dolls. Milton was the last present show opened. When she saw him for the first time, she cried with glee, "One of Santa's reindeer has come to live with me!" She hugged him and kissed him and hugged him and kissed him and hugged him and kissed him for a third time, and Milton thought, "This is the life!"
Santa had not really made Milton an inanimate object. Milton had the power to talk and to move around only when he was not nervous but rather was relaxed and felt at ease with his surroundings. Because of the warm reception, he immediately felt at ease with Gretchen. The very next day, the second day of Christmas, he began to talk to her and hug her back. He was by far her favorite toy. Gretchen begged to be allowed to sleep with him. Henrietta and Tony reluctantly agreed despite the fact that she already slept with six stuffed animals: a Pound Puppy, a beaver, two blue hippopotami (plural for hippopotamus), an anteater and a platypus from Duane Reade drug store. When Gretchen went to bed, she placed Milton right by her heart because he was her favorite. Milton would whisper bedtime stories to her, the very ones which Santa had told him. Milton was very happy now and only missed Santa a little bit.
Gretchen told her mother and father that Milton could talk and move around, but they thought her toy's "supposed" abilities were figments of a child's sweet imagination. Then one day Milton got up the courage to ask Henrietta, "Could you please buy a present for me to give Gretchen for her birthday?" Gretchen's birthday on February 16th was fast approaching. Henrietta was amazed and didn't respond. She was afraid she needed medication for mental problems. The next day when Henrietta had a day off from work and Gretchen was at school, Milton asked the same question. Henrietta questioned him in turn, "Are you a magical creature?" Then Milton told her his whole story, which he had been concealing from Gretchen because he thought she wouldn't love him any more if she knew the whole truth. Henrietta assured him that Gretchen would still love him, for Henrietta knew that her daughter loved him unconditionally.
When Gretchen came home from school that day, Milton muscled up the guts to tell her how and why he had been exiled by Santa. Of course, Gretchen did still love Milton and, what's more, she felt even more love for him because of the troubles he had seen. Milton was very relieved and thought, "This is the life!"
Henrietta and Tony bought Gretchen many presents for her sixth birthday. They gave Milton a Tweety watch, which was to be Gretchen's first watch, to give to their daughter as his gift. At the party, Milton was silent and didn't move because he did not want the other children to know that he was a magical toy. He was afraid that one of them would kidnap him if they found out that he was so special. Milton was a suspicious New Yorker.
After the party, Milton asked Henrietta, "May I take a bath with Gretchen to celebrate her birthday?" Henrietta responded, "Milton, your tag says that you're only surface washable and you can't go in the dryer, so you would be wet for days and get mildewy. We could never get the stink out."
Milton became very pesty because he had his heart set on taking a bath with Gretchen this one time. He kept demanding that he be allowed to go into the tub.
Then Henrietta asked him, "You know you're being naughty again, don't you Milton?"
Milton answered, "I only suspected I was being naughty."
Henrietta declared, "Milton, we will never throw you out of our happy home the way Santa did, BUT we will not tolerate any naughtiness. Now go into Gretchen's room and let her take her bath!"
(Gretchen secretly wanted to take a bath with Milton. Since she was a very obedient child, she did not get involved with the argument and assumed, "Mommy knows best." Gretchen almost never crossed Mommy or Daddy.)
Milton sheepishly walked into Gretchen's room, sat in the dark and pondered. After just a few minutes, he recognized Henrietta's good intentions and said to himself, "If Santa had told me I was being naughty when I plucked his beard, I would have known enough not to throw his toupee into the fire." When Henrietta came in to tuck Gretchen, Milton and the other toys in bed and kiss Gretchen good night, Milton thanked her for reprimanding him.
Milton was so thankful for his happy home that he started to clean the apartment every day of the work and school week when Gretchen and Henrietta were out and Tony was asleep in the master bedroom. Milton knew well that Henrietta and Tony both hated to clean. Milton was able to clean all the rooms from top to bottom except the parents' bedroom, in which Tony slept soundly, in just a few hours because of his ability to fly. He would fly with his hind legs and direct the broom or mop with his forelegs. Even though he was small, he could clean all the furniture and accessories because he would fly to the top and start dusting. Then he would work his way down, dusting with a rag until there was not a speck of dust to be seen anywhere on the object. He cleaned the master bedroom on weekends when the family was out on outings. And he was also an expert at doing laundry.
Henrietta and Tony were flabbergasted at Milton's hard work and insisted on giving him an allowance in return. He chose to spend it on nature videos. In a few months, he had a sizable collection.
In June, Milton started making the evening meal during the work week. The family always had dinner at 7:30 p.m. before Tony left for the post office. Henrietta had a good collection of cook books. Milton immediately discovered that he loved to cook. By December, he had become a fabulous chef. Gretchen, Henrietta and Tony knew well that having Milton in their home was a great blessing.
Since Santa knows when young individuals are good or bad, he was well aware that Milton's behavior had become exemplary, model behavior for all humans and animals of any age. Santa wanted to take Milton back to the North Pole. He thought that he could get Milton to cook and clean for Mrs. Claus and himself. Milton was able to cook and clean better than all the elves put together!
So Santa appeared to Milton late at night on December 23rd and offered to take him home.
Milton replied, "I would like to be one of your crew members on Christmas eve, but I don't want to leave my happy home for any more than that one night during the entire year."
Santa agreed to Milton's terms even though he was extremely disappointed. Milton is a magical toy all year, but on Christmas eve he turns back to a real reindeer and with the other reindeer transports Santa all over the world.
The McCards are delighted to have Milton as their pet. They are so pleased with his cooking that one day Milton will be the head chef at Henrietta's diner.

THE END

Copyright 1999 Barbara Ann Garrick