sound of the door opening. The door opened wide.
Something dark was in the snow outside the door. It did not move. Then the black shifted a little. It moved inside and shut the door behind. Now, they could see it was a person. The black shape said nothing and walked to the fireplace. A small piece of the black moved, through the air, and landed in the fireplace. The black shape was a person with an arm load of cut logs. Now putting logs into the fireplace. The person pulled something from the front of him. Then moved his hand across the end of a log. It was a match. Put the match into kindling mixed in with the logs. The kindling was burning. The still dark person, walked to the door and opened it. The dark shape stepped into the snow outside and closed the door. Then there was silence.
Jess and Tam inched their way out of the boards and crawled to the fire. The light and warmth filled the room.
Then Tam said to Jess, “That was Herbie. He was here. He still here taking care of the important things. This is his home.”
Jess and Tam sat by the fire as they and the room warmed. Jess and Tam heard the sound of snowmobiles in the distance.
Tam went to the small window, looked out, and saw the snow was light and winds were low. It was still dark. Neither Jess nor Tam knew the time. The lights of the snowmobiles approached. The snowmobiles stopped in front of the cabin.
Someone shouted, “Anyone inside?”
Tam shouted back, “Yes, we’re here.”
The voice from outside replied, “It will be a few minutes, till we clear the snow from the door.”
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Night Monster
From the stepladder I watched, the dark rain clouds obscured the sun, as it sat. Now I knew I could not finish painting the barn today. There was to be no twilight that night. And I had to get home in the little light that remained. So I climbed down the ladder and started to the barn door when my foot knocked over the bucket of paint. After quickly picking it up, in the dim light, I saw the paint spreading over the ground. In the decreasing light of the early evening, there was nothing I could do. So I put the lid on the can and started the walk home.
As I walked down the lane to the paved street, the daylight faded even more. There were no houses or street lights by the edge of town. Trees and bushes had grown up to the paved street on both sides. The winds were bringing in the rain. The creaking of the limbs as one moving on the other was in the air. Low dark clouds racing to the east overhead. Five blocks ahead was Main Street. The street light on the main street had burnt out several weeks before. The only light was the light of the corner drug store shining into the street. I walked quickly towards the light. When groups of low dark clouds moved overhead even the shadows were not seen.
As I rushed toward the light of the corner, I heard footsteps behind me. As I walked faster the footsteps walked faster. The black clouds overhead made it impossible to see anything except the light at the corner. I could not tell how far I had to go. I just kept moving in the dark. Then I heard the footsteps getting closer. Maybe it was two pair of footsteps, I couldn’t tell. I kept moving as fast as I could toward the light.
Then after the dark clouds above me moved east, there was some amount of light. I found myself a block and a half from the drugstore. Glancing back, I saw a large greyish-black werewolf following. His feet were red with blood. Probably the blood of his last victim. I ran to the light of safety at the corner. As I ran it ran right behind me. His footsteps were coming closer.
I made it around the corner, stopped in the light from the drugstore window. The sounds of footsteps were heard no more. I looked at the lit up widows of the stores across main street. The relaxing sights of the tranquil little town calmed me. Ahh, safe at last.
So I turned and hurried down the sidewalk. And walked into the sidewalk planter, full of blooming July flowers. I fell, hit the sidewalk and rolled onto my back. The large black monster lunged at me. The bloody werewolf’s claws pressed onto my chest. His tongue licked my face.
Oh no. It’s was OK. It was my dog Fido. He walked in the red paint I spilled.
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Santa and the Missing Sled
Santa sat at his desk scrutinizing the situation. This morning he couldn’t find his new sled. Sally the Elf had told him that Jim the Elf and the two reindeers, Rudolf and Comet, went for a ride in the new sled. She didn’t know where they were going. They left three days ago and tonight is the night before Christmas. Santa had no idea what to do.
Finally, out of desperation, Santa sunk into Jim’s room. He saw some letters on the desk. Among the letters was one from Judy The Elf. In the letter were arrangements for Jim the Elf to visit her, before Christmas, for a few days. Santa recalled Jim’s girlfriend, Judy The Elf, from last Christmas. Just for the fun of it, she wrapped up dirty socks in place of T-shirts. There were many complaints, so Santa had to fire her. Then she moved to Canada, to live with her mother. Santa had a bad feeling about firing her, but he felt it was necessary.
Santa left Jims room and returned to his desk. He looked at the naughty list to find the address for Judy The Elf. It read Judy The Elf; 517 Maple Street; Pleasantville, Canada. He remembered a dog lived there. From his journal, he found that he missed giving Judy a present 17 years ago. Because of this, he thought, maybe, he had something to do with Judy being so mischievous. He knew the only way to keep those little brats in line was to bribe them with presents.
The only sled, that could be fixed to fly, was a 1952 model. Even if it could be repaired, Santa knew, it was not fast enough to get around the world and delivery all those presents in one night. So Santa decided to fix up the old sled, use it to go to Canada, and find the new sled. Santa revived the old 1952 sled. He harnessed up Dixon, Blitzen, Vixen, Cupid, and Prancer. Then taped a battery powered led light bulb to Prancers nose to guide the sled. Santa left the North Pole and went south to Canada.
He arrived at the Canada border. Here he maneuvered the sled to avoid the missiles shoot at him. He found this easy to do since he has been dodging missiles every Christmas since 1943.
On arriving above Pleasantville, he flew over the housetops and down Maple Street. He attempted to see the street numbers on the houses as he flew by. And glimpsed a mail box at the end of a sidewalk leading to a house. He noticed something odd about the mailbox, so he slowed the sled to look a second time. On the mailbox, in big letters, was Judy’s last name “The Elves”. A big dog jumped at the sled. Now, he knew this was Judy’s house.
Santa circled the house, with the dog chasing along, and landed in the back yard. The dog hurdled at the sled trying to jump in. Santa grabbed his bag, and then wedged it between him and the attacking hound. The dog bounced off the bag and plunged onto the ground. He recuperated and leaped at the bag.
Mom The Elf ran out the back door and called to the dog. “Wolf, Get over here.”
Wolf stopped the assault and paced to Judy’s mom.
Mom The Elf said, “Hello Santa. What happen to you 32 years ago? I never got my present.”
Santa muttered to himself, “Lucky anyone gets their present at his house, with that dog around. He must be as old as me.”
Mom The Elf said, “What.”
Santa, “I was saying how sad I was to get rid of Judy.”
Mon The Elf, “Oh, yea. With all those big toy manufactures you have to lay off a few people now and then.”
Santa, “Is Judy home?”
Mon The Elf, “No, She’s at the mall with Jim.”
Santa,” The Mall. Where is that?”
Judy’s Mom replied, “It’s a mile down Main Street. Main Street is two blocks over from here. The bus goes right out to the mall. It runs every hour.”
Then Mom The Elf opened the back door and let Wolf in. Then she entered the house. Santa knew it was getting late and he still had to find the new sled. He looked at his watch and saw it was twenty after three. Santa walked to the bus stop. He waited 45 minutes for the bus. Santa became annoyed because of the long wai
t. The bus finally arrived; he boarded, and rode down Main Street. After 15 minutes the bus arrived at the mall. Santa hastily entered the mall.
Just inside the door, a mall worker said to him coarsely, “Hey Santa. It’s not break time get back to work.”
Santa looked at him harshly and hurried toward the center of the mall.
After reaching the malls center, he noticed the food court was there. There was a donut shop, to his right. He looked at his watch and it was four twenty five. He reasoned that he had time for a donut. So he purchased three donuts and a cup of eggnog. After eating, he noticed Jim sitting at a table on the other side of the food court. Judy was not with him.
He rushed to Jim and hastily said, “The sled has to be at the North Pole by 8:30. The elves must have the time to load the sled. I need the sled”
Jim replies, “Judy wants her job back. If she gets her job back, your get your sled back.”
Santa felt bad about firing Judy, so he promptly said, “She can have here job back. We have to hurry. It’s close to 5 o’clock.”
Jim, “I’ll get the sled back in time.”
Santa, “Where’s Judy?”
Jim, “They’re having a special Christmas Eve sale at Snow Cloths. It starts at five o’clock. Judy is over there.”
Jim and Santa went to Snow Cloths. The special sale had already started. The store was full of women, so they stood outside looking for Judy through the windows.