![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
One fine Christmas Eve, a young girl named Melissa McGee could not sleep. You see, that was the night that Santa Claus was to come and bring presents for all the good little boys and girls. And Melissa had been a very good girl all year and she knew Santa had her on the "nice" list!
But Melissa could not sleep, because she knew something was wrong. One of her friends -- you know, the kind her parents can't see and pretend that they can but they really can't -- had told her that Santa was not going to be able to bring presents for Christmas that year.
"But Lenny," she said. Her friend's name was Lenny, you see. "But Lenny, Santa's just got to come! I've been a good girl all year!"
"I know you have, Melissa McGee, but Santa doesn't have enough toys! There's something wrong in the Elves Workshop!"
Melissa looked at Lenny in the way that her parents look her when they think she's fibbing about something. "How can you know that, Lenny? The North Pole is really far away!"
Lenny didn't mind that look at all. Even though he was not very big, Lenny was over four hundred years old, and it did not bother him in the slightest. "Because I'm a dragon, Melissa McGee! I know these things!"
Melissa pouted, sticking her bottom lip out as far as it could go. "Can't you do something, Lenny? Please?"
Lenny smiled a patient, toothy smile. "No, Melissa McGee, I sure can't! I'm a dragon and I'm not allowed. But you can! The rules say that dragons, ogres, trolls, unicorns, fairies, pixies, nymphs, sprites and brownies can't do anything at all. But they don't say anything about little girls!"
Melissa clapped. "Oh! Goody! But it's so far away? How can I get there?"
Lenny spread his wings. "Well, it might be breaking the rules just a little bit, but I'll take you there!" And quick as a wink, Lenny picked Melissa up and flew all the way to the North Pole. It was cold, and he hadn't even waited for Melissa to change clothes. All she had was the little flashlight that she kept beside her bed in case she needed to do something in the dark. Like read a book or talk to a magic, invisible dragon.
Lenny dropped her right on Santa's front doorstep. "Here you go," Lenny exclaimed. "Santa's House! Just ring the bell and you'll be all set." But Melissa didn't ring the bell. Instead she put her arms close to her chest and shivered. "It's c-c-c-c-c-c-c-cold, Lenny!"
The dragon looked surprised. "Oh dear me, dear me!" In his excitement, he had completely forgotten that little girls don't have thick scales like dragons or thick fur like bears, and the north pole is too cold for them. The poor girl was already starting to turn blue!
Lenny had to think quick! "I could get you a coat!" But Melissa started to cry a little. "Oh no no that isn't fast enough! Oh wait, I know! I'm a magic dragon! I will give you magic warmth!" And the the little dragon made a dragon kissy face, and breathed on the little girl. And before you could say "gee golly hogglewash snapper" Melissa was warm again and wasn't even a little bit blue anymore.
"Oh, oh thank goodness! That feels so much better! Thank you so much, Lenny!" And she threw her arms around the dragon's neck and gave him a giant squeeze!
"Urk!" exclaimed Lenny. Little dragons have small necks, you see, and her hug was so tight she almost strangled him. But then she let go and turned around and rang Santa's doorbell. Lenny couldn't be seen here by Santa Claus, that would totally break the rules, so he disappeared even faster than you can say "rice krispies."
After only a moment -- though it seemed a lot longer than that to Melissa who rang Santa's doorbell at least fifty seven times -- the door opened. And there was Santa! He was just like all the stories, too! He was big and round and his tummy shook like a bowl full of jelly! And he wore a red coat and hat with white fur and black boots and gold buckles and everything! But he wasn't jolly.
Not even a little bit jolly. Santa was down right upset, stomping. "What what what? I'm very busy can you come back again after Christmas?"
Melissa looked up at him and put her hands on her hips and stuck her elbows out. "But Santa, Christmas is going to be over soon and Lenny told me you need help?"
Santa looked annoyed. "Yes, yes I know." Then he stopped and looked at her for a moment, seeming surprised about something. "Wait a second. I know you, Melissa McGee, but who is this Lenny fellow?"
"Lenny is my friend the dragon!" She turned to point at him, but he was nowhere to be found. Santa looked where she was pointing and saw only snow.
Santa snorted. "A dragon you say. Don't be silly. There are no dragons."
Melissa looked back at Santa. "But! But he brought me here so I could help!"
Santa smiled. This was the jolly look of Santa that she expected to see, the kind warm smile of a grandfather. "Yes, yes of course he did. But you shouldn't be telling such stories. Nobody will believe you." He gave her a wink. "Come in, dear child come in."
Melissa stepped inside Santa's house and brushed snow off her shoulders. The house was smaller than she expected and not as nice as she expected. She looked around, expecting to see elves or toys, but she only saw a simple living room with two couches, a chair, and a bunch of books with big words on them.
Santa closed the door behind her. "I'm afraid you won't be able to help, child. You see, the toy machine is broken, and the best, smartest elf who can fix it fast enough has gone missing. I can't fix the machine in time and soon there won't be enough time for the machine to make all the toys I need for Christmas."
Melissa looked back up at Santa. "Missing," she cried! "Oh no! What happened to him?"
Santa shrugged his big shoulders. "I don't know, that's just it! He was here and then the elves all took their break and when they came back he wasn't there!"
Melissa furrowed her brow and looked thoughtful. "Maybe he went outside?"
Santa scoffed. "Nonsense, dear Melissa McGee! Elves are afraid of the dark! He wouldn't have gone outside! Well, unless...no no, he couldn't have. Well. Maybe! But I wouldn't think he'd be so foolish as to go off on his own! Anyway, enough of this talk I need to get back and try to fix the machine or there will never be Christmas! Make yourself at home, dear. There are cookies on the table and milk in the refrigerator!"
Santa swept off without another word, leaving behind only the sound of a slamming door. She didn't even get to ask why an elf might have gone outside. "Besides," she said to herself. "It's dark outside." But then she remembered that she had her flashlight with her! She pushed the button and it lit up, just like she knew it would!
She opened the door and walked out. It was windy and it was cold, but Lenny's warmth kept her from being too cold, and the wind didn't blow too hard on her pajamas. She shut the door behind her and looked around. It didn't take long at all for her flashlight beam to come across a set of footprints leading away from Santa's house.
They were smaller than hers, and not shoes like she wore, but little pointed boots. "Those must be elf prints," she exclaimed, and she followed them out into the snowy field, away from Santa's happy, warm house! Pretty soon the footprints were joined by another sent of prints. These were big prints, bigger than any human's, and they had claws on them.
"Oh no, what can those be," she asked herself. But she couldn't think of anything that made footprints like that. She looked behind her, but Santa's house was too far away to see now. She pulled her pajamas a little more tightly around her and pressed onward.
Pretty soon both sets of footprints led into a dark cave. She pointed her flashlight at it and the beam shone in. She couldn't see anything past the cave, though.
When she stepped in, she smelled delicious soup and wet rat. It was really weird how it could make her stomach both hungry and upset at the same time, but she did. She was scared, but she had to help Santa. She went deeper into the cave.
And then she saw it. It was seven feet tall, and stood up like a person but it was covered in long white fur. It was facing away from her, looking at something on a big bonfire. Then it must have heard her, because it turned around. It had two stubby horns at the top of its forehead, and big yellow eyes, and a mouth full of more teeth than she could possibly count.
"Raaaaar," the creature yelled. "More food for my soup!"
"Oh no," Melissa shrieked and put her hands on her face, and she dropped her flashlight. The beast rushed toward her, towering over her. Saliva dripped from its teeth as it swept toward her.
"Quick, quick, I've got to be quick like Lenny," she thought! And then she had an idea! The beast was so big that its feet were far apart. She ran right between its legs while it was trying to grab her, and its claws hit the ground. Splinters of rock from the cave went flying.
Then she turned around and threw herself at the monster's butt with all of her little might. Her shoulder hit it square and it tumbled forward. Its face slammed right into the stone floor of the cave and knocked it right out.
"Yea! Take that, monster! You can't eat me!"
From behind her, she heared, "Mffmfmmm mfff mfmmmmfffff!!!!" When she turned and looked, she saw a huge cast iron cauldron on top of a bon fire, and hanging on a rope above the cauldron was a little elf! She looked around and saw that he was hanging from a wooden contraption barely standing over the cauldron. She went over to it and pushed and pulled and pushed and pulled again as hard as she could and then with a giant CRACK the thing broke and tumbled over.
The pushing and the pulling had gotten the elf swinging, so when it broke, he flew right onto the edge of the cauldron, bounced off its lip, through the edge of the fire, and bounced onto the floor. She hurried over and untied the little guy.
"Oh thank you, thank you Melissa McGee! You saved me from that abominable snowman! We'd better get out of here before it wakes up!"
"Oh yeah," cried Melissa! "Hey wait, how do you know my name?"
The little man smiled brightly. "I'm an elf. It's my job! Come on, let's go!" And together they nearly flew out of the cave, covering the whole distance back to Santa's house in less than three minutes. Melissa didn't know it at the time, but that was completely a world's record for running that far, that fast, through snow.
When they got back to Santa's house, they were huffing and puffing, completely out of breath. The little elf pushed his way into the home and cried out, "I got it! I got the magic nail!" And she led Melissa through the house and into the workshop where she got to see the big toy machine. He opened up a panel on one side, put whatever it was he was carrying into the machine, and suddenly it made a sound like an old steam train horn.
Then a conveyor belt that wasn't moving before suddenly came to life, and toys came out of the machine at great speed. Elves quickly packed the toys into boxes, wrapped them and put them into Santa's sack. Everyone moved so fast and so perfectly that Melissa couldn't do anything but watch, it was so awe-inspiring to see.
Then Santa came in and picked up the sack and slung it over his back. "Thank you so much, Melissa McGee for rescuing Bertie! But now I've got to go or all these toys will be late! And we don't want a world full of disappointed boys and girls do we!"
Melissa started to agree that would be bad, but Santa was already gone. She heard him call the reindeer, and then the sleigh bells rang and disappeared into the distance. Everything was quiet.
"But," Melissa started to say. "But I won't be home."
"It's okay," came a voice from behind her. She whirled around and saw Bertie, the elf she had saved. He had something behind his back. It was pretty big.
"I saved one for you. I put extra elf-stuff into this one." And he stepped aside. It was a giant pink unicorn with a little wooden horn, almost as big as she was. "Oh! Bertie! Unicorns are my favorite! Well and dragons too!" And she leapt forward and give the toy unicorn a hug. And Bertie too.
Bertie grinned and hugged her back. "I think your friend's outside. If you hurry you can be back home before Santa gets there. Just don't tell him, okay? He doesn't believe in dragons. Can you believe that? Santa doesn't believe in dragons. I bet dragons don't believe in Santa either!"
Melissa laughed happily and gave Bertie another hug.
"You better hurry, or you won't be home in time!" And he gently pushed her toward the door.
Melissa saw Lenny waiting patiently in the cold. He looked at her, and then at the toy unicorn. "A unicorn, Melissa McGee. Really?"
She grinned bashfully. "So what?"
"Nevermind," said the dragon. "Unicorns are just silly creatures, that's all. Let's go home."
As she held onto Lenny and they flew back to her house, she asked, "I wonder what Santa's going to bring!"
"I guess you'll just have to find out!" called out the little dragon.
And then they flew home!
But Melissa could not sleep, because she knew something was wrong. One of her friends -- you know, the kind her parents can't see and pretend that they can but they really can't -- had told her that Santa was not going to be able to bring presents for Christmas that year.
"But Lenny," she said. Her friend's name was Lenny, you see. "But Lenny, Santa's just got to come! I've been a good girl all year!"
"I know you have, Melissa McGee, but Santa doesn't have enough toys! There's something wrong in the Elves Workshop!"
Melissa looked at Lenny in the way that her parents look her when they think she's fibbing about something. "How can you know that, Lenny? The North Pole is really far away!"
Lenny didn't mind that look at all. Even though he was not very big, Lenny was over four hundred years old, and it did not bother him in the slightest. "Because I'm a dragon, Melissa McGee! I know these things!"
Melissa pouted, sticking her bottom lip out as far as it could go. "Can't you do something, Lenny? Please?"
Lenny smiled a patient, toothy smile. "No, Melissa McGee, I sure can't! I'm a dragon and I'm not allowed. But you can! The rules say that dragons, ogres, trolls, unicorns, fairies, pixies, nymphs, sprites and brownies can't do anything at all. But they don't say anything about little girls!"
Melissa clapped. "Oh! Goody! But it's so far away? How can I get there?"
Lenny spread his wings. "Well, it might be breaking the rules just a little bit, but I'll take you there!" And quick as a wink, Lenny picked Melissa up and flew all the way to the North Pole. It was cold, and he hadn't even waited for Melissa to change clothes. All she had was the little flashlight that she kept beside her bed in case she needed to do something in the dark. Like read a book or talk to a magic, invisible dragon.
Lenny dropped her right on Santa's front doorstep. "Here you go," Lenny exclaimed. "Santa's House! Just ring the bell and you'll be all set." But Melissa didn't ring the bell. Instead she put her arms close to her chest and shivered. "It's c-c-c-c-c-c-c-cold, Lenny!"
The dragon looked surprised. "Oh dear me, dear me!" In his excitement, he had completely forgotten that little girls don't have thick scales like dragons or thick fur like bears, and the north pole is too cold for them. The poor girl was already starting to turn blue!
Lenny had to think quick! "I could get you a coat!" But Melissa started to cry a little. "Oh no no that isn't fast enough! Oh wait, I know! I'm a magic dragon! I will give you magic warmth!" And the the little dragon made a dragon kissy face, and breathed on the little girl. And before you could say "gee golly hogglewash snapper" Melissa was warm again and wasn't even a little bit blue anymore.
"Oh, oh thank goodness! That feels so much better! Thank you so much, Lenny!" And she threw her arms around the dragon's neck and gave him a giant squeeze!
"Urk!" exclaimed Lenny. Little dragons have small necks, you see, and her hug was so tight she almost strangled him. But then she let go and turned around and rang Santa's doorbell. Lenny couldn't be seen here by Santa Claus, that would totally break the rules, so he disappeared even faster than you can say "rice krispies."
After only a moment -- though it seemed a lot longer than that to Melissa who rang Santa's doorbell at least fifty seven times -- the door opened. And there was Santa! He was just like all the stories, too! He was big and round and his tummy shook like a bowl full of jelly! And he wore a red coat and hat with white fur and black boots and gold buckles and everything! But he wasn't jolly.
Not even a little bit jolly. Santa was down right upset, stomping. "What what what? I'm very busy can you come back again after Christmas?"
Melissa looked up at him and put her hands on her hips and stuck her elbows out. "But Santa, Christmas is going to be over soon and Lenny told me you need help?"
Santa looked annoyed. "Yes, yes I know." Then he stopped and looked at her for a moment, seeming surprised about something. "Wait a second. I know you, Melissa McGee, but who is this Lenny fellow?"
"Lenny is my friend the dragon!" She turned to point at him, but he was nowhere to be found. Santa looked where she was pointing and saw only snow.
Santa snorted. "A dragon you say. Don't be silly. There are no dragons."
Melissa looked back at Santa. "But! But he brought me here so I could help!"
Santa smiled. This was the jolly look of Santa that she expected to see, the kind warm smile of a grandfather. "Yes, yes of course he did. But you shouldn't be telling such stories. Nobody will believe you." He gave her a wink. "Come in, dear child come in."
Melissa stepped inside Santa's house and brushed snow off her shoulders. The house was smaller than she expected and not as nice as she expected. She looked around, expecting to see elves or toys, but she only saw a simple living room with two couches, a chair, and a bunch of books with big words on them.
Santa closed the door behind her. "I'm afraid you won't be able to help, child. You see, the toy machine is broken, and the best, smartest elf who can fix it fast enough has gone missing. I can't fix the machine in time and soon there won't be enough time for the machine to make all the toys I need for Christmas."
Melissa looked back up at Santa. "Missing," she cried! "Oh no! What happened to him?"
Santa shrugged his big shoulders. "I don't know, that's just it! He was here and then the elves all took their break and when they came back he wasn't there!"
Melissa furrowed her brow and looked thoughtful. "Maybe he went outside?"
Santa scoffed. "Nonsense, dear Melissa McGee! Elves are afraid of the dark! He wouldn't have gone outside! Well, unless...no no, he couldn't have. Well. Maybe! But I wouldn't think he'd be so foolish as to go off on his own! Anyway, enough of this talk I need to get back and try to fix the machine or there will never be Christmas! Make yourself at home, dear. There are cookies on the table and milk in the refrigerator!"
Santa swept off without another word, leaving behind only the sound of a slamming door. She didn't even get to ask why an elf might have gone outside. "Besides," she said to herself. "It's dark outside." But then she remembered that she had her flashlight with her! She pushed the button and it lit up, just like she knew it would!
She opened the door and walked out. It was windy and it was cold, but Lenny's warmth kept her from being too cold, and the wind didn't blow too hard on her pajamas. She shut the door behind her and looked around. It didn't take long at all for her flashlight beam to come across a set of footprints leading away from Santa's house.
They were smaller than hers, and not shoes like she wore, but little pointed boots. "Those must be elf prints," she exclaimed, and she followed them out into the snowy field, away from Santa's happy, warm house! Pretty soon the footprints were joined by another sent of prints. These were big prints, bigger than any human's, and they had claws on them.
"Oh no, what can those be," she asked herself. But she couldn't think of anything that made footprints like that. She looked behind her, but Santa's house was too far away to see now. She pulled her pajamas a little more tightly around her and pressed onward.
Pretty soon both sets of footprints led into a dark cave. She pointed her flashlight at it and the beam shone in. She couldn't see anything past the cave, though.
When she stepped in, she smelled delicious soup and wet rat. It was really weird how it could make her stomach both hungry and upset at the same time, but she did. She was scared, but she had to help Santa. She went deeper into the cave.
And then she saw it. It was seven feet tall, and stood up like a person but it was covered in long white fur. It was facing away from her, looking at something on a big bonfire. Then it must have heard her, because it turned around. It had two stubby horns at the top of its forehead, and big yellow eyes, and a mouth full of more teeth than she could possibly count.
"Raaaaar," the creature yelled. "More food for my soup!"
"Oh no," Melissa shrieked and put her hands on her face, and she dropped her flashlight. The beast rushed toward her, towering over her. Saliva dripped from its teeth as it swept toward her.
"Quick, quick, I've got to be quick like Lenny," she thought! And then she had an idea! The beast was so big that its feet were far apart. She ran right between its legs while it was trying to grab her, and its claws hit the ground. Splinters of rock from the cave went flying.
Then she turned around and threw herself at the monster's butt with all of her little might. Her shoulder hit it square and it tumbled forward. Its face slammed right into the stone floor of the cave and knocked it right out.
"Yea! Take that, monster! You can't eat me!"
From behind her, she heared, "Mffmfmmm mfff mfmmmmfffff!!!!" When she turned and looked, she saw a huge cast iron cauldron on top of a bon fire, and hanging on a rope above the cauldron was a little elf! She looked around and saw that he was hanging from a wooden contraption barely standing over the cauldron. She went over to it and pushed and pulled and pushed and pulled again as hard as she could and then with a giant CRACK the thing broke and tumbled over.
The pushing and the pulling had gotten the elf swinging, so when it broke, he flew right onto the edge of the cauldron, bounced off its lip, through the edge of the fire, and bounced onto the floor. She hurried over and untied the little guy.
"Oh thank you, thank you Melissa McGee! You saved me from that abominable snowman! We'd better get out of here before it wakes up!"
"Oh yeah," cried Melissa! "Hey wait, how do you know my name?"
The little man smiled brightly. "I'm an elf. It's my job! Come on, let's go!" And together they nearly flew out of the cave, covering the whole distance back to Santa's house in less than three minutes. Melissa didn't know it at the time, but that was completely a world's record for running that far, that fast, through snow.
When they got back to Santa's house, they were huffing and puffing, completely out of breath. The little elf pushed his way into the home and cried out, "I got it! I got the magic nail!" And she led Melissa through the house and into the workshop where she got to see the big toy machine. He opened up a panel on one side, put whatever it was he was carrying into the machine, and suddenly it made a sound like an old steam train horn.
Then a conveyor belt that wasn't moving before suddenly came to life, and toys came out of the machine at great speed. Elves quickly packed the toys into boxes, wrapped them and put them into Santa's sack. Everyone moved so fast and so perfectly that Melissa couldn't do anything but watch, it was so awe-inspiring to see.
Then Santa came in and picked up the sack and slung it over his back. "Thank you so much, Melissa McGee for rescuing Bertie! But now I've got to go or all these toys will be late! And we don't want a world full of disappointed boys and girls do we!"
Melissa started to agree that would be bad, but Santa was already gone. She heard him call the reindeer, and then the sleigh bells rang and disappeared into the distance. Everything was quiet.
"But," Melissa started to say. "But I won't be home."
"It's okay," came a voice from behind her. She whirled around and saw Bertie, the elf she had saved. He had something behind his back. It was pretty big.
"I saved one for you. I put extra elf-stuff into this one." And he stepped aside. It was a giant pink unicorn with a little wooden horn, almost as big as she was. "Oh! Bertie! Unicorns are my favorite! Well and dragons too!" And she leapt forward and give the toy unicorn a hug. And Bertie too.
Bertie grinned and hugged her back. "I think your friend's outside. If you hurry you can be back home before Santa gets there. Just don't tell him, okay? He doesn't believe in dragons. Can you believe that? Santa doesn't believe in dragons. I bet dragons don't believe in Santa either!"
Melissa laughed happily and gave Bertie another hug.
"You better hurry, or you won't be home in time!" And he gently pushed her toward the door.
Melissa saw Lenny waiting patiently in the cold. He looked at her, and then at the toy unicorn. "A unicorn, Melissa McGee. Really?"
She grinned bashfully. "So what?"
"Nevermind," said the dragon. "Unicorns are just silly creatures, that's all. Let's go home."
As she held onto Lenny and they flew back to her house, she asked, "I wonder what Santa's going to bring!"
"I guess you'll just have to find out!" called out the little dragon.
And then they flew home!
