When in Lapland...

Chapter 2

 The sleigh took off with a bumpy start, and it took Charity a while to get to grips with the control, but after a few swear words and a fit of rage she finally realised how to hold the reins properly, by holding the leather strap with four fingers wrapped over it and her little fingers tucked beneath. "It's just like riding a horse" Vanessa informed, as she showed Charity how to position her wrists properly. "Like I've ever ridden a horse before" Charity whinged as the cold wind blew harshly at her face. Vanessa chose not to bite back at her fiancé's rudeness and instead pulled open the magical book to get a clear picture of the map inside. "It says here our first stop is the South Pacific. Which is great cause I've always wanted to go to Bora Bora. This isn't the way I imagined it though" Vanessa spoke, getting lost in a daydream of tanning her skin on the warm sand of the island's beaches. "Well, I wish you'd have said that before we booked Lapland. We wouldn't have been in this mess otherwise" Charity moaned. Again, Vanessa ignored her smart remarks and focused on not getting lost amongst the clouds. "Look, it says here that on the Saturday before Christmas the people of Bora Bora gather for a light show with floats and dance spectacles. It's called the Parade De Noel" Vanessa gasped, excitedly. "Aw isn't that nice, such a shame that that was last week and we've missed it", "Are you going to be like this the whole trip?" Vanessa scowled, growing tired of Charity's negative outlook on what she saw as an unbelievable, once in a lifetime opportunity. "Pretty much, yeah" Charity shrugged, but felt bad for putting a damper on Vanessa's fun. "Do you want to drive?" She asked, piping up after a momentarily silence. Vanessa unfolded her arms and glanced down at the reins. "Do you think I'm allowed to?" She asked, hoping Charity would say yes and hand the control over to her. "I don't see why not. I mean, what else are you supposed to do for the next couple of thousand miles?" Charity smiled. Vanessa hesitated, but decided to go for it and whipped the reins from Charity's cold hands. "Hey, careful" Charity shouted as the reindeers startled at an unexpected tug on the reins. "Sorry" Vanessa mouthed, squinting as she focused on the sky ahead. As she flew them across the sky, Charity took her watchful gaze from Vanessa and decided to have a look at the notes on Bora Bora. "According to Santa's fancy handwriting, On Christmas eve there's a special dinner with a Polynesian dance show, with plenty of feasting and food. So, my guess is when we pull up, everyone will be knackered out from dancing and partying, which if anything, is no different than the Village. Which just leaves me with getting in and out of people's houses, unheard." Charity rattled on, then took in a sharp inhale of breath. "Wait a minute. He never told me how to go down the chimney" she gasped, as she pictured herself getting stuck inside a fireplace. "Relax. It's probably all to do with the magic" Vanessa said, without a care in the world as they passed over the Pacific Ocean. "Right, the magic" Charity nodded, trying not to freak out. "Oh look, there it is" Vanessa pointed out as the reindeers began to descend on a patch of land beneath them. "Where?" Charity asked, tilting her head to try and make out a spec of island amongst the ocean, but as the words left her lips the collection of islands became clearer. "It's showtime" Vanessa giggled as they readied themselves for landing on the rooftop of a home near a strip of white sandy beach. According to Charity's watch, it was one minute past midnight, and yet the night time air felt as warm as a British summer. "Jesus, I am sweating my bits off here" Charity gasped, pulling the collar of her suit away from her neck, hoping for a slight breeze to soothe her warm skin. "Now what?" she added, whispering to Vanessa as they momentarily waited on the roof. "Just a sec" Vanessa told, as she flicked through the pages of the big book. As she skimmed over information, not really taking in what she was reading, Charity took a closer look at the book and held out her hand to flip the page, when just as her fingertips came into contact with the paper, the book began to move pages by itself, fluttering quickly before landing on a page that read '1, Beach Front, Papeete, Bora Bora'. "Is that where we are?" Charity asked as Vanessa turned the book to its side so that the letters became clearer under the moonlight. "I think so. Yes, see look" She said, pausing to point at a list of names beside the address. "Home of the Tetuanui family, Alaula, Meilani, Olina, and Keanu" Vanessa said aloud, hoping she had pronounced the names correctly. "Oh" Charity gasped, realising now how well planned out the book was. "But, how am I supposed to find their gifts in that?'' She asked, pointing to the extremely large sack, that she was surprised had even allowed them to be airborne. "No idea" Vanessa admitted as she failed to find instructions on retrieving gifts. Wearily, Charity stepped closer to the sack, afraid that it was going to topple over and crush her to death on the roof of this extravagant beach house, when an idea came to mind. "Umm," She began, worried that she was going to sound silly, but it was only Vanessa in earshot, so she followed through anyway. "The Tetuanui Family, 1 Beach Front, Papeete, Bora Bora" She said aloud to the sack. Suddenly, the rope ties unknotted and the sack opened, magically lifting out a pile of neatly wrapped gifts, topped with bows. "I guess, that's how you do it?" Charity turned to Vanessa, smiling smugly as her idea had paid off. Vanessa laughed as Charity returned to her side, being followed by the presents with every step. At the foot of the sleigh, Charity looked down and although she had rendered a great thought for the gifts, nothing sprang to mind about squeezing down a cemented hole on the roof. "Any thoughts?" Vanessa asked from the seat of the sleigh. "Nope" Charity sounded, throwing her hands in the air in momentarily defeat, but as luck would have it, Santa's magic worked again, when a small jar filled with what looked like the kind of thing, you'd see in a Disney film, rolled from the back of the sleigh, bumping into Vanessa's boot. "What's this?" She asked, picking up the clear glass jar for closer inspection. "Something whimsical and obvious, I expect", Charity rolled her eyes. "Obvious? So, fairy dust, perhaps?", "Maybe not that obvious" Charity smirked, but as Vanessa pulled the stopper from the lid of the jar, the glittering sequins inside seemed to increase their radiance as if to encourage her thought process. "I think I have to throw this over you" Vanessa told, hoping it wouldn't freak Charity out too much. "Woah, no, it's not going to make me like, 'itty bitty', is it?" She asked, as if Vanessa would know what magical glittering dust could do. "I don't know" Vanessa shrugged, but grew excited at the thought of showering it over Charity's head. "Come here" She added, giggling as she stepped off the sleigh. "No, I don't want to" Charity blurted out as she stepped away from Vanessa, who had resorted to chasing her. "Charity, stop, stay still" She laughed as they ran around on the roof of the sleeping family's house. Charity let out a faint scream as Vanessa pinched her fingers together and pulled a sprinkling of the dust from the bottle and threw it over her. "It tickles" Charity announced, wrinkling her nose as the glitter rained upon her, and she braced herself for a sneeze that never came. "Oh, no" She spat out as a strange tingling feeling came over her. "What's happening?" Vanessa gasped, as Charity grabbed hold of her body, touching and squeezing at her flesh as it tickled away beneath her clothes, but there needed to be no words as it became apparent that their plan had worked. Standing upon the rooftop, Charity realised that her body was now able to morph and stretch, letting her squeeze into small spaces, but just as she turned to find the chimney stack, she noticed that there wasn't one. "Where's the bloody chimney?" She shouted, then covered her mouth in a panic, hoping not to have woken anyone inside. "I- I don't know," Vanessa announced as she joined her in searching for the chimney that clearly didn't exist. Turning back to the book for help, she skimmed the words at the top of the page. "Ah here, it says they don't have chimney's in French Polynesia, Santa is supposed to let himself in through the window", "The window?" Charity repeated, glancing down at her feet hoping to find one on the roof, but as her luck would have it, as usual, everything was about to become just that little bit harder as she realised, she was going to have to abseil down the side of the house.
 "Have you got that rope tight, Ness? Please don't drop me. I want to live long enough to at least eat my bodyweight in Yorkshire Puddings tomorrow" Charity begged as she relied on Vanessa's grip of the rope for her safety. "It's fine, look, I've threaded it through this little loop here" She beamed, proud of herself for having worked out how to set up the climbing equipment all by herself. Charity's heart thudded in her chest and her palms grew sweaty as she slowly and carefully leaned backwards off the side of the roof, and dangled over the edge. "That's it" Vanessa called out supportively as Charity began walking backwards down the wall. After a few small steps, she found herself at the window, which luckily had been left open and she was able to squeeze in through the gap, where she then found herself on the floor in the dark and silent living room of the Tetuanui family's house. Inside, she found a large tree standing across the room, decorated just like the ones back home. An angel had been placed on the top of it, and tinsel in reds and greens glistened amongst baubles in the faint light coming in through the window. The home itself was very neat and tidy, photographs were framed upon the walls and two stockings hung from the edge of the table in the centre of the room. Charity unfastened the safety clip from her belt, and stood up and dusted herself off as the presents bobbed in through the window behind her and piled around her shoulders, waiting to be placed beneath the tree. Carefully, she took hold of the gift closest to her, where upon her touch, the magic holding it in the air faded, and it became weighty in her hands. "Do I just leave it here?" She whispered aloud to herself, as she found a space for the gifts on the tiled flooring beneath the bottom branches of the tree. Knowing that that had to be right, she stepped back and admired the twenty something boxes and smiled. "Ta-dah" she cheered for herself as she had successfully delivered her first gifts of the night. As she celebrated, her jacket pockets suddenly seemed to swell, so raising an eyebrow, she dipped her hand inside and pulled out a handful of sweets and chocolates. For a moment she was confused as to what she was supposed to do with them but then remembered the empty stockings hanging from the table. Pulling them open, she filled the stockings up with the goodies from her pockets, and noticed upon the table; a plate with a cookie upon it, and beside that, a bottle of beer. "Oh, yes. Result" She squealed. Unscrewing the lid from the bottle, she took a big gulp of the cold frothy beer, and gasped a satisfying breath, before discarding the empty bottle. Not really wanting the cookie, she popped it in her pocket and headed back out of the window, declaring drop off number one a success.
 Back up on the roof, Charity appeared before Vanessa with a grin and ran to her, swooping her up off the floor as she excitedly got into the Christmas spirit, at last. Vanessa chuckled until Charity put her back down before 'Oohing' at the cookie she was presented with. "Merry Christmas" Charity flirted as she handed it over with a wink and a kiss. "Have you been drinking?" Vanessa asked as she smelt alcohol on Charity's breath. "Yes" She chirped as she stepped back into the sleigh. "Turns out, Santa gets a nice cold bottle of lager over here, not milk" She told Vanessa, whilst bobbing her head excitedly. Vanessa rolled her eyes and huffed. "Come on then, we've a lot of houses to go to, and lots of beers to drink along the way" Charity whooped, tapping the seat beside her for Vanessa to join her on the sleigh. Vanessa climbed the little ladder of steps and took hold of the reins. "Mush" Charity shouted playfully pointing to the reindeers as they rose steadily into the air and swooped over to the next house a few feet away. 
 After touching down in multiple countries and islands, and delivering millions of gifts 'down under', Charity and Vanessa realised that time had been moving differently, or more correctly, hadn't been moving at all. Each time they found themselves on the roof of someone's house, their watches always read one minute past midnight. "Where to next?" Charity asked, as Vanessa read from Santa's book. "Japan", "Ooh nice," She smiled, tapping the frame of the sleigh, excitedly. "It's starting to get cold now, isn't it?" Vanessa mentioned, blowing into her hands to soothe her stinging fingertips as a slight shiver danced through her body while they found themselves midway over the Pacific Ocean. "Hey, come here" Charity gasped, pulling Vanessa in close. Vanessa rested her head upon Chairty's chest as they sat snuggled up on the bench while the reindeers led the way to their first stop in Japan. Tokyo. The city itself was lit up in all manner of colours and shone vividly through the empty streets while the people themselves slept away until the morning. Once arriving at the first home, Charity called out for the gifts from the sack. Though there didn't seem to be many, each little box was wrapped in red, the colour of 'luck' in the country, and she noticed the tags read 'Do not open until New Year'. "Eh?" Charity grunted as she caught sight of the instructions. Vanessa, having sensed the question Charity was about to ask, skimmed through the book for an answer. "Apparently, the Japanese only give gifts to their partners on Christmas, and usually hold off giving to others until New Year" She read out. "That's good enough for me" Charity shrugged, looking forward to seeing what would be left out on the table for her this time around after drinking many bottles of branded beers (that seemed not to affect her sobriety) along the way. One household had even left a bottle of wine, which Charity brought back to the sleigh with her, to share with Vanessa. With ease, Charity squeezed into the tiny chimney and landed with a slight thud upon the floor of the fireplace inside the house. Christmas trees made of origami paper scattered the room, showing that children and adults alike had had fun making them before bed, and brightly lit decorations draped the walls and ceiling near the six-foot Christmas tree in the window. Charity arranged the presents neatly on the ground then turned excitedly to the dining table but found it to be bare and left without a treat. Her eyebrows furrowed as she quickly snooped around the room thinking her snacks must be hidden away from sight somewhere else, but after a brief search, she came up empty handed. "What did you get?" Vanessa asked from the seat of the sleigh when Charity returned. "A big fat nothing. If I'd have thought of it while I was still inside, I'd have left them all a lump of coal" She moaned, sitting back in the sleigh in a strop. "Oh dear" Vanessa mouthed, but they soldiered on.
 After Japan, the rest of the Asian continent became next on their list, where they first stopped over at Korea, China and India where in each country there had been different traditions in store for Santa Clause. As they left Mumbai, Charity turned up her nose at the prospect of delivering more gifts as she had not received a treat for a few thousand miles and was starting to get tired and bored now that the novelty of the night had worn off. "Cheer up, we've not got long to go, and we'll have saved Christmas" Vanessa chirped, still as happy to be there as she was when they had first started their trip around the world. Charity opened her mouth wide in an exaggerated yawn. With a large stretch of ocean separating them from their next destination, Charity lay her head upon Vanessa's shoulder and sat quietly for a while. They travelled in silence for what seemed like no time at all, but without magic would probably have been hours. Vanessa had spent her time admiring the stars as they twinkled in the night sky and all around them, and watched as winter waves crashed in the rough sea below. She had not heard a peep from Charity and thought that she had fallen asleep until she felt the unmistakable touch of her fingertips pawing at her skin. Involuntarily, Vanessa let out a gasp and smiled, turning her attention to Charity who seemed to have perked up and was clearly up to something. Taking the reins from her hands, Charity placed the leather straps through the holding loop and pulled Vanessa in close. With her breath shaking in anticipation, Charity's lips found Vanessa's and they kissed passionately until the tiny blonde pulled back. "Babe? What's red and white and says 'Oh, Oh, Oh?'" Charity asked, mischievously, moaning her words seductively into her fiancé's ear. Vanessa looked to Charity's eyes, then her lips and back again as she stiffened with shock and arousal at her husky voice. "It could be, Me" She answered the joke, suggestively, and lay down across the bench, pulling Vanessa down on top of her. "Charity" Vanessa whimpered as she allowed her to take her hands and slip them under her waistband. Charity's skin was warm and soft under the suit, and she had discarded the fake beard a while ago and had kissed her with such tenderness that she almost allowed her to take her attention away from the journey at hand. Tongue tied and as one, they lay kissing and touching for a moment before Vanessa managed to snatch herself away. "Charity, we can't" Vanessa griped, remembering that the sleigh belonged to Santa and with his magical abilities, who was to say he couldn't see what they were up to, or sense it. "Oh, but I'm bored" Charity whinged as she hinted at starting up some fun for Vanessa's benefit by placing her hand high upon her thigh and squeezing it gently. "Fancy some consensual, adult fun? We are all alone up here" She whispered heavily into Vanessa's ear once more, causing her to gasp again. "No risk of anyone walking in on us, no need to keep our voices down, and a beautiful view" She whispered, painting a picture of the perfect scenario, hoping that Vanessa would change her mind. Vanessa hesitated, never having been very good at shaking Charity off once she'd started to play, but managed to force herself not to give in to her temptations. "No, stop" She told Charity with a smile, but it was no ploy, she was serious, this time. "So much for bringing joy to all at Christmas" Charity sighed. "You can have your joy when we get home. Now can we please focus on delivering these presents? We're 30,000 feet in the sky and I don't want to fall off this thing. I've never been a fan of heights", "Is that why you decided to stop growing when you turned twelve?" Charity huffed in defeat. Vanessa shot her a look that warned her not to go down that road. "Sorry" Charity mouthed, knowing Vanessa hated the 'short' jokes she made whenever she wasn't getting her own way.
 Africa became visible across the horizon after a few more miles. With Charity still sulking and refusing to deliver any more gifts, Vanessa realised that the rest of the night being a success was going to have to become her responsibility. The quick change in temperature helped with her nerves and chattering teeth as the reindeers galloped South West and into the air space of Somalia. Below their flight path was a dark and unintelligible desert land, that wreaked havoc on Vanessa's anxiety as she feared falling from the sky and into a lion's den. Somalia as a country did not celebrate Christmas, as its home religion was Islam, but it's neighbouring country; Kenya, did, and that was their next stop. "Oh no" Charity's voice sounded as she popped her head up from behind the thick book. "Babe, I know you were going to do this one but, I don't think- I don't think I'm going to be okay with that" She spoke, her voice in a panicked frenzy. "Why? Booze on tap again now is it?" Vanessa asked, shaking her head, adamant that she was going to do something this time around. "No seriously, babe. Gifts in Kenya are to be delivered on the back of a camel" Charity announced. "What?" Vanessa questioned, knowing fully well that she was never going to be able to do everything required at once; alone. "Yep, says so right here. Camel" She pointed out with her finger tracing each letter across the page. After feeling a stabbing of disappointment hearing the change in delivery option, Vanessa suddenly found herself sitting up straight and excited again as she imagined the hilarity of herself and Charity trying to ride a camel with a sack full of gifts. "Oh, we are absolutely doing that" She announced with a laugh. Charity turned her head so fast she thought for a moment that it was going to fall off her shoulders. "No way" She screeched. Vanessa sucked her teeth and pulled a face. "Oh yes we are", "Oh no we're not", "Oh yes we are", "No we're not, and this is not some kind of terrible pantomime, okay? There's not going to be anyone around to give you a good laugh when I inevitably fall from its hump", "Please don't make me laugh, that's just making me want to do it even more" Vanessa giggled, wiping a tear from her eye. Charity attempted to be annoyed by her fiancé's lack of care for her pride or ego, but again couldn't say no to her smiling face, and so they landed the sleigh in a closed off area on the very outskirts of Kenya, where a flock of camels had been herded up in a fenced in pen and were left waiting for them to arrive. Having never seen a camel in person before, both Charity and Vanessa gawped at the severity of their seven-foot height as they towered above them. "Go on then, up you go" Charity said, pointing up at the camel's back. "What? You're coming with me" Vanessa spat quickly, as it dawned on her how dangerous it could be after all, travelling by camel in the dead of night. "No chance" Charity laughed, refusing to leave her seat.
 Once inside the pen, dragging her feet, Charity muttered to herself under her breath as Vanessa dragged her towards their chosen camel. She had carefully selected the calmest one and was approaching it with caution. "Good camel," She said in a sing-songy voice as they grew closer. The camel made no attempt to run off, and if it had been smaller, it wouldn't have struck much fear into either of the women as it lounged around on its stomach, chewing on a long blade of grass that was hanging from its slopping lips. "Now what?" Charity whispered, terrified as they found themselves up close and personal with the large animal. "I think we just hop up and hold on for dear life" Vanessa said in a voice that didn't fill Charity with much confidence. "So, we wing it?", "Going to have to. Unless you know something about riding camels that I don't", "I know nothing of the sort" Charity cried, as not a single cell in her body hinted at wanting to do this. "Alright, well the book said to sprinkle the camel in that magic dust stuff and it should carry us the whole way without getting tired. We don't need to do anything else, we just have to nudge it with our feet to walk, like a horse, and, stuff" She said, rubbing her temple with her fingers as she tried to picture the instructions in her mind. "And how do we win it's trust again?" Charity asked, knowing it wasn't going to be as easy as saying 'Hey' or 'You alright?'. "You hold out your hand, confidently, to stroke it, and if it trusts us it will let us touch it", "And if it doesn't trust us?", "We cry and skip town?", "Please" Charity mouthed, as her clenched fist began to sweat at her side, turning her palm clammy and cold. "On three, ready?", "No" Charity squealed. "One, two, three" Vanessa counted. In unison, both women held out their hands and turned their faces away in fear of being spat on as they waited for the camel to make contact with their shaking limbs. "What's it doing?" Vanessa asked in a whisper, too afraid to glance over her shoulder as her hand remained empty. "I don't know" Charity mouthed, she too not feeling brave enough to check, when Vanessa's voice suddenly sounded above their heavy breathing. "Oh my God" She gasped as she finally felt pressure against her palm. Opening her eyes slowly, she checked for sure that it was definitely the camel nudging against her hand, and not a vicious predator that had tricked them and jumped from the bushes to eat them. "Hi there" She whimpered as the camel allowed her to stoke its long neck. Charity blurted out a mixture of sounds as she too found the camel pushing itself into her hand. "It's actually kind of cute" Vanessa admitted, shocked, as she watched the camel close its eyes and lean into them like a domesticated pet. "What part of that is cute?" Charity asked, not agreeing with Vanessa, as she found the camel to be looking at her with a slight arrogance. She felt if it could talk it would likely tell her to naff off, in which, should the situation avail, she too would have some stern words to throw its way as she held her nose to mask the dreadful bin-like odour it gave off. "Stop mind-fighting our lift, we need to keep him on side. Don't we, lovely boy?" Vanessa spoke through gritted teeth, as she rubbed the fur along the camel's side. "Excuse me?, Lovely boy?" Charity questioned, pulling a face that made her eyes squint and caused her cheeks to dimple. "Yeah" Vanessa murmured, nodding towards the camel's half raised hind, revealing its underbelly and other body parts that she daren't mention out loud. "Bloody hell, look at the size of that thing" Charity blurted out, her eyes now widening in shock. "Don't stare, it's rude" Vanessa scolded, as she sized up the height between the ground and the camel's back. "You're going to have to give me a leg up" She added, realising that there was no way that her little legs were going to reach up and over the other side. With no saddle to hang on to, Vanessa positioned her hands between the camel's humps and waited for Charity, who was on bended knee, to lock her fingers together so she could step into her hands. "Ready, and lift" Charity murmured. With that, Vanessa pulled herself up as Charity pushed her upwards and over the camel's back, where she froze for a moment, laying on her belly before managing to sit upright. "Okay, I'm up. Give me your hand and I'll help you", "No thanks, I'm off back to the sleigh, see you later" Charity teased, half turning to walk away. Vanessa's panic was imminent and struck her in a cold sweat as she thought Charity was about to ditch her, alone in the dark amongst seven or eight moody camels, though luckily, she was joking. With a mental countdown from three, Charity hurled herself up and behind Vanessa and wrapped her arms around her waist. "You got that dust stuff?" she asked, "It's right here" Vanessa nodded, pulling the bottle from her pocket and the stopper from the top. She delicately pinched two fingers together amongst the magical glitter and let it rain upon the camel's head. As the glittering flecks landed, the camel raised its back end from the ground, which threw the two women from their perch. Vanessa let out a scream as they toppled forwards, gripping onto the camel's fur to stop them from falling. Charity, protectively dug her fingers into Vanessa's arms in a split-second attempt to stop her girl from falling over the camel's shoulders and down to the ground as it stretched out its front legs, shakily standing at its full height and raising them six or seven feet off the ground. "I never want to do this again" Charity told her firmly once they caught their breath. "Noted", Vanessa nodded her agreeance and gave a short firm kick to the camel's side which told it to start walking. With the giant sack of gifts bobbing along beside them, they headed into town, bringing both joy and anxiety to Africa.