Christmas with the Calvins

Chapter Thirty

"Jessica! Bernard! You're back!" Curtis greeted his friends as they stepped into the workshop.

"Hey Curtis." Jess replied shortly before dragging the E.L.F.S. jetpack over to her workstation.

"I thought you were going to fix things!" Curtis eyed the Head Elf with frustration.

"I was. I am!" Bernard assured him. "First I have to check on toy production..." He was about to march off and start his daily rounds when he spotted Toy Santa standing by the elves who made remote control cars. "Curtis, what is that thing doing?"

"Touring the workshop." Curtis shrugged. Toy Santa was holding a large book between his shiny hands, he would pause occasionally on his tour to read from it. Every so often he would also bellow out neutral words of encouragement to no one in particular.

"HO! HO! HO!" He would holler. "YOU'RE DOING A WONDERFUL JOB!"

"Santa," Emile, one the workshops younger elves approached him with an RC monster truck. Bernard watched from afar as the elf interacted with the imitation of the big guy. "Is this what you meant when you said bigger wheels?" Toy Santa looked up from the oversized volume and repeated his earlier sentiments.

"HO! HO! HO! YOU'RE DOING A WONDERFUL JOB!" He exclaimed. Emile seemed satisfied with that answer and he returned to his workspace.

"Santa, you're doing great." Bernard appraised as the toy strolled by. "You could dial it down a little on the 'ho, ho, hos' but otherwise you're gold."

"Why don't you just say it." Curtis egged his boss on as Toy Santa returned to his reading. "You were right Curtis! I was wrong."

"Okay, Okay." Bernard rolled his eyes. Maybe it was time he gave Curtis a little credit for all the work he'd been doing. "I admit it. Are you happy?" A large grin spread across the number two elf's face. Bernard couldn't help but smile as well. Things finally seemed to be looking up. Toy Santa was working perfectly. The real Santa was going to find a wife in time for Christmas. (Hopefully). All that was left to do was repair things with his wife. "You've been working hard, and everything is going to be fine."

"You know this book is very interesting reading!" Toy Santa looked up from his book and interrupted Curtis and Bernard. It was only at this point that the North Pole's number one elf realized Toy Santa had been reading the Christmas Handbook all this time. "There's lots of rules right here at the North Pole that we're not following!" Toy Santa complained.

"That's what I've been saying all along!" Curtis grinned mischievously. "Things have gotten a little too sloppy around here!" Bernard knew that Curtis was teasing him. Sure there were some rules that had fallen through the cracks over the years, but most of them were rules that tended to cause the other elves to revolt. However, being made mostly of plastic, Toy Santa's mind didn't understand things like teasing or sarcasm. Instead the plastic Father of Christmas agreed with Curtis in his bellowing tone.

"Yes! And sloppiness means mistakes! MISTAKES AREN'T A GOOD THING!" Toy Santa shouted in Bernard's face, as if the Head Elf didn't already know that. "I think I might have to make some changes around here!" The toy decided. He slammed the Christmas Handbook closed.

"What did you have in mind boss?" Curtis asked the replacement Santa, with a wink at Bernard.

"Let' me show you!" Toy Santa boomed. "There are many things!" Bernard watched with a gaping mouth as the two disappeared from sight. Normally he'd charge after Curtis and remind him that nothing would change without his or Santa's approval. The real Santa, not his plastic replacement. But right now the Head Elf has something more important to do.

After a rushed lap around the workshop, Bernard had worked up the courage to speak with his wife. She was leaning on the counter of her workspace, a pile of racecars stacked up in front of her. A wooden paintbrush was dangling from her mouth as she struggled to open a jar of silver paint. Several strands of brown hair escaped from under her hat as she twisted the jar. Jess tried to huff the locks from her eyes, which only succeeded in sending her paintbrush tumbling to the floor. A serious of incomprehensible frustrated noises escaped her lips, which reminded Bernard so much of her father, as she bent down to retrieve the paintbrush. While his wife's back was turned the Head Elf strode over to the workstation and plucked up the jar of paint. Jessica returned to an upright position finding both Bernard and an open jar of silver paint beside her.

"Are you...um...very busy?" He gulped.

"Well Mr. Head Elf, there's a pile of racecars here waiting for me to paint racing stripes on them. And let's see when I'm done with that, there's a case of action figures that need faces. And at some point I have to mix all the paint for the paint-by-number kits, then match the paints to said kits, and..."

"And it sounds like you have a lot of work to do." Bernard said. He gingerly set down the jar of paint and place it's lid down next to it. Jess layered one of her hands over his as he set the lid down. It was the first time either of them had so much as touched in weeks.

"What I was going to say," She looked up at him. "Is that none of that is as important as talking to you." Jess screwed the lid of the silver paint back on before plucking up her husband's hand once more.