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of him. She also promised
Santa would be down shortly, as he’d never missed one of her
breakfasts yet.
Lyle laughed and ate. He was glad to have
some time to himself to think about what he wanted to say to Santa.
The solution was going to be complicated and he hoped they would be
able to share ideas and resolve the matter quickly.
Santa arrived in the kitchen with a ‘ho,
ho, ho’ that made the cook break into a giggle fit. She hurriedly
started making him a plate of food and sat it on the table while he
and Lyle greeted each other.
“Morning, Lyle,” Santa said with a wide
grin. “You look much better this morning.”
“Good morning, Santa. Thanks,” Lyle said,
“I feel better. I have some ideas on what can be done for my
family.”
“Do you?” Santa asked, picking up his fork
and raising one eyebrow quizzically. “Fill me in while I eat.”
Excitedly, Lyle jumped into his plan,
talking a mile a minute and forgetting about the rest of the food
on his plate. He asked about gift ideas and they discussed many
options, and right after they’d finished eating they headed over to
the workshop to see if they could find.
Searching for just the right gifts took
longer than both of them would have thought. Lyle insisted on
selecting more than one present for each Kallalaya and Mandy,
scared that he was making the wrong choice and that he would need a
backup just in case.
“Are you ready, Lyle?” Santa asked,
standing in the door to the workshop, eager to get things rolling.
It was Christmas Eve after all, and he had somewhere he had to be
in a few hours. He also had a special plan, but for it to come to
fruition, he needed Lyle’s plan to work.
Lyle looked down at a low work bench –
built at elf level – at what he’d chosen; he sighed. “I think so.”
He paused and rubbed his forehead with the fingers. “What if none
of it’s right? What if the whole plan is wrong? What will I do
then?”
Santa frowned. “You can’t think like that.
If it’s what’s in your heart, what you feel is the right thing,
then I’m sure it’ll work. Let the Magic of Christmas guide
you.”
Clenching his jaw, Lyle picked up the gifts
and turned to the door, and Santa, with determination. “Okay, I’m
ready.”
Together they marched down the main lane of
the North Pole, heading toward the hospital where Lyle’s undead
wife and daughter were imprisoned like the beasts they were. Elves
who were outside, or who spotted them through the windows of their
cottages, stopped what they were doing and hurriedly followed
behind, creating a procession. It seemed the entire North Pole was
rooting for him, and that gave Lyle hope.
    Maybe the Magic of
Christmas will be strong enough to save my
family , he thought, and for the first
time, had hope that things were going to turn out okay.
That hope fumbled to stay in his heart as
Lyle trudged down the halls of the hospital. He stood at the top of
the stairs that lead to the basement and the morgue, and looked
nervously at the faces around him; they all smiled with
encouragement.
“Go ahead, Lyle,” Santa encouraged and
motioned with his arm and hand to the stairwell. “Let Christmas do
what it does best – heal the world with hope, happiness, and
love.”
Gulping past the lump in his throat, he
took the first step down; the rest quickly followed. Before he knew
it he was standing in front of the morgue door, watching his wife
and daughter stumble and shamble around the small room, chewing on
the bones of one of the elves they’d consumed.
Looking around, he noticed that most of the
elves had followed him down – the ones who could fit in the
basement – but they were staying back as two hospital orderlies
moved the desk they’d pushed up against the door for
reinforcement.
Once the desk was moved, Lyle laid the
gifts on the shining top, looking over what he’d brought. He
decided to try his idea on Kally first, because he was more sure of
what to give her, and if it worked, there was a