Mire's Holiday Pages: Olive, the Orphan Reindeer!

OLIVE,
the ORPHAN REINDEER
By Michael Christie © Michael Christie 1997
(Ages: For all those who believe in Christmas)

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Chapter 1 Chapter 6 Chapter 11

Chapter 2 Chapter 7 Chapter 12

Chapter 3 Chapter 8 Chapter 13

Chapter 4 Chapter 9 Chapter 14

Chapter 5 Chapter 10 Chapter 15

CHAPTER 1
Wolves

The storm in the Barrens raged around the little reindeer with a nose like an olive.

"Mommy! Daddy!"

She’d lost her mother and father and brothers and sisters.

The night wind shrieked. The snowflakes stung her eyes.

"Mommy! Daddy! Where are you?"

But no one could hear.

And now — danger! — wolves.

She could smell them. They were close. Maybe they got my family, she thought, and want me too.

So the little reindeer ran as fast as she could.

In the fierce storm she didn’t know where she was going. She just knew she had to get away.

The wolves chased her, but she soon left them far behind.

Even when she no longer picked up their scent, she ran and ran.

Finally she came to the North Pole.

CHAPTER 2
Santa And Mrs. Claus

Gasping for breath, she found herself in front of Santa and Mrs. Claus’s house. Night here was calm and peaceful.

She saw them arm in arm on their doorstep. They were looking at the stars.

Santa Claus laughed when he saw the tired little reindeer.

"Ho! Ho! Ho! Look, my dear. A reindeer with an olive for a nose! Goodness! Welcome to the North Pole, little one."

Mrs. Claus smiled. "Well, aren’t you just the cutest thing though! We’ll have to call you Olive. Right, Santa?" Santa nodded. "Do you like cookies, Olive?"

"I don’t know, ma’am," she said.

"Well, try this," said Mrs. Claus. She gave Olive a cookie. "It’s raisin and oatmeal fresh from my bakery."

Olive found it tasty. While she nibbled on it, Mrs. Claus tied a blue bow on her head.

"There, Olive!" Mrs. Claus said, giving her a big hug. "You just needed a mite sprucing up."

"I hope you can stay a while, Olive," said Santa.

Olive felt she'd never see her family again. She was an orphan. So she decided to make the North Pole her home.

CHAPTER 3
Olive’s Jobs

As the years passed and she got bigger, Olive became one of the best skaters among the spare reindeer. She always won the friendly races against them at Candy Cane Pond.

Olive also had important jobs to do during the Christmas season.

She looked through the magic telescope to see which boys and girls were naughty or nice, and reported their names to Number One, the chief elf.

She hauled boxes of presents to Santa Claus’s sleigh on the runway.

She delivered muffins from Mrs. Claus’s bakery to the hospital.

In the toy factory she checked for broken toys coming off a line in Quality Control.

She liked these jobs, but the job Olive wanted more than anything was to be on Santa’s team.

Will I be picked some day? she wondered.

CHAPTER 4
A Foolish Dream

It was Christmas Eve again. As always Olive wished she could go on the Big Trip. Many of her spare reindeer pals had gone. Why not me? she thought. But maybe that was a foolish dream.

Only this morning an elf had shouted, "You over there — no, not you, Jingles. The other reindeer. Yes, you, green nose. Give us some help."

But at dusk when Olive got off shift, she began to do some serious thinking. Maybe it wasn’t a foolish dream at all. What did that smart alec elf know anyway?

So she decided right then to visit Santa and ask him if she could join the team.

CHAPTER 5
A Meeting With Santa

As she stood in front of Santa’s house, Olive wasn’t so sure of herself.

Just who do you think you are? she thought.

But she’d come this far so what did she have to lose? All Santa could do was say no.

She hesitated then tapped at Santa’s door.

She waited. No answer.

She tapped again.

No one home.

She sighed. "Oh, well, I tried."

Just as Olive was about to leave, the door burst open.

"Ho! Ho! Ho! Well, well, look who it is!" Santa said. He had only one boot on. "I’m just getting ready to go over to Mission Control to check things out before the Big Trip. What can I do for you, Olive?"

"Hi, Santa. I thought I’d ask if there, uh, was — was —"

"Was what, Olive?"

"Well, anything I could do."

Santa thought. "No, I can’t think of anything."

"Oh."

"What did you have in mind?"

"Well — uh — well —"

Olive was tongue-tied.

"Please, I’m really in a hurry," Santa said. "Well?"

When he hears what I want he’ll laugh at me, Olive thought. That’s worse than a simple no. She just blinked.

"I can’t think of a thing you could do," Santa said.

"Well, I just thought I’d, you know, ask anyway."

Santa shrugged. "Thank you for asking, Olive."

"You’re welcome, Santa."

She left and Santa scratched his head.

"What a strange conversation," he muttered.

CHAPTER 6
Countdown

Take-off time was ninety-seven minutes away.

Best to forget about the Big Trip, Olive felt, by keeping busy. Maybe Mrs. Claus wanted some muffins taken to the hospital.

She headed for the bakery.

Lovely smells drifted from it: mincemeat tarts, chocolate cakes, jelly doughnuts, date squares, brownies, buns, bread, all kinds of muffins and cookies.

"Hi, Olive. That nose of yours sure works mighty fine," Mrs. Claus said. "Here’s a nice warm raisin and oatmeal cookie just for you."

"No thank you, Mrs. Claus," Olive said. "I’m not hungry. I just came over to see if you wanted some muffins taken over to the hospital."

"I’m sorry, we made the muffin delivery this afternoon when you were at the toy factory."

"Oh."

Mrs. Claus gave Olive a close look. "What’s the matter, Olive? Why the glum looking face?"

Olive pawed at the ground. "Well — it’s nothing. Nothing."

Mrs. Claus fixed Olive’s blue bow. It was crooked. "Something is bothering you. Tell me, Olive, don’t be shy with me. We girls have to stick together. What is it?"

"It’s nothing, Mrs. Claus. I’d better go now and see if they need me one last time at the toy factory."

Olive trotted off.

"You’re my favorite reindeer you know. I’m always around if you need me," Mrs. Claus called after her.

CHAPTER 7
Too Late

At the toy factory Olive’s best friend, Boomer, the chubby harness elf, sat on a crate by the shipping dock. He munched on a peanut butter sandwich.

"Hi, Olive!" Boomer shouted. He liked to shout rather than talk.

"Hi, Boomer. Do they need any more help inside?"

"Not now. They’re just tying up some loose ends. We’re ready."

"Oh." She wasn’t needed here either.

"What’s eating you, Olive? Huh? You look really sad."

"Well, it’s just that I’d love to go on the Big Trip," Olive said.

"Hey, come on! You’ll make it one day."

"Oh, I don’t know about that, Boomer."

"You will. You’re fast. You always win the races on Candy Cane Pond. And you’re strong too."

"I’m just a nobody. After all these years I’m still called the other reindeer."

"Aw, come on! Mrs. Claus for one doesn’t call you that," Boomer said. "Tell her what you want."

"Mrs. Claus doesn’t do the hiring."

"No, but I’m sure she’s got some clout with Santa."

"I just talked to Mrs. Claus and I couldn’t tell her about — about my dream. I just couldn’t."

"Huh? Why not?"

"Well — I —"

Boomer waved his sandwich in the air. "Sweet potaters, Olive! You can’t just wait for something to happen. And that’s what you’re doing."

"I know, Boomer, I know." She wouldn’t mention her visit with Santa Claus or Boomer would get really steamed. "But I just don’t like to be — pushy."

Boomer snorted. "Pushy? You really tick me off sometimes. You know that? The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Things won’t come to you. And —"

"And what, Boomer?"

Boomer stared at his sandwich. "The Big Trip is only eighty-nine minutes away. But I have to say you can forget it just like the other ones. It’s too late."

Olive gulped. Maybe I should have said something to Mrs. Claus, she thought. I’ll be staying behind again.

CHAPTER 8
The Numbers Aren’t Good

Meanwhile Santa Claus, Number One, and Chip, the computer ace, were going over a few things in the Planning Room at Mission Control.

They studied a wall map. Mittens, Santa’s orange cat, was on Santa’s shoulders. He seemed interested in the map too.

"Santa, the numbers aren’t good," Chip said. "We have a record number of kids this year and we just don’t have enough reindeer power."

Santa chuckled. "Chip, you worry too much. I have a great team, but we can always add one or two of the spare reindeer."

Mrs. Claus passed by. She cupped her ear to listen.

"One or two won’t do it, Santa, even if we had them," Number One said. "Dr. Winters called me just before you arrived. An odd thing. The spare reindeer are in the hospital sick."

Santa gasped. "Oh, dear! All of them at once? That’s terrible!

"And the sleigh is loaded to overflowing," Chip said. "If we added any more toys we couldn’t lift off. Lots of toys have to be left behind." He looked at his calculator. "The numbers aren’t good."

"They certainly aren’t, Chip," Santa said.

"Many places must be missed." Chip pointed at the map with a baseball bat. "Here, here, and here. And there."

Santa Claus sank into an armchair with his head in his hands. Mittens almost fell off his shoulders.

"But we can’t let down any children," Santa moaned. "We can’t! You’re the computer expert, Chip. Think of something. Anything! We leave in fifty-six minutes. There must be something we can do."

Chip threw up his hands. "There isn’t, Santa, and that’s a fact."

After she heard this, Mrs. Claus hurried over to the hospital.

On to Chapter 9.

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