Dasher Does a Dash by Kristen Schroeder #StoryAdventCalndar

Dasher Does a Dash 

by Kristen Schroeder

Rudolph had a problem.

"Now dash away, dash away, dash away all!" Santa cried.

Unfortunately, one reindeer had taken Santa's words too much to heart. Dasher had done a dash and left an empty harness behind.

They had nearly finished delivering presents to all the Australian boys and girls and were headed to Indonesia next.  Dasher could have "dashed" anywhere between Perth, where Santa last did reindeer roll call, and Darwin.

Rudolph remembered that Dasher had been a bit down in the dumps lately, talking about retirement and leaving the North Pole for someplace warmer.  Had Dasher seized his chance on Christmas Eve?

As captain of the reindeer team, Rudolph was in a pickle. Sure, they could fly without Dasher and still make it around the world if everydeer put in a big effort, but there was the Reindeer Code to consider.  

"Santa! We're going to have to turn this sleigh around," Rudolph called.

Santa obliged with a knowing nod and a wink. There was nothing Santa didn't know.

The team did a 180-degree turn at breakneck speed and swooped toward the coast.  A lovely full moon lit the balmy, summery night.  The reindeer, and Santa, were panting and sweating from the heat.

Rudolph turned his nose up to full power, and using it as a searchlight, the team began checking each and every beach along the coast of Western Australia for their wayward friend. 

"Over there!" shouted Prancer, and they all saw Dasher at once. They flew towards him swiftly and saw his body twisted on the beach in an awkward position.

"Dasher!" Rudolph shouted, his voice full of concern. 

"What happened?" he asked.

Dasher turned his head to look up at his friends.

"It's bloody hot," he said.  His fur glistened with sweat.

"This lying on the beach ain't all it's cracked up to be," he added.

Rudolph just shook his head, relieved.

"Up you get, Dash, we've got a big night ahead of us," he said.

"Why'd you come back for me?" Dasher asked.

"No deer left behind," Rudolph said, quoting the Reindeer Code.

*****

This story is part of the 2014 Story Advent Calendar, with stories written by a variety of authors.

Boomer's First White Christmas by Sharon Giltrow #StoryAdventCalendar

Boomer’s First White Christmas

By Sharon Giltrow

G’day!  My name’s Boomer and I am a grey kangaroo – one of only six living in the New York City zoo. We are part of the Australian Animal exhibition and we flew thousands of kilometres to get here on the flying kangaroo. No, not a real flying kangaroo – that’s what we Aussies call Qantas our Australian airline. We kangaroos can’t fly but boy can we bound.  You see this tail, and these back legs? They are strong and perfect for bounding, and that’s just what we do.

We bound from one tree to another, stopping for a nose wiggle and a nibble on some grass.  And can you believe it? – The people here love it. Some of them watch us for hours, and we don’t really do anything exciting. I feel bad for them; we really aren’t that interesting. I would be watching the penguins – those guys sure know how to entertain.

Anyway, I like it here in New York City. It’s exciting, always something happening, and they have these lovely trees. When we first arrived, the leaves were a deep green, and then they turned all shades of golden. Much more interesting than plain old gum trees like we have back home.

It is a little bit cold here, and it has been getting colder. The mob, that’s what we call ourselves, have been spending more time amongst the rocks and we’re all a bit sleepier; not our usual bounding, booming selves. 

And now all the leaves have fallen off. There’s piles of them everywhere. At first, it was fun. We would lay down and make leaf angels and jump right into the middle of the pile, but now it’s getting a bit eerie. None of the other animals seem to mind though, but come to think of it, I haven’t see old Reginald the Rhino out and about in a while, and, Barry the Bear, I haven’t seen him in days. And the ducks are gone – they just up and flew away a couple of days ago. On no! What’s happening? I’m starting to panic. It’s too quiet. 

Calm down, Boomer old mate. You’re a kangaroo of the world; it’s just different here. Wait! What’s that floating down? It looks like a butterfly. It’s so pretty and so white. Oh, it’s landing on me. Oh, its cold – it’s sticking to my fur. Oh, here comes some more. It’s so beautiful. What is it? I’ll ask Ma.  

“Ma, Ma come look at this. It’s some kind of white dust.”

“Oh darling, don’t you know what that is? It’s snow! It’s Christmas, and, in New York City, it snows at Christmas.”

“Really? Snow at Christmastime? Ma, I’m scared. What if we freeze?”

“Boomer, it will be okay. The people will look after us. Come on, Boomer, let’s go find somewhere warm.”

*****

This story is part of the 2014 Story Advent Calendar, with stories written by a variety of authors.