Mischief Makers Day 11: The Eleventh Piper

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“I think we should stop by Joe and Jake’s house before we go to the Malloy’s tonight,” said a flustered and frustrated Figgy. 

“Why? Do you think they could somehow help?” asked Pixie.

“No, probably not.”

“Then why–.”

“Tonight is cookie night and we don’t have the right recipe.”

“We could just wing it,” said Pixie. “Or use a box mix.”

Figgy looked aghast at Pixie. 

“Or…stop by the boys’ and get it?”

“It’s their grandma’s recipe too, so we need to make sure they are ok with us using it.”

“Ok, let’s get going then!”

Figgy and Pixie took off, zooming as quickly as possible to Joe and Jake’s house. It took them a few minutes to wake them up without scaring the Christmas PJ pants off of them, but they managed after the third “PSSST!”

Jake rubbed his eyes sleepily. “Hi guys, what are you doing here?”

Joe yawned loudly as he trudged into Jake’s room. “Hooooow–yawn–is the season going so far?”

Figgy took a big breath, ready to tell Joe and Jake all, but Pixie beat him to it. 

“It’s going great! Isn’t it, Figgy?” 

“Actually, it’s–.”

“Better than great! Right, Figgy?? She elbowed him in the side, smiling maniacally and nodding her head vigorously.

“Er…yeah. It’s…interesting.” 

Pixie scowled at Figgy and smiled brightly at the boys. “It’s so good to see you two. I wish Nim and Lil could have come too, but they’re dealing with a reindeer trainee emergency. Some sort of scuffle involving antlers, jingle bells, and eggnog.”

“Apparently the annual Reindeer Rumble got a little out of hand,” added Figgy.

“That’s ok, tell them we said hi,” said Jake. 

“What’s going on, guys?” asked Joe.

“Well, we stopped by to ask if you would mind us using the molasses and sugar cookie recipes at our new assignment. We think the Malloy’s would really love them,” said Pixie.

“Yeah,” Figgy grumbled. “They’ve already shown us how much they enjoy decorating and making giant—”.

“Balloon animals!” interjected Pixie. 

Joe and Jake looked at the elves suspiciously. 

“Anyway, would it be ok if we shared your recipes? We know how special they are so we wanted to ask first.”

The boys smiled and Jake said, “Of course! Grandma would have loved that.”

Two quick hugs and a wave goodbye and the elves soared back into the sky. 

* * *

“Oh my.” Pixie gaped at the road of icing. It covered the table, went down a ramp made of cardboard and curved down the stairs. A small graham cracker car sat precariously at the top, it’s back open and filled with sticky, gooey maple syrup. 

Figgy didn’t move. His face remained blank, passive.  His eyes had glazed over. 

“Figgy? Are you ok?”

He didn’t answer or acknowledge Pixie. He just stared at the icing road. 

“Ok, let’s…let’s get this cleaned up. Pixie floated down to the floor and approached the graham cracker car just as Figgy snapped out of his trance.

“Pixie, wait! There’s a trip wi—”.

Too late. Pixie’s foot tripped the wire and the car careered down the stairs, gleefully splashing maple syrup all over the carpet. 

It was in the silence that followed that Figgy noticed the icing note on the table.

Sprinkle, sprinkle little car
Fast you’ll go and you’ll go far
Through the icing, down the chair
Cookie crumbs are everywhere
Sprinkle, sprinkle little car
Fast you’ll go and you’ll go far

-Alex