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“I’m still not sure why you need me to come along as well,” grumbled Glitter as she followed Pixie and Figgy through the sky to their next assignment.
“We told you, Glitter,” said Pixie patiently. “We need you to carry the…equipment.”
“What ‘equipment’?” asked Glitter suspiciously.
“Oh, you know,” said Figgy. “The treats, snacks, prizes, shrinking machine. That sort of thing.”
“Oh balderdash. You two are perfectly capable of carrying—shrinking machine?”
A rather small, bedraggled looking elf popped his head around the window sill. “Hello.”
Glitter turned, startled, to face him.
“Hey, Fred,” said Pixie. “Are you ready?”
“Yep! I can’t wait to get started.”
“What,” asked Glitter. “Exactly, do we need a shrinking machine for?”
“Oh it was Figgy’s idea,” said Fred. “You see, Sam, my kid, has a big problem and shrinking is the perfect solution!”
Glitter’s eyebrows reached the sky.
“We’d better start at the beginning,” said Pixie, trying, and failing to stifle a laugh at Glitter’s expression.
“Oh,” said Fred nodding to Glitter. “Right. You’re new.”
“Excuse me?” said Glitter in icy tones. “I am not new, young elf. I’ve been at this for years!”
“Oh, I didn’t mean–. That is to say—.”
“It’s ok, Fred,” interrupted Figgy. “Glitter is just a little grumpy because we pulled her away from…what is it you are doing, Glitter? Closeted away with Mrs. C.?”
Glitter took a deep, calming breath. She straightened her hooves and shook out her antlers. “Ok. Tell me what is going on with this house and why, on earth, we need a shrinking machine.”
“Fred, go ahead,” urged Pixie.
Fred smiled. “Well, as I mentioned, Sam, my kid, has a big problem. He can’t seem to stop lying.”
“Lying?” Glitter asked. “About what?”
“Everything.”
Glitter glanced at Figgy and Pixie who nodded.
Fred continued. “Sam Finnegan has a lying problem. He lies to his parents about messes he makes. He lies to his teachers about homework he’s not done. He makes up fantastical stories about things that…never happened to him.”
“So,” Pixie jumped in. “We’ve decided that rather than punish him, we’ll give him fodder for stories.”
When Glitter did not look convinced, Figgy added. “We are hoping to turn his energy from lying to storytelling.”
“How is that different?” asked Glitter.
“Oh it’s very different,” said Pixie. “Lying is hurtful. Storytelling is entertaining.”
“We are giving him a creative outlet,” finished Fred.
Glitter slowly nodded. “It seems you’ve already come up with a plan, so what do you need me, and the shrinking machine for?”
“We need a list of story ideas for Sam and thought you would have some great prompts from your time at Reindeer Training Camp, and–.”
Glitter interrupted Figgy. “And you were hoping you could find out what I’ve been doing with Mrs. C?”
Figgy blushed. “Well. Yes. We were thinking you might confide in us if we got you away from the North Pole.”
Glitter shook her head and brayed. “Not going to happen, Figgy.”
Figgy and Pixie sighed.
“And, the shrinking machine?”
“Ah,” said Pixie. “That is for the first story prompt. Come on, let’s get inside.”
The elves and reindeer flew into the kitchen, landing lightly on the table. Pixie pulled a box of cookies from her bag while Figgy and Fred set the shrinking machine up.
“Ok, ready for the Christmas Magic!” said Fred.
The three elves worked together, sprinkling magical dust over the machine while Glitter jotted down several story prompts to leave with the cookies.
They hauled a cookie over and watched as it went in one side, a big cookie, and came out the other, a tiny cookie.
“It worked!” shouted Fred.
“Of course it did,” said Figgy. “We’re elves, Fred.”
Pixie giggled.
Glitter could not help but smile as well…until she noticed the time.
“Oh deer! I have to go!”
Without a backward glance, leaving papers flying in her wake, Glitter rushed out the window and flew into the stars.
a pinch of homestead 