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Pixie had watched as Glitter silently slipped out of Sugar Water during Figgy’s 3rd, possibly 4th retelling of the previous night’s mayhem. After telling Figgy, Nim and Lil what she saw, they decided to investigate.
“There she is,” whispered Figgy as he watched Glitter canter to Santa’s home.
“Why do they keep meeting?” asked Pixie for the hundredth time. “What are they talking about and why isn’t Santa there too?”
“I don’t think he knows,” said Nim. “He seemed surprised the other day when I mentioned that I had seen Glitter at his house when I dropped off Mrs. C.’s order of sugarplums.”
“Oh Nim, that wasn’t surprise,” said Lil. “That was amusement. Your face was covered in powdered sugar and sticky goo from eating the sugarplums.”
Nim chuckled.
“Quiet!” Pixie whisper-shouted. “They’re coming out!”
The four elves watched as Glitter hauled a large sack to a sled parked around the corner.
“That’s not Santa’s sled,” said Figgy.
“No,” said Nim. “That is the emergency back-up to Santa’s sled. It is normally used only for special missions…hey! They must be on some ‘special’ mission!”
But they could not stay to find out more. Nim’s ‘hey!’ sailed across the field of swirly-whirly gumdrops and right into Glitter’s ear.
“HIDE!”
Nim and Lil raced for the candy cane path behind Santa’s Workshop while Figgy and Pixy shot straight into the air, hurtling toward their next house.
***
Landing in a heap on the front doorstep, Pixie and Figgy finally had a moment to catch their breath.
“Do you think Nim and Lil made it back to the Workshop?” asked Pixie.
“I hope so,” said Figgy. “They were on foot and Glitter is fast, but I’m not sure if she really saw us or not.”
Pixie was just about to say more when she noticed an elf with its face pressed up against the frosted window in the door.
“That must be Lucie,” said Figgy.
Lucie smiled when she heard her name and started dancing and twirling and jumping up and down.
“Hmm,” said Pixie. “She seems…enthusiastic.”
Figgy snorted. “Let’s go.”
They both entered the house and were immediately tackled.
“I’m so excited to finally meet you two!!!”
“Uh, it’s nice to meet you as well…Lucie?”
“YES! Oh, you know my name! You know my name!!!”
“We-ell,” said Figgy. “You did send a letter asking for BRATT assistance so…”.
“YAY! You read my letter! I can’t believe you read it! Did you read the part about howr they won’t clean their bathroom?”
“Ye-.”
“And how the parents are getting really, really mad?”
“Yes, we di–.”
“AND how they said if they don’t start cleaning up they’re bathroom they’ll take all their presents back and tell Santa to skip over their house?”
“Whoa. That’s harsh,” said Figgy.
“Lucie, Figgy and I read your letters, all 24 of them. That’s why we are here. To help. And, we have an idea.”
“I’m all ears,” said Lucie with a slightly hysterical laugh.
“Could you show Figgy and I the bathroom? We’d like to see how bad it is for ourselves.”
Lucie led the elves to the bathroom. When they walked in, they both gasped. It was, quite possibly, the filthiest bathroom they had ever seen. And they had seen the Abominable Snowman’s bathroom, so that was saying something.
“How in the world did it get this bad?” asked Figgy, holding his nose.
“Where are their parents?” asked Pixie, staring in disgust at the pile of used towels on the floor.
“It’s like I said in my 23rd letter. The parents have given up. And, they never come down here if they can help it.”
“Right,” said Pixie. “We’ll clean the bathroom, top to bottom. Scrub every surface until it shines.”
Lucie frowned. “But, wouldn’t that just show them that someone else will pick up their messes? Won’t they just keep being, well, slobs?”
“Ah,” said Figgy. “But you forgot the one thing that will ensure this works.”
Figgy and Pixie exchanged glances. “Toilet paper.”
Lucie waited for an explanation. None came. Instead, Figgy and Pixie flew to the cabinet under the sink and gingerly opened the door. They pulled out several rolls of toilet paper and rejoined Lucie in the hall.
“Ok, Lucie, where is their bedroom? We have some mummies to wrap.”
Lucie, Figgy and Pixie worked together to wrap both sleeping boys in toilet paper. Only their eyes, nose and mouth were left uncovered. They then rolled the rest of the toilet paper back to their now sparkling bathroom.
“I still don’t understand how this is going to help.”
“Trust us. With this note, it will help,” said Pixie.
Dear Sammy and Tim,
We’ve cleaned your bathroom, spic and span. We’ll only do it once.
If it gets that dirty ever again, we will personally tell Santa to bring you nothing but toilet paper for Christmas.
Sincerely,
The Mischief Makers
“You’re sure?” asked Lucie.
“Works every time,” said Figgy.
a pinch of homestead 