Good News & Bad News at the Pole

Bernard Elf and Adamup Elf sat together at the dining room table. Each had a long list in front of them.

Bernard sighed.

Adamup sighed.

A few minutes later, they swapped their lists, and read some more.

Adamup sighed again.

Bernard sighed again.

"Well, there's nothing to be done about it," Bernard eventually said.

"The thing that bothers me the most," said Adamup, "is that normally this would be good news."

They rolled up their lists, and together they trudged over to Gizmo Elf's workshop. Bernard and Adamup were two of the most important elves at the North Pole. Bernard was in charge of the two important lists: the Children's Wish List, and the Naughty and Nice List. Adamup was Santa's Chief Counting Elf--he made sure there were enough toys, dolls, books, puzzles and games for all the kids who were on the Nice list.

As they entered Gizmo Elf's workshop, they were greeted by a blast of blue smoke, and the sound of metal being hammered. "Gizmo?" called Bernard.

"Hang on a second," came a muffled voice from near the top of the Appendapulator. Gizmo was Santa's Chief Inventing Elf, and right now he was deep inside the machinery of the Appendapulator--the great toymaking machine of the North Pole.

The Appendapulator makes most of the toys that Santa takes with him on Christmas Eve. But the Appendapulator wasn't making any toys. In fact, it hadn't made any toys at all this Christmas Season. That was because the Appendapulator had been modified, and during a demonstration, had 'popped' Santa Claus away from the North Pole. Gizmo had been hard at work trying to bring Santa back ever since then.

Something moved at the tip of one of the flanges sticking out of the Appendapulator. It turned out to be the head of Waldo Elf, Gizmo's helper. "Gizmo says what do you want?" he said.

"We have some bad news," said Adamup Elf, "and we need to talk to Gizmo now."

Waldo's head went back inside the machine. A moment later it returned. "Gizmo says tell me, and I'll tell him," said Waldo.

"Oh, umm...ok," said Bernard Elf, but he looked as though it was not ok at all. "Well, the bad news is that there's lots and lots of kids on the nice list this year--a record number, in fact."

Waldo's head disappeared again, then reappeared. "Gizmo says why is that bad news."

"It's bad news because all those boys and girls deserve toys on Christmas Day." said Bernard.

Again the little elf's head went away, then came back. "Gizmo says that still sounds like good news."

Adamup Elf wrung his hands. "But we can't make those toys unless we take the Appendapulator back to the main workshop and have it start making toys!"

Waldo went away. Waldo came back. "Gizmo says okay," he said.

"Gizmo says okay?" asked Adamup.

Waldo paused. "Well, it's kinda noisy in there, but it sure sounded like he said okay to me."

"But--but--if we start making toys with the Appendapulator, then won't you--I mean, Gizmo--have to stop trying to figure out how to fix it so that we can get Santa back?" asked Bernard.

Waldo went away. Waldo came back. "Gizmo says no," he said.

"But we've been holding off on toymaking for weeks while you worked on getting Santa back!" shouted Bernard. "You mean to tell me the Appendapulator could have been making toys this entire time?"

Waldo went away. Waldo came back. "Gizmo says yes," he said.

"So why didn't you tell us this weeks ago?" Adamup shouted.

Waldo paused. "I could go ask him that," he said, "but I'm pretty sure that what he'll say is you didn't ask."

This is a good lesson to learn--you never know what the answer to a question will be until you ask it! Keep reading the North Pole Times every day!