Santa's Elf Beats the Blues

Louis the Elf sat at his workbench, in his hand was a pencil. On his face was a look of concentration. He was designing the stitching for next year's baseballs, and was working on a problem in his head. He had almost figured out, when-- paf

It was a little noise, but it startled him, and his solution was lost. He looked around for the source of the noise... paf

It was coming from outside. Louis got up and walked to his door. Outside his door was a small, sad little Elf, who was sitting on his stairs and throwing snowballs at his mailbox. paf

"Waldo!" said Louis to the little Elf, as that was his name. "Are you okay?"

"Yes. Maybe. No." said waldo, and the threw another snowball. paf

Louis sighed. "Want to come in for a cup of tea?" he asked the little Elf.

"No." said Waldo. "I don't like tea."

"Okay then," said Louis. "Want to come in and not have a cup of tea?"

"Sure." said Waldo.

Once they were inside and not drinking tea, Waldo told him his problem. "Teema Elf is leaving," he said. "She's going back to her family in Minnesota."

"Wait--I thought you didn't like Teema?" Said Louis, confused.

"That was like 2 weeks ago," said Waldo. "I thought she was my best friend!"

"She can still be your best friend and not be here," said Louis. Waldo looked confused, so Louis continued. "Before I came to the North Pole, I lived in Montreal, Canada, said Louis, "and my best friend was a shoemaker Elf named Jaques.

"When Santa asked me to come here and design toys, my best friend stayed in Montreal. He didn't stop being my best friend," Louis continued. "We stay in touch, with phone calls, letters and Elf-mail, and this summer I'm going to go to Montreal and visit with him!"

"Do you think I might be able to visit Teema in Minnesota?" asked Waldo.

Louis smiled. "You'll have to ask her, but I'll bet she'd be very happy to have you visit," he said. "Friends are friends, no matter where they are, just so long as you want them to be!"

Waldo smiled. "Wow! That would be great! Maybe you and your friend can come visit us all together! We could have a picnic, and I could make my sardines-and-grapes sandwiches for everybody!"

"Maybe we will," said Louis, wondering if maybe Jaques was allergic to sardines.

Teema will be leaving tomorrow! Will Waldo get to say goodbye? Keep reading The North Pole Times to find out!