The Elf Strike: A Short Story

The Elf Strike

“HO HO HO! You have made me laugh Crissy! Where did this nonsense of a raise get in your head? We all had a deal. I bring joy to the kids in the world and you make the toys I deliver! No raise Crissy.” Santa said as the heads of the hundreds of elves stared at Crissy and Santa.

“But, Santa, I’ve worked harder than any other elf this year! I even made 2,000,000 more toys than assigned because you wanted to give the snotty nosed brats extra things to play with! I also came in after hours! I’m sorry Santa, but I deserve that raise!” Crissy said stubbornly in her high voice. Her cheeks flared as she saw that Santa had stopped being so cheery.

“Crissy. You are being very self-centered and stubborn at the moment and I wish for

it to stop. And,” He said turning to the elves, “it’s not just Crissy. It’s all of you! You are beginning to be very difficult all of the sudden, and I can’t have this nonsense and tomfoolery just 123 days until Christmas! It is coming up and I need you slav-elves to work extra hard! From now on, all of you will work 22 hours 7 days a week! Is that clear?” Santa says, getting angry.
“But Santa, we won’t get enough sleep! And we all really do deserve a raise, especially with all of the work we’ve been doing this time of year. It’s only fair Santa.” A brawny elf named Buddy let out. Santa gasped at the craziness of the small little elf.
“I beg your pardon?! That is insane!” Santa said as he stormed out of the workshop. The elves looked around at each other and started working again. Little did they know that this blow up from Santa would turn out to be the start of something bigger. MUCH bigger.
The next day, the elves went back to work and began their assignment of 8,999,567 toys per day. They worked their hands off until the sun began to set and they were getting blisters from the working, and getting sweaty and dirty from the long hours every day. Not to mention the tear stained clothes from when Santa came to lecture them on their shoddy work and lack of effort, according to him. They were truly Santa’s little slaves. A piercing shout came from the tiniest of the elves named Giddy.
“That is IT!” He said in his squeaky little voice. “We have worked too much to not get treated like civilized elves! We hardly even get any candy canes and gumdrops anymore, although I can live with that, but working 22 hours a day is where I draw the line! We must go on strike.” He said firmly. He looked around to the wide-eyed elves and saw their shocked faces. While some shook their heads, afraid to confront Santa, others nodded their heads in agreement. Giddy nodded once and told them the plan. The elves who didn’t want in, would get locked in the sugar storage room. They would make signs that said things like, ‘we are NOT slaves!’ and, ‘no more discrimination!’
The next morning, the elves got busy at work making sure the signs were dry, and the elves were safely locked in the storage room. They ran into the toy room and got in their positions.
Santa called, “Bubbles?! Where is my hot chocolate?!” As he traipsed down the stairs into the toy making area.
“Now where did they all go?” He said to himself quietly. He walked all around the shop searching for the elves, for they were supposed to be working. Finally, he had heard a racket, no-a chant starting into the toy making room.
“There you are! Why aren’t you-” Santa started, being cut off by Bubbles.
“No more!

We DEMAND that you treat us better than the common slave elf. We deserve to be treated with more respect than you have ever given us! Yes, all of the children in the world will be very disappointed if you don’t meet our demands, but at least for once we’ll be happy!” Bubble finishes, breaking out of the crowd to yell at Santa.

“Well, I NEVER! I’ll just have to find other little helpers to make the toys. And by the way, you’re all fired!” Santa yelled as he stormed out of the room in his jolly old fat suit and his pink cheeks, looking all cheery. Three words. Corner lip lift. He smiles ALL the time. Even when he’s mad. The elves were stunned as they exited the shop where they had spent hundreds of years working, and trudged through the snow back to their homes.

Hours later, Santa searched far and wide for other helpers. He finally found the creatures that would be willing to help. Goblins. Santa searched for any other option than staring at the goblins pointy ears and noses all day, with their pasty skin and their musty grey eyes. But alas, there were no other options. So, Santa called the goblins and offered them the job of a lifetime for 5 pieces of rotten fish and 7 pieces of rancid rat meat in exchange for their work. They reluctantly agreed, as they couldn’t wait to feast on the stinky old meat. They were there within an hour and got their orders to get to work. The goblins turned out out be HORRIBLE helpers. Every time they made the etch a sketches, they would

pound the top of it on, and break the whole thing because of their strength.
“NO NO NO! You’re breaking the toys! Hemo! How many toys have you made in the past 3 hours?” Santa asked, concerned.
“83 sir.” The goblin replied. Santa furred his brow and thought about how the elves would have had more than half of their 8,999,567 toys already. Which means they would have 4,499,783 and a half of the toys down for the day. Oh, how he missed them! If only he had given them a couple more candy canes and gumdrops. He HAD been treating them like slaves.
As the time crept by slowly, and it came closer and closer to Christmas, the goblins were approximately 789,000,838 toys behind schedule! The seconds turned into minutes, minutes turned to hours, to days, to weeks, to months! It was Christmas Eve when Santa really began to worry. He muttered to himself about how he should have given the elves the raise. He needed them. And frankly, he was tired of smelling rancid meat all day. The goblins finished putting the tags on the completed presents as Santa was readying his sleigh.
“Boss? We’re a little behind schedule. It looks like around 4,089,678 kids won’t be getting a Santa present this year. But, we do know a place where we can get enough rancid meat for all of the presentless kids.” Gyro said to Santa.
“WHAT?!

We HAVE to make those kids presents! Oh well, I guess we can’t do anything else about it.” Santa replied with deep sorrow in his voice. He boarded the sleigh and called his reindeer by their names. “On Dasher, on Dancer, on Prancer on Vixen! On Comet, on Cupid, on Donner, on Blitzen! And ON RUDOLPH!” he called as the sleigh began to shoot up into the air. Santa took a last look down on the town in the North Pole. He smiled sadly to himself as he remembered how the elves had endured so much that he had thrown at them, and he eventually drove them away. He was a bad Santa Claus. As the night went on, Santa found himself in a bit of a situation. He had read the tags on the presents and delivered them to the address, but he found that the addresses had been the wrong ones! He didn’t know what present went to who any more! This was a disaster! When he was in the last house hours later, he heard a BANG In the kitchen of the house. Santa rushed to the kitchen, and saw hundreds of pointy elf hats all crammed in one room. Santa gasped and got teary-eyed at the sight of his old

friends.
“What are you guys doing here? I don’t blame you for striking. I was a bit of a, well, gnarly-head.” The elves gasped that Santa Claus had said that horrible word about himself.
“We have realized that the children’s joy and wonder in the world are more important than a raise,” Amity started, looking towards her fellow elves, “we’ve come to help.” Santa nodded his head happily. A light clicked on and everyone turned their attention to the hallway where a 6 year old boy stood in amazement. He didn’t even blink. Louie walked up to the child and waved his arms around in a weird way.
“This is a dreeeeaaaammm.” Louie whispered, as he ushered the child back to bed. When he got back, everyone burst into laughter.
Within the next couple hours, the presents were all sorted out, and there were toys for every child of the world. They finished at the break of dawn, sweating more than they ever had.
“Thank you. I’m sorry I have been unfair to you guys recently. I can give you that raise you wanted and boost your income to 15 candy canes and 20 gumdrops instead of 5 candy canes and 7 gumdrops.” Santa finishes.
The elves stared at him with huge, wide grins as Pepper said, “No Santa! Is that what you thought we meant by raise? We meant we wanted small stilts so we didn’t have to feel so short all the time! The boys can have minnie stilts, and the girls can have high-heeled elf shoes. But if you’re willing to boost our income…” Pepper says with a mischievous grin.
“Don’t push it. You can certainly have stilts.” Santa said with a laugh. Years and years from then on, the elves and Santa worked in harmony, treating each other as equals. For now...