Troubles with the elves

I awoke this morning with an uneasy feeling. I barely touched my breakfast – only six pancakes three eggs.

“Are you all right?” my wife asked.

“It’s last night’s meeting,” I said. “I must find Eomar and talk to him.”

“I’m sure you’ll be able to ease the problem,” she said. “You are so good at that.”

I looked up at her. She was smiling. Her silver hair was in a bun on her head. She was wearing a green apron over a red plaid dress.

She looked beautiful.

“You are as lovely as the day I first spotted you in the woods,” I said.

“Now, now. None of that,” she said, even as she blushed. “Besides, it was in a town.”

“Oh, that was much later. I first saw you in the woods, getting honey. But now, I must find Eomar.”

I went to the iron foundry where Eomar worked.

He was not in. He had called in sick. So had more than a dozen other elves.

I remember several of them voting against letting the dwarves and gnomes vote.

The foundry was one of the places where a number of dwarves worked, being skilled in metal work. They were all there. They nodded to me, but I could tell they were not happy.

I went to the dorm where Eomar and a number of he other unmarried elves lived.

I was told he was in bed asleep.

I visited several of the other workshops.

There were a number of elves who had called in sick.

If it was the flu, I’d say we had an epidemic.

I will wait before I do anything. Perhaps they will cool down over the weekend.

Tonight after dinner I sat before the fire in my rocking chair trying to read. Mrs. Claus was knitting, sitting in her own rocking chair.

We sat for an hour. The only sound was the crackling of the fire, and the occasional grunts of Shulun dreaming at my feet.

Mrs. Claus put down her knitting, and came over to me. She gave me a big hug.

“Thank you,” I said.

“I know you,” she said. “You will worry and fret all night, the way you do over all the naughty children in the world every year as we get near Christmas.”

“What saddens me is that it’s Eomar,” I said. “I’ve known him since he was a boy.”

“And he knows you. He’ll listen in the end.”

“I pray that he will,” I said.

“Why don’t we go in the chapel and do just that,” she said.

So we prayed. We held hands and prayed.

Now as I ready for bed, I can honestly say I feel better.

I’m glad I noticed her in those woods all those years ago!