Dimis saves the day?

We slept fitfully. Despite the huddling, it was still cold.

The next morning, we had more bread. Some elf bread, some dwarf bread.

As for what to drink? Water.

Ice, actually. We did not have enough heat melt the ice, so we just chipped pieces off the walls, then sucked on them.

Not pleasant.

Gimlitin and his dwarves dug out another pack. More elf bread.

Off in the distance, we heard rumbling. More ice breaking way.

Eomar, several of the elves and dwarves, and I went off to explore to see if there was some way up,

All the tunnels here went down. One that might have gone up was blocked by fallen ice.

All of this activity took an entire day.

The day ended with more bread, and more huddling.

The next day, we explored a couple of the downward sloped tunnels to se it they led to any passages going up.

No luck.

We tried to go back up the tunnel that we’d slid down, but it was too steep and we did not have the right climbing equipment.

The third day, we tried to dig through the fallen ice in the tunnel that sloped up.

After a day of digging, we still found ice blocking our way.

On the fourth day, we tried digging again.

Then suddenly, a cell pone rang.

Dimis reached into his pocket and took out the phone.

“Hello?” he said. “No, I didn’t forget. Sorry. I’m trapped down in the tunnels with Santa…”

At that point I grabbed the phone.

“Hello, this is Santa. Who is this?”

“Eolias,” a voice stammered. “Santa, we’ve been looking for you.”

I gave him directions to where we were. I then signed off.

Dimis looked at me puzzled.

“Dimis,” why didn’t you tell us you had a cell phone?”

“I forgot. Good thing Eolias showed up for our weekly checkers game.”

I think if I had not been there some of the elves and dwarves would have ad a “talk” with Dimis.

As it was, no one talked to him.

Except me, of course, How can you blame someone like Dimis?

It took the rescuers four days to reach us. Four long, cold days.

Finally, the rescuers reached us, and we started the climb up.

It took us half a day to get back to the North Pole Village.

Mrs. Claus, and thousands of others were waiting.

Dimis was pleased at all the attention.

“It was my phone that led to our rescue,” he told everyone who would listen.

None of those who had been trapped were among those listening.