Focusing on the blueprint, Lacey sighed again as she stabbed the leg seam closed. The doll she had been working on all morning was now finished. If only it didn’t look like such a misfit toy. Its left foot bulged, the eyes weren’t quite level, and one of the right arm’s seams was on the verge of pulling apart. After she had already hand-stitched it closed twice, no less. Instruction manual or no, making toys was hard.

‘Having a wee bit of trouble here, little lass?’ Lacey looked up at the new voice and saw an ancient leprechaun leaning heavily on his shillelagh, staring at her doll with concern. He caught her look and chuckled.

‘Surprised there’s a leprechaun in Santa’s workshop?’

Lacey nodded, replying, ‘Sorry, and please don’t take it the wrong way, but I’ve never seen a leprechaun with Santa’s elves.’

‘No hard feelings, lass. Santa’s got a big enterprise, and a leprechaun is easy to miss. The two of us go way back. Even in Santa’s realm, a little extra luck never goes amiss, so the old codger keeps me around. But you seem a bit new. Are you part of the transfer program?’

‘I suppose I am. My name is Lacey.’

‘And I’m Albyrne. Nice to meet you, new elf Lacey. Let me guess. You must be from our settlement offshoot over in the Aurora Borealis. Very good at counting, your community; not so good at making toys.’

Wait, does he know? He did say he and Santa go way back. But Mathilda had warned her, and Lacey was still pretending to be a good little elf.

So she said, ‘Quite true, I’ve worked with numbers all my life. Because of that I thought making toys according to the instructions would be easy, but I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong. I mean, it’s just putting parts together, right?’

Albyrne squinted at her, saying, ‘The problem is in your heart. You counters like everything in their place, adding up, and squaring all the bits away in tidy little lines. Although that’s part of toy making, you also have to allow the toy a wee bit of freedom. Every toy is unique, even though they’re from the same blueprint. Right now, you’re so focused on making this doll perfectly like its pattern that you’re suffocating her essence. Here, stand back and take another look at her with Albyrne.’

Albyrne placed the doll back on the desk, pulled Lacey three steps back, and thumped his shillelagh on the floor once.

Lacey gasped. It was as if the doll had suddenly come into focus. The left foot appeared a little larger, and if she looked closely the eyes would still be unaligned, but it wasn’t a design flaw. Just like no person had a completely symmetrical face, the doll’s irregular features became part of a unique expression. With this perspective it was easy to see where a couple of touch-ups were needed. The doll wasn’t a misfit; she was an individual.

Albyrne’s eyes crinkled as he said, ‘Now close up that last seam on the right arm, lass, and pick your next project.’

❄️

Time flew by as Lacey got into the rhythm of toy-making. She wanted to stay vigilant, but working in such a pleasant atmosphere, with toys all around and upbeat, chirpy elves, made it hard to be watchful. Even the task itself, once Lacey had gotten past the first doll, became satisfying. There was something to focus on, and then you ended with a pretty toy that you knew would go on to warm an Earth child’s heart. She was so engaged in the train set she was working on, that she dropped a wheel when a whistle blew. Everyone stopped and started bustling out in chattering groups.

‘Come on,’ Jinxy said, getting up herself. ‘Let’s get some lunch!’

‘Lunch?’ It wasn’t that lunch was a foreign concept, it was just that Lacey rarely stopped for it when she was working.

‘Yes, you can sit with us. I’ll introduce you to everyone.’

Lunch was served cafeteria style and consisted of mandarins, turkey sandwiches, deviled eggs, sweet mince pies, gingerbread cookies, and a mug of hot chocolate. Everyone consisted of three of Jinxy’s very best friends. There was a dark-haired elf called Bethy, the purported master toy maker Cynthie, who was a slender blonde elf, and Danji, who had exotic eyes and wore candy-cane-rimmed glasses.

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‘… and I’m going to show Lacey the walking trails!’ Jinxy finished, concluding a lengthy introduction of Lacey.

‘It’s so ever so nice to meet you, Lacey,’ Bethy said with a large smile. ‘Albyrne says you had a bit of a bumpy start?’

Lacey stared at her. Did she know? Were they all in on it? But Bethy’s eyes stayed guileless, and all the others waited earnestly for her to answer.

Danji came to her rescue, saying, ‘Oh, we’re sorry. Was he not supposed to tell us you fell and bumped your head when you arrived?’

Oh, that was what she meant.

‘No, no, I’m sorry,’ she replied, smiling apologetically. ‘It’s been a weird day, and I’m still slightly out of it. Yes, I fell but luckily didn’t get hurt too badly.’

‘That is lucky!’ Jinxy gushed. ‘Gosh, maybe we should wait a few days before going for a walk. You need to rest your head!’

‘Going for a walk? Just be careful of the abominable snowman,’ Bethy teased, speaking before Lacey could reassure Jinxy that she wanted the walk.

‘Oh, Bethy, don’t encourage her. We all know the snowman never comes this close to the village,’ Cynthie contributed.

‘But he does,’ Jinxy said. ‘The other day, Melo and I were walking the Western trail past the candy cane fields, and we saw it! You ask him!’

‘Jinxy,’ Danji responded with concern. ‘You have to stop going out looking for it. It’s dangerous. There’s a reason why it lives in The Wasteland.’

‘But Melo was with me, so it was fine. And you would be cranky too if you were stuck out there all alone.’

‘Sorry, abominable snowman? As in THE Abominable Snowman?’ Lacey finally got a word in edgewise.

‘The one and only,’ Bethy replied. ‘And Jinxy has this silly idea that it’s lonely and needs company.’

‘It’s not silly, I tell you…’

Whatever Jinxy was about to say was interrupted by a second whistle blowing.

‘Time to get back to work!’ Cynthie sang.

❄️

When the end-of-day whistle blew, Lacey leaned back and observed her completed toys with satisfaction before remembering that she was trapped and forced to make them. It was feeling less and less like slave labour, what with the camaraderie and uplifting atmosphere all around. I will not be fooled. I am not here of my own free will. It was becoming harder to hold on to that thought, however. Those thoughts were interrupted by a sudden commotion at the workshop entrance.

‘Help, everyone, help!’ A male elf called out. Even by elf standards, his appearance was quite strange. His coat was covered in feathers, and he had a butterfly net strapped to his back. He looked like a deranged fly fisher with a giant walrus moustache that wiggled as he spoke.

‘Jinxy was supposed to meet me at the pub at the end of the day, but she’s not there. I can’t find her anywhere!’

Lacey turned to her side, about to call out that Jinxy was right there, only to find Jinxy’s seat empty with a half-finished stuffed horse on the desk.

‘Oh, come now, Melo! The lass hasn’t disappeared!’ Albyrne called from a chair by the toy part dispensers.

‘But, where is she then, Albyrne?’ Melo wailed.

‘Relax, the lass won’t be far. Let Albyrne come and look with you,’ he continued as he hobbled through the workshop with his shillelagh. ‘After all, sometimes all you need is a little luck.’

Lacey looked back at Jinxy’s desk as the two men disappeared through the workshop doors. Would Jinxy leave a half-finished toy behind? The same elf who secretly added extra sparkle for the children?

‘Don’t look so worried, Lacey,’ Danji spoke as she walked by with the others. ‘Jinxy’s not very good at keeping time, you know.’

‘Oh yes,’ Cynthie said with a laugh. ‘The number of times she’s disappeared. Sometimes she even loses track of days!’

‘And it’s not like she likes Melo that much anyway.’

The others gasped.

‘Bethy! You know that’s not true!’

Bethy’s comeback was lost as the little group exited the workshop doors, leaving Lacey behind. She wasn’t sure what to do. Maybe there was something to eat in the dining hall? It was as good a plan as any, so Lacey tidied her desk and headed that way. She needn’t have worried, as Nurse Mathilda was waiting for her outside.

“I thought you might need a friend,” Mathilda said companionably.

‘You thought right.’

‘Well then, let’s go have supper. By the way, do you have someplace to stay?’

‘Uh, no. I don’t think I have a house.’

‘No problem, my guest room is open. Having a bit of company would be great.’

‘Thank you. I was becoming worried about where I would sleep!’

‘Oh, you should never worry about a thing like that in the North Pole Village. We take care of each other here.’

Lacey nodded her gratitude again and then switched topics.

Do you think they will find Jinxy?’

‘Jinxy’s missing again?’ Mathilda asked with an eye roll.

‘Yes. Melo said he couldn’t find her, and then Albyrne went out to help him look.’

‘Oh, that’s okay then. With Albyrne’s help they’ll definitely track her down. Besides, Melo “loses” her about once a week. She always turns up.’

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