Evangeline Wish Keeper's Helper

by Maggie Alderson

  ‘But how did the kangaroo know the boy had been bought the new toy?’ asked Senior Bear.

  ‘His mother brought him back to the playground the next day,’ said Nancy. ‘And the poor kangaroo, stuffed under the bush, watched his little boy playing with the new toy, and it broke his heart.’

  ‘What kind of a toy was the new one?’ asked Kylie, suspiciously.

  ‘A sausage dog,’ said Nancy. ‘But it wasn’t his fault, obviously.’

  All the toys nodded and Kylie looked relieved.

  ‘Of course, all of us toys get left behind by our children, eventually,’ said Nancy. ‘It’s only natural, and that’s when we come Upstairs. But it was horribly cruel the way it happened to the kangaroo, and that’s what made him so sad and unhappy that he turned bad and became the Kybosh.’

  ‘Is that why he uses the hope from wishes to get his power?’ asked Evangeline tentatively. ‘Because his little boy was wishing so hard for the sausage dog that he threw away his kangaroo?’

  ‘Spot on,’ said Nancy. ‘Spot on. That’s exactly why the Kybosh hates children getting what they want.’

  Then Geraldine put her front hoof up. All the toys turned to look at her. It was the first time she’d ever asked a question. ‘We all had to run away from the Kybosh,’ she said, quietly. ‘What would happen if he did catch a toy?’

  Nancy sighed deeply. ‘It takes away their hope as well,’ she said, and a big fat tear rolled down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away, but they’d all seen it.

  ‘And if you can’t hope,’ she continued, wiping her other eye. ‘You can’t help grant wishes, because you can’t imagine anything nice ever happening again, to yourself or anyone else.’

  All the toys just looked at her, wanting to comfort her, but before anyone could say anything else, she jumped up, smoothed down her stripy dress, pulled her hat firmly down onto her head and clapped her hands.

  ‘Right,’ she said, snapping back into her normal business-like style. ‘That’s enough of all that. Hopefully you won’t have to experience that again for a long time.

  It doesn’t happen every day. And now we have somewhere very special to go, to meet someone who will cheer us all up, so come along.’

  Evangeline got to her feet and reached down to pick up Kylie. He was looking very thoughtful, she noticed.

  ‘Are you all right?’ Evangeline asked him.

  Kylie pulled a face. ‘That blinking Kybosh,’ he said. ‘I just wish he wasn’t a marsupial.’

  ‘I know,’ said Evangeline. ‘That is horrid – but Nancy did say he was a nice kangaroo until he was abandoned.’

  Kylie looked a bit happier and settled himself comfortably on Evangeline’s arm.

  ‘Good point,’ he said. ‘Reckon I’ll sleep on it for a bit. I suppose he did go through quite a terrible time.’

  Evangeline smiled down at Kylie as he closed his eyes and nodded straight off. Then, as she pulled back her shoulders and readied herself for the next stage of their adventure, something occurred to her. Nancy had found one bad tooth – the one Evangeline had picked up – but she said some others must have got into the Tooth Fairy’s system. So how had they got there? Had someone put them there deliberately?

  She was going to ask Nancy, but the little doll was already walking through one of the gates and disappeared.

  Evangeline hurried to catch up.

  THIS time when they emerged on the other side of the gate they didn’t immediately find themselves somewhere new; instead, they seemed to be in some kind of deep fog. Evangeline couldn’t see her own trunk in front of her face and was glad to hear Nancy calling out to them.

  ‘Just keep walking straight ahead,’ she was saying. ‘It’s only like this because the Kybosh was around before. It’s a health and safety measure. Keep walking, it will soon clear.’

  She was right, but Evangeline could hear where they were before she could see it. Steady rhythmic noises, like wheels going round and round and something moving and stopping and moving again. Whir, whir, clunk, clunk, swish. Then shouts and laughter and another noise like something being trundled past.

  ‘Sounds interesting,’ said Kylie, waking up. As he spoke the mist cleared and they saw a large wheel, connected to a smaller one, with a conveyor belt moving between them.

  As Evangeline watched, a model train, a bright red ball, a skipping rope and a doll wearing a very smart dress and hat trundled past. Then she had to jump back quickly because someone was wheeling a trolley piled high with brand-new toys right across her path. The little person pushing it only came up to Evangeline’s knees and was wearing a green pointed cap and white spotted pantaloons.

  ‘Gosh golly gum leaves!’ exclaimed Kylie. ‘Elves! Elves in red-and-green outfits with trolleys of toys – it can only mean one thing …’

  ‘Welcome to Santa’s Kingdom,’ said Nancy, grinning.

  And as she spoke all the elves turned around and smiled and waved at them.

  ‘Welcome!’ they called out in unison.

  ‘Thank you,’ replied the new recruits, waving back.

  Evangeline felt quite overwhelmed, remembering her first Christmas when she had arrived Downstairs, and all the ones after it when her little girl had been so excited, putting her stocking on the end of the bed and waking the next morning to find it stuffed with toys. It had always been full of lovely things, Evangeline remembered, and could immediately imagine how devastated her little girl would have been if it had ever been empty. If her Christmas wishes hadn’t been looked after.

  She was beginning to understand how important the work they did Upstairs was – and how crucial it was to stop the horrible Kybosh ruining everything. She shuddered at the thought and quickly put it out of her head for the time being, determined not to miss a moment of this thrilling new place.

  ‘Ah, gee,’ said Kylie, climbing down from Evangeline’s hip. ‘This is great. I love Christmas more than anything.’ He paused and looked thoughtful. ‘I arrived in a Christmas stocking,’ he said, looking at Evangeline. ‘So I must have been here before … Do you reckon?’

  Evangeline opened her eyes wide at the thought – that would mean she might have been there before, too. But then, she’d been a Christmas present from her little girl’s godmother, rather than from Santa himself, so probably not, but she still loved it here already.

  The Easter Bunny’s headquarters had been busy and bustling, but it was nothing compared to this. There were so many elves sorting the new toys as they came off the conveyor belt, putting them onto the trolleys and wheeling them to and fro.

  There were quite a lot of brand-new cuddly animals and dolls among all the other lovely toys, but they weren’t doing anything, they were just lying there on the trolleys and conveyor belts. They didn’t even turn to look at the new recruits. It was a bit strange. Evangeline wondered if any toys worked here at all, or if it was just the elves.

  She was about to ask Kylie what he thought, when she saw a toy walking towards them. It was another elephant!

  Evangeline had never met another elephant before and suddenly felt very shy – especially as this one was much bigger than her and seemed to be a boy. He was wearing striped pyjamas, smartly buttoned up to the neck.

  ‘Ah,’ said Nancy, sounding pleased. ‘Ears, there you are. I was just going to come and look for you.’

  ‘Hi, Nancy,’ he said. ‘Sorry to keep you waiting. There was a Code Red in the Tooth Fairy canyon just now – you probably know …’

  Nancy nodded quickly. ‘Yes,’ she said, grimly. ‘We were in there. Very close call. And there was a Code Orange with the Easter Bunny before that …’

  ‘Yes,’ said Ears, nodding earnestly. ‘I heard. We’ve had one of those up here today as well. Happened in the letters room. Someone had been taking them out of the post bags before the wishes were logged. Serious business. It seems to be a busy time for the …’

  He stopped, clearly not sure how much the new recruits knew.

  ‘It’s okay, Ear
s,’ said Nancy. ‘My recruits know all about the Kybosh. There’s been so much activity lately, I had to tell them everything. Well, most of it.’

  Ears nodded. ‘That’s useful because we are still on full alert up here … you know the drill … Anyway, here we all are and these are the new recruits. Fantastic. Not many of you left now, of course, just the crème de la crème.’

  He smiled broadly, and Evangeline was wondering what on earth he meant when all of a sudden he called out her name.

  ‘Is Evangeline here?’ he asked.

  She nearly fell over with surprise. How did he know who she was? She raised her trunk hesitantly into the air, stepping out from where she had been hiding behind the safe bulk of Senior Bear.

  ‘Ah, there you are!’ said Ears. ‘Great to meet you. Andrew the Anteater told me you were coming. I’m always pleased to meet another elephant. Not that many of us up here. I see you’re African, too. How’s it all going for you?’

  Evangeline was so embarrassed to be picked out, she just nodded, feeling her cheeks burning and her ears flapping as she did. Kylie gave her such a big nudge she almost fell over.

  ‘It’s all, er, great,’ she managed to croak out. ‘We’re having a lovely time. So interesting …’

  ‘Good,’ said Ears, smiling warmly at her. ‘Well, you have a lot to see here, so we’d better get going. This way.’

  He set off, after pausing to pick up Nancy, who sat neatly on the crook of his big arm, chatting happily to him. They were clearly old friends. Evangeline bent down so Kylie could climb onto her, but he shook his head.

  ‘Thanks for the offer, Vange,’ he said. ‘But I actually want to walk here. There’s so much to take in and I need to stay perky. I tend to nod off when you’re carrying me. You may have noticed.’ He grinned up at Evangeline and she smiled back, reaching out for his paw with her front foot as they set off together.

  Ears hadn’t been exaggerating when he’d said there was a lot to see in Santa’s Kingdom.

  First they’d gone through the huge workshops where all the different kinds of toys were made – all carefully crafted by specially trained Upstairs toys, Evangeline was thrilled to see, rather than the elves.

  Ears had held up an orangutan who had just had his eyes sewn in and was staring glassily into space, and explained why the new toys and dolls were just lying there and not interacting with them.

  ‘Toys like us don’t come into our activated personalities until we first arrive Downstairs and meet our specially chosen child,’ he said. ‘It’s their love that gives us life.’

  The toys all went quiet for a moment, remembering their children. Ears smiled sadly at them.

  ‘I still miss my little boy,’ he said. ‘He’s all grown-up now and just doesn’t need me any more. But the nice thing is that Santa has promised me I can personally choose the toy animal that goes into the stocking for his daughter this Christmas. That’s one of the privileges of working here.’

  ‘What are you going to choose?’ asked Kylie.

  ‘Another elephant, of course!’ laughed Ears.

  After that, they visited the reindeer stables, the sleigh repair garage, and the gift-wrap room. There were so many amazing things to see, Evangeline’s head was absolutely spinning. She was relieved when they stopped for a break in the mail-sorting office, which was a bustling hive of activity with great sacks of letters constantly being brought in.

  Rows of toys were sitting at long tables, opening the envelopes and making notes in huge books with pens made from big white feathers. When they’d finished with each letter, the toys would put them into a little canister and drop them into a tube that ran along the centre of each table, from where they would whizz off somewhere.

  Ears sat the new recruits down at a table to the side and gave them each a gingerbread star and a tangerine.

  ‘This is a very busy department, as you can see,’ he said. ‘The toys here are Santa’s clerks. Their job is to log children’s wishes in the ledgers – those are the big books they’re writing in – straight from their letters to Santa. This is where we had the problem earlier that I was telling you about, but it’s all fine now.’

  He took a big bite of his own gingerbread and chewed it up quickly before continuing.

  ‘Some of the letters can be quite hard to read,’ he said. ‘So this is a role that requires great skill and understanding of children. And of course, it’s December, which is our busiest time.’

  Senior Bear looked puzzled. ‘Did you say December?’ he asked.

  Ears smiled and nodded, chewing on another large mouthful of gingerbread.

  Senior Bear turned to Nancy. ‘But didn’t the Easter Bunny say it was March?’ he asked.

  She smiled broadly. ‘It is March where he is,’ she said. ‘And it’s December here. Okay? That’s the way it is Upstairs.’

  Senior Bear pondered what she’d said for a moment and then he spoke again. ‘I have another question, Mr Ears,’ he said. ‘Can you please tell me, what are those splendid feathers they’re writing with?’

  ‘They’re quills,’ said Ears, swallowing hastily before speaking. ‘We make them with feathers from Santa’s own flock of geese and they help to transfer the hope from the children’s letters directly into the ledgers, so it can’t be lost.’

  Senior Bear was clearly very interested in this room and put his paw up to ask yet another question. ‘May I ask what happens to the letters when they’ve finished with them? They seem to be sending them somewhere …’ He gestured to the tables.

  ‘Ah!’ said Ears. ‘Good call. Well spotted. You see that chute they go down? Takes them directly back to Downstairs. The kiddies’ parents like to keep the letters, so we always send them back.’

  Evangeline took a deep breath for courage and raised her own front leg. She had a question.

  ‘Yes, fellow elephant,’ said Ears, grinning at her and waving his trunk playfully in the air. ‘Ask away.’

  ‘I was just wondering,’ she said. ‘If you don’t mind me asking, what happened with the letters that caused the Code Orange here?’

  Ears’ trunk immediately flopped down. ‘We discovered that someone had been taking letters out of the post bags and putting them straight onto the conveyor belt without logging the wishes first,’ he answered. ‘That means the hope in them gets lost and the letter becomes an unwish. The paper turns black and the parents never get them back, so it’s a double disappointment, which makes the unwish stronger.’

  ‘But why would someone do that?’ asked Evangeline.

  ‘Because they want to help the Kybosh,’ said Ears, looking so sad Evangeline almost wished she hadn’t asked.

  After that she was happy to sit quietly for a while and eat her gingerbread. She loved Santa’s Kingdom the best so far of all the parts of Upstairs they had visited, but there was so much to take in that it was making her head spin again. Evangeline was worried she wasn’t up to understanding it all.

  But Kylie was clearly loving it. He hadn’t nodded off once since they’d been there and didn’t seem to be having too much trouble keeping up with everyone. Every time he did start to lag behind, he would put his front legs on the ground and scuttle along at a surprisingly fast pace.

  ‘Isn’t this great?’ he whispered to Evangeline when they had left the mail-sorting office and come to a stop in a room where toys were sitting quietly at high sloping desks, working with pens and pencils.

  They watched as an owl picked up a paintbrush and started to colour-in what she had drawn.

  Kylie sidled over for a better look and then came back to Evangeline.

  ‘She’s drawn a really beaut picture of a dolly,’ said Kylie, clearly very impressed. ‘It’s got long curly blonde hair and it’s wearing really fabulous pink shoes, and then down the side she’s drawn all these other shoes. It’s really nice, but I wouldn’t have made the dress pink as well. I would have gone for more of a lavender. Maybe pick out the pink in some beading.’

  His black eyes
were shining with excitement and Evangeline wanted to have a look at the drawing herself, but before she could go over, Ears had beckoned them to come closer.

  ‘This is the design studio,’ he said. ‘And now I would like you to meet Madame Fanfan, who is our Head of Design.’

  He stepped to one side and they saw a small doll – not as small as Nancy, but much smaller than Ears – dressed very smartly in a blue coat, with a crisp white collar, a red scarf, and a floppy blue hat pulled low on her head.’

  ‘Bonjour, mes petites,’ she said, in a perky voice. ‘Bienvenue, that is, welcome, to my atelier. As you can see, this is where we style all the toys for Monsieur Santa. My team are very skilled and each specialises in a particular toy. Woof – the black dog there – is a train designer. And Hoot – the owl at the back, whose work you were admiring, Kylie …’

  Kylie grabbed Evangeline’s hand and squeezed it tightly in excitement.

  ‘She knows my name!’ he whispered. ‘Bonza!’

  ‘She is dedicated to dolls and dolls’ wardrobe. Très important. La plus difficile.’

  She passed an appraising eye over the recruits. ‘I see we have two African animals with us today,’ she said, tapping her cheek with a fingernail painted bright red. ‘This is very interesting as I am looking for a toy who can specialise in African fauna. It is very specialised, as you know, and I need someone who will really understand the details. So, lovely to meet you all, but now on you go, we are busy. I see some of you later, maybe. Au revoίr! Bye bye!’

  ‘Oh, stinking possums,’ said Kylie, looking glummer than Evangeline had ever seen him before. ‘She means you and Geraldine. You’re both African, but I’m Australian. Why doesn’t she need someone to do Aussie animals? I’d be brilliant at that.’

  ‘Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll give you a chance,’ said Evangeline, trying to sound cheerful, but really hoping she wouldn’t be chosen to work there. She’d found Madame Fanfan rather scary.