Christmas Island
By Brenda Guiled
Copyright © Brenda Guiled
Published by Kimae Books at Smashwords
CHAPTER 1
“Psssst, hey you!”
A sleepy little girl was lying on the sofa. She opened one eye. Who was that? There was no one in the living room with her. The house was very, very quiet. She closed her eye and tried again to sleep.
“’Hey you,’ I said! Wake up!”
There was that voice again. She sat up and looked around the room. The Christmas tree stood in one corner. A clock said eleven at night. It was Christmas Eve, soon to be Christmas Day.
“Up here!” the voice said. “Near the top of the tree.” And there he was, a jolly little elf sitting on a branch. He’d wrapped his arm around the trunk, to keep from falling off.
The girl burst into tears. “Oh no, now I’m seeing things, and Mom told me to ignore them, because they just get me all upset.”
“Whatever do you mean?” the elf asked. “I’m not a thing.”
The girl explained, “I mean, at Hallowe’en, when there are ghosts and goblins around, I see them everywhere. I see things in my closet and under my bed, and I can’t sleep. Mom says they’re just shadows, and Dad says I’m just being silly.”
“Well, you are,” the elf said. “That’s Hallowe’en for you, full of silly tricks. This is Christmas, a happy, magical time.”
“This is the worst Christmas ever, in the whole world!” the girl cried. “It’s not happy at all. It’s ruined! And I’m sadder than … than anything or anyone.”
“Oh, dear,” said the elf. “I really did come to the right house, didn’t I? My, my, I’ve got a job to do tonight. Perhaps you’d better explain all this to me. But tell me your name first. I’m Finn.”
“I’m Penelope Long,” the girl said. “Penny for short. Are you sure I should be talking to you? Emma told me to be quiet and try to sleep.”
“Emma? Who’s Emma?” Finn asked.
“My babysitter. She fell asleep at the kitchen table, her head right on top of her book. This is some Christmas Eve for her too. She can’t go home until my uncle and Matt get back, and that might be never.”
“Now, let me get this straight. You’re here alone with Emma, who’s snoring in the kitchen ….”
“She doesn’t snore!” Penny said.
“Ah. Then it was you I heard,” Finn said.
“No, it wasn’t!” Penny said. “I’m a kid. I don’t snore.”
“Okay, okay. Let me make a note of that. Kids don’t snore. Interesting, don’t you think? Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yes, if you’re waiting for your uncle and Mike to get back ….”
“That’s Matt! M.A.T.T. Short for Matthew! You should listen more carefully to me.
“I am very carefully,” Finn said, with a twinkle in his eye. “In fact, I’m all ears.” With that, he pulled off his hat and out popped two big, floppy ears.
Penny put her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. It’s not funny to laugh at the way anyone looks, especially when they’re born that way. Still, Finn had surprised her, and he was laughing. She scolded, “You shouldn’t tease me. I’m in a bad, bad mood.”
“And I’m in some bad, bad company,” Finn said. “We’ve got to fix that, or you’ll ruin my Christmas too. First, we’ve got to get all the facts straight. From what you’ve said, it sounds like this is your uncle and Matt’s home, or else you’d be waiting for someone else to arrive. Unless those other people are out too, not knowing you were sent here to visit, and you’ve been alone for two long weeks, and those other people aren’t back yet ….”
“That’s silly!” Penny interrupted. “This is my aunt and uncle’s house, and I’m visiting from my own house far away, and my uncle just left today to get my cousin Matt from the airport.”
“So how did you get here?” Finn asked.
“I flew,” Penny said, getting annoyed.
“Ah, so you fly too. That’s how I got here. I’d show you how I do it, but I’m not very good in small places. I’d bump into the walls and break ornaments, I’m sure. Not that I’m clumsy, do think that.”
“I flew in an airplane, you silly, you … you Dumbo!”
“Dumbo. What a nice thing to say. He’s a friend of mine, you know. Oh, I wish I had his ears. Then I could fly in here. But back to the point, which is that you left your home, flew all alone in an airplane to get here ....”
“I didn’t fly alone!” Penny said. “I came with a friend.”
“An invisible friend?” Finn said.
“No, a grownup friend who lives someplace else.”
“I see,” Finn said. “So you’re waiting for Matt’s uncle to come from the airport.”
“Matt and his dad. He’s my uncle.”
“So Matt was away, is that right? Or was he just visiting the airport?”
Penny said, “You’re just soo tilly, I mean too silly. I’m going back to sleep.” With that, she turned her back to Finn and snuggled down on the sofa again.
“Hey, pssssst! Don’t do that. WAKE UP!”
“Be quiet!” Penny said. “You’ll wake Emma up, and she’ll be very angry at you.”
“HOW OLD IS SHE, PENELOPE?” Finn shouted.
Penny whispered, “Stop it, please! She’s twenty or something.”
Finn laughed as loudly as he could. “HAHAHAHA, THEN SHE CAN’T HEAR ME. SHE’S A GROWNUP, AND SHE’S DEAF AS A DUMBBELL TO ME. HAHAHAHAHA!”
Penny said, “Then you must be quiet, because you’re making me very angry. You’re not a jolly elf at all. You’re just weird.”
Finn said sadly, “This is terrible. You’re the first kid I ever met who likes to feel miserable. And on Christmas Eve, no less. Such a pity. But, if you’d rather be all alone and feeling sorry for yourself and not find out what’s keeping your uncle and cousin, then I’ll be quiet. Very quiet. Zip my lip. Say no more. I’m done, Penny. That’s it. Time out. I’ve stopped talking. Nothing left to say. We’re finished, you and me. Not another word. My mouth is sealed. Shhhhh. Peace and quiet. You want it, you’ve got it. End of story. Ta ta. Finished. Done for now. Over and out, Penny. Go to sleep. I’ll be quiet as a mouse. Pretend I’m not here. No more from me ….”
“Oh, for Pete’s sake!” Penny said. “Cut it out!”
“Hey, that’s a good one. I’ll add it to my list. Excellent, really. Got any more?”
“Shut up!” Penny said.
“Oh, now that’s the best yet,” Finn said, “but it’s a bit rude, isn’t it? Sort of like ‘Shut your gob!’ That’s a nasty one, but boy, it really works. Or how about ‘Enough, you twit! Knock it off!’? My, oh my, would I be in trouble if Santa’s mom heard me say that.”
Penny sat up and stared at Finn, then slowly asked, “Santa’s mom? He has a mom?”
“Of course, he has a mom,” Finn said.
Penny replied quickly, “Well anyway, she can’t hear you.”
“No, I guess she can’t. I’m too far away from her, aren’t I?”
Penny sighed. “She can’t ever hear you, because she’s an adult.”
“Did I say that?” Finn asked. “No, I couldn’t have, because she’s a magical adult, you know, she can definitely hear me.”
“Oh,” Penny said. After a pause, she said, “Do you really know why Matt’s so late getting home? Or are you just teasing me again?”
“Do you think I’d hang around on prickly Christmas trees on a lonely Christmas Eve with a rude little girl just for fun? Of course, I know something, or your name’s not Penelope Long, Penny for short. And I’m not Finn, I’m just plain Finn-ished.”
“I’m sorry,” Penny said, and she meant it. She had been a rude girl, and she bet it was prickly up in that tree. “Maybe if you tell me what’s happened to Matt, I won’t be so grumpy. And what about Santa’s mom? Do you really know her?”
“Yes, I do, and when I tell you what’s keeping Matt, you’ll learn about her too. But first, you’d better tell me why you’re here, and not home for Christmas with your parents or whoever you live with.”
Penny began, “Matt and I used to live near each other, and we played together every day. He’s my cousin, and he’s my best friend too. His mom got sick though, and they had to move far away, to this place, so she could go to the special hospital here. She got so sick that he couldn’t even talk to her. Everyone said she might die.
“Matt got sadder and sadder. To cheer him up, he went to stay with his granny and grandpa in Australia, because the world’s upside down there, and it’s summer there when it’s winter here.
“The sunshine helped him feel better, and his granny and grandpa sure were happy to see him, but he’s been away for a whole year! I didn’t expect that, and I miss him so much.
“His mom’s been getting better, though she can’t come home yet from the hospital, not even for Christmas. Matt’s coming back from Australia to see her and to live here again. I asked if I could come to see him for Christmas, because we don’t know when he’ll move back to his old home, near me. He was supposed to be here a few days ago, but he got lost. Lost! It was terrible! Nobody knew where he was, but then he got found, and he was supposed to be here this afternoon, and he’s still not here, and I’m so worried.
“His dad went to get him from the airport hours and hours ago but the airplane’s very, very late, and it’s snowing, and that makes things worse. What if Matt got lost again?”
“Hmmm ...,” Finn said, thinking hard. “Maybe he’s good at getting lost. And that means he’s probably good at getting found. I bet they’ll be home soon.”
“But even if they are, it won’t be Christmas Eve anymore. It’ll be after midnight, and Santa won’t come, because he never comes to houses where the children are awake and ... ohhhh, it’s just so terrible.” Penny started to cry again.
Finn said, “Well, now I understand why I was sent to this house. I mean, I knew about Matt and all that, but I didn’t know about you, waiting here for him. Now listen to me, okay? Because I’m going to tell you a story. A true story. Are you ready? Or would you like some candies first? Fruit-juice candies ... mmmm!”
With that, Finn threw down a handful of candies to Penny. While Penny ate them, Finn told her all about Matt and Santa’s mom.
CHAPTER 2
Finn began, “As you know, Matt had to fly by himself from Australia to here. His granny and grandpa couldn’t come with him. He’d never done this before, and he decided he wasn’t going to like it, not one bit.”
Penny said, “But you just have to follow the rules. You just have to stay close to your flight attendant.”
“Matt knew that, and he did exactly that. And that’s one of the reasons he got into trouble.”
“Oh no. What happened?” Penny asked.
“Well, he said goodbye to his granny and grandpa, and everyone cried buckets of tears, enough to have a bath in. Then he got on the plane, it took off, and he settled back to have a miserable time. Matt’s flight attendant, named Zosha, was worried about him. In a short time, she got Matt laughing and drawing funny pictures, and Matt decided it wasn’t so bad after all.”
“Did he get treats to eat?” Penny asked. “I sure did.” “Oh dear, yes. Zosha thought Matt was the King of Siam, so she fed him peeled grapes and ice cream and all kinds of goodies – what else tastes good? What are your favourite foods?”
“Yum, ice cream, on top of birthday cake!” Penny added.
“And stuff on top of Ice cream like sardines and spinach and caviar!” Finn continued.
“Oh, gross. Caviar? What’s that?”
“Raw, salted fish eggs. The tiny black ones are so good.”
“Oh yuck!” Penny said. “I hate them.”
“How can you hate them? You’ve never tried them.”
“I just know it.”
“Oh dear. I was going to stop telling the story long enough for us to fix a snack of crackers and caviar. With a squirt of lemon, of course. What you think? The story first, or the caviar?”
“Eee-uu. The story, please.”
“Well, then,“ Finn began again, “after flying for hours and hours, the airplane was supposed to land at Hawaii, which you know are small islands in the middle of the hugest ocean in the world. They were going to stop there just long enough to fuel the plane, then take off again and fly the rest of the way home. But on the way to Hawaii, the trouble started. And you know the trouble with trouble: it starts out fun.
“The fun part was that the ride suddenly got very bumpy, and he giggled every time everyone bounced up and down. The pilots, however, didn’t think it was fun at all. They were flying right into the middle of a terrible storm. They had to fly away from it, to stay save, so that’s exactly what they did.
“Next thing Matt knew, he could see an island below, which the pilot said was called Kiribati. Its other name is Christmas Island.”
“Christmas Island!” Penny said.
“Matt couldn’t believe his eyes,” Finn said. “It’s a curly-que shaped place, all sandy and green, with no snow anywhere. No evergreen trees either, just some palm trees. Matt thought that Christmas Island should look ... well, Christmasy.
“The airplane landed on Christmas Island, the bumpiest landing ever. Things like purses and books flew around, making people shriek and cry and hang on tight. After the plane came to a stop, everyone clapped their hands, then started shoving to get off. Matt waited in his seat until all those pushy, noisy people were gone, then he went to find Zosha, so they could get off together.
“Zosha wasn’t there. No one was at the front of the airplane, no one was in the middle, and no one was at the back. He was all alone! He had to find Zosha. He went outside and looked all around. He could see lots of people from the airplane, but he couldn’t see Zosha. Where had she gone? He knew something was very wrong. What was he going to do?”
Penny said, “He had to find someone to help him.”
“Exactly,” Finn said. “He found a man in an airplane uniform, who was surrounded by people asking him questions. Matt said to him, “I’ve got to find Zosha. Where did you go?”
The man said, “They put her in that ambulance.” He pointed to a white van not too far away. Matt knew Zosha must have been hurt when the airplane bumped and banged to the ground. The man was so busy answering other people’s questions that he didn’t even notice Matt run away from him, toward the ambulance.
“The ambulance’s siren started to wail, and it began to drive away. No one could hear Matt crying, “’Stop! Oh, please, stop! Zosha! I have to stay with you, Zosha!’
“Matt followed the ambulance until it turned a corner and then another corner, and Matt could no longer see where it went. He was all alone again. He tried to find his way back to the airport, but he quickly got confused. The island is mostly little hills of sand and palm trees, and every hill and tree looks the same to him.
There was nothing he could do but sit down and cry. He was completely lost on a strange island at the very centre of the biggest ocean in the world. Oh, poor Matt!