The Working Elf Blues Read Free Page A

his sides. "I guess I'd better start at the beginning. It's… a long story."
    Wes stared at him for a moment. Then he turned back to the stove. "Let me finish this. We can talk while we eat." He glanced at Garnet over his shoulder. "There's coffee, if you like."
    Garnet had never liked coffee. It was too bitter unless he loaded it up with vanilla syrup and chocolate sprinkles, but even then. "Do you have any cocoa?" he asked hopefully.
    Wes shrugged and pointed to a closed door. "Sure, there are packets in the pantry there. I'll put the kettle on."
    Garnet went to retrieve the box of cocoa, and for a few minutes, they worked in silence. Wes dished up a couple of plates of bacon and eggs and popped some bread into the toaster while Garnet mixed his cocoa and tossed in a handful of marshmallows from the bag he'd found in the pantry.
    Once they'd settled at the small table just off the kitchen, Wes sent the dogs away with a low command. They went and plopped down in front of the fire, but watched Garnet and Wes intently from across the room.
    Wes pushed the butter across the table toward Garnet. "So, talk."
    Garnet buttered his toast and sprinkled on a generous helping of cinnamon sugar while he gathered his thoughts. "My ears," he said after a long moment. "They're real. My clothes aren't a costume. This will be hard to believe, I know, but… I'm an elf. I'm from the North Pole, and I work in Santa's shop. I'm a toymaker."
    Wes sat watching him, his food untouched.
    When he didn't speak, Garnet set down his toast. "The first time I saw you was at that little blue house in Denver. I snuck onto Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve, fifteen years ago. You were in a room by yourself, and I held your hand. Do you remember?"
    Wes leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. His expression was so carefully neutral, Garnet could only guess at what he might be thinking.
    "I thought that was a dream," Wes said after a few heavy beats of silence. "You… I woke up as you disappeared. There was a man with you, dressed in dark green, with a long beard. I thought… I thought I'd just imagined it that night, some fantasy my brain came up with to try to comfort me."
    Garnet shook his head. "It wasn't a dream. And I came back five years later. You remember that time, don't you?"
    Wes nodded. "The diner."
    "And again, five years ago on Christmas Eve."
    "The day you saved Micah."
    "Yes."
    Wes bit his lip and looked away, toward the dogs. Two of them had given up on watching and started to snooze.
    "And here I am again," Garnet said when the silence went on. "This time I came in my own sleigh. A prototype my father designed using fir sap for fuel. Santa didn't want to use it. He said the reindeer were part of the magic, part of the legend, and that sometimes traditions are invaluable to belief."
    Wes met his gaze. "And what do you think?"
    "I think… Santa is old and wise and there is value in traditions."
    "But?"
    Garnet hesitated to answer, before he remembered there were no prying ears here, no elves who would accuse him of ungrateful, progressive thinking for trying to speak his mind. "But sometimes changes are good. Even necessary."
    Wes chuckled softly and rubbed a hand over his face. "I can't believe I'm having a conversation about Santa's politics right now." He tipped his chin toward Garnet's plate. "Eat. Your food is getting cold."
    Garnet obediently picked up his toast. He did enjoy it best when it was warm. That time had passed for this particular slice, but it was buttery and sweet, and it felt like forever since the last time he'd eaten. "Do you believe me?" he asked around a mouthful.
    Wes shrugged as he chewed a bite of his own food. "I don't know how else I can explain your appearing in the middle of a blizzard in a sleigh with no animals to lead it. Or why that sleigh apparently dropped out of the sky. I don't know how else to explain your ears either. They looked plenty real up close. And they… moved."
    Garnet