Christmas with the Calvins

Chapter Thirteen

"Quintin? Are you in here?" Bernard hollered. He had an idea for something that would require the help of the Research and Development Department.

"Over here Bernard!" The Department head replied from the back of the office. Determined to get what he'd come for, the Head Elf made his way over to Quintin.

"Are you here to tell me my request for time off in the middle of May has been denied?" Quintin frowned.

"No...You put in for time off in the middle of May?" Bernard still hadn't gotten through his large stack of requests yet so he only had himself to blame for not knowing this.

"Wife wants me home to spend time with the kids." Quintin explained. "So if that's not what you're here for, how can I help you?"

"Right," Bernard nodded. "You mentioned before that you've been doing work on elf magic and its effect on human communication devices?"

"It's a side project I've been working on for some time. I wanted to find a way to connect cell phones to the North Pole phone system. So that kids can phone Santa rather than just writing to him."

"Right, how far along are you with that?" The head elf asked with intrigue.

"Well, like I said it's just a side project..." Quintin shrugged. "Let me show you what I've done so far."

It was a Saturday afternoon, Charlie and Jess were playing a board game in the living room when someone knocked on the back door. The siblings exchanged a look. Whenever someone visited they always used the front door. Jess unfolded her legs from under the coffee table and got to her feet.

"Just stay there Charlie." She ordered her little brother. She made her way over to the back door and opened it cautiously. She breathed a sigh of relief when she found a familiar elf standing in the backyard. "Bernard, you scared us half to death. Come on in..." She opened the door and waited for him to step through.

"My intention was not to scare you." He assured the teenage girl.

"Bernard!" Charlie launched himself at the elf as his sister secured the back door.

"Hey Sport," Bernard greeted him. "Were you guys playing a game?"

"Yeah, Chutes and Ladders. It's one of my favorites." The boy said. "Wanna play with us?"

"Well, I came to talk to Jessie, but maybe I'll have time for one game." The elf replied.

"Okay."Charlie left Bernard and Jess standing by the door so he could reset the board game pieces.

"You came all this way to talk to me?" She asked. Sure she and Bernard had bonded a month back when she needed someone to talk to, but she didn't think he'd want to carry out an actual friendship with her.

"Well, more specifically to give you something." Bernard opened his bag searching for what Quintin had made for him. From his satchel the elf removed a silver snowflake shaped device.

"What does it do?" Jess asked, accepting the device from him.

"Well, according to Quintin, if you plug this end here," He pointed to a tip on the snowflake that stuck out more than the others. "into the headphone jack on your cell phone. You'll be able to call the North Pole whenever you like."

"Really?" A wide smile spread across Jess's face. "Well what number do I dial?"

"The technology is still under development, so as of now it's only connected to my office phone." Bernard said, almost apologetically. "You just push this button here in the center of the snowflake, and that will call my phone."