Fox sends a request to Santa Claus to come to China to help get Wolverine and the rescue team back to Finland. Santa wonders why He is needed there but soon gets to know the reason after being informed by his cultural attaché to China.
Santa arrives at the scene and so does Dragon. Dragon listens to both the parties and says, 'It seems you cannot settle this dispute but keep on banging about it defending your own views, only concentrating on your idea about the situation. I have the authority to settle this argument and Santa, boss of the foreign team, has now arrived. So...' and turns to Santa.
The debate has started before Santa arrived, so Santa asks the Chinese what Wolverine has done. They tell him. Fox tries eagerly to pitch in but Santa interrupts, 'Now it's time for us to listen to all that the locals have to say. We are actually trespassing here so we cannot dictate the terms of this debate. It is admirable you defend Wolverine your team member though but now it is time for you to step aside until I have discussed the matter with Dragon. So you and your team members stay where you are and don't make a single move.'
The message from Dragon to the pursuers is similar to Santa's. So the pursuers too lie down on the ground and take a deep breath and start waiting.
Santa waits for Dragon's next move. Dragon says to Santa, 'Shall we...?' and points to the shade some distance away. They move to that spot and sit down.
Santa starts, 'We are sorry to have caused you a lot of trouble. Have you got anything else to add to the troubles that Wolverine has done?'
Dragon remains silent for a while but then says, 'What has happened has happened. We cannot change the past but what is important now is how we can change the present and the future.'
Santa couldn't agree more. Then he makes a suggestion,
As a compensation can I take them to the world's most magical place?
I'll have to ask all the hurt whether they like the idea or not. But go on please. Tell me more about the place and about the conditions for them to be there.
No strings attached. All of it will be free of charge. For you too.
Sounds good.
Happy to hear that. What makes me happy too is so many Chinese like this place a lot, not to mention a great number of other nationalities from all over the world. Both ordinary men and famous people.
But I can see you Dragon are a VIP. That's why you must be busy so I'll tell you
more about the place quickly.
I'm not that busy but go on... please.
Would you like to spot the astonishing Aurora Borealis without...?
Dragon interrupts, 'You mean dragons' fire in the sky?'
Dragons'? Oh, yes. Sure. You too breathe fire across the sky, don't you?
Yes. If there is a battle against bad dragons, I sure do. The dragons' fire, that is the Northern Lights, fascinate so many nationalities, including the Chinese.
But, please, go on telling more about this magical place.
...spot the Northern Lights without any trouble to wait, sleeping comfortably in your warm igloo with a glass roof and we'll wake you up if there are northern lights to be seen in the sky?
They would love it I think.
At that moment, if you prefer, we can also take you out for a relaxing reindeer ride on sleighs to see the Aurora Borealis. Then you may have a chance to feel a crispy cold winter air on your rose-coloured cheeks under warm blankets in comfortably warm clothes.
Interesting. Though I never feel cold, neither do I have rose-coloured cheeks but the human creatures, they do. But anyway everything sounds great so far.
During the same outing you can see a spectacular star-lit sky with a lot of glittery snow on the ground beautifully reflecting whatever light hits the surface looking as if you were surrounded by hundreds of thousands diamonds on the ground in this winter wonderland.
Wow!
And you may wonder who dims the lights in the sky as early as two o'clock in the afternoon and makes it dawn as late as 10 o'clock in the morning.
Really? We have about eleven hours of daylight in mid-winter here in Shenzhen and about 13 and a half hours in mid-summer.
Really?
Yes, we are so close to the Equator, you see. That's why the day length doesn't vary a lot between winter days and summer days.
Oh yes, that's true. In contrast, we are so close to the North Pole there. That's why in summer there is no darkness at all and in winter we have only a few hours of daylight. Luckily we have some white snow on the ground during the darkest season. And if there are no clouds in the sky at night, the moon shines her light on us.
The moon!
Yes, the moon. You are also likely to see a magical, moon-lit forests if you go out into the forest together with us at night, at the same time hearing the fascinating, crunchy sounds under your feet or under the skids of your sleigh when the snow is cold enough to give such sounds in an otherwise magically noiseless environment.
The Northern Lights are not the only fantastic colour show in the sky in Lapland. Especially north of the Arctic Circle you can see ever-changing shades of blue, purple, violet and sometimes yellow in the sky, thanks to the never-ending movement of Planet Earth around its axis, which plays its tricks with the sun that stays just below the horizon during the polar night. And when it comes to the polar night, well, that lasts only a few days in mid-Lapland but more than a month in northernmost Lapland. It is actually Christmas time then, the most suitable time to see this colour show of the spectrum of blue, violet, purple and yellow.
Christmas time?
It is a most magical time lasting four weeks before Christmas, then Christmas Eve and after that another two weeks and finally this period of six weeks is over until it comes back a year later. Christmas is the time when nice people and nice creatures in so many countries receive lovely Christmas presents from me.
Nice people and nice creatures? So you need to behave yourselves to get these presents.
Yes, if we want to make this world a better place to live in, it is a good idea to be nice to each other.
And they receive the presents from you. Amazing! How long is this Christmas in Lapland?
We celebrate it there in Finland, Lapland being part of it, on December 24 but most of the world on Dec 25.
So it is only within 24 hours almost all over the world! How do you manage to deliver them to all of them at Christmas?
It is pure magic. I have Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to maneuver the operation with his flying sleigh.
Reindeer who we can see over there?
Yes. He is the one and only.
So humble but can do so amazing things! How can he be like that?
It's a long story but let's not get into it now.
And let's make it a week's stay at my place, then they will have a good chance to see the Northern Lights too.
Seven days? I prefer eight day, to be on the safe side. They arrive on Dec 24 and leave on Jan 1. Then they also have a chance to start a new calender year there.
You are really good at bargaining.
It's been settled then? We have a deal, don't we?
No more to offer to the victims. Only the world's most magical place, nothing else.
Santa laughs, 'Ho-ho-ho!' and says, 'Jolly good, my fellow, jolly good.'
Got you, didn't I. At least for a second.
Ho-ho-ho. Yes, you did.
YOU ARE READING
Weigh Out Way-In
General FictionThere is an unexpected turn in the story that drastically changes the course of events and, in the long run, even the lives of those involved. Magpie, the first to be involved, suddenly finds himself in the world so unlike his own. Will he find his...
