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The Elf that Saved Christmas

（7）

      --By Audrey Chiang (江婉柔)        

This story is written by young author Audrey Chiang (江婉柔). Born in 2003, Audrey is a 6th grader at Castillero Middle School.  She loves writing, reading, and drawing.

Chapter Five

          "Name?"  A thin gaunt elf sitting behind a high desk looked at Ruby as if she was an annoying flea.

        Ruby coughed hard.  "Ruby Kookien," she croaked hoarsely.  The elf tapped on his keyboard.

        "Reason for absence?"  He asked. 

        Ruby coughed again and rubbed her nose.

        "Sick," she answered. 

        The elf inspected her closely.

        "I can see that," he said irritably.  The elf primly crossed his long spindly legs.  "Stable you work in?"

        Ruby loudly cleared her throat.  "Uh-hem-I work in Vixen and Blitzen's stable with Woodern." 

        The elf pounded at a few more keys.  "When do you think you'll be back to work?"

        Ruby pretended to rub her eyes tiredly.  "Um...pretty soon I guess--erm--I'm not exactly sure."

        The elf sighed heavily and adjusted his spectacles. 

        "You may go." 

        Ruby acknowledged him with a nod, and made sure to cough for good measure.  Phew, she thought as she quickly exited the office, that was weird.  A wind whistled through the bare spindly trees, and a few snowflakes fell.  Ruby's throat was really bothering her, so she stuck out her tongue for a snowflake.  The chilly treat melted inside her mouth and washed away the remaining gravel in Ruby's throat.

        "RUBY!"    

        Ruby jumped.  She turned around and came face-to-face with Woodern.

         "Whatcha doin' lass? You got work to do!"  He looked sternly at her. 

        Ruby kicked into her sick mode.

        "I just reported an absence to the main office," she coughed.  Woodern looked skeptically at her.

        "You sure don' look very sick at all to me.  Even your voice is pretty clear," the older elf crossed his arms.

        Ruby instantly regretted eating the snowflake.

        "I'm really tired, and my head hurts.  My nose was running all morning too," Ruby tried to amend her mistake.  Woodern leaned in to inspect her more closely.

        "Look," Ruby said, panicked.  "I really got to go.  The chill's getting to me. I'll try to get back to work tomorrow."  She quickly began walking up the hill.

        "Bye!" she called.  Remembering she was supposed to have a sore throat, Ruby scurried away from Woodern.

..................................................................................

        As soon as she got home, Ruby slammed the door and closed the shutters on the windows.  Finally, she was away from Woodern's probing questions.  She threw off her robe and cleaned the red powder from her nose.  Then she sat cross-legged on the carpet, and spread out her supplies.  She checked them off her list.

        Leather, check.

        Lights , check.

        String, check.

        Needle, check.

        Scissors, check.

        Super sticky glue, check.

        Measuring tape. check.

        Wires and metal scraps, check.

        Blanket, check.

        And so on.

        Ruby got to work.  She spread out her layout plan and unrolled the leather.  Using measuring tape, Ruby sized up the leather and began cutting. Strip after strip of the slippery material fell to the floor until the sheet was gone. 

        Ruby smiled; it was time for action.  She lay the leather strips two feet apart and placed another two longer pieces in a criss-cross fashion over them.  She sewed the strips together.  Using tiny tight stitches to connect the pieces, she added more leather strips until it reached the desired length.  Then, Ruby hammered a scrap of metal into a shape of a buckle.  She made two buckles and attached them to the end of her leather contraption.

        On one side of the leather strap, she sewed a little pocket with a wire reinforcement and inserted a small square battery inside.  That was where the lights came in.  Ruby plugged the string of lights into the pocket and aligned it with the long leather strip.  She then carefully sewed the lights and the leather strap together.    

        Ruby felt relieved when she finally completed her project.  All she needed to do now, was to present her finished product to Santa.  But how?

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【法奶日報www.lulijen.com2015.2.25.出刊，第9-1338號】