Magic in the Air

This is the conclusion to Saying No to Santa? Surprise! You get two posts today. This story now and the Sunday Facts later. A Sunday Special. Enjoy!

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Every muscle in Tippner’s body acbed. He could barely walk through the snow back to his cottage. His back was screaming to him to lie down and for a moment he did consider sleeping in a snow drift. But he pressed on.

He felt dizzy as all he could see was bicycle wheels going round and round in his head.

Things were nof going much better for  Mason.

“Take 92! Action!”

Mason’s smile felt plastered onto his face as he once more said his lines. “How do I love thee? Let me count thy ways, shall I compare thee to a summer’s day…”

He was wishing it was a summer’s day and that right now he was anywhere but here, reciting the poetry of Elizabeth Barret Browning.

He feared that his hair would never be the same again. It was so stiff with hairspray that he thought that strands of his hair would start breaking like icicles!

“Yay Mason!”  Alabaster waved to him. He was his biggest fan, combing his hair exactly like Mason’s. Mason couldn’t help but like the guy. He also made crazy puns like Mason did. The guy had awesome humor.

Mason waved back saying, “Hi!” And the director shouted, “Take 93!” giving Mason a cold look.

Oops! Mason lowered his head. He kept forgetting that the cameras were rolling. Meanwhile Alabaster was happily eating one of Chef Salvo’s breakfast burritos, and Mason’s stomach was growling.

Santa entered the workshop. There were only two days left until the big day!

Snowball was busy putting handlebars on the bikes. He looked up when Santa walked in.

“Hi Santa! We only have 88 bikes to go.”

Santa looked around,”Where is Tippner? You only have two days left!”

Snowball looked a little sheepish. “Welll….I promised to keep my lips sealed, but …. ” He put his hand up in the air and grinned at his bright idea. Taking a piece of paper he wrote on it and handed it to Santa.

Santa looked at the note in disbelief. Tippner was taking a nap! Was he crazy?

“Snowball go wake up Tippner now. There is no time for naps!”

Snowball inmediately put down the handlebars and scurried out the door. Tippner wouldn’t be happy but Snowball had kept his promise, his lips hadn’t opened at all when Santa asked where Tippner was.

Santa looked at some of the bikes and groaned. The handlebars were put on backwards! He took a deep breath, he needed to get out of the workshop and get a breath of fresh air. Maybe he and Mrs Clause could go see how the filming was coming along.

Mrs Claus was more than happy to go watch the filming in action. They arrived and walked over to where Alabaster was sitting and still eating.

“Hi Alabaster! Did you not have enough of those burritos at breakfast?”

With an impish grin, he replied, “With breakfast burritos, there are never enough!”

Mrs Claus pulled on Santa’s arm, “I think Mason will be up soon. There’s his leading…”

“Mason!”

They saw Mason come running, stuffing what looked like a burrito into his pocket. Then kneeling down in front of the actress who he was supposed to be proposing too. Putting his hand in bis pocket he froze. The ring wasn’t there! Uh oh! He put his hand into his other pocket and flushed red as he pulled out the ring.

“Ewww! The ring has pieces of onion and pepper stuck to it.” The actress looked at Mason with irritation.

Alabaster smacked his head. Mrs Claus put her hand on Santa’s arm. “Don’t worry,  I am sure Mason will do fine, give him time, and look at his perfect hair! Its not blowing one bit in this wind.”

After Santa took some Excedrin and had some more peppermint bark pie he felt better. The guys were really trying hard and he appreciated it. Like Mrs Claus said, he had to believe that all would be fine.

Tippner and Snowball were working around the clock. They were almost finished and feeling exhausted but excited!

Snowball hadn’t put any more handlebars on backwards and Tippner had to admit that his skills were improving. He liked the little guy. In a way they were a lot alike. Snowball really liked unicorns too, though, like Tippner, he had yet to see one. But that didn’t stop them from believing in them! Not everything can be seen.

Cold air blew in as Snowball came in the door with more bicycle parts for Tippner. Peppermint the cat came in with him.

Tippner smiled, bending down to stroke Peppermint and she purred. Then she walked around all the bicycles with her tail swishing around each one.

One more screw to be tightened and … Tippner let out a whoop of delight. “We are finished!”

“Snowball, did you hear me? We are finished. Snowball?” Where did he go?

Tippner chuckled, Yes, they were a lot alike. Poor Snowball had fallen asleep under the table.

Peppermint was standing by the last bike that Tippner had worked on. Her long, candy cane tail was almost caught in the spokes. She stared intently at Tippner. Her eyes glistened liked diamonds and he felt something in the air, but not quite sure what.

Snowball stirred and thoughts of the cat fled. “Hey buddy! We are finished. Want to go celebrate?”

Snowball was groggy but smiled. “Yay! Can I go to my bed now?”

“My thoughts exactly,” replied Tippner and tbey headed back to their cottages.

“Encore!” Santa and Mrs Claus applauded and Alabaster whistled. The last day of filming had gone perfectly. Mason was getting compliments from everyone and he had a little sidekick that had stayed by his side the whole time. The director loved it. Peppermint the cat was a star! CandyCane was thrilled.

Mason had to admit that acting was fun. The director had even asked him if he would consider helping out with another Hallmark movie. He asked if it would have robots or aliens in it. Giving him a strange look, the director shook his hand, thanking him for a splendid job.

When he had finally spoken to the last person about tips for more luxurious hair, Mason headed to watch the bike-a-thon.

He made it just in time. Hurrying over to join Tippner, Snowball, Alabaster and the others.

“On your mark….Get Set…Go!!” The 200 bikes took off and everyone cheered and gasped! What were they seeing?

Santa turned to Tippner, “What did you do??”

“I…I…have no idea!”

Everyone was speechless as they watched the bikes soar up into the air! The bikes were flying!

“Amazing!” Santa clapped Tippner on his shoulder, and Tippner beamed. He also patted Mason on the back. “Thanks guys! You were quite helpful indeed! I know who to call now when extra help is needed.”

Peppermint was sitting by CandyCane and let out a purr as everyone followed the cat’s gaze. Looking up into the sky.