Helena Fairfax

It’s the last authors’ Round Robin of the year! And this month, we’ve each of us taken the time to write a story for our readers. And so…

…here’s my free heartwarming short story, The Elf Swap. I hope you enjoy!

The Elf Swap

Rosie hopped from foot to foot, blowing on her freezing fingertips. Her toes were little blocks of ice in her green felt boots, and there was a biting wind blowing off the waterfront. She gazed at the crowds of shoppers passing by, all muffled up in their thick coats and woolly hats, blowing the steam off their hot gingerbread lattes, doing their joyful Christmassy things while wearing warm, sensible clothing. It seemed she was the only one daft enough to be out dressed as an elf.

‘Two-for-one pizzas at Romeo’s,’ she called, stepping out to give a couple of teenage lads a flyer. ‘Special Christmas offer!’

They boys were about to walk on, when one of them did a double-take.

‘Is that you, miss?’

Danny and Ismael. Rosie hadn’t recognised them out of uniform, in their bobble hats and puffa jackets. Rumbled. The bell on her hat jangled as she nodded.

Ismael let out a loud laugh. ‘Why you dressed as an elf, miss? You working at Romeo’s now?’

‘I’m helping a friend out,’ she said. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be back on Monday to mark your maths homework.’

‘Can’t wait, miss,’ Danny said. He whipped out his phone. ‘Can we do an elf-ie?’

‘Elf-ie,’ Ismael repeated, chortling. ‘Geddit?’

‘Ho, ho, ho,’ said Rosie. ‘I hope you’re not putting this all over TikTok.’ But she put her head between their bobble-hatted ones and held up a flyer to the camera. ‘Two-for-one pizzas at Romeo’s. Take your girlfriend!’

Ismael dug Danny in the ribs. ‘Yeah, she’s right. Good pizzas at Romeo’s. You look freezing, miss. Here, we’ll take some of these and hand them out for you.’

He scooped up a bunch of flyers from the pile in the box at her feet and, before Rosie could thank them properly, they’d headed off into the crowd and were passing them round.

‘Two-for-one pizzas at Romeo’s!’ she called, and was just pressing a flyer into the hands of a harassed dad when the fake-fur purse clipped to her waist began to jingle. It’s a Holly Jolly Christmas!  She reached inside and fished out her phone.

Her friend Becky’s eyes widened as the camera came on and she caught sight of Rosie’s outfit. She threw her head back with a loud guffaw.

‘Glad you think this is funny,’ Rosie said. ‘And I guess it was you who changed my ringtone?’

‘Haha! Thought it would cheer you up. Everything OK?’

Rosie held the phone as far out as she could, in order to get as much of her outfit on camera as possible: red-and-green hat; shiny red freezing nose to match the thin red jacket. The red-and-white striped tights, and the short skirt and felt boots, didn’t make the shot, so at least Becky was spared that.

‘You look great,’ Becky lied. ‘Very elf-confident.’

Rosie rolled her eyes. ‘I’ve had it with the elf puns. Anyway, how’s Micky?’

Becky pulled the camera back to show her five-year-old son beside her on the settee, his lower arm encased in plaster.

‘Oh, no!’ Rosie cried. ‘Was it broken, Micky?’

Micky nodded . ‘I fell on the ice, Rosie.’

‘I know,’ Rosie said. ‘Mummy told me.’

‘He was a very good boy at the hospital,’ Becky said. ‘Weren’t you, Micky? He had to have an X-ray, but the nurses were all really kind. And on the way home we got some books from the library, and we’re going to watch Frozen II.’

‘That sounds fun, Micky.’ Rosie shivered and began her foot-hopping routine again. ‘Talking about frozen…!’

‘Thanks so much for stepping in,’ Becky said, looking contrite. ‘I owe you big time. I didn’t want to let Mr Romeo down. I was ten minutes late my first day, ’cos of roadworks, and he went into meltdown. Seems he’s a right old dragon.’

Romeo’s was a small family restaurant, and Becky’s job was lunch-time chef. She’d agreed to hand the flyers out because no one else would do it. She’d only been working at Romeo’s a few days, after losing her job when her last restaurant closed down. Rosie did wonder if her friend worried too much about being out of work again, and about having to keep her boss happy, but she’d sounded so distraught about having to take Micky to hospital, Rosie had told her not to worry about upsetting Mr Romeo, and she’d take her place.

‘I’ve handed out loads of your flyers,’ she reassured her. ‘And luckily this ridiculous outfit fits. Your slave-driver of a boss will never know you weren’t here.’

Becky blew her a kiss, and they’d just said their goodbyes when Rosie noticed there was a man standing a few feet away, his eyes on her. Her first thought was that he had on a nice warm coat. An expensive-looking dark wool coat, with a beautiful, snug, green merino scarf. Her second thought was, ‘Wow! This guy is good-looking.’ Her third thought was, ‘Why is he staring at me?’

She was just moving on to thought number four – ‘He’s staring at you because you’re dressed like an elf, stupid!’ – when the smartly dressed man approached her.

‘Are you Becky?’ he asked.

For a second or two Rosie froze. Was this someone from Becky’s restaurant? What should she say? Confess Becky hadn’t made it to work? Or deny everything?

The man was waiting, his brown eyes on hers, curious.

‘Maybe,’ she said cautiously. ‘Who’s asking?’

The man’s eyes widened. ‘Jake Romeo,’ he said.

‘Mr Romeo.’ Rosie’s mouth dropped open. ‘You’re the dragon?’ Instantly she felt her cold cheeks flush bright red with heat. ‘I mean that’s not – I didn’t mean –’

The look of amusement in Jake Romeo’s eyes morphed into a laugh. ‘If you meant my uncle, his bark’s worse than his bite.’

He was only the nephew. An overwhelming rush of relief coursed through Becky. She tried to stammer out an apology, but Jake Romeo – nephew to Boss Romeo – waved it away.

‘My uncle asked me to come down to the waterfront, because, in his words, he expected that new girl, Becky, was standing in the freezing cold giving out flyers, because unlike the rest of his hopeless staff she was a hard worker and too nice for her own good. He asked me to get down here and tell her to pack up and go home before she got hypothermia.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘I’m sorry I’m late. It took ages to get through the Christmas traffic.’ Then the curiosity was back. ‘So if you’re not Becky, then who are you?’

Rosie explained about Micky, how he’d slipped on the icy pavement on the way to his childminder, and Becky’s dash to A&E.

‘So that’s how I’ve ended up here,’ she told him. ‘Dressed like this.’ She gave a violent shiver.

Jake’s manner changed abruptly, and before Rosie knew what was happening, he’d taken off his woollen coat and was wrapping it around her. The warmth of it was delicious, and there was a scent that clung to it like oranges and caramel. Rosie couldn’t help but shrug herself into it with a deep sigh.

‘A warm coat,’ she breathed, closing her eyes. ‘I can’t even tell you how much like heaven this is.’

‘I couldn’t leave you to freeze,’ he said. And then, after a beat, ‘It’s against the rules of elf and safety.’

Rosie groaned aloud and opened her eyes. Underneath his coat Jake was wearing a Christmas jumper. And he actually looked good in it.

He bent to scoop up the half-empty box of flyers. ‘Come on,’ he said. ‘Let’s go to Romeo’s. I’ll treat you to lunch. You look like you need warming up.’

Rosie cast him a mischievous glance. ‘You mean a two-for-one pizza?’

He laughed. ‘Even better, I’ll make sure they’re on the house.’

As they began to make their way along the waterfront, Rosie said shyly, ‘I’m not sure about meeting Mr Romeo. I mean, I’m supposed to be Becky.’

Jake stopped for a moment, his eyes twinkling as he took in her red hat, sticking out above the collar of his dark coat. ‘No need to worry.’ And then, as though he couldn’t resist, ‘You know what they say about meeting new people. Just be your elf.’

It was the first pun to make Rosie laugh. She tucked her hand in Jake’s warm arm. ‘I’d tell you a joke about a pizza,’ she said. ‘Only it’s too cheesy.’

The End

I hope you enjoyed my pun-filled Christmas story! And if you’d like to read more short fiction, please click on the links below.

Wishing you a happy and peaceful Christmas, and the best of elf in the New Year!

_{Images in this post by Monika, Angelica Vaihel, Gerd Altmann and by 8926 from Pixabay, and from Canva}

Dr. Bob Rich https://wp.me/p3Xihq-35i

Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/

Diane Bator https://dbator.blogspot.com/

Anne Stenhouse http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com

Judith Copek http://lynx-sis.blogspot.com/

Victoria Chatham http://www.victoriachatham.com

Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea