Chaos At Christmas – Episode 09
Chaos At Christmas by Ewan Smith
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- 7. Chaos At Christmas – Episode 07
- 8. Chaos At Christmas – Episode 08
- 9. Chaos At Christmas – Episode 09
- 10. Chaos At Christmas – Episode 10
- 11. Chaos At Christmas – Episode 11
- 12. Chaos At Christmas – Episode 12
There was a loud cheer from everyone gathered round. “I’ll drink to that!” someone cried out holding up a mug of hot chocolate and that generated another cheer.
“Now don’t worry, children,” Father Christmas called out. “You’ll all get a chance to ride in the sleigh later thanks to my good friend, the elf.” The elf looked at him with a startled expression. “But first…”
Reaching into a small golden bag by his feet, Father Christmas brought out a handful of glittery objects and tossed them into the air. He scattered another handful. Then another. One of the objects landed by Geraint’s feet and he picked it up. Ferelith gasped. “That’s a Coeur D’Amour chocolate. They’re hand-made. They cost a fortune.”
“What is Christmas all about?” Father Christmas cried out.
“Presents!” came the immediate response from one of the children. There was laughter from the crowd.
“And I have some wonderful presents here which you’ll be getting at our Christmas Eve party,” he said, pointing towards the bulging sacks behind him. “There will also be a very special pre-Christmas present for each of you.”
“What’s a pre-Christmas present?” Geraint muttered.
Ferelith laughed. “I don’t think we’re rich enough to know.”
Father Christmas held up a hand for silence. “But before any of that, I have another surprise.” There was eager excitement in his eyes. “You won’t believe what will soon be coming up that drive behind me.”
Ferelith looked at him uncertainly; she wasn’t sure if she liked the sound of that. She caught sight of her father nearby. He was gazing back down the driveway with an expression of concern.
Ferelith hurried over to her father. “Do you know anything about this, Dad?”
Lionel shook his head. “Sadly, I don’t. Though since we’re talking about Lyle Cranford, I imagine that the surprise is something extravagant and unexpected. He tends not to do things by halves.”
“Wouldn’t it have been more normal for him to have warned you about whatever it is beforehand?”
Lionel gave a rueful laugh. “I don’t think normal applies to Mr Cranford.”
Ferelith looked over towards the sleigh. With his curly white beard pulled down under his chin so that it was out of the way, Lyle had called over a couple of members of the hotel’s staff. They collected the bags of presents from the sleigh and began carrying them into the hotel. “Shall I go and ask him?”
“You can try,” Lionel retorted. He looked around. “I’ll have a go at Franklyn Boscoby. Maybe he can tell us something.” Lyle’s assistant was standing by himself nearby, talking into his phone.
Ferelith made her way over to the sleigh. Lyle had climbed down from it and was standing beside the reindeer with children all around him. “Of course, I flew here from the North Pole on the sleigh this morning pulled by my two brilliant friends.”
“What are their names, Uncle Lyle?” asked a young girl.
“Sprinkles and Cookie,” he smiled.
The elf let out a weary sigh and muttered, “Sparkles and Brownie.”
Lyle grinned. “That’s right – Sparkles and Brownie. We dropped in on Greenland to do some duty-free shopping, skied down Mont Blanc to gather speed, did a quick whirl round the Eiffel Tower and here we are!”
Despite herself, Ferelith found herself wondering why anyone would choose that route to get from the North Pole to London. She shook her head and pushed her way forward. “I’m sorry to bother you, Mr Cranford…”
“Mr who?” He looked at her with an expression of exaggerated confusion. “I’m Father Christmas! Don’t you recognise me?” He held out his hands to a nearby child and they began dancing around singing “Jingle Bells.” Immediately, the other children followed their example. Ferelith was left feeling rather foolish at being surrounded by merriment with only her and the grumpy elf not joining in.
She had no choice but to wait until the song had come to an end before she made another attempt.
Father Christmas, I just wanted to ask…
But someone had pressed a mug of the hot chocolate into Lyle’s hand. He took a sip and his eyes widened in amazement. “This is wonderful stuff. How perfectly glorious. From now on, we shall have this for breakfast at the North Pole every day.” He held the mug out to one of the reindeer. “Try some, Spangles.”
“No!” The grumpy elf hurriedly interposing himself. “The reindeer have to stick to a very particular diet.”
Ferelith pressed on. “I’m sorry to bother you, Mr Christmas, but my father who runs the Manor was wondering if you could give him a little more information about the exciting surprise that’s about to happen.”
Lyle’s eyebrows rose. “But then it wouldn’t be a surprise.”
“Perhaps not but it would allow him to make suitable arrangements for…”
Lyle just waved a hand. “No arrangements are needed. Everything is under control.” He turned away. “Now where did that hot chocolate delight come from? I need more!”
As he headed off to the hot chocolate trolley followed by a trail of children, Ferelith made her way back to her father. “No luck with Mr Cranford, I’m afraid, Dad.”
Lionel sighed. “Franklyn Boscoby was just the same. He behaved as if the security of the entire nation depended on no one discovering what’s about to happen.” He shook his head. “I don’t like surprises.”
Ferelith looked around. “Have you seen Geraint?”
“He’s gone off to the hospice with the old Christmas tree. Why – did you want him for something?”
Ferelith felt herself blushing. “Not at all…I just…no.” Her father looked at her curiously, which only made the blushing more obvious. “I’d better get back into the hotel. Jane will be wanting help with decorating the new tree.” She left with as much grace as she could muster, though that wasn’t a great deal.
As always, Ferelith felt in awe at Jane’s efficiency and organisation. Normally, decorating the tree would be done at a quiet time to cause the least disruption. But the reception area was buzzing with guests, chattering and laughing together in groups. The atmosphere was more like that of a cheerful party rather than the Manor’s normal sense of peaceful luxury.
Jane hadn’t let that affect her. The tree was set up in a corner of the hall and she had roped it off with a simple barrier decorated with coloured tinsel. Even the way she had done that was elegance personified.
“Just the person,” Jane smiled as Ferelith arrived. She was with Abeer, one of the housekeeping staff, and the two of them had already begun the decorating work. “You’re a young thing, Ferelith. How about if you go up the ladder and hang the decorations?”
Ferelith nodded. “Sounds good to me.”
They quickly developed an efficient routine. Abeer collected the bits and pieces of decoration from the various boxes and handed them to Ferelith who positioned them according to Jane’s instructions. A few people gathered to watch the process and soon they were giving lots of nuggets of advice, all of which Jane listened to very patiently.
To be continued…
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