Santa is Missing, Chapter 1-God Calls

Santa is Missing is a children’s book. It is short, and easy to read. I am presenting it to you as my gift. The story is very adult like in composition since the view-point changes every chapter. Children twelve and older will have no trouble reading it by themselves. Kids younger than twelve may  need it be read to them.

There are a few characters I should identify:

1. Morty Angel is  Guardian Angel assigned to Ben

2. Ben is a boy of ten who is watched over by Morty Angel

3. Jasper is a Lead Elf who works for Santa

4. Gabriel is the Archangel working in Heaven as God’s assistant

5. Sentra-vision, a special belt worn by Morty. It is a communication device used to call heaven.

6. Sky-scooter, a special flying scooter given to Morty by friends. Since he cannot fly like other angels he needs the Sky-scooter to travel. It has amazing properties.

7. Polly is a polar bear, a friend of Morty’s

8. Major Joe ‘Do-Do’ Taylor is an Air Force pilot at Elmendorf Air Base.

There are ten chapters and I will present one chapter every day or two until the story is complete. There are cartoon pictures scattered throughout the story. The cartoons are originals done by Grumpa Joe. Please let me know if you enjoyed a chapter by clicking on one of the five stars below each chapter.

Here it is:

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Santa is Missing

by

Grumpa Joe

Chapter One-God Calls

Morty sat invisible on Ben’s shoulder. He watched the snow falling gently. Ben listened to Miss Brown. The temperature dropped since they got to school this morning. Ben looked out the window and wished he could be playing in it.  Miss Brown went over math sets. There were two more days before school let out for the Christmas holiday.

Morty’s head bobbed with sleep when his wings fluttered. He jumped to attention as his wings fluttered again. “God is paging me,” he said to himself. Morty raised the end of his Sentra-vision belt to his eye. He saw Gabriel sitting at the desk outside God’s office. He squeezed the belt to signal that he was ready to receive. Gabriel pushed a button on his console and God appeared. Morty watched and listened carefully.

“Santa is in trouble. I want you to help him. It is only a few days until my Son’s birthday celebration. I don’t want Christmas to be spoiled because Santa can’t make it on time. Leave immediately.”

The bell rang just as God finished the message. School was over for the day.

Ben rushed to get his boots and coat.  He ran out of school with his Guardian Angel hanging onto his sleeve.

“I want to be first in the new snow, he whispered to Morty.”

Ben jumped into the deep new snow, and fell backwards. He swept his arms above his head and spread his legs apart.

“Look, Morty, I’m making an angel.”

That’s when Morty became visible and told  Ben to get ready. “We have to go rescue Santa.”

“What?”

“We have to go rescue Santa, God just told me to go help him. Come on, get onto the sky scooter.”

“But, but, but . . . my parents will wonder where I am.”

“Don’t worry. God will send an angel to let them know that you are okay. Now, let’s go, Santa needs us.”

Ben climbed on and wrapped his arms around his guardian angel. Morty set the navigator for the North Pole, then pushed the thrust button. They were out of sight in an instant.

 

To be continued…

 

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No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including those yet to be invented or discovered, without permission in writing from the publisher and author.

 

Oh Christmas Tree

     Which is my favorite tree this year? Once you see what I am talking about you will understand why I selected the one I did. Every year for the past ten years I have taken my grandchildren to see the big trees in Chicago. The first one is always the Marshall Field’s (Macy’s) tree in the Walnut Room. We ooh and ahh about the beauty of the thing, have breakfast, take pictures, tour the store, and then view the windows on State Street.

     I thought the last two Macy’s trees were outstanding, one done by Martha Stewart, and the other by Tommy Hilfigger. This year, the Macy’s designers did the tree themselves. In my opinion, Martha and Tommy should hang it up. Macy’s outdid themselves with a stunning design that makes previous year’s pale in comparison.

Macy’s theme ornamented the tree with four words, “Dream, Imagine, Believe, Wish.” 

     A short walk west, and we arrived at the Daley Plaza to visit the Kris Kindle Market and the Chicago Christmas tree.

     It drizzled the whole time, but our Christmas spirit was not dampened. Usually, the Chicago tree is a huge live-artificial tree. It is constructed on site by inserting dozens of cut trees into steel tubes on the steel stem. When it is completed it is outstanding. This year, the Mayor insisted on a cut tree. It is a fifty five foot tall spruce, cut from a yard within the city. Are you missing a tree? If so, you can view it in the Daley Plaza. It is adorned with red, white, and green LED lights.  The Santa House is still there, but the G-scale train layout gave way to more market space.

     The market which is a German tradition and filled with vendors from Germany has given way to new vendors from South America. Somehow, the market just wasn’t the same. 

     My grand daughters love to chase the pigeons from the eternal flame, but this year, they were mysteriously missing. What? No pigeons in downtown Chicago? Whose idea was that?

      Our next journey was a short walk to Michigan Avenue to pay respect to the “Bean.” It’s real title is Cloud Scape, but no one calls it that. Because of the clouds, and the drizzle the reflections were surreal.

     We parked under the Bean, and retrieved the car with a mere twenty-six dollar parking fee. I think the Mayor taught the president everything he knows about how to steal from tax payers. I digress.

    The slushy ride home brought me to the next cheery Christmas tree, the one decorated by Peggy. Next to Macy’s I like it best, but it is still not the winner of my “Best Christmas Tree” contest.

The winner is the one created by my beautiful little grandaughter Jenna Rose. She crafted a card with love and addressed it directly to me. She knows me all too well; here it is. . .

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Grumpa Joe