[R-G] AND TO ALL, A GOOD NIGHT

[aaron doncaster]

AND TO ALL, A GOOD NIGHT
A Contemporary Christmas Tale

John Chuckman


It was only a matter of time before Santa Claus himself came under the
Neanderthal-eyed scrutiny of American intelligence. After all, Santa's
citizenship is unknown, and he crosses borders with no passport or other
form of identification. No one knows whether he even has a valid pilot's
license.

Although his image is well known, there is no official photograph on file
with American border control, and he has never been fingerprinted or
body-searched. Most disconcerting of all, he delivers parcels to children
all over the world, including the children living in the Axis of Evil. His
intentions with this activity are not understood beyond some fuzzy
generalization about kindness and generosity to all. Clearly, here was the
world's largest unplugged pipeline to potential terrorists.

It was only after receiving no response to several urgent letters from the
State Department requesting an immediate meeting in Washington that a
decision was made to approach Santa's North Pole solitude. As usual in such
matters with the people now running America, a wing of America's most lethal
killing machines was employed for the purpose. You never know what you might
encounter in such a forbidding place.

As the planes first zoomed over the icy silence of the North Pole workshop,
one of the pilots decided to swoop down for a closer look. He was one of
those daring fly-boys, and his tail struck the only wire for thousands of
miles around, the North Pole Telegraph, sending his plane hurling into the
workshop in a ball of flames with tons of ammunition and missiles exploding.


Santa and Mrs. Claus rushed out of their snow-blanketed gingerbread house to
see what was happening, trying to calm the terrified reindeer running from
their stable at one end of the house. The elves, too, scurried towards the
stable, trying to stop the reindeer from running or flying off.

Above, in the dark vault of sky, the other pilots observed the explosion and
saw missile trails smoking into the air. They also saw the frantic activity
below and quickly concluded their comrade had come under anti-aircraft
attack. So they swooped down in attack formation, rapid-fire canon tearing
into everything ahead of them.

Most of the reindeer fell in the snow, spurting warm blood across the
bluish-white surface. Most of the elves, too, fell gasping for life. Mrs.
Claus received a wound in the head and instantly fell limp. Santa tried
heroically to reach his wife but realized the situation was hopeless and
turned, running into the darkness accompanied by Prancer, the only surviving
reindeer.

The only witness to the massacre is one surviving elf now living somewhere
in Canada under an assumed identity, fearful for his life. It is only from
his testimony that we know anything about Santa's fate.

Realizing the horrific mistake they had made, the pilots dropped white
phosphorus bombs with the intention of incinerating all evidence. The entire
North Pole lit up and Santa and Prancer could be seen in the distance on a
huge block of ice drifting off into the dark sea, the ice everywhere cracked
and weakened by the combined effects of white phosphorus and years of global
warming.

Within in a few hours, the beating sound of a black helicopter approached
Santa and Prancer. The elf, from his hiding place in a snowdrift, could only
make out intermittent sounds across the howling coldness, but it seems armed
men emerged from the helicopter, shot Prancer and shackled Santa, shoving
him into the dark, beating machine. The elf heard a word that sounded like
Guantanamo and Santa has not been heard from since. Reports of his fate
reached the International Red Cross and organizations like Amnesty
International, leading to inquiries, but these have been met only with
silence from American authorities.


*JOHN CHUCKMAN*