On one dark day in the South Pole, Holly Wintergreen woke up with a feeling that something bad was going to happen at work today. Oddly enough, when she arrived at Candy Cane Production Co, everyone greeted her with a smile. Yet, Holly frowned, because this was the busiest day of the year, and there was no time to waste. She retreated to her luxury office, and, after a cup of peppermint hot chocolate, she decided to take a nap. Sure, this was the busiest day of the year, but Holly was not one to work. After all, she didn’t have to actually work; she just supervised everything from her office window. Hours later, she woke up to the sound of an alarm. How did my alarm clock get in here? Holly wondered. Is this some sort of joke? Yet, no, this wasn’t a trick. The emergency sirens that Santa installed were blaring, and Holly, still groggy from her nap, fled down the steps to find a pile of candy canes in a pile by the door. She just barely escaped, leaving the candy-cane flood just behind. “How did this happen?” Holly asked to nobody in particular. One of the littlest elves piped up, “I went to tell you that the machine was going awfully slow, but you muttered something about turning it up. So, I sorta… turned it up.”

“To what speed did you turn it to?”

The elf replied with tears in her eyes, “Well, I…”

Holly gave her a threatening look.

“Full speed, Ms. Wintergreen.”

 

Holly sighed. Her fabulous career that required no work had just vanished -Poof! - Right before her eyes. Yet she looked around, at all those eager faces, and she had a brilliant idea.

“Let’s rebuild the town, everyone!”

For four months they worked, and built, and at last they were finished.

 

This was the world that Holly wanted to live in.

This was her world.

 

The End