Leo the Elf – by Michael Egenolf Dec 2011
(A story for Alyssa Morgan Egenolf, a budding author and my eight year old niece)

Leo the Elf was afraid of cats. Being an elf was an important job and it was silly being afraid of little old cats, but he was.

Spooky black cats, furry white cats, orange tabbys… Slinky’s with fur, he called them. Only these Slinky’s had razor sharp claws and eyes that glowed.

It was Christmas Eve. The night sky was filled with sweet dreams of happy little children. Santa’s sleigh, pulled by his wonderful reindeer, landed softly on the roof. Leo checked Santa’s list. Yes, this little boy had been a particularly good boy this year. Santa grabbed his bundle and set off down the chimney with a grunt. Leo heard some shuffling and another grunt. Leo peered over the top of the chimney. His eyes widened as big as saucers. Santa was stuck!

Leo sprung into action. He slid down the side of the roof, shinnied down the rain spout and ran around to the front door. It was locked of course. A pinch of Santa’s magic dust, and the door swung open. Leo dashed inside and over to the fireplace. He was going to have to pull Santa down from below.

Leo froze in his tracks. There by the warmth of the fire, a bright orange tabby cat was fast asleep. Leo was afraid of cats.

Santa wriggled and grunted again. He was firmly stuck. Leo didn’t know what to do but had to do something.

Cookies! There on a table by the fire was a tray of cookies set out for Santa. Leo would try to get the cat to fetch a cookie and move away from the fire. Leo carefully made his way over to the cookies. He picked one up, waved it around so the cat could get the scent, and tossed it to the other side of the room. The cat didn’t move.

Now what? Milk! Leo slapped his head. Of course! Cats love milk. Leo picked up the saucer and slid it along the floor closer to the cat. The cat didn’t move. It picked its head up, looked at Leo and set its head back down to sleep. Darn.

Santa was stuck, there was a cat in front of the fire and if Leo didn’t help get Santa down the chimney soon, all of Christmas could be ruined.

Leo sat down on the floor with a thud. He had to think. What to do, what to do. Just then a gleam of light caught Leo’s eye. He looked up to see the cat sitting up staring at him. Staring right at him! But it wasn’t the eyes that made Leo stare. It was the cat’s nametag that hung around its neck. Fireball.

Fireball? Suddenly Leo knew what he had to do. He’d been so worried about the cat that he hadn’t even thought about the fire roaring in the fireplace while Santa was stuck in the chimney directly above it.. Leo grabbed the saucer of milk and flung it into the fire. There was a loud hiss and a lot of smoke. Leo closed his eyes tightly. Any second now he expected to feel the cats claws sink into his leg. Any second now.

The smoke cleared and Leo opened his eyes. The cat was gone.

Leo pulled Santa to safety. Just in time too. Santa’s behind was getting a little toasty. Leo laughed. Then froze. He slowly looked down at his feet. Fireball was rubbing up and down Leo’s leg. Leo picked up Fireball and hugged him for helping to save Santa. Leo wasn’t afraid of cats anymore.