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(Page 2 of 5) Quickie The Elf by Rob Queen
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His smile then widened into a gravelly chuckle – sounding much like when you scrape your shoes on the sidewalk – and he said, "Silly Elf! This is written in Chinese! You will not find your gifts here."
"I won't? But isn't this China?" Quickie asked, scratching his head.
"No, this is China-TOWN! You are in North America."
"Oh, no!" Quickie declared, tugging at his long ears. "Wise Buddha, please tell me! Would you know where I may find the real China, then?"
"I do know, silly Elf. Travel West until it becomes East, and you will find China," the wise jade Buddha said, returning the address to the long-nosed Elf.
"Thank you!" Quickie said, rushing outside and hopping onto his sleigh. "Onward Ophelia! It would appear we have made a mistake!"
And they were off! They zoomed west, as fast as Ophelia's magical flying hooves could carry them, over land and then over sea, until, below them, they saw a large frozen land that reminded Quickie of his home on the North Pole.
"I think I may have gone the wrong way, Ophelia. This doesn't look like what I pictured China to look like. Maybe we should stop and ask directions."
Ophelia snorted her agreement and they descended beside a large, icy river where a large, white polar bear lay in wait for some fish to swim by. Ophelia did not trust the polar bear, for she was afraid it would eat her, and stayed back, ready to hop into the air at a moment's notice. Quickie, however, paid her little mind as he approached the expectant bear.
"Excuse me, good bear," Quickie said, his voice shaking a little as he saw how big and powerful the bear's paws were.
"Da?" the bear asked, staring at the wiry little Elf dressed from head to foot in green.
"I don't mean to be a bother, but could you tell us if this is China?"
"Da. I could, but I won't," the bear responded in a thick accent.
"Why not?"
"Because this isn't China," the bear replied, his smile showed off his large teeth.
"Is this not so far West that it is East?"
"Da, it is, but you are too far North. This is Siberia, in Russia! Go a ways South, and you shall come to your China-land."
"Thank you very much!" Quickie shouted as he ran off to collect his frightened reindeer. He found her huddled behind a large pine tree, shaking uncontrollably. "Oh, stop that, you silly girl! The bear was really quite friendly. Are you ready to go?"
Ophelia nodded her head with so much enthusiasm that she almost flipped herself over. Once Quickie had hopped into the sleigh, a roar shot out from the bear that Quickie had just left behind, and they shot off with more speed than Ophelia had ever used. Though they could not know this, the bear's roar was not meant to scare them away, but to express its excitement at having caught a very large pink fish.
Below Ophelia and her little sleigh, the ground raced by. She moved so fast, that almost in the blink of an eye, the land faded into another ocean, and then they soared above a desert.
"Is China a desert?" Quickie asked his trusty reindeer, who shrugged, implying that she did not know.
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