Driving to December (It Happened Up North #4)

1. Mattie

Mattie

Help! My truck died and I’m surrounded by reindeer!

It was a message Matilda Appleton never imagined she’d send, especially from the outskirts of Edmonton, Alberta on a hot August afternoon. Luckily, her favourite and only brother was within rescuing distance.

Mattie, you only landed four hours ago. What happened?

It’s not my fault. I tried to shift my rental pickup into reverse. It said no. Lots of loud noises and smoke.

That’s bad.

Thanks, big brother. I was confused.

She expected a few jokes at her current predicament, but she also knew that Robby wouldn’t leave her hanging.

I need an emergency pickup and a ride back to the rental place to get a new vehicle. The tow truck is already on its way.

She saw the three dots in the bubble pop onto her screen and disappear again. After the third cycle, the following words appeared.

Drop a pin for your location. On my way in ten.

Mattie hearted his message, and then sent the address of Hunniwell Ranch, a small hobby farm on the south-east side of Edmonton. Robby would be at least an hour. She was about twenty minutes outside of the city, and her brother lived on the north side.

But Mattie didn’t have a moment to waste. “My ride is on the way. Shall we get started while we’re waiting?”

The place was a ranch in name only. Hunniwell Ranch was a large country property consisting of an old farmhouse, a double Quonset garage, and an old horse barn that had been converted into a photography studio.

The back portion of the barn was a massive storage area, and three-quarters of that looked like a Christmas factory had exploded.

As Mattie walked around a life-size Santa’s sleigh and nine resin reindeer, her initial concern over her predicament grew into hopeful enthusiasm.

Everything looked even better than it had online.

“These are perfect. How did you get them?” she asked John Hunniwell.

The white-haired photographer and ranch owner grinned as he rubbed his hands together.

“Aren’t they great? They’re from the Moose Lodge Mall.

They had an entire Christmas village that they set up every holiday season.

It was a huge attraction for families. When the mall shut down ten years ago, I got the whole thing at auction for a steal. ”

He swung his arm, gesturing not only at the sleigh and reindeer, but also to the rest of the festive display. Four members of a snow family and a snow pup posed in front of a painted backdrop of evergreen trees.

In the next modified stall, a wrought-iron bench sat under a massive crystal heart arbour.

In the third, a dozen candy cane lampposts with lanterns on top surrounded a miniature, eight-foot gingerbread house with windows that swung open, allowing people to stick their heads out for photos.

Each set piece was immaculately painted and decorated with glitter, beads, and lights.

They were more than decorations; they were art.

Which was what Mattie had told her boss when she’d emailed Mei Chen about buying them.

When Mattie had spotted the entire mall display up for sale, she knew they’d be perfect for Christmastown.

The sheer number of pieces would be enough to spread across the entire theme park.

It had been a battle to get her boss to agree, though.

The cost of them ate up Mattie’s entire decoration budget for the year.

“Why on earth are you giving them up? You must have people lining up out the door for holiday bookings.” With such a wide variety among the four tableau themes, Mattie figured that John’s photography skills would be in constant demand in the Christmas season.

“I do. But I’ve been talking about retiring for years now.

I want to enjoy Christmas with my own family and grandkids instead of photographing other people enjoying the season.

When I listed the village, I priced it high on purpose.

I figured that if it sold, it would be a sign it was time to put down my camera. ”

“I’m sorry for your clients, but I’m thrilled for us,” Mattie said. “It’s exactly what we were looking for. We already have homes planned for all of it at Christmastown.”

The theme park just outside of December, Manitoba, was only a year old, but it had been an instant success, with attendance outpacing even the best estimates.

No matter the month, people wanted to enjoy a slice of the most magical time of the year.

With activities for every age level and every season, there was always something going on at Christmastown.

All the activity kept Mattie and her social media team hopping, which is why they needed these new attractions.

John patted Rudolph on the head. “That’s why I said yes to you, Ms. Appleton.

I had calls from quite a few people who wanted to take some of the pieces.

One fellow even sent me a deposit online for one of the groupings and then ghosted me.

You were the only buyer who wanted to take everything and keep the collection intact. I’m glad I held off.”

“So am I. I’ve been looking for something just like this.

I found a smaller Santa’s Village online in the spring.

It turned out that it had been part of a horror movie set.

I had no idea. I’d never even heard of the movie.

Mei Chen did, though, and she nixed the purchase.

She said that Christmastown couldn’t be involved in anything that wasn’t family-friendly, even if it was second-hand.

” Mattie had been disappointed, but she understood.

The way social media was these days, one viral moment could make or break a business.

She was just glad she hadn’t made a mistake with the first option she’d found.

They walked back outside into the bright August sunshine. “Now that you’ve inspected everything, shall we get down to business before the movers get here?” John asked.

Mattie’s boss had given her very specific instructions to either buy the decorations at the agreed-upon price or walk away if they didn’t meet their advertised quality and usefulness. It was Mattie’s budget, so it was Mattie’s decision. She gulped and went for it. “Absolutely.”

She signed the contract, purposely not looking at all the zeroes on the old-fashioned cheque she’d brought with her.

Then she spent the next half hour confirming measurements and making notes for the shipping company that was coming the next day to pick up the big items. The gingerbread house, the sleigh, and the eight regular reindeer would be shipped to Christmastown in a semi-trailer.

Mei Chen’s boss had special instructions for the rest of it.

After consulting with Christmastown’s parent company, the executive teams decided that Mattie should drive the rest of the pieces across the country as part of a new social media campaign.

Since the company had to pay for shipping, they figured that they should make the cost worth the price.

So here Mattie was. When she’d landed in Edmonton, she’d immediately gone to the rental desk.

The pickup truck and the twelve-foot flatbed trailer that she’d reserved were waiting for her.

The plan was for Mattie to drive to Hunniwell Ranch, do the paperwork, and transfer the arbor and bench, the snowmen, the lamp posts, and Rudolph to the trailer.

John had already volunteered his forklift to help her get everything in place.

Then all she had to do was drive it home.

Part one, the vehicle and trailer pickup, had gone off without a hitch.

That was where her good luck ran out. When she arrived at the farm, she put the truck into reverse to back the trailer up to the barn.

It made a horrific screech before a metallic grinding sound erupted from under the hood.

Then black smoke began billowing from the exhaust.

Mattie was going nowhere.

Her first two calls had been to the rental agency and then to the tow truck company that they recommended. Her third had been to her brother.

“Do you want to disconnect the trailer from your truck? I can pull it into position with my forklift. We can start loading while you wait for your ride,” John suggested.

If they began now, it would keep her on schedule.

Originally, Mattie had planned to load the trailer and leave it on the farm overnight.

Then, she would show up at first light the next morning and get an early start on her long, two-day drive back to southern Manitoba.

She figured that the delay in replacing the truck would add half a day to her trip.

Fortunately, in her anxiety to make sure everything went like clockwork, she’d given herself a buffer.

Even with the delay, she’d get home before the end of the weekend. “That would be great, thank you, John.”

“You’re going to draw a lot of attention driving down the highway with all of this in plain view.”

Mattie thought of the box containing the “See us at our new home in ChristmastownCanada.ca, a proud North Pole Unlimited company” banner that Mei Chen had personally forced into her hands before she left for the airport. “My boss is counting on it.”

It took them half an hour to roll the flatbed trailer into a good position.

Then they had to stabilize the platform so it wouldn’t wobble as they loaded the various pieces.

John had lowered the crystal arbour onto the front of the trailer and Mattie was wrestling it into position when another vehicle turned onto the ranch’s gravel lane.