Chapter 5 Fallon
FALLON
Keir made me a little nervous. I didn’t want to do anything wrong to jeopardize my new dream job.
As we ate the amazing turkey lunch in the cafeteria, I noticed people looking at us. Was this normal? Did the boss take everyone to lunch on their first day?
“I hope you have everything you need at your station,” he said.
“Yes, I do. Everyone has been helpful to make things easier for me.”
“Good.”
“I love the work.” I could barely hold back my enthusiasm.
“Even better,” he said. “Your work is impressive. But more than just checking through the code, I’ll soon want you to be writing it.”
Writing code for Santa’s Sleigh! “It would be an honor.”
“I'm glad you see it that way. Tomorrow afternoon we’ll be having a flight test. I want you to be there.”
“On the official sleigh tarmac?”
“Yes. I call it a flight test but it's really on the ground. The actual flight test will come later. I want you at both.”
“I'll be there. I can't wait.”
My stomach rumbled, not from hunger anymore but from excitement. This was everything I ever wanted for a job.
Keir walked me back to Control even though I knew my way now.
I couldn't help but notice how good he smelled.
I wasn't trying to notice, it just happened.
Whenever I breathed in there was this wonderful spicy Christmassy scent in the air.
Like most elves, he kept his hair long. I was used to that.
But there was something special about his hair; it rippled like gold ribbons to his waist as if hypnotizing me.
It caught the light at every turn. The equation I would have made for how his hair refracted in the light beams could have been a poem.
I shook my head to clear it. This was not normal thinking for me at all. I might appreciate equations the way a poet appreciated words, but I hadn't thought of making them into poetry. Until now.
The next day, I stood on the frosted tarmac of Santa's Sleigh in my white parka and matching pink scarf and hat. Even with all of that, and my reindeer acclamation to the cold, the wind blew off the tundra and through the forest like an icy sword.
“It's freezing out here today,” I said to Clea and Drake who were standing nearby. “Maybe not the best day to test things out?”
“It is the best day,” Drake commented. “In December the weather is at its worst most years. Unpredictable. We need to make sure everything works even in the harshest of conditions.”
“That makes sense.”
Behind me, the team shouted and began to applaud. I turned to see the sleigh come out of its huge hangar. Four reindeer pulled it. Driving it, with his hands firmly on the reins, was Keir.
The site stunned me. It wasn't that I hadn't seen Santa's sleigh before, it was that now I was a part of making it function. This was important, more than a symbol for Christmas, but something astonishing. Even magical. And now I was one of the people who got to see its inner workings.
My cheeks were cold and hurting but I couldn't stop smiling.
Keir made a circle around his team. The reindeer pranced happily. Everyone was in a great mood.
He drove the sleigh away from the crowd and ordered the reindeer to run.
He moved fast down the icy runway, then steered the reindeer into a series of complicated turns and figure eights.
His golden hair flew in waves behind him.
The huge sleigh was graceful and sleek. It followed where it needed to go.
Once, it tipped, but then immediately righted itself.
The reins went slack. The reindeer slowed. I heard Keir call out. “Dancer, Vixen, Cupid, Blitzen. Slow. Slow.”
They stopped running. Keir leaned over the dashboard and rapidly began touching the screen. He was mumbling to himself as he steered toward us. Making corrections, perhaps. Double checking readouts.
The sleigh angled very close to us and some of the team backed up. That was strange.
He looked up at his team. “Steering's a little off.”
Drake pulled out a tablet and began to make notes. “We'll check that out.”
“Also, I'm not liking the way it’s compensating for the wind shear. Something's off. It's not a lot but it's enough to be noticeable.”
“Got it,” Drake called out.
My mind moved at lightning speed over the details of the programs I’d gone over in the last day and a half. I remembered wind shear quite well because I’d just read that part of the program. Something clicked in my brain.
I stepped forward. “Can you access the wind shear program from that screen?”
Keir glanced at me, eyebrows raised. “I can.”
“Bring it up. I think I know how to adjust it.”
“You have a fix?” he asked.
“I think so.”
I heard Clea whisper. “The new kid’s making us look bad.”
I jerked my head toward her. That hurt. I wasn't sure if she was serious or being sarcastic, but for a second the cold air stuck in my lungs.
“Get over here.” Keir waved me toward the sleigh.
My knees shook as I approached. When I reached the side of the sleigh, Keir waved at me again.
“Climb aboard.”
“What?”
“Go on. Step up and sit beside me. Show me.”
I wasn't used to the limelight being on me at all. My mind went blank.
“Fallon?”
“You mean board Santa's sleigh?”
“That's exactly what I mean.”
My throat went dry. What Clea had said was still bouncing and echoing around my mind. Slowly, I put my foot up on the bright chrome running board and stepped up into the sleigh.
Keir patted the thick leather beside him.
I was supposed to sit? But that was Santa's throne, so to speak.
It was like touching a sacred object when you weren't really supposed to.
People were watching. I was old enough to know that maybe this wasn't going to be so great for me once we got back to Control.
“Well?” Keir patted the leather again. “Are you going to just stand there? Or are you going to sit and show me what I need to do to correct the problem?”
Slowly, I lowered myself to the seat. Immediately, the pillowed softness formed to my shape. It was the most comfortable couch, which shouldn't have surprised me.
Keir touched the dashboard screen. It lit up with the wind shear program. I was so nervous I couldn't see it. The figures danced before me as if blurred by a faulty monitor.
“I can't see it now, sir.”
“What can't you see?”
I couldn't think of an answer. Everything around me was confusing. The cold wind shifted, making a moaning noise across the ice.
“Fallon?”
“The code. I can’t see it.”
Keir gestured. “Look closer.”
I leaned in, blinking. My eyes were blurred. “I’m not used to the wind in my eyes.” It was a lie. I did fine in cold weather. I shifted and ran the frozen outskirts year-round.
“Maybe back inside we can re-visit this,” Keir said.
I turned and stumbled out of the sleigh, noticing the frowning faces around me. I had failed.
“Test is done for today,” Keir announced behind me. “We’ll go over everything at Control.”
I heard the glorious sleigh make a whooshing noise on the ice, and the reindeer hooves dancing. But I didn’t look back.
I shuffled back down the sidewalk and inside with the crowd. People were chattering but I didn’t listen. I didn’t want to hear my name. Not anymore.
I didn’t know what was wrong with me. Clea’s words had jarred me, but I’d endured crosstalk like that before.
When I was first starting in the workshop, people called me a suck up because my mom was the boss.
I told myself I didn’t care, but it hurt.
I stayed to myself. I studied harder. That was all I wanted anyway.
But now, here was my dream job. My whole heart was wide open. I cared very much how it was going to work out. Maybe too much.
Once inside, I freshened up in the bathroom, washed my face, took deep breaths. My nervousness retreated.
Back at my desk, I turned on my monitor and switched over to the wind shear program.
I could see it clearly now. My brain supplied the image of the sleigh’s behavior with what Keir had said.
The solution popped right before my eyes and I began to quickly type.
My focus zeroed in until I felt a thump against the back of my chair.
Startled, I looked up. Clea stood beside me, dark brows drawn together.
“You thought you had everything solved out there, but you didn’t. Don’t speak up to the boss unless you’re sure.”
“I—I—” I had been sure. Her comment had thrown me into some sort of freeze. I couldn’t tell her that, though. A twenty-two-year-old who couldn’t take a co-worker’s snide remark was pathetic. Weak.
“What?” she asked when I couldn’t complete my sentence. “You have no excuse. You didn’t know anything about fixing it and made us all look ridiculous. Don’t let it happen again.”
I knew Santa’s Sleigh would have strict protocols and be a challenging job. Everything had to be perfect for Santa’s flight, and for the reindeer. But everyone had been so nice yesterday. Even Clea. What changed?
Clea was my senior, the co-boss with Drake if Keir was not around. She could tell him anything about my work performance. I needed to remember that. “I’m sorry. I won’t.”
She huffed and walked back to her station.
I tried to go back to my work but my hands were shaking. I kept making typos. I had the solution. I could have had it done by now, but my fear that I’d screw up wouldn’t leave me. What did everyone think of me now? I thought I would fit in fine. But now I wasn’t so sure.