Chapter 12 - The Sad Farewell??

A sad goodbye??

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"Santa, it has been great working with you and your helpers for all these many years" says Gammelnok "But all is now functioning well, you have a fine team of flying reindeers, even with the new generation of Rudolf reindeers and helpers. But now I feel it is time to move on."

"I spotted a nice secluded spot one year when I was flying with your sleigh over Great Britain. I wonder if one of your teams could drop me of there. You do not have to land, I have my own parachute, thanks to my mother's generous Haversack."

Santa is not too sad to see Gammelnok go. He may have solved their logistic problems, but being such a cantankerous little person, Santa has had to spend a lot of time keeping the peace between his Helpers and Gammelnok.

Their colourful seasonal garb apart, Gammelnok has implemented other rigorous customs like regular working hours which has gone against the grain of the Helpers attitude to life and at times tensions and tempers have flared, so yes Santa is not too sad to see Gammelnok go.

Gammelnok of course has no idea that he is not a popular being. Having lived now for near on 300 years without visibly ageing, he considers himself superior and beyond reproach.

So, when he enters the sleigh and prepares for take-off, he waves at the crowd assembled to say goodbye (and good riddance).

Cheers ring out and hats are thrown in the air as the sleigh lifts off. Santa is the only one that shows some sadness as he and Gammelnok have been together and solved problems for near on a century. Goodbye my friend, he mutters to himself.

The first stage of the trip takes them south of the Arctic Circle and then they prepare to head westwards towards Great Britain.

Suddenly they are caught by a very strong Jet-stream that throws them of course. The whole sleigh wobbles and the reindeers struggle to stay upright in the strong winds.

They get thrown all over the place, missing their target completely and while over Holland a huge gust tips the sleigh on its side and Gammelnok topples from his seat. He drops into the void and tumbles towards earth. The sleigh and reindeers righten themselves but can not do anything for Gammelnok. They head for home.