Santa was putting the finishing touches on his official “naughty or nice” list this year when something terrible happened! The magic snowball that tells him who’s been good went on the fritz!
With Winter Warlock on vacation in the Bahamas, there was not time to get it repaired. Fortunately, there were only three children left on the list who did not have a checkmark in the good or bad column, and they were all siblings in the Smith household.
And so, Alice, Bob, and Carl Smith received a surprise visit from some elves in late November, as this is when the trouble first arose.
Elf investigators, Tinybobo and Squishymomo, arrive at the Smith home, explain the situation, and pose the pertinent question:
“…and Santa has sent us to ascertain your naughtiness or niceness, whatsoever the case may be, and report back to Santa, who will deliver gifts as appropriate on the appointed night. So. Which of you is naughty, and which of you is nice?”
Alice is the first to chime in. “Well, one of the boys was naughty this year.”
“Was not!” Replied Bobby, the youngest of the three.
Carl snorted. “Of the three of us, you certainly know best what it’s like to have coal in your stocking, Bobby.”
“But I’ve been good this year, I swear!” Bobby stomped his foot on the floor.
Alice, shifting attention away from her near-tantrum brother, changed the subject. “While you’re here, Mr. Tinybobo,” she said, “could I get you to mention to Santa that I’d sure like a stroller to go with the doll he brought me last year.”
Tinybobo flipped his notepad to the next page, and scribbled some notes. “Would you children say that you are by nature good or bad?”
Carl, the eldest, tackled the question for the group of them. “We’re very consistent, sir. Each of us either tells the truth or lies all the time.”
Bobby, turning red from containing himself, finally couldn’t take his sister’s accusation any more. “Mr. Tinybobo, Alice told me she was hoping not to get coal this year for all the naughty things she did.”
“Yeah, as if.” Alice tossed her hand in the air, aggravating Bobby even more.
Carl stepped in before Bobby did anything brash, “Calm down, Bobby. We’ve all had our moments this year. There’s no reason to be sore about it now.”
Bobby had on a sour look but calmed down and took his seat.
Squishymomo flipped his notepad shut and stood up. “Well, I think I’ve heard enough. We’ll take our findings back and report to Santa.”
Alice’s eyes grew wide with horror. “What are you going to tell him? You don’t believe me, do you?”
“We’re going to recommend that the truthful among you are marked as ’nice’ in the list, and that the liars among you are marked as ’naughty’,” said Squishymomo.
“And as for who is who, you’ll just have to wait until Christmas to see that,” said Tinybobo as he made one final note and headed toward the door with his companion.
Do you know which children were naughty and which were nice?
