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CHAPTER 3
Olive’s Jobs
As the years passed
and she got bigger, Olive became one of the best skaters among the spare reindeer. She always won the friendly
races against them at Candy Cane Pond.
Olive also had important jobs to do during the Christmas season.
She looked through the magic telescope to see which boys and girls were naughty or nice, and reported their names
to Number One, the chief elf.
She hauled boxes of presents to Santa Claus’s sleigh on the runway.
She delivered muffins from Mrs. Claus’s bakery to the hospital.
In the toy factory she checked for broken toys coming off a line in Quality Control.
She liked these jobs, but the job Olive wanted more than anything was to be on Santa’s team.
Will I be picked some day? she wondered.
CHAPTER 4
A Foolish Dream
It was Christmas
Eve again. As always Olive wished she could go on the Big Trip. Many of her spare reindeer pals had gone. Why not
me? she thought. But maybe that was a foolish dream.
Only this morning an elf had shouted, "You over there — no, not you, Jingles. The other reindeer. Yes, you,
green nose. Give us some help."
But at dusk when Olive got off shift, she began to do some serious thinking. Maybe it wasn’t a foolish dream at
all. What did that smart alec elf know anyway?
So she decided right then to visit Santa and ask him if she could join the team.
CHAPTER 5
A Meeting With Santa
As she stood in front
of Santa’s house, Olive wasn’t so sure of herself.
Just who do you think you are? she thought.
But she’d come this far so what did she have to lose? All Santa could do was say no.
She hesitated then tapped at Santa’s door.
She waited. No answer.
She tapped again.
No one home.
She sighed. "Oh, well, I tried."
Just as Olive was about to leave, the door burst open.
"Ho! Ho! Ho! Well, well, look who it is!" Santa said. He had only one boot on. "I’m just getting
ready to go over to Mission Control to check things out before the Big Trip. What can I do for you, Olive?"
"Hi, Santa. I thought I’d ask if there, uh, was — was —"
"Was what, Olive?"
"Well, anything I could do."
Santa thought. "No, I can’t think of anything."
"Oh."
"What did you have in mind?"
"Well — uh — well —"
Olive was tongue-tied.
"Please, I’m really in a hurry," Santa said. "Well?"
When he hears what I want he’ll laugh at me, Olive thought. That’s worse than a simple no. She just blinked.
"I can’t think of a thing you could do," Santa said.
"Well, I just thought I’d, you know, ask anyway."
Santa shrugged. "Thank you for asking, Olive."
"You’re welcome, Santa."
She left and Santa scratched his head.
"What a strange conversation," he muttered.
go to CHAPTER 6 
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