All Was but Toys

Well, this is it. I’m the last one here. They’re all gone. Even my wife.

Humankind and the pandemic took a huge toll up here.

Not that anyone up here died. We were all vaccinated early on as essential workers.

But they all left. To find work down south. There was nothing more for them here.

There’d always been work here. Before 2020 we were a powerhouse, year-round manufacturing giant.

Ho. Those were the days. But we work on faith up here, on hope, love, and charity. Most of that dried up over the past few years. Worst of all, the children gave up believing the magic.

It was the way of the world. Failing health and politics have destroyed the meaning of the holiday season. But there is one chance for the world.

What is that, you ask? Well, we have to find my wife. She was the true backbone of our mission here. Ho, she stood by me for a while, but then she headed for the South Pole. E.B. had called during the pandemic to say they were in trouble down there, too. Since we were already pretty much done-in up here, she went to him to see what she could do to help. That was always her way. A helper. A giver. Ho. She was my hero.

I can’t promise that her coming back will resurrect us, but it would be a start, the two of us reuniting. We may have given up too easily. I have been sitting here, night after night, month after month, wondering if it’s possible to rekindle our love. I think it might be.

Ho, o, o. Marriage is a mystery. I know she and the E.B. were very close before she married me. Perhaps, working side by side together down there, well, who knows what may have happened with those two handling all those eggs together?