Lieutenant
Silvia Markle guided her snowmobile to a stop at the door of what
could only be the legendary ice castle her subordinates had told her
about. She’d thought them mad, or at least overreacting. Here it
was, though, sprawled before her at the very top of the world, laid
out as any majestic building should be. There were no banners or
flags, no guards, no sign of life dwelling within the icy walls.
Silvia pushed on the big wooden doors, iced over from years of
abandonment.
She pulled her flashlight from her pack and aimed it ahead of her into the gloom. There were stairs leading up and stairs leading down and a long hallway that led to a ballroom of sorts. Curious, Silvia followed the hallway and peered into an icy door that had been left ajar. She shined the flashlight to the ceiling. There was an icy chandelier of an antique variety, with candles still in its holders, hanging from gleaming rafters high above her. She could see the second floor from there, a grand wide balcony wrapping all around the upper portion of the ballroom.
She turned, thrilled at the lovely room, and moved on, following the hallway left. She peered into each and every room along the corridor. They all had huge icy wooden doors that creaked and cracked when she swung them open. Words like “Dolls”, “Balls”, “Games”, and “Radios” showed through the gleaming layers of ice in gold lettering. It must have been a toy factory, Silvia decided.
She followed the hall to the end and made her way up the frozen stairwell. “It couldn’t have been a factory.” She said aloud to herself as she shined a flashlight in the rooms on this floor. There were small beds and dressers in many of the rooms she looked into as she made her way back the direction she had come downstairs. The circular balcony she’d seen in the ballroom held several more rooms, she noted. “Some kind of retro hotel?” she wondered aloud.
Silvia followed the upstairs hall until she reached two giant doors at the very end, above where she’d come in. With a mighty shove, they opened, displaying a lovely master chamber, frozen in time. A train set ran around the four poster canopy bed, its train, derailed, but frozen to the track. A puppet show in the corner had two puppets laying on the stage, icicles hanging from their tiny noses. The bed was made; red satin sheets showed frost crystals in the light of her flashlight. “Who could possibly have lived here?” she asked the empty air.
Silvia jumped as a rustling came from under the canopy bed. “Santa Claus.” Said the high pitched nasal voice of the little man who’d been hiding there. He was dressed in green leggings, a green striped shirt, with a pointy hat and shoes. “What are you doing here?”
Silvia
swallowed the lump in her throat. “I’m Lieutenant Silvia Markle.
My staff has been exploring up here and they came upon this castle. I
didn’t believe them, so I had to come myself and see.”
The little man smiled and offered her a frozen chair. “Sit down, my dear.” He said. “I’m sure it will still hold. So you wonder where it all came from?”
Silvia nodded. “First, do you mind if I ask who you are?”
The little man offered her his hand. “Jack. That’s all you’ll need to know about me. Tell me something, do you have children Miss Markle?”
She shook her head. “Not ready for that yet.”
“Pity.” He replied. “Now this here castle has been standing here for thousands of years and there’s not a thing wrong with it.”
Silvia looked around. “Then why did everyone leave?” she asked.
Jack laughed. “Take a look around, Darling.” He said, as if she should know something. “It’s a frozen wasteland up here. The magic that kept it warm inside is gone. We had no electricity, no running water, and no heat. That was all done by magic.”
Silvia frowned. “What happened to the magic?”
Jack shook his head. “Let me ask you something, Sweetheart. Do you believe in Santa Claus?”
Silvia eyed him. “Well, I did when I was a kid, but everyone has to grow up eventually.”
Jack sat back and snapped his fingers. “That’s the problem.” He said. “The kids grew up, and since fewer and fewer people are having fewer and fewer kids, there’s just not enough magic left to run a place like this.”
Silvia sighed. “I’ll bet it was a nice place in its day.”
Jack smiled. “Oh, it was. Don’t get me wrong, Darling, we worked hard most of the year, but the day after Christmas was a party. All of us elves, Santa and the Mrs., the reindeer and all, down in that ballroom right down there having a high old time. It was the day to work toward the whole year through.”
Silvia shook her head and stood up, preparing to leave. “Is there anything that you can do to get it back?”
Jack shook his head. “Not without going back in time. You see, my dear, magic is what kept Santa and his bride youthful. In the years since the magic has been gone, they’ve both gone on to heaven.”
Silvia sighed. “That’s so sad. So what are you doing here, then?”
Jack smiled. “I’m here to tell treasure seekers and young people like yourself about the history of this place. Maybe someday, the magic will return. Have a good day now, my dear.” With that, he crawled back under the big canopy bed.
Silvia couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry as she made her way down the stairs and out to her snowmobile. The mysterious ice castle that had fascinated and terrified her subordinates had once belonged to Santa Claus and his elves. In the end, she laughed. They wouldn’t believe her anyway.