Searching for Santa Claus by Noel Pennington

Noel Pennington

Nashville, Tennessee

With a name like Noel, and the jokes that come around Christmas, how could I not write a Christmas book?

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About the author

Noel Pennington has a background in writing, mostly through his current career as a product manager and business analyst. He has spent years working with companies like eBay, PeopleSoft, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, PetSmart, McDonald's, and others to understand the requirements needed to build both applications and business processes for these corporation.

Like many others, though his job has been both prosperous and enjoyable, he has been passionate about moving in a new direction professionally as a novelist. For the last few years Noel has been passionate about getting this tale out of his head, onto paper, and sharing it with others.

Though this work is his entrance into the world of book publishing, his years of working on multi-million dollar projects and creating documents for large corporation has honed his writing skills, allowing him to create a well-written, detailed book that allows the readers to build a visual fabric of the story in their mind.

He continues to look at the world with child-like amazement through his own eyes and the eyes of his children. Noel hopes you will join him as he develops the story around Santa Claus and all those mythical creatures and people.

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Searching for Santa Claus

The Loss of Plant and Time

Follow our heroine, twelve-year-old Raquel, as she struggles to believe that Santa Claus exists because she logically can't explain it.

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	Children Fiction
	55,000 words
	75% complete
	11 publishers interested
	View publishers • Express interest

Synopsis

Searching for Santa Claus can be summed by one sentence from the book:

Is any parent horrified when their teenager tells them that Santa Claus doesn’t exist or are they more horrified when he or she tells them they think he does exist?

The book tackles the idea of belief. Is it possible to believe in something even when you lose that child-like wonderment? We take the story of Santa Claus from the side of the parents, in this case Fluer and Dori Horace. Their oldest daughter is 12 years old and after the summer is through, she will be going into 6th grade. As Raquel Horace begins to get older and enter her teenage years, she questions everything, especially her parents who have a weird fascination with all mythical people and creatures, particularly Santa Claus. Don't they know that Santa Claus isn't real? But things begin to go awry when she stops believing.

This book will connect on many levels. Not only will it focus on Christmas but all the holidays, including Easter, Halloween, and the Tooth Fairy, to explore how we feel as children and how growing up doesn't mean we have to stop believing.

The message is unique: that even older people can still believe even when they know they shouldn't believe anymore. Today the world can be a dark lonely space and I wanted to write something that will connect to an audience both young and old.

Outline

Table of Contents

Chapter One - The Day of Reasoning

For years, Raquel believes blindly in mythical people like
Santa Claus, but as she turns 12 and goes into middle school, she no longer believes and needs to find a way to show her parents that there is no way that Santa Claus could exist.

Chapter Two - The Villes de l'Antarctique

The Villes de l'Antarctique is a self-contained village where the Horaces and others live. The village is surrounded by large walls and a gate that can only be entered by people that live in the village. Though it is self-contained, for some reason, the Elementary, Middle and High School sit just outside the walls and all the children, including Raquel, must attend these school. The village is beautiful and during the holidays certain sections of the village are opened to the public.

During these times the public can purchase the most well-built items including furniture, home accents, and toys, especially toys. Many people come from all parts of the world and wait many hours just to get inside and purchase the toys. The village also has the freshest garden and people particularly rave about the carrots and pumpkins. But at the edge of the village is an area that many people within the village won't go because of the secret it hides and the darkness that engulfs it.

Chapter Three - Eureka, I Have It

"Eureka, I have it!" Raquel exclaims, but as Raquel stumbles across what she feels is proof that Santa Claus can't exist, the answer she finds turns her world upside down and only brings out more questions.

Chapter Four - All Shall be Revealed

Raquel looks to share her story with her parents but something deep down inside doesn't seem right. When she arrives home, instead of seeing her parents, the thin man, as Raquel calls him, appears. She looks deeply into his eyes and realizes that everything she thought was wrong.

Chapter Five - The Loss of Plant and Time

Raquel loses the most important things to her and realizes the error of her ways, but she doesn't realize the importance of her belief and how it will shape saving the things she truly loves.

Chapter Six - The Adventure Begins

Raquel, along with her sister, the Donovan twins, and others must save all that is important to them, and Raquel builds an alliance with someone she never thought she would.

Chapter Seven - Why?

Why her? Raquel doesn't understand why she is the key to it all and how her belief is so important to the fabric of everything at the Villes de l'Antarctique.

Chapter Eight - Greed

Greed is something that Raquel never really understood, but it begins to creep into Raquel and all the areas around her. The destructive force of greed has the potential to not only ruin her family but her small community and all who live there.

Chapter Nine - The Ride of Her Life

Raquel, her sister, and the Donovan Twins go for the ride of their life as they try to set things right.

Chapter Ten - The Epitome

Raquel begins to understand the error of her ways. Can she win back all that she's lost and save Christmas for not only her village but the entire world?

Audience

Raquel, the main heroine, is twelve years old, and the primary age for Young Adult readers is typically twelve to eighteen years old, making this story perfect for Children and Young Adult audiences. Young Adult novels took off in 2012 and continue to grow. Similar to books like Harry Potter, I want to provide a book that both a child and a parent can love, share, and discuss.

Promotion

Over the life of this crowdfunding proposal with Publishizer, we are planning to use our website, social media, podcasts, press releases, and other tools to connect with our audience and get the word out to hopefully reach our benchmark of 250+ pre-orders. During this time, we will release parts of our second chapter to show our audience the direction the story and its characters will take.

We will be using a multifaceted approach to tell the world about our book and crowdfunding campaign

Website - we are in the process of creating our website, searchingforsantaclaus.com. There we will provide updates on our crowdfunding campaign and the progress of our book, including illustration for the book.
Social media - we will be using social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, to grow both our pre-orders and our orders after our book as launched. We will also connect to like-minded people on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to help us get the word out.
We will look at running paid campaigns using sites like Google, Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, and others to drive towards our goal in pre-orders.
Email campaign - we will also be running an email campaign during the Publishizer campaign.
Press releases

We will also connect with organizations, websites and others that focus on the holiday season to see if we can build beneficial relationships as we look to get our book published in time for the 2017 holiday season.

Our goal is to have the book completed and shipped by the first week of December 2017.

Competition

Our series of books will focus on belief and the magic that comes about when you really believe. This magic can take not only a physical characteristic but also manifest itself to take on much more. Though magic will be part of the book, the story will focus on belief and how this strong bond can hold us all together or tear us apart. Below are the books in our target market, but we distinguish ourselves by focusing on the holidays and the twist of including mythical persons and creatures, which will set out book apart from the typical book on magic or mythical creatures.

Title: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Publisher: Scholastic

Published date: September 1998

Harry Potter has no idea how famous he is. That's because he's being raised by his miserable aunt and uncle who are terrified Harry will learn that he's really a wizard, just as his parents were. But everything changes when Harry is summoned to attend an infamous school for wizards, and he begins to discover some clues about his illustrious birthright.

Title: Percy Jackson - The Lighting Thief

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Published date: February 2, 2010

Percy Jackson, a young boy who faced several strange, supernatural encounters, discovers that he is actually the son of Poseidon. Percy and his friends go on a quest to prevent a war between the Greek Gods.

Title: The Magicians

Publisher: Penguin Books

Published date: May 25, 2010

The Magicians, the first book of a trilogy, is about Quentin Coldwater, a kid who attends an exclusive college of magic in upstate New York. He and his friends travel in pursuit of finding a magical land, but what they actually find is more than they bargained for.

Title: Inkheart

Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks

Published date: 1st edition - June 1, 2005

This story within a story follows a 12-year-old girl named Meggie, who learns that her father can bring fictional characters to life. One night while reading a book called Inkheart, an evil ruler escapes and abducts them both. Meggie must learn to harness the magic that caused this nightmare so she can change the course of the story.

Title: Golden Compass

Publisher: Yearling

Published date: 1st edition (May 22, 2001)

The Golden Compass (or Northern Lights) is set in a parallel universe and tells the story of a young orphan girl named Lyra on an epic quest to find her kidnapped friend and discover the secrets of "Dust" and the mysterious floating city outlined in the Aurora Borealis.

11 publishers interested Express interest

	Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc. 250 copies • Completed manuscript. Atlantic Publishing has been providing millions of readers information to jumpstart their careers, start businesses, manage employees, invest, plan for retirement, learn technologies, build relationships, and live rewarding, fulfilling lives. Our award-winning authors and publication staff strive to make our products the best and most up-to-date available. We go further than most publishers to get our customers the best products. Hybrid publisher Children Fiction, Mind & Body, YA Fiction, Biography & Memoir, Business & Money, Career & Success, Cookbooks, Food & Wine, Health, Fitness & Dieting, History, Journalism, Personal Growth & Self-Improvement, Politics & Social Sciences, Society & Culture Worldwide
	Ballast Books 250 copies • Partial manuscript. Ballast Books is a full-service hybrid publisher that handles all aspects of book creation, design, publishing, marketing, distribution, and platform building. We help our authors sell more books, secure more keynotes, do more consulting, earn more customers, and book more media appearances. We want to work with the best of the best: Former Special Operations Forces, CEOs, big thinkers, industry-leading experts. Top-performing people with experiences worth sharing and skills that translate into a larger message and goal. We've seen particular success with military memoirs, but we've also recently hired a children's book specialist, so we run the spectrum of genres. We're a small but growing team and take pride in dedicating more time and energy to all our authors than traditional publishers. Hybrid publisher All categories , United States
	Brandylane Publishers, Inc. Looking for titles that teach, promote, and encourage understanding, tolerance, peace, environmental preservation, health, and wellness. Brandylane is a small, independent press, founded in 1985, that publishes fiction, non-fiction, poetry, memoir, and children’s books. We publish under a traditional arrangement and also offer a cooperative track for emerging authors. We believe that books make a difference, that lives and the world are changed by the power of words and images, and that large publishing houses neglect a wealth of good writing. We are not looking for mainstream read-it-before self-help. Under our cooperative arrangement, we invest a portion of the publishing costs and offer a stepped royalty structure from 30% to 60%--higher than the industry average. One distinguishing feature of our program is that our marketing effort includes a one-year launch, followed by two additional years of promotion through our social media, website, our seasonal genre, and subject matter email campaigns, and continuous support from our PR team. Hybrid publisher Children Fiction, Children Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Historical Fiction, LGBT Fiction, LGBT Fiction, Literary Fiction, Mind & Body, Mystery, Thriller, Horror & Suspense, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Women's Fiction, Women's Fiction, YA Fiction, YA Fiction, Children Non-Fiction, Health, Fitness & Dieting, History, Humor & Entertainment, Illustrated Books, Mindfulness & Happiness, Nature & Environment, Personal Growth & Self-Improvement, Politics & Social Sciences, Popular Science, Technology & the Future, YA Non-Fiction, Science Fiction & Humour Worldwide
	Cranthorpe Millner 250 copies • Partial manuscript. Cranthorpe Millner operates a hybrid publishing model. This means, should an author pass our editors’ strict filtering system, we can offer different kinds of agreements depending on the author and the manuscript. With some authors, we work under a ‘traditional’ model, whereby we cover the full cost of publication and the author is offered industry-standard royalties (8-10%). To some authors, we offer what we call a partnership or contributory agreement, whereby the author is asked for a financial contribution so that we may share the risk and enter into a partnership together to publish the author’s book. In this case, the author receives around 60-75% royalties. Hybrid publisher Children Fiction, Literary Fiction, Literary Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Horror & Suspense, Mystery, Thriller, Horror & Suspense, Mind & Body, Mind & Body, Romantic Fiction, Romantic Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Science Fiction & Fantasy, YA Fiction, YA Fiction, Biography & Memoir, Biography & Memoir, Health, Fitness & Dieting, Health, Fitness & Dieting, History, History, Personal Growth & Self-Improvement, Personal Growth & Self-Improvement, Science, Science, Sports & Outdoors, Sports & Outdoors, Travel, Travel United Kingdom, United States, Canada
	1106 Design, LLC Dear Author, You worked hard to write your manuscript; finally, it's ready to release. You know that expert assistance is needed, but perhaps you didn’t know that it’s no longer necessary to work with a publisher—especially publishers who charge fees to produce your book upfront and deduct more costs on the back end whenever a book is sold. 1106 Design is an author services company. We provide all the editorial and design services you’d expect from a publisher to turn your manuscript into a market-ready book—editing, cover design, interior layout, proofreading, eBook formatting, and more—at the traditional publisher level. Unlike a publisher, we’ll help you obtain print-on-demand printing and worldwide distribution in your name so that you earn, in most cases, several dollars more for every book sold instead of a measly “royalty.” We’ll customize a package of services to suit your exact needs at affordable prices ranging from $4,000 to $10,000, depending on your manuscript's word count and complexity. And we’ll manage all the intricacies of book production, so you don’t have to. After this one-time investment, every penny of net revenue from book sales goes directly to you, never to us. If this sounds like a better way to publish your book, I invite you to browse our services, design samples, no-surprises pricing, outstanding customer reviews, and educational articles at https://1106design.com. 1106 Design has been in business since 2001 and is rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau. We are a “Highly Recommended Expert” at IngramSpark.com and rated "Excellent" at Alli, The Alliance for Independent Authors, at SelfPublishingAdvice.org. How can we serve you today? Sincerely, Michele DeFilippo, owner Service publisher Children Fiction, Christian Fiction, Commercial Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Essay, Literary Fiction, Mind & Body, Mystery, Thriller, Horror & Suspense, Mythology & Folk Tales, Poetry, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Women's Fiction, YA Fiction, Biography & Memoir, Business & Money, Career & Success, Children Non-Fiction, Christian Non-Fiction, Cookbooks, Food & Wine, Communication Skills, Corporate Culture, Current Affairs, Economics, Education, Entrepreneurship & Small Business, Health, Fitness & Dieting, History, Humor & Entertainment, Journalism, Management & Leadership, Marketing & Sales, Mindfulness & Happiness, Money & Investment, Motivation & Inspiration, Nature & Environment, Parenting, Personal Growth & Self-Improvement, Philosophy, Politics & Social Sciences, Popular Science, Productivity & Time Management, Psychology, Reference, Religion & Spirituality, Science, Sex & Relationships, Society & Culture, Sports & Outdoors, Technology & the Future, Travel, YA Non-Fiction, Science Fiction & Humour Worldwide
	Atmosphere Press 250 copies • Partial manuscript. Atmosphere Press is an independent publisher dedicated to author rights. We publish in all genres and have an exceptional editorial, design, and promotional staff. We stand for Honesty, Transparency, Professionalism, and Kindness. We want our authors and their readers to be blown away when they first hold that book in their hands. It needs to look good inside and out, and feel good to the touch. And, of course, the words need to be top-notch, and our editors are devoted to making that the case. Service publisher Children Fiction, Literary Fiction, Mind & Body, Mystery, Thriller, Horror & Suspense, Romantic Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, YA Fiction, Biography & Memoir, Business & Money, Career & Success, Cookbooks, Food & Wine, Health, Fitness & Dieting, History, Journalism, Personal Growth & Self-Improvement, Politics & Social Sciences, Religion & Spirituality, Science, Society & Culture, Sports & Outdoors, Technology & the Future, Travel Worldwide
	Authors Unite 250 copies • Partial manuscript. Authors Unite helps you become a profitable author and make an impact. We take care of printing and distribution through major online retailers, developmental editing, and proofreading with unlimited revisions. We take care of the entire process for you from book cover design all the way to set up your backend so all your book royalties go straight to your bank account. We can also help with ghostwriting if you prefer not to have to figure out all the steps on how to write a book yourself. With our book marketing services, you don’t need to worry about figuring out all the steps on how to market a book or how to become a bestselling author. We’ve helped hundreds of authors become bestselling authors on Amazon, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal. We take care of the entire book launch process for you to help you sell thousands of copies of your book and become a bestselling author. View case studies here: https://authorsunite.com Service publisher Children Fiction, Christian Fiction, Comics & Graphic Novels, Commercial Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Historical Fiction, LGBT Fiction, Literary Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Horror & Suspense, Mind & Body, Mythology & Folk Tales, Romantic Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Women's Fiction, YA Fiction, Biography & Memoir, Business & Money, Career & Success, Children Non-Fiction, Christian Non-Fiction, Communication Skills, Corporate Culture, Crafts & Hobbies, Creativity, Current Affairs, Economics, Education, Entrepreneurship & Small Business, Health, Fitness & Dieting, History, Humor & Entertainment, Journalism, LGBT Non-Fiction, Management & Leadership, Marketing & Sales, Mindfulness & Happiness, Money & Investment, Motivation & Inspiration, Nature & Environment, Parenting, Personal Growth & Self-Improvement, Philosophy, Politics & Social Sciences, Popular Science, Productivity & Time Management, Psychology, Reference, Religion & Spirituality, Science, Sex & Relationships, Society & Culture, Sports & Outdoors, Technology & the Future, Travel, YA Non-Fiction, Science Fiction & Humour Worldwide
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Chapter One - The Day of Reasoning

As the first day of middle school quickly approached, Raquel Horace was in a bit of a quandary. She wasn’t sure how to do it but decided it was time to tell her parents, though she knew the whole notion had blasphemy written in big red letters all over it. She took a deep breath and practiced saying the words aloud, first with authority.

“SANTA CLAUS DOESN’T EXIST!”

Then with emphasis on certain words

“Santa Claus DOESN’T exist.”

Then trying it with different more certain words.

“Santa Clause can’t exist!”

As she said it aloud, it was almost like the words hung in the air like the smoke from the pipe her dad occasionally smoked during times of long and precise thoughts. Though she tried fanning those imaginary words out of the air, they floated in place and it seemed that even hurricane force winds wouldn’t dissipate them. But how could her Mom and Dad argue with her, she had the proof. What Raquel would soon realize is that this one phrase would turn her and her sister’s world upside down with Raquel questioning every part of our short 12 years on earth.

At only twelve years old, the word smart didn’t do Raquel justice. Her mother and father gave her the nickname Sherlock because of her unique ability to understand and deduce the outcome of any event as she discovered the facts. The idea of believing in something she couldn’t see or feel was difficult for her. Her Dad would always tell her,

“Sometimes you just must have faith even when every part of you says it can’t be, because you know deep down in your heart that it has to be true.”

“I know Dad, but how can you believe in something as big as Santa Claus without real proof?”

“Sometimes all the reasoning in the world doesn’t stack up to the idea of blind faith, that sometimes things exist even if you can’t taste them, see them, feel them, smell them or hear them, because deep down, your heart tells you that it’s true even though your senses tell you otherwise.”, he always reminded her.

But why was this so important to say to her parents at all. Many parents don’t know exactly know when their children stopped believing in all the mythical people or creatures, whether it’s the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, Pumpkin King or Santa Claus. Is any parent horrified when their teenager tells them that Santa Claus doesn’t exist or are they more horrified when he or she tells them they think he does exist?

Raquel’s family was different though; the Horace’s had a unique way of looking at the world and those mythical people and creatures. They had an almost cult-like appreciation for things like the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, but especially Santa Claus. It was almost like each year Santa Claus was running for a political office and Raquel’s parents, Fluer and Dori, had to ensure everyone voted for him. So, each year without fail, Raquel and her sister had some form of Christmas showing up with them as they walked through their neighborhood on their way to the first day of school. Whether it was a lunch box, backpack or sweater, Santa’s image wasn’t just there, it screamed, I BELIEVE in bold colors against whatever they carried or wore. This was no big deal for Raquel’s sister Tate, as being a precocious seven-year-old wearing anything Christmas related was exhilarating. But for Raquel, what started as a fashion statement with flair in kindergarten; became a cruel joke by fourth grade. In fifth grade, it became almost unbearable with jokes abounding because of the rosy color on her cheeks and the tip of her nose.

“Just like Rudolph, we aren’t going to let you play any reindeer games,” the harsher children in school would quip during recess.

“Don’t let it bother you, they are all just jealous.” Tate would tell her. This still bothered Raquel as she headed back to the swings to swing by herself.

The only solace she had was her good friends Mark and Marie Donovan whose parents too had a weird fixation for all things mythical but not to the extent the Raquel parents did. The story of the friendship between Raquel and the Donovan was both unusually and perplexing but we will save that for another time.

So, by the end of her fifth-grade year, Raquel decided that enough was enough and set her sights on the truth behind this so-called tale. Though Raquel was well versed in the latest technology and could quickly find what she was looking for, starting on the Internet wasn’t the direction she was inclined to take. She felt like the Internet was a cold, sterile environment that didn’t provide the warmth and comfort that books could provide. She loved the smell of an old book. The tactile experience she had in the way the pages turned in her hand and the thought of what interesting person could have held the book before her.

Raquel had at her disposals, in her opinion, one of the best libraries just a few steps from her front door right, within her self-contained neighborhood the Villes de l'Antarctique. It was funny to Raquel the breadth and depth such a small library carried and how few people took advantage of this grand, slightly stern building. The outside of the building carried an old world, craftsmen style with overgrown ivy covering most of the beautiful inlaid stone while the interior walls were lined with dark oak as the books gave off an archaic musty smell from the yellowing pages of stories growing old yearning for someone to hold them again and bring their imagery back to life. Need to see a copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Leicester, by the time you finished the sentence, Hermes, the stodgy leather-face librarian would have it in your hands. For such small old frail man, Raquel always was astonished at the speed that Hermes could deliver the materials someone needed. There was never a case when a book, manuscript, DVD, record, CD, 8-track tape, manual, or some other media couldn’t be found. Raquel always pondered how such a small cramp building could carry such an infinite selection of materials. When she had visited other libraries ten times the size of her quaint little library they wouldn’t have half the section, many times other librarians would give her a puzzle look for books she requested that were hundreds of years old. She reminded herself that one day she needed to do some detective work to determine why.

So, as she began her research, she knew that she had to be careful in what she asked as just like her parents, Hermes too had a weird fixation on things like Santa Claus. Asking for the obvious could have a disastrous outcome if not described in way that could be easily explainable to Hermes. Like Raquel, Hermes had a very analytical mind and could easily do astronomical computation is his head or find the most miniscule relationship between two items. Many times, Hermes spooked Rachael as it almost seemed like he could read her mind regardless of how much she disguised her question. As she settled on several books that could help her prove her theory, she wanted to make sure she had the best possible back-story on the books she was looking to help her prove her point.

As she approached Hermes desk, the desk felt more like a judge’s bench similar to the one you would find at court house. This reminded her of the Supreme Court Bench she had seen on a recent family vacation to Washington DC. But this desk was 6 feet tall, made of rich mahogany with a stain that had a beautiful amber honey glow that was polished to a mirror finish allowing anyone to see every grain of detail in the wood on close inspection. But close inspection would be difficult as most anyone that approached the desk was required to keep at least 3 feet away; and touching the desk would get a one year expulsion from the library. Down the middle of the desk was a large panel with a beautiful carved crest in the center of it. In the middle of the crest was a beautiful deer, surrounded by garland with Everest trees in the background. If you looked at the crest in the right sunlight, it almost appeared if it was snowing. Each side of the desk had a several very strange almost hieroglyphic symbols that protruded out. To Raquel it appeared that the symbols were some kind of code and if each symbol were pushed in the correct order the secrets of the universe would appear before you. Each time Rachael approached the desk, she would ask Hermes what each symbol meant, immediately, he changed the subject with short stern quips.

From this tall perch, the dwarfish Hermes could survey all parts of the library without moving, it seem more like a command station, than just an ordinary library desk. As she approached the desk she strained her neck upwards and stood on her tippy toes to see what appeared to be a napping Hermes, before she could hesitantly ask for help with her quest Hermes declared,

“G-o-o-d m-o-r-n-i-n-g, Raquel, I didn’t think I would be seeing you today.”

“Hermes, how are you today.”

With a stoic face, Hermes looked down trembling a bit as he answered, “It’s 10 am missy, shouldn’t you be in school.”

“Hermes, we are a month into the summer holiday, school won’t be back in session till August,” retorting in her most pleasant voice.

“Hmmm,” is all he said as the one-second stare he gave her seem like a lifetime before he spoke again.

“SO, what are you looking for this time?”

“I know it’s a lot to ask, but could I see the following books, please.”

“The North Pole, Its Discovery in 1909 Under the Auspices of the Peary Artic Club by Robert E. Peary.”

Rachel continued determined to get what see needed to build an effective case on her theory of Santa Claus, “Natural History – Smithsonian by DK Publishing and the Codex on the Flight of Birds by Leonardo da Vinci. On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin and lastly the book from Albert Einstein, Relativity: The Special and General Theory….”

”

After hearing all the books that Raquel requested, Hermes removed his coke bottle glasses, rub his eyes and peered down from his perch and with a great sigh and said, “Sometimes we find a book that calls to us, read me, read me, and though deep down inside we know that for some odd reason, not only should that book not be read but we should keep it away so no one else can read it. Do you know what I mean?”

With an extremely puzzled look on her face, Raquel shook her head and decided that the best course of action was fewer words so Hermes wouldn’t catch on to her plan. Hermes started again,

“Sometimes a book not only changes us, but how we perceive the people around us, changing not only how we see them but ourselves in the process. These books seem like a very odd collection and whatever you may find may not only change your life but the life of everyone around you, so think wisely Missy, are you sure you want these books?”

With a still somewhat puzzled look on her face, Raquel looked to pick the right words just as her mother seemed to pick the best apple from the apple tree in her garden. Her mother seemed to have an uncanny knack to pick the best things in nature so just like her mother, Raquel leaned back a bit and imaged a tree filled with words, the right words would deliver what see needed while the wrong words will leave her with another year of Christmas sweaters and holiday lunch boxes. As she leaned forward to speak she said,

“Hermes not really sure what you mean I’m trying to determine why the Great Auk can’t fly. As you know the Great Auk was indigenous to the North Pole in the early 19th century but because they couldn’t fly and they became extinct. The book by Charles Darwin will help me understand the evolution of animals and how even though a Great Auk has feather and wings, it still cannot fly. The book by Peary will help me understand the North Pole, where the Great Auk lived. The book from the Smithsonian will provide me and understand on flight and why things like bumblebees can fly while Great Auk cannot, lastly the Codex of flight will give me a clear understanding of the principals of flight.”

“…and the book on Relativity,” Hermes quipped.

“Oh, as you remember from last summer, I’ve been wanted to read that book for a while.” This was convenient coincident that help further distract away from her real quest, proving that Santa Claus didn’t exist. Raquel, settled back on her heels feeling that she had done a good job in deceiving Hermes, but should couldn’t help from feeling remorseful in her deception to Hermes, as Dori and Fluer had worked hard to raise a well-behaved, trustworthy, responsible young lady. Though deceiving anyone went against everything part of her DNA, Raquel rationalized that her search for the truth was an overriding factor just as Einstein worked to reconcile his Theory of Relativity.

“OK, but please remember what I said, by the way, it appears that your shoe in untied.”

As Raquel looked down to her black converse sneakers, she could see one perfectly tied loop on her left shoe with the laces on her right shoe untied flapping uncontrollable as if somehow the solid concrete floor was leaking air up. How odd she though, as her mind worked to deduce how this could possibly occur; she reminded herself to focus at the task at hand.

As she looked back up, she started to say,

“Don’t worry Hermes, I will…” before she could finish her sentenced Hermes reached down from his desk, with the 4 books and the manuscript that she requested.

“Here you go missy, please be careful with the manuscript, it’s the only one.”

Raquel stood there for a minute dumbfounded and speechless, this was an impossible to accomplish in just a matter of seconds especially for someone that was so old and frail. How, in a matter of seconds, was Hermes able to get down from his desk, go find the books that probably were scatter throughout the library, climb back up to desk and be there in a matter of seconds. It almost appeared to Raquel that time stood still for Hermes to accomplish his task. Though this wasn’t the first time he had done this to her, her curiosity finally got the best of her.

“Hermes, I know that I have asked you timeless times before but how could you find these books so quickly, your kind of old and um… frail.”

As Hermes stoically look down from his perch, Raquel could see that he was just about to read her the riot act but before he could, she looked down at the ground and said, “I’m sorry Hermes if I hurt your feelings, that speed at what you can do things amazes me and I guess my curiosity made me disrespected and I…am really sorry.”

The deceitfulness of her request and the need to find out the truth regardless of the cost finally caught up with her and like any twelve-year-old the pressure finally mounted to be too much.

Hermes could hear the regret in her voice and see a tear rolling down Raquel’s cheek. Hermes climb down off his perch and came to see her at eye-level, though he needed a stool to see her eye to eye. Hermes lift her chin, pulled a cloth from his pocket, wiped the tears away from her face and said,

“It’s ok missy, I forgive you, I know that you are reaching your teenage years and you think you either need to know everything or think you know everything, sometimes we should stop worrying about what other people think any only care about we what think about ourselves.”

Raquel couldn’t image that Hermes understood her dilemma but appreciate the fact that he tried to comfort her. Raquel collected the books, thanked Hermes for the help and understanding and headed to a large oak table to begin the task of proving that Santa Claus doesn’t exist.

As Raquel walked away, a voice came from the shadows of the perch, “…as I told you before Hermes, she will either be our savoir or our downfall. Either way life will never be the same.”

“Should I do anything about this,” Hermes queried.

“No. This is no longer in our control and no persuasion or magic can change this course, our future is in Raquel’s hands.”

“I understand,” sighed in response.

“Don’t worry my old friend, Fluer and Dori Horace raised her right.”

“She isn’t the one I’m worried about, its…”, Hermes words trailed off in fear.

“I know, I know…” the voice quietly whispered.

Some sample art work for our book

The Thin Man

Concept of the gate for the on Villes de l'Antarctique

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