Lance’s eyes took on an excited shine. “I haven't seen scores like these in years. Not since Dmitri ran ground control for Santa's Sleigh.
“That was before my time. But I've heard good things.”
“With the technology we have now, he would have been even more miraculous. I've been around for 75 years and I've never seen anybody do such quick and complicated equations in his head like Dmitri could. But the scores on this test tell us we might have another whiz-kid on our hands. I’ve got him scheduled for an interview on Friday. Kordy will take it.”
“No. I think I’ll interview him myself.” I looked down at my computer. “Fallon is his name?”
“Yes, sir. And also, he’s from the elven community.”
“All the better for me to do the interview.”
I was one of the only elves on the Santa’s Sleigh team. This department was reindeer shifter territory, just like the workshops belonged to the elves. Sometimes exceptions were made and there was cross-hiring. I was one, a prodigy hiredby Santa himself fifteen years ago after I’d proven myself with a double college degree in meteorology and flight navigation. I’d worked hard to earn my way into the trust of the reindeer community. I made head team manager when I was twenty-five.
Normally, when job openings came along, we advertise it in the reindeer shifter community. But this application had come from elven territory. The only reason it had been flagged were those scores.
After Lance left, I read more of Fallon’s online application. He was twenty-two and had not yet graduated from college. With those test scores, I wondered why. I also worried that he was far too young for the job. I had many questions for him.
On Friday, I would find my answers.
“I allocatedmoney for three mathematician spots,” Santa said. His jolly face took up the entire large screen of my computer. His blue eyes twinkled. His beard glowed like moonlight on snow. “Two are filled. What about the third?”
“I have an interview for that position this afternoon, sir.”
“Let’s hope that works. As you recall, I had some time shift glitches last year. I received those corrections far too close to dawn’s light.” For us, sunrise was a designated time frame. We were in twenty-four-hour night mode here at the North Pole.
“I recall.” The team had worked frantically to solve the problem, but almost didn’t make the sunrise deadline.
“I want a smooth flight this year.”
“I’ll make sure.”
“I know you will, Keir.”
Sometimes promises were made that I couldn’t actually control. Weather was a big factor. Every type of weathercondition had to be planned for in every time slip and zone. The reindeer leading the sleigh had to be informed about weather changes as much in advance as possible. We communicated to them during the Christmas Eve flight through earbuds. They couldn’t answer us, but they could hear. Santa’s Sleigh reference sources, programs and calculations took up more bandwidth than Norad. Plus, we often needed to re-calculate at a moment’s notice. That required more than fancy programs. Sometimes ground control had to rewrite programming sections during Santa’s live flight. It had the potential to turn into chaos.
“I’m counting on you as I always do,” Santa said. His red bow lips formed a smile as the connection ended.
I got up and made sure everything was in order for the interview.
My office was mostly white, including the hearth where a fire always burned. The walls sloped like most of the offices and hallways in the building, mimicking a snow cave ambiance. The huge window behind my desk overlooked Snowman Plaza.
I had a light tree in one corner and candy canes in a jar on my desk. I was set.
I wasn’t trying to impress this young applicant. All this attention to detail had to do with my alpha penchant for perfection. Maybe I couldn’t control the weather on Christmas Eve, but I could control my immediate surroundings. It was what made me a good leader of the team.
My intercom buzzed.
“Yes?”
“Fallon is here,” Lance said.
“Send him in.”
The door opened. In walked a young man with shiny brown hair pulled back into a neat tail. I immediately saw round ears.
“Are you Fallon?”
“Yes, sir.”
