Forest waited until he heard Mitzi and Billy walk away from the barn door. No sense causing them any alarm by talking about flying reindeer.
“Hey, girl.” He motioned for Snowflake to come out of the stall. The little scamp.
She flicked her tail into the air and sashayed past him.
He snorted. “Who do you think you are? Sparkle?”
Offended, Snowflake lowered her brow and glared, making Forest laugh. Sparkle was the resident princess in the fliers’ barn back home. She was stunningly beautiful and knew it all the way to the tips of her shiny black hooves. She was also not Santa-sleigh worthy, which was part of the reason he was keen to bring Snowflake back to North Dakota.
“Want to play a little reindeer game?”
Snowflake’s tail wagged back and forth, and her eyes brightened.
He glanced around. His barn back home had all the toys. Here, he’d have to made do. Spying an old Frisbee in the corner, he snatched it up. That’d work. Holding it up, he waved it around. “Are you ready?” He threw it straight up in the air without waiting for an answer.
A moment later, he had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit as it came back down.
“Snowflake? Don’t you remember how to play?” He jogged over to the Frisbee and picked it up. “You gotta catch it.” He positioned himself in the middle of the barn where the ceiling was the tallest and threw again. This time, he watched the Frisbee instead of the reindeer and was ready to catch it when it came down.
Snowflake pawed at the ground.
“What gives?”
She lifted her gaze to meet his.I gave up flying,she seemed to say.
“Gave it up?!” He checked his volume. “What do you mean, gave it up? Why?”
She stared at the door where Mitzi and Billy had gone out.
“For him? You gave up flying for Billy?”
She nodded.
He threw the Frisbee back into the corner. “So what? You’re not going to fly for Santa? You’re going to give up your dream to be one of the top eight reindeer in the world?”
She stared back, unblinking.
“Do you know how many reindeer would kill to have what you have?”
She lowered her nose to the ground.
“Snowflake.” He walked forward and tugged on her harness to get her to look at him. “Why are you doing this?”
He needs me.
“So do millions of children around the world.”
She didn’t respond.
“And just because you don’t fly doesn’t mean you can stay here. There are laws. Rules we have to follow, or the ranch could be shut down.”
She blinked.
He let out a sigh. “I’m calling Dad.”
She nodded.I expected as much.
He stepped a few feet away, and she wandered back into her stall. Not that the space gave him all that much privacy, but at least it created the illusion of privacy. He sighed heavily and pulled his phone out. His arm throbbed and his head throbbed, and he wouldn’t mind curling up in the corner stall and taking a long winter’s nap. But he had to press on. He’d been looking for Snowflake for too long to give up on reuniting her with the herd. Not to mention they needed her. Santa needed her.
