Santa Society Audio version

Okay, with Chapter 1 more or less complete, I've finished recording the audio version of the prologue, which will hopefully be easier for people to digest. I'll get the audio for chapter one completed as soon as I am able, probably tomorrow if I'm fortunate enough to have some spare time, and if I'm feeling awake enough! ;)

So here's the link to the playlist for the prologue: https://soundcloud.com/bob-swanson-3/sets/the-santa-society

And now it's almost midnight, so I'm off to go give my wife a new year's kiss. Have a happy and safe new year everyone!

The Santa Society - Chapter 1: part 3

The flight from Washington to Vermont took practically no time at all, and soon they were touching down in a small private airfield.

"This is one of the busiest days for travel, so we're going to take the back roads to get to the hospital," said the driver who had been sent to meet them.

They got into the cargo van, (the Organization didn't employ limos or limo drivers) and drove through the relatively busy streets to the Saint Thomas Memorial Hospital.

Grandma had been moved from the ER to ICU. Not because she was necessarily in any particular danger, the nurse had explained, but there was still a slight danger of the embolism in her artery causing further issue, and they wanted to be ready to remove the blockage as soon as they determined where it was.

Isaak didn't really understand most of this, but accepted the information and filed it away, preferring to talk to his grandmother, which he was told was fine, she was lucid, but not totally coherent.

Isaak's heart nearly broke when he walked in, and when she saw him she only smiled with half of her face, the other half remaining still. She motioned for him to come over and sit on her left side, the good side.

"It's good to see you," she said, her words slurred and distorted, as he sat down beside her bed. He wanted to reach out to her, but he was afraid of doing something that might hurt her. But just as he thought this she held her hand out to him and crooked her fingers in invitation. He smiled shaking his head and took her hand.

The first thought through his head, the first thing he wanted to say was, "I can't do what you want," which made him feel ashamed. His second thought, "How are you" just made him feel stupid. How the hell did he think she was?

So he struggled for a moment for something to say, when she said to him, "You've grown a beard."

He nearly laughed in relief and nodded his head, suddenly wanting to cry...

"It looks good, and you've been keeping it trimmed. Your father didn't really trim his when he had one... looked like a mountain man."

His father. That brought the whole thing back around again, because his father was one of the biggest reasons he left this life.

"Grandma," he started, but she cut across him.

"Do you know how I knew you were going to take my place one day?"

He sighed and shook his head. "I..."

"We were in the control room when I was teaching your older cousin how to do the job. You were six, I think, and you watched everything in the room as I explained."

He remembered, but only vaguely.

"By the time I was done, and testing him, you were looking at the proper controls before I had even finished the question. Then when you were nine, you talked your way out of trouble so often, I thought you were going to grow up to be a con artist. But mostly it was seeing you teach. I've attended some of your online seminars in jazz. I had no idea there was so much to it. What I saw you, yelling and screaming like someone had just said they don't believe in Santa, and those kids listened. Every single one. They hung on every word you said."

Isaak couldn't think of anything else to say after this, so he remained silent for a moment, but she continued right on. "Don't worry, your mother and your cousin will be more than capable of showing you how everything works now. You have nothing to worry about."

He didn't speak, just looked pensively at her, but she didn't seem to notice . She turned her head to the front again, leaning it back, then started snoring lightly. Her hand went slack in her hand,  but all the monitors showed that she was doing okay, so he got up I'm headed back toward the enterence the room holding his hand to his forehead and rubbing vigorously.

 

His mother was walking towards him in the hallway, looking is a she just got off to get something to eat. She caught sight of him and gasped with delight.  But before she could start her usual barrage of questions he cut her of.

"When she comes to, tell her that I'm giving her just this weekend. Nothing else.  just. this. weekend."

He  started off down the hallway and back towards is ride.

When Miriam poked her head around the corner she found her mother looking at her mischievously.

The Santa Society - Chapter 1: part 2

The Sleigh was the first of ten high-priority delivery planes that were used primarily during the holiday season for a number of different purposes, from toy shipments, to perishable foods, to high priority passengers such as returning veterans, sick children, and people who couldn't afford to reach their families.

The other planes were named after the eight classical reindeer and Rudolph. To maintain anonymity when people who could not afford airfare, or vets, or anyone that the society deemed worthy were told that they would be getting free airfare they were told that it was the "airline" who was taking care of it, but not to let anyone know because they didn't want everyone asking for free rides.

They were used year round, though never as heavily as the holiday season. The Sleigh was generally reserved for company use, and only pressed into service when none of the "Reindeer" were available, even so it was only used when absolutely necessary, when time was a big factor.

Like now apparently.

Isaak had never had a reason to go into the airports private hangar section, and finding the right way through the maze of little roads was difficult even WITH the GPS to guide him. The mapmakers, and those who created the little codes that showed the shortest distances, probably didn't consider these wide open concrete oceans to be anything as formal as a "road."

But eventually Isaak found his way to private hangar 217 where sat the relatively small private jet, painted to look like Santa, sitting on a sleigh in a night sky, with a sack of toys at his back. Isaak rolled his eyes, but couldn't help a small grin.

He also noticed that there were what looked like a second pair of engines carefuly mounted next to the originals, but they looked kinda weird. The cowlings weren't painted at all, so they clashed with the originals, and they were only about one third the size.

"Electrical," said a voice from behind him, as he leaned in to get a better look.

He whipped around to see a blonde, slightly balding man watching him. He smiled, and put on a look of mock confusion, pointing at the man, clearly the pilot, and said, "Hammy right? Wait, no... Hambone?

The man chuckled. "Oh, I'm not giving you any help on this one. Sink or swim time for you."

Isaak smirked, saying, "Story of my life... Hammond." He had always known the pilots name, but liked to have fun with him too. "Wait," he said. "Did you say electrical?"

Hammond grimmaced and nodded. "NO idea how it works really. Something about charged particles getting sucked in one end, and pushed out the other. I think they called it an electrostatic turbine?" He shrugged. "Someone's doing some kind of Kickstarter, 'you-know-who' is supporting it, so suddenly, we're testing a couple of these things."

"And?" asked Isaak. "How have they been working?"

Hammond shrugged. "They won't get you off the ground, but it'll move you along while you're in the air. Eats through batteries like a fat man through oreos."

"Really? How much power does it take?"

"Eh, nine-volt battery."

Hammond joined Isaak, snorting at that joke, but then shook his head and nodded toward the cabin of the plane. "It's prolly gonna be a couple hours or so before we can get clearance, so might as well wait inside...."

Santa Society Audio version Prologue part 1

Okay, so yeah this is a little cheaty. But it's been pointed out to me that I post SO MUCH that it's hard for people to keep up with. So I figured that an audio version would be easier to digest, and people can listen while they're doing other things. I'll post more soon, I'm going to try to record the rest of the prologue then post it as soon as I can. Also I HAVE ENABLED DOWNLOADS so you can listen to this on your mp3 player, or phone or whatever. 

The Santa Society - Chapter 1: The Prodigal Son

It was 7:30 Eastern Time when Miriam called Isaac. However, in Seattle it was only 4:30, which meant that the final Jazz Orchestra practice of the Puget Sound Jazz Observatory was just about to come to a close, before breaking for Thanksgiving.

Rhythms floated around and past each other, dancing and skittering, jumping up and down, and then somehow seemingly sideways. Some sections were featured at different points of the song well the other sections provided rhythm and a stable backbone on which the other parts floated along, while the percussion played five finger fillet with the melody,  threatening to slice it open as it danced just out of reach.

The guitar, a green Gibson hollow body, with the most smooth and natural sound that anyone has ever heard, was about to embark on a soulful journey when suddenly a peice of chalk flew through the air and clanged off the bell of the alto sax, bouncing off at crazy, nearly impossible angle where it hit the bell of the tuba , before spiraling into the spit filled depths.

The music ground to a halt and the tuba player groaned and set his tuba on the floor resignedly, sighing, "Not again..."

The alto sax player's eyes were wide, and trying to look anywhere except for the front of the room where there stood 31 year old bubbling furnace of rage,  which was currently staring her down like a drill sergeant who had just been called "Mom."

When nothing seemed forthcoming, the guitar player slowly raised his hand and said tentatively,  "Uh...  Mister Weber? Uh..  Wh -" 

"Alex," Mr Weber snapped suddenly. "What mode were we just playing in?" 

Alex checked his sheets.  "Lydian mode sir." 

"And what happens if you play a major mode with a flat and 7th? Class?" 

"Myxolydian mode sir."

"And does mixolydian mode sound good in the composition that we were playing a moment ago?"

"No s-"

"WRONG! It sounds freaking fantastic when you want to inject a little bit of melancholy and a bittersweetness into a composition. It's  heartbreak for people don't have time for heartbreak but need to have the feeling anyway. It is an amazing MODE... when done with intent." 

He paused moment to catch his breath and to let them catch theirs.

"BUT WE ARE IN THE FREAKING LYDIAN MODE UNTIL I SAY OTHERWISE!"

Everyone jumped in their seats as Mr Weber raised his baton again,  speaking in a loud schoolteachers voice, "Okay then, from the beginning-"  groans filled the practice room.  "One and two an-"

His mobile phone rang. Everyone gasped.  Mr Weber's No-Phone policy was the stuff of legend, and sometimes nightmare.

But Isaac knew there were only two numbers he allowed to reach him at any time,  and both knew better to call him this early in the afternoon... Unless...

"Alright we're done for the day. Get going. Shannon GET that scale mode DOWN, or so help me... " He let the threat hang, but curled his hand into a claw and shook the back of it at her menacingly.

She looked frightened, but eager at the same time. "Yes Mr Weber."

"Thank you!" He said with overstated relief in his voice.

He grabbed the still ringing phone and ducked behind a section of mobile sound baffling.  He picked it up just before it went to voice mail.

"Mom?" He didn't mean for his voice to come out hard and harsh, but his emotions always ran a little high right after rehearsal.

But she didn't seem to notice. "Isaac," she began. She sounded like she was going to berate him for a moment, but she was always better at shifting gears than he was.

Then just before she spoke again she gave a great sniff if her nose, and Isaac realized from years of experience that his mother had been crying. 

His mind jumped ahead several steps. "Grandma... she's not d-" He couldn't bring himself to finish the thought, but his mother cut him off.

"No she's-" He had the impression she was trying not to say the words "not dead" as much as he was trying not to think those words. "She's just had... an episode. The doctors used the term CVE or CVA, but I don't-"

"A cerebrovascular event, or accident," said Isaak, who realized he watched WAY to many hospital dramas, but was thanking House MD at the moment. "Grandma had a stroke?"

"Is that what that means?" said his mother distractedly. "I had thought so, the way she seemed when I brought her into the hospital... she couldn't speak without slurring, she could only smile on one side, and... " she hesitated, clearly trying to maintain her composure but still sounding a bit forlorn when she said, "She couldn't remember my name..."

"Oh, god, Mom, I'm sorry... is there anything I can do?"

She took a deep breath and regained her composure. "Yes," she said simply. "She's asked for you."

Isaak froze. This could only mean one thing, and it was the thing he had been dreading since his grandmother turned 75 or so... "What do you mean?" he asked cautiously. 

"You know exactly what I mean Isaak."

He groaned softly. "But Mom-"

"No 'buts,'" she said. "She told me to send The Sleigh to get you."

Isaak blinked at that for a moment. "Wow," he mused. "She really is serious."

The Santa Society by Bob Swanson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://billyuno.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-santa-society-prologue-part-1.html.

The Santa Society - Prologue part 4

And on that day something magical happened. Niclause and Klause discovered that together they had something special. If they gave something away, even if it was only to a few people, everyone wanted to buy it. And they bought more than they would need, just so that they could give it to their friends and family.

After only a few days the bakery was so busy that Niclause had to hire people to help with the selling of his goods, and with some of the baking of the more basic items. He shared his good fortune with Klaus and the two of them became partners in the bakery. Klaus, for his part was the face, and the spirit of the operation, and went around to different villages giving away spiced shortbread biscuits like the ones that made people love Niclause's cooking in the first place. People came from hundreds of miles away then, to get more of Niclause's fine baked goods.

Eventually, when asked, and if the baker was far enough away, Niclause began to sell his recipes to those who asked, if they could prove they were a baker, and if they were far enough away. When asked the secret of his success, he would always tell them the same thing: Give some away. At first they would scoff, and laugh, but they as they tried to run their own shops, they found that those who followed the advice prospered, and those that did not, fell into obscurity.

And as the years went by, both Niclause and Klaus became centers of the community, and a central part of the Winter Festival in that region. For weeks beforehand Niclause's bakery took orders and baked practically around the clock getting food ready.

Klaus meanwhile was asked to put in appearances as Saint Nick, which eventually simply changed into Saint Klaus, all over the region, hundreds of miles away. When he did he brought cookies and cakes from Niclause's bakery as gifts to children, and soon other businesses were getting into the spirit as well. Children soon began to receive not only pastries, but candies, fruits, and meat pies, as well as clothes and shoes, but probably most notably, and certainly most successfully: Toys.

However it soon became impossible for Klaus to make as many appearances as he would like, so he had to hire impersonators to go to different places and fill in for him. He required that they act as he would act, taking an interest and joy in the people there in the places they went, and he had people who would report to him on whether the Saint Klaus had been naughty or nice. When people asked how he could be in so many places so quickly he replied jokingly, "I have a team of Magic Horses that fly me from place to place."

And as even more years went by the feast became known as the Sinterklaas feast, a play on words, meaning Winter Man, but also including Sint Klaus who had taken on a central role in the holiday. Niclause in the meantime had organized many of the bakeries, clothes makers, grocers, candy makers, toy makers, and other businesses, and formed a group who, in secret, helped to provide for all those who didn't have enough, all the poor and homeless, all those who could not help themselves. They called themselves the Sinterklaas society, and every year they used the festival of Sinterklaas to help build up very large amounts of money, which they would use to help their friends and neighbors who needed it.

************

That's where the story in the book ended, but Grandma always included a little more at the end, to bring them up to date.

"The Sinterklaas legend lived on long after the death of Klaus himself, and beyond Niclause too. Their children took it on, and their children, and theirs, and so on. And all the different business owners that prospered from the Sinterklaas festival continued to be a part of the Society, even when the story migrated here to America, and became know as Santa Clause, all without the help of the society.

"Then, just before World War One, the whole family followed the Santa Clause story over to America, to avoid being caught up in the war. But for several years they didn't know how they were going to continue on helping people.

"Until my Mother Issadora Klaussen found an old picture of our Great-great-grandfather, many times removed," she held up the book and tapped on the front cover, "and showed it to an advertising agency in the late 1920's. They showed it to two different artists, who each created similar versions.

"Then they licensed the likeness to a popular soft drink company, and image became so popular that the likeness began to appear everywhere... licensed by what we now call: The Santa Society. And we take the money we get from Santa, and his image, and we help people all over this country, and all over the world." She closed the book with a flourish and smiled, and the children all jumped to their feet and cheered, as everyone else applauded heartily.

Then one by one the children went and sat in Grandma's lap and gave her a hug, though many of the teenage children simply opted to lean down over the chair, without sitting in her lap.

At one point Grandma found that her right arm didn't seem to want to hold the child in her lap, and she had to hold her with her left arm instead.Then she had the strangest sensation that her left eye was sliding shut, and she couldn't seem to smile with the right side of her mouth.

But she continued to hug all of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren one by one, till finally the last one had gone back to their parents.

With her left hand she motioned to her daughter Miriam to come over. She motioned for Miriam to lean down so that she could whisper in her ear, and when she did her speech was slightly slurred, because she could only talk out of the left side of her mouth.

"I'm going to need your help M- Mary- uhm Marga- eh Miriam."

Miriam looked at her in surprise and alarm. Her mother never forgot anyone's name. She started to look around for someone to help, but Grandma gripped her hand with surprising strength. "No," she told her. "I don't want to ruin the celebration for everyone. I just need you to drive me to the hospital. No ambulance, no fuss, if anyone asks, tell them my knee is hurting, same as always, and you're taking me home. Okay sweety?"

Miriam looked like she was fighting back tears, but after a moment she seemed to regain her composure, and nodded.

"Okay Mom," she said. "I understand." She smiled at her mother to show everyone that everything was fine - secret keeping and deception for noble purposes were second nature in this family - and said, "Why don't we get you to your feet then?"

Grandma nodded and got unsteadily to her feet, favoring her right side, which seemed to have only limited functionality. She could put in on the floor, and put a very minimal amount of weight on it, but that seemed to be all. So Miriam held her up on her right side, and she used her red and white striped cane on the left.

As they walked to the door of the hall, after deflecting a few concerned inquiries, Grandma said, "Um, M.. Uh- Sweety," As she slurred her words, Miriam's eyes grew a little wider with concern, but she managed to hide it. "There's something else I need you to do, as soon as you get the chance. I need to to call your son back."

"Isaak? But Mom, he left years ago. He has his own life now, and he swore he'd never come back to this one."

Grandma shook her head. "There's no one else, or I wouldn't ask. Tell him. Tell him Grandma understands, and she loves him, and wants him to be happy, but there's no one else who can do this."

"Okay Mom," said Miriam. "I know he's not going to like it, but I'll tell him."

"Good."

**********************

 Later at the hospital, where doctors were poking and prodding at her mother, and tossing around vague acronyms like CVA, Miriam pulled out her phone and called her son.
The Santa Society by Bob Swanson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://billyuno.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-santa-society-prologue-part-1.html.

The Santa Society - Prologue part 3

Niclause looked dejectedly at the two coins, and silently took them from Klaus.

"What happened?" he asked quietly.

Klaus took of his hat, and started to tell the tale, quietly at first, but becoming more animated by the end.

"Then before I realized what was happening everyone was slapping my back, calling me 'Saint Klaus' and congratulating me on rescuing the little girl. I didn't think it would be right to tell one person they could have the cookie for free then tell everyone else they had to pay!" He shrugged. "Up till then, so many people has passed them by, I didn't think anyone else would want them anyway... " He fell back into silence and sat on a stool, hanging his head again.

Niclause shook his head sadly, and despite his woes he had to laugh a little at the irony.

"So as soon as they were free everyone loved them," he said, rolling his eyes. He sat down too, and held his head in his hands. "I don't know what I'm going to do Klaus." His voice started to shake. "I'll lose the bakery. My family will be on the street."

Klaus shook his head. "No, no," he said. "This was all my fault. I will pay for the cookies."

"I cannot let you do that Klaus. You already had to pay for the costume, and also I owe you for the days work! I can't blame you for helping a little girl, I would have done the same thing."

"But I can't let you and your family live on the street, eating twigs and berries, I would would be ashamed of myself!"

Niclause shook his head. "There's nothing we can do now. I must bake as much as I can, to sustain my family and to sell for money. Thank you Klaus-"

"Niclause listen-"

"There's nothing more to say. Don't worry, I don't blame y-"

"No no, Niclause: LISTEN. Do you hear that?"

Niclause stopped and listened . He could, very faintly, hear the sound of voices. It sounded like many voices far away for coming closer all the time.

Klaus looked up at Niclause. Then, very slowly, he went to the door and pulled it open.

Outside, coming up the street, they saw hundreds of people. Men and women carrying children, all laughing and smiling. But when they caught side of claus, they all started cheering,  and yelling, "Saint Klaus!" and started rushing forward with bags of coin jingling in their hands.

"Do you have more of those cookies?" he heard somebody shout.

Klaus was taken aback. "You want to BUY the cookies?"

"They're delicious!" shouted a woman. Niclause raised his head at this unexpected praise.

"I want to give them as gifts to my children!" shouted a man.

Niclause, his eyes wide and disbelieving, stared out at the crowd as they shouted the name "Saint Klaus" over and over again. He stepped up beside the red suited man, and whispered out of the side of his mouth, "I think you should put the hat back on."

He did.

The Crowd erupted into cheers.





The Santa Society by Bob Swanson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://billyuno.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-santa-society-prologue-part-1.html.