Elle has a Sneeze
What a tragedy! Some silly elf had made a Humbug soup which made them very sick. The resulting illness caused a nationwide pandemic affecting the elves; they called it Snowvid 20! Shops and schools were being forced to shut, gatherings were banned and travel had never been so restricted! Being the merry creatures they are, the elves tried to keep their chins up and support each other but northern elves crave work. Without jobs to go to, they were becoming depressed and succumbing to cabin fever. All that is except Santa's elves.
Santa's workshops were considered an essential business. Not just as the biggest employer in the North pole, but for it's significance to the economy. One bad Christmas would put the world in jeopardy for a century at the least!
"You have everything you need, Avery?" Elle asked as she and Eldon were leaving work one morning.
"Yeah, everything's good." Avery reassured. "Stay safe."
"You too!" Elle and Eldon replied. The two of them were armed with sanitizer and tissues, one can never be too careful. Eldon was keeping his eyes pealed as they made the journey, it wasn't very safe outside the grounds of Santa's workshop. All the other elves were attacking Santa's elves in order to acquire their uniforms so they could go out and about as they wished! The nurses and doctors also had this problem, but there was less of a guilty burden from stealing from Santa's elves it seemed.
Elle and Eldon arrived safely and after washing their hands, they got to work. The workshops were quieter than usual. While the business had to stay open and elves were still working, their shifts had decreased in order to comply with social distancing. Everyone was still working but with less staff at a time and having to work at a faster pace because of it.
"You know," Elle began as she spoke to her personal assistant. "I wish I was able to do my checks around the workshop. It gets so lonely just doing all this work without seeing the merry faces of my staff each day."
"That may be so but with the current situation they probably aren't as merry as usual." the personal assistant sympathized. "Plus you do have a lot of work to do, yourself. You may become too busy to feel lonely."
"If I'm doing a good enough job, I suppose you're right." Elle reflected. That morning she was due for another trip on the sleigh simulator, they had finally gotten it working but the sleigh prop had to be cleaned and isolated for three days to ensure it was safe for Elle to use the simulator. "Let's hope the sleigh works properly this time, otherwise that'll easily be another week or two before I get another test!"
"My fingers are crossed for you," said the personal assistant. "Luckily you have some of the finest scientists in the world, certainly the finest from elven regions."
Elle left the office for her test which turned out to be a success. The simulation did not malfunction at any point and Elle was able to get a proper test which ensured she would be safely capable of flying the sleigh on the big night. It was just as well, none of the scientist elves were so willing to come close to Elle; they didn't want to risk spreading infection should they have Snowvid!
Lunch time came and Elle made her way to the canteen, same as everyone else. Elle's personal assistant was adamant that they should have brought her lunch so that Elle would not be at a high risk of infection, however Elle insisted on going so that she'd get to see the staff for a bit, even if she was instructed to take her lunch back to the office for her own safety!
The canteen was just as strange an experience, every second seat was marked so that the elves would be at least a meter apart from each other. The elves were still conversing with each other but it just didn't have the usual Christmassy spirit that Elle was accustomed to. She was just about to join the queue when she felt something in her nose. It was a tickly sensation- no- it was a sneeze! Elle tried to hold it in, sneezing and coughing were seen as symptoms of Snowvid, so even if an elf was well, the act of sneezing or coughing was alarming to all!
But alas, it was no good. Elle let out a very sharp, very loud ACHOO! into her elbow. Everyone stopped and stared. Not a sound was to be heard, not even a bless you. It sounded like even the kitchen equipment fell silent, maybe even the whole workshop! Elle was beginning to wish she had let her personal assistant collect her lunch instead! Worse was to come...
Having caused a scene with her sneeze, there were now rumours going around the workshops that Santa had caught Snowvid 20! It got so bad that Elle had to take a test and then reassure her staff that the test came back negative. Even though she did so, traces of the rumour still went around the workshop, with the additional question of 'what is Santa caught Snowvid?'; all Elle was concerned about was when the cure would be found. The sooner Snowvid 20 could be cured, the sooner the North Pole could return to normal!
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