Free Frost and the Mailman by Cecil Castellucci Page A

the NORTH POLE right?”

    Iris looked at him like he was asking a dumb question.

    “You’re kidding, right?’ she asked.

    “I don’t celebrate Christmas so I’m just double-checking,” Daniel said. “I mean, for all I know, maybe Santa moved!”

    “North Pole,” Iris said. “Always has lived there. Always will.”

    “Then I think we have a problem,” Daniel said.

    One quick look at all the bags going to the South Pole revealed that, except for one tiny bag actually going to the Science Station, all the mail was intended for Santa.

    “Who do we call?” Daniel asked.

    “I don’t really know,” Iris said. “We are in a pickle.”

    They were both stumped. Iris suggested calling the manager. So Daniel called the manager, who said to call the foreman, who said to call the main office, who said to call the postmaster, who said to call the tech department, who said to call the director himself, Ivan F. Mann.

    “Mr. Wasserman?” Ivan F. Mann said. “I am a busy man, please get to the point.”

    “I think there has been a technical glitch,” Daniel said.

    “You are mistaken,” Ivan said. “My computer is perfect.”

    “I think Santa’s letters are not getting to him,” Daniel said.

    “Don’t be ridiculous,” Ivan said. “I’m sure that Santa is a modern man. I’m sure he switched to email long ago.”

    “I’m not so sure about that,” Daniel said. “There are an awful lot of letters here.”

    “It is not my problem. My system is flawless.” And then Ivan F. Mann hung up.

    “What are you going to do?’ asked Iris.

    “I guess I’m going to bring the mail to the North Pole myself,” Daniel said.

    He bought himself a hat and scarf, and got himself a GPS, and he loaded up a truck, not quite having the right permission to take it, and started driving north.

    When he got to the meeting point, there was a sleigh with reindeer. There was also a tiny little woman sleeping in the sleigh.

    “Hello?” Daniel said.

    She sat up and stretched and then blinked at him. She was wearing a green coat, trimmed with white fur, a very smart pointed hat and pointed boots. She also had pointed ears. She was the prettiest lady Daniel had ever seen.

    “Oh! You’re here! You’re finally here!” she said. “I’ve been waiting since June. I think there’s been some trouble with the mail.”

    “Well, here’s the mail you’ve been missing,” he said. He wanted to get back in the truck. The North was a lot colder than he thought it was going to be. “I guess this batch accidentally got marked South Pole.”

    “Is that all of it?” she asked.

    “Yeah,” Daniel said.

    “It can’t be!” the woman said. “That’s barely any mail at all!”

    “It’s a lot of mail,” Daniel said.

    “No it isn’t,” the woman said.

    Daniel looked at the mail. It really was a lot of mail. The truck was very big.

    The woman stood there looking at him. Blinking. She looked upset.

    “The thing is,” the little lady said, “since June, we’ve had no mail at all. I’ve just been sitting here. Waiting!”

    “You haven’t gotten any mail since June?” Daniel asked.

    “Yes,” the woman said. “Nothing.”

    “Nothing, as in not one single piece of mail?” Daniel asked.

    “Yes,” the woman said. “Not one piece of mail. Meaning, every single piece of mail has gone missing.”

    Now, it was not unusual for a letter or two to slip through the system. It was unfortunate, but sometimes mail got lost. Even so, people were still always getting things in the mail. Even though no one really wrote letters anymore, they got bills and unwanted flyers. They got catalogs and store coupons. They got postcards for the theater. And at this time of year, no matter what holiday you celebrated, you got holiday cards.

    “Look, uh…” Daniel said. Then he realized he didn’t know the woman’s name.

    “Frost,” she said.

    “Frost,” he liked her name. “I’m Daniel. And this is a very