Santa's Workshop at the North Pole was a very busy place - everywhere was the sound of hammers and saws, sewing machines and pneumatic staple guns wielded by busily humming elves.

Then, above the din of the working elves, Roly, a round and jolly elf yelled, "Hey! Who took all the wing nuts! I can't find any wing nuts!" Roly was rummaging through a big box of hardware but it seemed very nearly empty.

"I had to throw a whole bunch in the trash," Smith, the lead elf answered, "they weren't quite right."

"But now we don't have any and I need them for this truck," Roly replied.

"Yeah, and I can't find enough fabric for the doll dresses I'm making. Where did all the blue and white gingham go?" Amber the elf asked.

"We threw away about six bolts of that yesterday. It looked dull," Mrs. Claus said, looking up from her sewing.

"Wow, I guess that's why we had so many bags of garbage last week," Smith said shaking his head.

"But couldn't we just wash it?" Amber asked.

"We'll just get some more," Mrs. Claus answered brightly.

Just then the door opened on a very familiar face, "Ho, ho, ho," said the jolly elf named Santa Claus. "What a busy Workshop we have today," he said merrily. Then he added seriously, "But I think we all need to reduce the amount of garbage we make at the Workshop. Maybe the bits we think are trash can be used in some other way."

Erno, the littlest elf, rushed excitedly over to him, "Santa, Santa wait 'til you hear! Yesterday, out on the pack ice, Amber and I saw the strangest thing. In the distance, in the twilight we saw a . . . a. . . animal with one long horn coming straight out of its head!"

"It was a unicorn," Amber said firmly, "There's no doubt about it."

"Ho, ho, ho. You don't say?" Santa laughed heartily, his blue eyes twinkling merrily.

Percy, an elf who was head and shoulders taller than Erno, laughed too, "Yeah, right and I'm a wizard. I think Amber has been reading too many Castles and Maidens stories, and now she's got Erno believing. Was there a fire-breathing dragon too?" he teased.

Mrs. Claus clucked a scolding sound, "Now Percy, you never know. If there are unicorns in this world, the North Pole is just where you'd find them."

Roly, ducking his head in embarrassment said, "Well, there are some strange things on the ice these days. Last evening, Percy and I. . . we. . ." Roly looked to Percy for approval.

Percy scowled and then picked up the thread of the story, "We heard strange sounds," he said quickly, "Sounds like. . .like a moose trapped under the ice or I dunno, like the spirit of a wolf howling in a big icy cave. It was weird and eerie," he concluded suddenly.

Santa's Workshop was suddenly silent. Santa, Mrs. Claus and the other elves realized that Percy, the biggest and bravest elf, was, at least a little bit, frightened by his experience.

Had unicorns actually been seen at the North Pole. Was the North Pole haunted?

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