Santa and Mrs. Claus sat on either side of a table looking at back-to-back computer screens. They were checking BMI Internet email for letters to Santa. Each year, bags and bags of letters were sent to Santa, Mrs. Claus, the elves, and the reindeer in care of Santa Claus at the North Pole, Canada HOH OHO. Many other letters to Santa were sent via email. Santa loved to read them all - and he answered them too.

"Ho, ho, ho. Listen to this one from Nick in Flesherton: 'Dear Santa, how are you and the elves? Do you like cookies and carrots on Christmas Eve? We will have some of each at my house on Christmas Eve.' Ho, ho, ho, Presents for Santa and the reindeer, how thoughtful. Nick says he would like Cheetah High Speed Internet Access from BMI Internet, and a speedy new sleigh for Christmas. Ho, ho, ho. He sounds just like our Percy," Santa said. Just then Percy and Smith lugged in three more huge bags of mail.

"Oh, my stars! More mail," Mrs. Claus said, reaching into one of the bags. "This one is from Taylor in Kitchener. She says she would like a CD burner for her computer, and a pretty party dress to wear to Christmas dinner at her cousin's home in Orillia," Mrs. Claus said.

"Santa, I have to tell you that as much mail as we have, we have more bags of garbage," Smith reported. "The situation is getting out of hand. Rudolph and the other reindeer are complaining because I'm keeping the garbage stored in the back of the stable. It's not stinky, but it's an oppressively large hill. On top of that, we're out of all kinds of supplies we need to finish the toys this year. We had to dump a few crates of screws and wing nuts, as you may recall, and some fabric and glue that was spoiled, plus a gross of buttons that were all wrong. Frankly, I'm worried about not having everything we need," Smith stopped suddenly and took a deep breath.

Santa stood silently shaking his head. Mrs. Claus stopped her happy humming and the elves looked glumly at the bags of mail, filled with letters from children asking Santa for games and toys.

"I need to think about this," Santa said gravely. "You elves run along. Smith can you ask Rudolph to come here to the house, please. And Percy, I think you'd better catch up with Amber and Erno - I saw them heading out on an icy adventure."

Out on the ice, Erno and Amber had packed snacks, flashlights, a tape recorder and a camera, and were creeping up on the ice unicorn. A sudden noise behind them made them jump.

"Not without us, you don't," Percy said, as he grabbed Erno in a playful headlock. "Yeah, we want to see the unicorn too," Roly smiled.

"Well there she is," Amber said. The four elves stared into the dusk and in the distance could see a single spiraled and tapered horn waving in the cold evening air and then plunging into the ice.

"It could be a unicorn, lying down, maybe on her side, maybe she's hurt," Erno whispered urgently.

"Maybe it's a unicorn marshmallow roast," Roly suggested. "Maybe that's not a horn at all but a roasting stick!" Roly frequently thought about food, so it didn't surprise the elves to hear his theory. None of them responded to it, except to roll their eyes.

Just then, the creature and the elves heard a haunting sound.

"That's it, that's the sound I heard before!" Percy cried. A low, echoing sound - on-off on-off, like an eerie signal. Then more and more with the sounds on top of one another now, louder and louder. The elves looked to the unicorn. They were closer to the creature now, but it wasn't her making the noise. She was rigid, frozen, as if waiting for the sound to end before she would move. The unicorn was not making that sound. But whatever was, it was definitely getting closer!

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