The eerie echoing sound finally ebbed away like a train passing. Then, the elves and the unicorn creature moved again.

"Hey wait. Don't go," Erno called to the unicorn. She was at the edge of a large sheet of ice, about to slide under and into the open water.

The unicorn paused and looked to Erno. On her single spiraled long horn was a mess of tangled plastic rings, like the kind that might hold together tins. She looked sadly at Erno and the other elves and then spoke, "Perhaps you can help me get this ridiculous piece of garbage off my tusk? I've been trying to slide it off in the snow, but it seems to be wrapping tighter."

"Oh sure, we can help out," Erno answered. Always a helpful elf, Erno stepped up to the giant unicorn and without even thinking, began to untangle the trash from her tusk. "I've never seen a unicorn before," he said. "Do you live around here?" he asked politely.

The creature laughed a deep warm chuckle. "A unicorn, you say? Well now, I do live here in the ocean. But I'm a narwhal, my name is Joy."

"There, it's gone." Erno said tugging the last of the plastic off her tusk, "My name is Erno, and these are my friends, Amber, Roly and Percy."

The other elves, who had been silently staring at Erno, secretly thinking he was the bravest fellow they'd ever seen, suddenly came alive.

"What are you?" Roly asked rudely.

"Roly!" Amber scolded, "that's not how you ask."

"But that weird sound, was that you?" Percy asked.

Joy laughed again, "No, that wasn't me. I'm a narwhal, a marine mammal, and I do make a similar echo-locating sound. But that sound you heard was the Orca whales. They share my ocean home with me. But together we have a problem with all this garbage and plastic and other stuff that shouldn't be in the ocean. The ocean is getting crowded with garbage. It never used to be like this. It was clean and a joy to call home."

"Home, oh my gosh! We have to hurry. The Christmas Concert, Songs of Joy, it's tonight!" Amber cried.

"We'll come and see you again, Joy," Erno cried. The other elves yelled their agreement as they disappeared toward the Town Hall.

"Joy has given me an idea," Amber said as they hurried to the Hall. "I'm going to reduce, re-use, and recycle - even for my Christmas gifts!" she said.

"She gave me an idea too - for the concert," Erno said mysteriously.

At the Town Hall, all of the North Pole neighbours had gathered together for the annual Winter Concert, this year called Songs of Joy. Inside, the show was about the start.

Even in the darkened auditorium, the audience members didn't need their programs to know when the reindeer chorus was taking the stage. The reindeer clomped onto the darkened stage, the sound of sleigh bells barely heard above the sound of their hooves. When the stage lights came up, the reindeer stood proudly, tiny tinkling bells twined through their antlers, their black noses - and one red nose -shiny and wet. Mrs. Claus, their conductor, raised her baton, quietly mouthing, "And one, and two, and. . ."

The reindeer broke into a lovely chorus of Adeste Fideles.

Song after song produced cheering applause throughout the evening. Roly sang Santa Claus is Coming to Town in a black tuxedo, his hair slicked back smooth with pomade, looking - and sounding - a little like ol' blue eyes himself.

Then, the final song on the program, Santa himself sang It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year. Just as he finished, Erno announced an extra special finale. Along with the other elves, he softly sang Do You Hear What I Hear? In the background was a tape of the Orca whales. Although the whales weren't actually singing words, but only making sounds, along with the elf voices, it sounded hauntingly beautiful.

When it ended there was an eerie silence, then applause that almost brought down the house.

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