Her mom’s golden hair was shining in the sunlight – it looked as if it was made to charm anyone. It began to work its magic on her, and Emma took her first cautious step towards the table. Far away, another girl was taking her first cautious step. The snow crunched under her pointed shoes, and her hand was sweaty. All of a sudden, SPLAT! The girl lost her footing and fell to the ground. This was not any normal girl, though. She was about eight inches tall, had point ears, and was covered head to toe in red and green. The fat was, this girl was an elf named Ellie. This was the first snow Ellie had experienced and she was not used to it. Suddenly, her arm started twitching, her face turned completely red, and she started bursting into hilarious, uncontrollable laughter. A group of elves that had been having a snowball fight noticed her and ran to her side. See, this was not just normal laughter, this meant a human had called her! "You've been called!" came the voice of her friend Morton, a slightly chubby elf. Next came the whole thing of packing up all your belongings, collecting some snow, and then finally doing the transport thing. Ellie hopped into her sack. She fastened the gold nametag that she had been saving for this very moment. Her mom knocked on her bedroom door with the Jyack (the man that performs the sendoff to the human world). “Hornosh tiggle na unguof tite!” whispered the Jyack. Ellie, who was nestled comfortably in her sack, watched her mom wave goodbye. Her head started spinning, and right before her vision blurred she noticed the tear of watching her firstborn go off to the human world run down her mom’s cheek. Then all went black. Emma had just woken up from a long seep and was dozing peacefully. "EMMA WAKEUPITSNOWEDATONOUTSIDEANDSCHOOL WAS CANCELED THERE’S SSOMETHINGATYOURPLACEATTHETABLE1!!" yelled brother Jeremy. "Jeremy, calm down! I'm almost up." Emma was still feeling a little groggy, but if there was actually snow outside, it was worth getting up. But something Jeremy had said at the end particularly interested her. What was at her place at the table? She leapt out of bed, grabbed her bathrobe and fumbled with it as she dashed up the stairs to the kitchen. It couldn't be-but could it? Sitting on the kitchen table was a tiny little cloth doll. She had blonde ringlets and poking out of them were pointy ears. She was wearing a sack. Emma walked towards the doll. It didn't just look like a doll, though. She had a twinkle in her eye, and the warm pink lips looked like they were dying to burst out with “I just can't to play with you!" Emma took the elf out of the velvet sack to discover a little nametag that read, “Hi, my name is Ellie and I love to dance!" Underneath the sack, Ellie was wearing a little red tunic trimmed with snowflakes, green and white striped leggings, green mittens, and green pointed shoes. Emma gently held Ellie and ran down the stairs to tell her mom the news. “Mom, look w hat I got! Her name’s Ellie, isn’t she cute?” said Emma. “She is! Where did you get her?” her mom asked. After a moment’s thought, Emma joyously replied: “Santa!” Phoebe Mills 6th Grade Girls' Preparatory School Mrs. McKenna
241