Arlie, Santa's Postman (A Christmas Story for Young and Old Children)
Arlie, Santa’s Postman (A Christmas Story for Young and Old Children) 
by Danny C. Wash
Arlie, the postman, worked his mail delivery route all year in Northern Alaska. Arlie used a dog sled of Huskies to deliver the mail. Arlie had a special route once each year to carry the children’s Christmas letters to Santa with his dog sled pulled by his Huskies. The lead dog was named Meesha and she would forge the way through the snow to the North Pole. Arlie was the only postman who knew the route and Meesha always led the journey. Arlie always left on the trek to the North Pole on a day that would let him take all the letters at once and not leave any behind.
When that special day was approaching and almost all the letters were ready, Arlie received a message from his boss who asked him to come to town to the central post office. When Arlie arrived, his boss took him to the back and showed him a brand new snowmobile that the post office officials said must now be used by all postmen in Alaska. All the dog sleds were to be retired immediately. Arlie protested but to no avail. The post office had spoken and that was it. Sadly, Arlie took the snowmobile back to his home and asked his wife to gather the Huskies and Meesha. Arlie told them the bad news as they all barked and whined.
Finally, the morning arrived for the trip to the North Pole but a terrible snow storm was brewing in the north toward the North Pole. All the children’s letters were loaded in a large mail bag, which was placed on a small sled behind the snowmobile. Because Meesha knew the special route to the North Pole also, Arlie decided to allow Meesha to ride behind him on the snowmobile. As Arlie started the snowmobile, it began snowing heavily and growing darker as the snowstorm approached. But, Arlie took his postman’s oath seriously about “neither snow, nor...” would prevent him from taking the children’s letters to Santa. Arlie pointed the snowmobile north, accelerated, and bravely headed into the storm.
As it was growing darker, the wind was blowing so fiercely that the snowmobile was having trouble moving through the drifts. Also, the terrible cold was causing the snowmobile’s engine to begin to fail because of all the snow in the air. It was dark now and Arlie could barely see despite the snowmobile’s light shining ahead. Finally, the snow was so deep and the wind so strong that the snowmobile became stuck in the drifts and the engine died, as well as the light. Arlie was freezing and desperately wondering what he could do. After his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Arlie saw a faint glimmering light in the distance. Arlie thought he knew what it might be, so he and Meesha began trudging through the snow toward the faint light. The light grew larger and brighter as they approached and Arlie could see it was a light in the window of a cabin. And, yes it was what he hoped.
It was the cabin of his old friend, Pete, the prospector, who had a small mine on the route to the North Pole. Arlie knocked on the door and Pete invited Arlie and Meesha to come in. After, they had warmed themselves at the fire, Arlie explained to Pete what had happened and the desperate situation he was in with the children’s letters to Santa. Pete had a dog sled and Huskies but his lead dog was ill. Arlie explained that this would not be a problem because Meesha could lead and she knew the way to the North Pole. Arlie and Pete prepared the sled and the dogs. They hooked Meesha to the lead dog position and headed back to the snowmobile to get the letters. When they hooked the letter sled to the dog sled, Arlie thanked Pete and hollered “mush” to the twelve dogs plus Meesha and away they went into the storm.
After about an hour, the storm began to lessen and Meesha could see the North star which she used to guide the sleigh as the lead dog. Arlie was feeling better but he knew there was one more obstacle on the path to Santa’s workshop. And, just as he was thinking about it, there it loomed in the starlight as the snow storm was almost over. It was the cave of the polar bear that ruled the ice and snow area south of the North pole. Arlie had encountered the bear before and each time had barely escaped the bear’s grasp. And sure enough, the Polar bear came roaring out of its cave to give chase. Meesha and the other dogs increased their speed and Arlie looked down in the sleigh and saw what appeared to be a pistol. But, when he reached for it he realized it was a flare gun used by Pete to signal for help. Arlie cocked the flare gun and just as the polar bear leaped for the sleigh and dogs, Arlie fired the flare directly at the bear. The flare was so bright it blinded the bear while the sleigh slipped by and out of the bear’s reach. The bear was blind for about an hour and missed his meal but the sled was safe.
Finally, in the distance Arlie could see a blinking red light in the area where he thought was Santa’s workshop. The snowstorm had started up again but Arlie guided the sled in the direction of the red blinking light. When they finally arrived at Santa’s workshop they were greeted by elves, who took them to Santa. Arlie gave the children’s letters to Santa. Santa handed them to his chief elf, who began distributing the letters to all the elves to fill the requests and gather them for Santa’s sleigh trip on Christmas eve. Arlie told Santa about all the trouble he had in delivering the letters on time. Arlie asked Santa about the blinking red light that had helped them find the workshop, since he had never seen it before. Santa looked surprised and said he didn’t know of any blinking red light. Santa and Arlie went outside to investigate and there was a small reindeer with a bright red blinking nose standing by the workshop. Santa was surprised but then that’s another story, isn’t it.
