It is again that time of the year when Santa Land is bustling with activity.  Christmas is nearing and the elf workshops are abuzz.  

Mycroft was a five year old elf.  He could not undertake making toys and other gifts.  But, he was always eager to help, especially running errands.  Often he used his scooter when he had to fetch some yarn, paint, ribbon, needles, hooks, scissors or prefabricated parts. He was always visiting the workshops. The older elves were happy to see him because they were always in need of something.

Mycroft loved his scooter. Often one saw him whizzing by with an angelic smile on his face, his hand waving his greeting. 

One day,  Mycroft was cruising away on his scooter.  It was a warm day and there was no snow on the ground.  He was enjoying the clear paths.  He went past the doll workshop, the train workshop and the puzzle workshop.  Suddenly, passing by the kite workshop, he noticed something floating above him.  The thing was long and had fiery colors.  The red, orange and yellow colors gleamed and made the object look like a Chinese dragon.  Mycroft suddenly realized that that it was a dragon kite!  There was a string hanging from it.  But the breeze was pulling it away.  In his little mind, he realized that the workshop was going to lose the kite. To him it was clear that it was up to him to rescue the kite because there was nobody else around.

Mycroft pushed his scooter to follow the dragon.  The kite kept floating forward as the breeze carried it.  Soon Mycroft realized that he was nearing the chain link fence.  
To the elf’s dismay, the dragon was going over the fence and ended up being tangled in the thin branches of a thicket.

Now Mycroft was a cocky elf.  He believed that he to could do anything.  With that belief in mind, he had followed the kite.  But he had to stop when he reached the fence.  He knew that he had to get to the other side of the fence to retrieve the kite.  It was not a picket fence.  So climbing over the fence it was not an option.  The only thing he could do was to crawl under.

Mycroft examined the ground under the fence for gaps. After further examination, he found a spot some animal had dug out.  He noticed that he needed a bigger space to pass under.  He needed to dig deeper.  He looked around for a possible tool.  As luck would have it, he found a piece of wood, a little narrower and sharper at one end.

Mycroft started to dig and the crawl space became big enough to fit his body.  It took a lot of time to make the space big enough for a young elf.  He slowly slithered under the fence till he reached the other side.  The dirt in the space was not kind to his clothes.  

The next step was to find the dragon kite.  It did not take long to locate the dragon and the tangled string.  Luckily, it was not a thorny bush.  He tried to separate the string from the thin branches of the bush.  He was fortunate that the kite did not reach the tree top.  Finally, the string was freed.

Mycroft carried the kite to the fence and carefully managed to pass it through the gap to the other side.  A little dust clung to it.  Otherwise, it was undamaged.  Then, he crawled through, making his red and green outfit look more brown.  He picked up the dragon kite and stepped on the scooter.  He was very careful because he had the added encumbrance of the kite. 

When Mycroft was nearing the kite workshop, he noticed an adult elf, the leader of the workshop, pacing anxiously.  When he saw the young elf with the dragon kite, he came running.  He had tears in his eyes when he shouted, “ You found it, you found it!”.  He hugged Mycroft and relieved him of the kite.  He led the little elf to the workshop in all his dirt.  There was a hero’s welcome waiting for him.  Everyone praised him for his bravery.  They had given up on the kite.  It was a special kite requested by a little boy suffering from leukemia.

Mycroft was very happy that even though he broke the rules by leaving the compound, he did not have to face any punishment.  He was even praised.  Next morning he found a package at his door.  He is now the proud owner of a brand new, red and green, elf outfit!