THis is great....I love it

Kav, I'm loving it! It's great to have the team on board!

I love the "sticky up" hair... hehe. I love thinking like a little kid again. It's absolutely delightful! You're writing this splendidly.

And it's ok, I haven't seen the movie either. ...or read the book. I guess I should, huh?

Well, have fun! I'll be patiently waiting for more.

Kav this is really good! I Love it! The way Sue and Jack meet and are already so compatable is amazing , maybe we'll even get a kiss ! I think Myles is the person Sue is going to try and make believe. Post soon can't wait for more.
JADE

This is such an original idea, Kav!! I'm eager to see where your muse is going to take us. Have fun book shopping!!!

Side note: I have seen the movie and read the book. I think you would enjoy the movie, Kav. The movie takes some poetic licence, but they are both wonderful (at least in my opinion).

Kav, this is a wonderful story. I love the way the whole team is on the train. I can see the scene unfolding before me. Although our team are only children at this point, I can see the traits of the grown-ups in their demeanor and speech. I love this!

Kim

I'm so glad you are bringing the entire gang !!!!

I can just imagine little Jack

This is amazing, as always you write them so beautiful no matter what era or age they are set in. i am completely and utterly hooked as always.

Love this strong, compassionate Jack,

the quiet yet perceptive Sue

The bouncy Tara

The charming Bobby

and the sullen lonely Myles


But where are C and Lucy and perhaps even Levi?????

kav i just love this story it's fab

cath

Love Sue.. And Jack's undivided attention for Sue - and yes, even at a young age his protectiveness for her is there too! YEY!

this is great, really great...you write them so real and sweet that i can almost see them right in front of me, as if they are in the train an di 'm with them over there. truly brilliant.

really enjoying your story Kav! I too love the book and have not yet seen the movie although it's scheduled for movie night at our house tonight- we got it from the library this week!!! It's fun seeing them all young... and then maybe older too...

This is a great story to get you in the Christmas spirit.
thanks,
Terie

You're doing brilliantly! after I saw the movie, it became one of my own holiday traditions.... since i'm on my own i can have a lot of them! LOL My family doesn't get it though.... I think they get bored about me wanting to institute a tradition of always watching the same movie every Christmas eve... oh well, i guess some of them have to wait....

on a plus side... our ABC Family channel is going to be showing The Christmas List on Friday after Thanksgiving... starring our very own Ms. Dotson.... well, you know what I mean....

I love it!! Their gentle slide into a friendship was perfect!!!

Jen

I too am waiting to see where D and Lucy show up!! I love the way you are writing them as children!! I can so see Myles sullen as a child, not believing in anything!! Well, he is about to meet Sue and that will all change!!!

Joy

Just found your great story

This is so fun!!!

Em

*squeal* hehehe........ Everybody is there, even Myles.
I love the growing friendship between Jack and Sue!

This is going to be an absolute blast!


~gracie~

“You’re all crazy, if you think we’re heading north to meet a fat man in a red suit!”

Sue didn’t need to hear to know that conversations had ceased as all eyes were riveted on the blond headed boy who wouldn’t stop talking. She found it hard to follow his words since he kept turning away from her as he attempted to address everyone at once but she’d seen enough to know that he was bad mouthing Santa and she wasn’t having any of that.

“Stop it! You can’t say things like that about Santa!” In her agitation she didn’t concentrate hard enough and her tongue slipped between her teeth slurring her s’s into a lisp.

The boy sneered at her. “Don’t be such a baby!” he scoffed. “You’re old enough to know that the jolly old elf doesn’t exist.” He mimicked her lisp with an exaggerated stutter.

The train suddenly lurched and the startled children were thrown sideways. Sue nearly fell into the sullen boy’s lap, but Jack snagged her around the waist and managed to keep her upright.

“What was that?” Jack asked the conductor with a frown, his mind suddenly racing with grim scenarios.

“Ah – you’re beginning to see my point, aren’t you?” The kid was gloating.

Jack glared at him angrily. He was furious – mostly because he was right and Jack was feeling pretty stupid. What had he been thinking of, walking onto a strange train filled only with children and one mysterious conductor? Where were they really headed? Why had they been chosen? A quick glance around the compartment told him that he was amongst the oldest present. He and the lanky guy form Australia...and him…

“We’re being kidnapped – that’s what this is all about!” A few frightened screams from the girls seemed to feed his frenzied attack and the boy continued. “I come from money …We have assets, property – my father is worth millions. My parents have lived in fear that my sister and I would be abducted from the moment we were born…and now it’s happened.”

Somebody started to cry.

“Hey now – lay off the gloom and doom, you drongo. You’re scaring the kiddies.”

“Well they should be scared. We can identify one of them – do you think they’re going to let us go after our ransom is paid?”

“That’s enough!” Jack ordered sharply in such a commanding tone that the irritating boy immediately complied.

“Listen up, Rich boy – your daddy may be able to fork out a bundle to get you back – though for my mind he should be paying to have you taken away – but my real dad couldn’t care less what happens to me and my pops, well, he doesn’t have any money left at the end of the month so he’s hardly in a position to be handing out cash bundles and I reckon the majority of us are in the same boat. Am I right?” he appealed to the nervous crowd of children who were avidly watching the by-play.

Most of the children nodded hesitantly.

“My daddy would pay a million dollars to get me back, if he had it…but he doesn’t,” a dark skinned girl with a multitude of pigtails piped up.

“It doesn’t matter that he doesn’t,” Sue declared stoutly, “ because this boy is just being silly. He doesn’t know anything and you shouldn’t listen to him. This is Santa’s train and we are going to the North Pole to see him. You’ll find that out soon enough…won’t they?” She appealed to the increasingly distraught conductor who was now wringing his hands.

“Oh dearie, dearie me. This has never happened before. Not once in all the years I’ve worked on the Polar Express.” He shook his head sadly, “What a state of affairs. They were right – we are in a crisis situation.”

“Who was right?” Jack asked sharply. “And where are we really headed?”

The lights flickered and dimmed and Sue cried out in panic. “What’s happening? I can’t be in the dark…I’m afraid!”

Jack immediately wrapped his arm around her shoulders and hugged her to his side but before he could offer any words of comfort the blonde headed troublemaker cut in.

“Ah – what’s the matter baby – afraid of your own shadow? Boo!” He lunged at her and when Sue jumped he laughed derisively.

“Cut that out!” Jack said threateningly, his fists clenched menacingly. “Don’t talk about what you don’t understand.”

“You going to do something to make me stop, shortie?”

“Stop it! Stop it!” a small whirlwind with sticky up hair pushed her way through to face off the most annoying boy in the entire world. “It’s Christmas Eve – you can’t argue on Christmas Eve!”

“Says who?”

“Santa!”

Eyes rolled. “Here we go again. I keep telling you bunch of losers – there isn’t a Santa Claus and this train isn’t going to the North Pole. For one thing it would take days to get there.”

“Make him stop!” Sue appealed to Jack who wished he could easily comply. The trouble was, the more he listened, the more he believed the dire predictions. If they were being kidnapped then they needed a plan to stay alive and escape.

“You don’t believe him?” His heart wrenched at the tone of betrayal in her voice.

“Look…I’m just saying we should explore all angles, be ready for anything.”

The train shuddered and Jack stumbled. It felt like his leg had just given out on him.

“Your foot!” Sue suddenly shrieked, clutching at his hand and heaving him back from the dark abyss that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Jack looked down in surprise. There was a hole where the floor should be and his right foot had disappeared inside of it. His stomach heaved at the sight and Jack gazed nervously up into the concerned blue eyes of the Australian.

“Does it hurt?” he wanted to know.

Jack shook his head. “It just feels like…nothing. Like I never had a foot in the first place.”

Sue tugged at his arm with all her might and with a loud squelching sound his foot sprung free of the inky blackness as they both tumbled to the floor.

“What the heck’s going on here?” Jack muttered suspiciously every last thought of Christmas vanquished from his mind the exact instant they were all cloaked in complete and utter darkness.

Myles is horrible at any age....

Yikes!! I hope you post again soon so that we know what's going on there...this is fantastic, Kav!

This is great Kav! Love the way you're playing out our favorite's as children.

Oh my!

Kim

What Happened!?!?!?!?!

What's going on???

What a gripping story so far Kav!!

I can't wait for more!

BLT

Snowflake bazaar day! Who knows what treasures I will find! Maybe a gorilla to keep my tiger company!!!! So I'll post this now and more later.


A keening wail rose above all the other screams and cries. The high pitch noise pierced through the cloak of darkness and sent a shiver down Jack’s spine. It sounded unearthly and it was coming from the little girl he struggled to hold in his arms. She was fighting him – with feet and hands and fingernails – in a desperate attempt to get away. Only he couldn’t allow that. She was clearly terrified and beyond reason.

“Help!” he panted, muffling a groan as the heel of her shoe grazed his shin. “She’s deaf…” He didn’t have the breath to explain any more.

“Easy there. I’ve got her feet.” The Australian drawl came somewhere from down on the floor.

“Careful!” Jack warned sharply, “…the hole.” If that’s what it could be called – that blob of nothingness that had tried to swallow him up whole.

“I told you this was a set up of some kind…” There was gloating in the satisfied voice and if Jack had been able to see the speaker he would have taken immense pleasure in effectively shutting the kid up. Instead he was locked in what he felt was a life and death battle with the little girl in his arms.

“We’re just frightening her even more,” he groaned, sympathy twisting like a knife in his gut. He could feel the violent shaking of her terrified body and he was helpless to console her.

“I’ve got her hand. I’m fingerspelling ok….”

It was a girl’s voice, he just wasn’t sure whose. Maybe the Pippi Longstocking lookalike. "What’s fingerspelling?” he asked tersely, sighing with relief as the child’s body sagged quietly against him, wracked now only occasionally with a shuddering sob.

“Finger formations for every letter in the alphabet. It’s like a secret code. I know stuff like that because I’m going to be a secret agent when I grow up.”

A snort of disbelief escaped the Australian boy and Jack wondered if he was going to have to referee a disagreement in this absurd situation when the conductor's voice carried across to them through the darkness.

“Good work, gentlemen…and er…ladies. Now how let’s see about restoring the light. You can all help!”

Jack didn’t see how. It was pitch black. He couldn’t even see two inches in front of him. How was he going to find a light switch or electrician box or whatever equivalent they had on a train like this?

“I need everyone of you children to clear your mind of any doubts you may have…”

Jack shifted uncomfortably. It was as if the conductor had uncannily seen into his mind. But that was impossible, wasn’t it?

“Let’s fill your hearts with Christmas cheer. Come on. Somebody tell me a happy Christmas memory.”

There was silence in the inky blackness and then a timid voice ventured. “My little sister was born on Christmas Eve.”

“There!” the conductor’s disembodied voice swirled around them. “That’s a fine memory. I believe I see a light at the end of the tunnel already.”

And indeed, Jack thought he could see a mere pinprick of brightness way up to the left.

“We need more happy Christmas memories. Come on children. You’re here because you love Christmas. Tell me why!”

“My grams helps me bake cookies for Santa…”

“My mom’s cinnamon buns on Christmas morning.”

“Tobogganing down Dead Man’s bluff while my mom finishes making Christmas dinner.”

“Picnicking at the beach. Collecting seashells. Windsurfing…”

“That’s not a Christmas memory!

“It is if you’re in Australia, luv.”

The black leeched out of the darkness, transforming it into a stormy gray and then it was light enough to see the cocky grin of the last speaker. He let go of the girl’s legs and kneeled back looking up at her. “We’re saying our favourite Christmas memories. You got one?” He winked kindly up at her causing Jack to frown. She nodded. “Out with it then.”

She looked shyly up at Jack for confirmation and he smiled encouragingly. “Playing Mary in the Christmas pageant.”

“And I bet you do a fine job.” The lanky fellow awkwardly patted her shoulder as rose to stand beside them, careful to avoid the hole on the floor. “Hey – it’s not there anymore.”

The children huddled around, peering questioningly down at the solid red floor of the train compartment. There was no sign of the yawning black abyss that had threatened to swallow Jack whole.

The children around them continued to call out their Christmas memories and the lights soon glowed brighter than before. The candy canes resumed making their mysterious rounds and laughter and excitement once again heightened the wonderful feeling of anticipation in every heart.

Every heart but one.

“This is preposterous!” With a discontented sneer he rose from his seat and veered to the back of the car. “I’m not staying here a moment longer. I’m getting off.”

The lights flickered once again before returning to a steady muted glow – just a pale shadow of their former brightness. Jack looked at the boy sitting across from him, noted the same look of resigned determination and nodded. Standing abruptly he turned to scowl fiercely at the blonde child clinging to his hand. It was the look that struck fear into his little sister every time, but this little scrap glared back just as fiercely. “You stay here.” His look encompassed the black girl and the acrobat. “Stay with her.”

“Yeah – all three of you stay put until we get back.” And the two boys rushed down the aisle.

“This isn’t good. This isn’t good at all.” Spiky pigtails bobbed up and down with such vigor Sue was sure they would come undone. She smiled shyly at the strange girls.

“I don’t know your names…”

“And that’s the way it should be on the Polar Express.” The conductor suddenly materialized, hovering over them. “Names have power. Names have meaning. Best keep them safe on Santa’s list and not out in the open air for all to hear. Not on the Polar Express.”

The three girls blinked up at him in surprise and then turned to look and each in shock when he simply disappeared from sight.

“How’d he do that?” The black girl asked in awe.

“Magic,” Sue answered matter-of-factly. “It’s Christmas Eve after all.” The other two turned their heads and stared with trepidation at the back of the car. The lights dimmed, the train lurched and blackness descended once again.

Pigtails leapt to her seat, hollering “Happy thoughts. Happy Christmas thoughts everybody…NOW!” She plopped back down and faced the other two. “I know what’s happening! It’s unbelief. When any of us doubt, the train starts to disappear!”

“If the train disappears what will happen to us?” The black girl looked like she was going to cry. Nobody voiced what they were all thinking. Darkness. Blackness. Nothingness. Void.

“It’s not going to disappear because we’re not going to let it. You have to keep everyone’s happy thoughts coming,” Pigtails ordered, grabbing Sue’s hand and dragging her to her feet. “We’re going to help the boys.”

“Me?” the black girl looked frightened. “I can’t…I don’t know how….”

“It will come to you!”

“But they told you to stay put!” she tried one last feeble attempt at not being left alone.

“I have three brothers, and they’re always saying that. If I listened to them every time I’d still be in my cradle,” Sue assured her and then smiled encouragingly. “I know you’ll think of something.”

Fear waned in the dark brown eyes and the multi-braided head bobbed in understanding. Leaping onto the seat her new friend had just vacated she stuck her fingers in her lips and a piercing whistle ripped through the chaos surrounding her. “All right people. Stop the bellyaching – get your heads wrapped around happy thoughts because we’re going to have us a carol sing. One. Two. Three. And…

Oh Come all ye faithful…”

Love your version of the story.....keep posting.....


~laura michelle~

a wonderful post and the carol is one of my favourites

cath

It's so much fun seeing the 'team' come together and truly work as one at such an early age. No wonder they are so good together as adults!

Have fun at your bazaar.....I wonder why they call them bazaars???? Is it because people bring strange things to them to sell? The name would indicate something bizarre happening but they are usually rather tame. Although ()......... I've never been to one with you, Kav. If I had, I might understand the name.

I'm getting ready to go to my sons last football game of the season. This flag football is big stuff you know to an 8 year old whose momma will not let him play tackle! hehehehehe

I'm looking forward to reading more this evening.

i'm so loving this...and jack he's putting myles on his place...but i do feel kinda sorry for myles. how old is he....and already such a guy that people don't really like....that makes me sad.

can't wait for more

Myles as a child or young teen is a pain in the butt...he needs to have some holiday cheer...

This part cracked me up - I laughed out loud all by myself here in my apartment. But no worries - no one could hear me - thanks to the jackhammer that's been going to town since 8 this morning...

Kav, I'm so loving this story - you're bringing to life one of my favorite books with some of my favorite characters.

Great couple of posts. Love the fact Jack is watching out for Sue already

Fantastic!

Kim

KAV you're brilliant... you know that! I love what you are doing here... Tara is sooooo cute.

*SIGH* wouldn't it be great if we could all get together and go to a Bazaar together? I love holiday Bazaars....

Kav, your version of The Polar Express is being added to my list of holiday stories that are must reads every year!!!

Joy

Another awesome post Kav!

Happy shopping and I can't wait for more!

BLT

Just caught up. I'm so glad you're writing this one, Kav. I love Polar Express. The movie is amazing, one of my favorites.
This is fantastic! I love seeing the team as children and seeing how they interact.
Fabulous! Can't wait for more!

Tracy

Oh this is just so magical and wodnerful, loving it at so many different levels...

that is one of my favorite christmas carols!

i love how you're writing this story. they are all so refreshingly young and innocent (with the exception of Myles), but still holding true to their characters in the show.

This is so full of Christmas enchantment.

X-mas spirit, happy thoughts......you've got it all! Keep posting!

Unfortunately Sue didn’t look before yanking the compartment door open. It hit Jack in the back, spinning him sideways and he teetered precariously over inky darkness before a hand snaked out and hauled him back.

“You okay, mate?”

Jack’s heart was hammering in his chest as he swayed unsteadily on his feet. “Yeah. Thanks.” He looked out over the dark void and shuddered.

“No problem.” They exchanged grins, their smiles flashing white in the gloom, temporarily forgetting the danger that seemed to lurk everywhere, and the petulant boy who appeared to be its centrifugal force.

“It’s getting darker,” Sue exclaimed fearfully, pointing to a jagged tear of nothing across the platform floor.

“I thought I told you to stay put!” Jack whirled on the two girls who stood gaping in the doorway.

“You have to come back inside. Now,” Sue insisted stubbornly, totally unfazed by his show of temper.

“I know what’s going wrong. We can fix it…” her friend piped up.

At the sound of her voice, the Aussie’s attention was pulled away from the boy they had followed outside. “Not you too?” he groaned, regretting the second the conductor had put him in charge of the little ankle biter.

She ignored him. “The blackness feeds on our unbelief. If you fill your mind with good Christmas memories it will go away,” she explained earnestly.
“This is all an illusion,” the sullen boy objected, indicating the cloak of darkness that seemed to be growing thicker and blacker with each passing second.

“I can make it go away. Watch.” Pigtails bobbed as she rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet, bouncing experimentally as if about to take a flying leap onto a trampoline. Her eyes scrunched up tight, she concentrated on the flashes of coloured images that came to her. “A kitten with a red bow. The smell of burning candles in the church on Christmas Eve. Mince pies coming out of the oven. Stockings stuffed so fat they spill over onto the floor…” She opened her eyes and crowed with triumph, pointing gleefully as some of the platform materialized. “You see?”

“That’s just what they want you to think,” the boy’s face was pasty white in the darkness that surrounded him. It appeared to be thicker where he stood and great globs of oozing black had begun to cling tenaciously to his arms and legs. “Parlor tricks,” he declared, trying to shake them off. “Look, I’ll show you.”

The horrified squeals of the girls did not deter him and he let go of the railing, arcing his body in a backwards free fall. The blackness eagerly reached out to enveloped him.

Jack snatched out his hand and just managed to grab hold of the boy's suit jacket while his 'mate' clung determinedly to an arm. The boy’s face turned a sickly green as he struggled to find purchase against…nothing.

“Hang on!”

The boys braced themselves against the railing in an attempt to anchor their combined strength and complete the task of hauling him back onto the platform.

“Think Christmas thoughts!” Sue urged frantically.

The boys looked at her as if she’d gone mad.

“Right. Lot of good that will do.”

“Would you please go back inside? You don’t need to witness something like this.” Jack glared at the little girls who were watching them with terror in their eyes. He didn’t know how much longer they could hold on and watching the inky darkness devouring its prey wasn’t going to be pleasant.

“You have to think Christmas thoughts – as many as you can remember. Hurry!” Sue demanded again stepping closer to the struggling boys.

Jack responded instinctively to the urgency in her voice. “The smell of cookies baking at my grandma’s house. Cutting down the Christmas tree with my brothers. Hockey on the lake on Christmas morning…” He watched in amazement as the darkness ebbed away from him.

“Your turn, Koala Boy!”

“I dunno…The Christmas cheer box at the mall.”

“More.”

“Opening presents Christmas morning. My pops taking me to the beach for a swim with my mates while our mum’s get the picnic ready. Fireworks when the sun sets. My Aunt Matilda always giving me black socks….”

Sue sighed in relief as she watched the darkness evaporate from the boys’ arms and hands, but it still held fast to the blond boy’s legs. “You have to do it too.” But he looked at her blankly, his mouth open in a sneer of disbelief. Sue sank to her knees, her eyes imploring him to try. “Anything. Any Christmas memory.”

It was as if the words were ripped out of him. “My parents fighting. My father going off drunk with his lady friend. My mother taking pills to make her sleep. The stockings empty Christmas morning because somebody…forgot…”

“I can’t hold him much longer…something’s dragging him down,” Jack grunted as he strained against the force with all his might. The blackness bit a chunk out of the middle of the railing and all three boys began to wobble precariously. “Get back!” Jack warned, trying to shield her from the dark effects, but Sue easily scrambled beneath his outstretched hand and, lying on her tummy, she determinedly inched along the edge of the gaping precipice and reached out her own hand. Jack tried to haul her away but she shook him off.

“Don’t you see? He doesn’t have any memories of his own? He can’t fight it alone.” Sue clutched at the boy’s upper arm and her whole body jolted with the impact of dark meeting light. She filled her mind with Christmas thoughts – warm memories and hopeful wishes. Flashes sparked from her fingertips into him and his blank terror was replaced with confusion and then awe and the darkness receded. All five children tumbled through the doorway and into the steadily glowing light of the Polar Express.

Oh Kav! This is absolutely amazing!

Kim

a fantastic post and i fel so sorry for myles, reminded me of many of my memories

cath

wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww this is so great, and poor myles, he never experienced a good christmas...so sad how can anybody not have celebrated a good christmas.

kav this is amazing. really amazing.

greets law

aww... poor myles

he doesnt have any christmas memories of his own! good thing Sue was there to help...

I admit to thinking they should just let Myles go.....let him fall back to his house and think it all a bad dream. But now I feel sorry for him. Only you can do that Kav.....

So - what other adventures are going to occur? I need lots more before I leave tomorrow morning. I'll be away from my computer for 3 whole days!!!!!!! ACK!!!!!

So - how about another post??????