“Sam! How often do I have to tell you to keep your dirty socks in the laundry bin?” Rachel, Sam’s mother screamed from the laundry room while picking up Sam’s dirty socks from the floor.

“Sorry, mum! Cherry threw it there,” Sam replied and continued playing the Manifesto vs Mortals video game, while munching on chips that kept falling on the floor which Cherry, Rachel’s dog, picked up and nibbled.

“Your room’s a mess and it stinks, Sam!” Rachel stood looking around Sam’s room, plugging her nose with her fingers.

“Yeah, yeah! I’ll do it! Please, go now! My friends are playing with me. At least, let me enjoy my vacation!” Sam yelled with his mouth full of crackers.

Rachel angrily kicked an empty soda can on the floor and shot back, “Fine! Do whatever you want!” She slammed the door and went to her room, only to hide in the corner and cry. Her heart was broken! She didn’t know what else to do!

Since Sam had become a preteen, he refused to listen to his mother and became arrogant, selfish and stubborn. It was a horrible new character that Rachel had to deal with every day without Matthew, Sam’s dad, who was away in Wallington, busy at the train station with his new duties.

“He doesn’t listen to me!” sobbed Rachel on the phone with Matthew, “The only thing he cares about is his games, his friends and his food! I am so done with him, Mat!”

Matthew listened to Rachel’s cries and comforted her, and all the while he was thinking of the perfect way to fix Sam’s behaviour.

The next day, Sam received a letter from a strange person named Mr Flipwaffle. “Who could send a letter to a boy like me?” Sam wondered and tore open the letter with his chocolate-covered hands. The letter was written beautifully in black ink. Sam immediately began to read it.

Mr Flipwaffle had invited Sam to attend the inauguration of The Snow Express, a train that runs all day from the West to the East, and back! He will be riding the train for an entire day for free!

“Wicked! I’m going to ride an express!” Sam jumped with joy and carefully noted the day and date for the inauguration and scanned his ticket.

“2:00 pm on Monday, December 21. That’s today!” Sam thought and rushed to grab his jacket and shoes, ran down the stairs to reach the door and rushed out to grab his bike.

In a few minutes, he reached the train station. He showed his letter to the man with a beard, standing behind the main counter that had ‘The Snow Express’ written on it.

“To left, kid,” he guided Sam. The train was silver and had a beautiful and sleek design. Sam couldn’t close his mouth because of how awe-struck he was!

A tall man came into sight with a weird, pink coat and a yellow hat, and had large scissors in his hand. “Welcome to the Snow Express! All aboard!” he announced and cut the ceremonial red ribbon for all the passengers to board the Express Train.

Strangely, they were all kids! There were just a couple of adults in sight. Sam quickly ran inside and saw the cosy interior of the train, adorned with red decorations, red seats and a lot more to discover. Sam took the seat assigned to him and watched the train quickly fill up with passengers. In a few minutes, the bell chimed and the train started moving!

It was then that Sam started to feel sleepy and fell into a deep sleep. After a few hours, a loud bell was heard and Sam quickly jumped out of his sleep, only to realise that the train was empty! There was nobody to be seen. Sam felt scared and couldn’t understand what was happening.

He looked outside and saw what he had never seen before: the land was completely draped with snow, with not a soul outside! Sam began to scream for help, but nobody came. He rushed to the front and found a man standing next to the window.

“Pease, sir! I need help! I am lost and I don’t think I should be here. It’s an accident!” Sam pleaded to the man who seemed disinterested in the boy.

“Look, kid. There are no accidents on this train,” he took out his glasses and wore them.

“What do you mean? And, who are you?” Sam asked, feeling scared.

The man stood and started walking around, “I, Patrick, am just a guide on this train. But this train is no ordinary express. It was made by Mr Falcon Flipwaffle, who is the secret assistant of Mr Santa Claus.

“He has been working on this train to sort out those kids who have been good or bad this year. All those kids who had been good with their parents, had done their chores, and had performed well in class had been automatically transferred to the actual Snow Express train so that they may enjoy the best ride of their lives. This train, my friend, is the N.S. train, the train that takes kids who had been horrible this year to the North or South Pole,” Patrick explained, and then began reading a pocket notebook.

“W-w-what do you do with those kids then?” Sam fumbled as he inquired.

He closed his notebook aggressively, bent down, and stared at Sam and replied, “Well, we normally make them work at the Elves’ Workhouse until Christmas so they may learn a good lesson. This is to ensure that they never, ever be a bad kid again!”

Patrick stood up straight and looked at his watch, “Well, I guess we are about to reach the Warehouse soon! Come on kid, get your laces tied. You’re going to be working pretty hard this vacation.”

Sam was too shocked to reply. He instantly realised how bad he had been at school and how rudely he had behaved with his parents. This was happening because he had been a bad boy the entire year! The train’s bells chimed and stopped near a large factory with smoke puffing from its chimneys.

“We’re here!” Patrick announced and stepped down from the train.

Scared, Sam followed him to the warehouse, his face being slapped by the cold winds of the North Pole. The chilling winds pushed him forward and in no time he reached the warehouse.

“We have a new worker, Mr Claus,” Patrick turned towards a tall man in the shadows. Sam gulped with fear and hid behind Patrick.

The strange man emerged from the shadows, only to reveal that he was Matthew, Sam’s dad!

“Dad!” Sam rushed towards his father and hugged him tightly. “Dad, I’m sorry! This is all my fault. I did nasty things and never listened to mum and was a bad boy the entire year…” Sam sobbed in his dad’s arms who caressed his son’s hair.

“It’s okay, Sam. There’s nothing to be afraid of anymore now. This is the expression that I was working on. I planned all this just to make you realise how you had behaved with your mum this year.”

“You mean, I won’t be punished by the elves and I won’t have to work until Christmas?” Sam wiped his tears.

“No,” Matthew laughed, “This was all a test for you and a reminder that you must always be nice to people, especially your parents. This factory is my company’s and it works on some special machinery here. While you were sleeping, all those kids on the train were escorted to an amusement park since they were going on a field trip. And there is no Mr Flipwaffle. This was all my plan!” Sam hugged his dad and later talked to his mother to apologise to her for being extremely mean the whole time.

Sometimes, a fun lesson is all it takes to remind you of your values and disciplinary boundaries, even if it takes you to the North Pole!

Published in Dawn, Young World, December 28th, 2024