Northpole Page #6

the park on my way back

over.

- I shouldn't have

been so hard on him.

- I shouldn't have

encouraged

him in the first place.

- I'm gonna call the police.

(Electricity crackling)

- What do you think

Santa will do

if he catches us sneaking

into the archives?

- Don't know and

don't wanna find out,

so pipe down!

(Whispering):

Right here.

- Hurry!

If my mom checks out my room

and sees that I'm not there,

she'll have bloodhounds

looking for me!

- We're getting

warmer and warmer

and warmer and...

(Gasping)

Bingo!

We've narrowed it down

to the past 50 years!

- Another power dip.

- Because we're running

out of magic snow.

- How many Ernie Q.

Pendletons can there be?

- Apparently a lot.

- What were those

mothers thinking?

- Oh!

Got it!

Wow!

Age 7, 8 and 9,

all he asked for

was a gift for a penny.

Money must've gone a lot

further in those days!

- They weren't gifts

for a penny.

They were gifts for

a person named Penny.

"Dear Santa,

can you please bring

"some white ice skates, size 4,

"to my friend, Penny,

"so we can skate together.

"Her mom is sick,

"and her dad says they don't

have any money for skates.

"Thank you. Ernie."

- All he asked for

was gifts for her!

- But nothing for himself!

- Which means maybe

he's not all bad.

- We gotta show mom!

- Yeah!

OK, help me!

Come!

- I need to file a missing

person's report.

- (Kevin):
Mom!

- Never mind.

Kevin?

Honey!

I have been so

worried about you!

Where have you been?

- Collecting information

for you about Mr. Pendleton.

- What? Information?

- Yeah, about why he's so mean,

and it turns out maybe

you were wrong about him.

Maybe he is a good guy.

Look! When he was a kid,

he never asked for

any presents for himself,

only for somebody named Penny.

(Sighing)

- Where did you get this?

- Uh...

- Kevin!

- Northpole.

We found it in Santa's files.

- (Chelsea):
"We"?

As in you and

Clementine, the elf?

(Sighing)

Honey, listen to me.

You know you're the

most precious thing

in the world to me, right?

- Of course.

I didn't mean to scare you, Mom,

but I thought it was

important,

'cause it might help

protect...

- (Both):
Northpole.

- And Christmas?

- Right.

'Cause even though

you don't believe it,

I know it's real.

(Sighing)

- I, um...

I believe that you believe.

And that's good enough for me.

- Really?

- Yeah.

And if you say

spreading holiday cheer

is the only way

to save Northpole,

then we better find

a way to do it.

(Doorbell ringing)

- Oh, that'll be Clementine!

- This should be interesting.

(Door opening and closing)

- Hey, Ms. Hastings!

I'm Clementine!

- She's the one I've been

telling you guys about.

- Right! You're the, um...

- Only member of Kevin's

Christmas Committee!

- Listen, um, thanks

for being here for me.

I think maybe I was a little

over the top, and I'm sorry.

(Chuckling)

- Well, I might not

have any kids of my own,

but from 8:
00 to 3:00,

I have 30, so I can

empathize.

For what it's worth,

I think it was a wise choice

to play along with the

fantasy.

At least for now.

- Yeah.

He's not gonna be

innocent for much longer,

and I guess it's better to

embrace it than to cut it

short.

You helped me see that.

- Does that mean the mission

to save Northpole's back on?

- Well, we've met Clementine!

We can't let her

be homeless, right?

- We?

You still want me

along for the ride?

- Well, are you willing?

- Why would you think

otherwise?

- Ask me when we have more time.

Right now, we have a tree

lighting to save, right?

- All right, I'll see you.

- OK. Good night!

- Good night!

- Mmm!

- OK, so, how's

this gonna work, Mom?

- Yeah, how's this gonna work?

- I suggest a 2-prong

attack.

You guys spread the word.

- Sounds good to me!

- Cool!

- We're gonna need food,

funds and a permit.

- We're on it!

- And I'll get something

even more important.

- And what's that?

- Leverage.

- I got the list of the

mayor's

biggest campaign donors.

Guess who's at the top:

Mr. & Mrs. Ernie Pendleton.

Uh-huh. Oh!

Yeah, I gotta go. I'll see

you back at the office.

- Excuse me, sir,

I think you dropped this.

- (Man):
No.

- Get some food, OK?

- Hey, Chelsea!

- Ah...

- Don't worry! I'm not gonna

try

and set you up with anyone.

I just wanna see how

your story's going.

- Well, you know, a couple

things aren't adding up.

I could clear up one thing

if the planning commission

wasn't closed for Christmas.

- A woman I sing

with at church works

for the planning commission.

- Seriously?

- She'll be at practice

tonight.

Maybe she can help.

- You are a lifesaver!

- I just hope you

can carry a tune.

- (Laughing):
Yeah!

( Jingle Bells )

- Donate to the town

tree lighting!

Save a Christmas tradition!

- Here's a buck for

some trumpet lessons.

- Normally, I would

be offended by that,

but it's for a good

cause, so thank you, sir!

- Merry Christmas!

- How's our website doing?

Any better than we are?

- Well, we've only got 5 hits,

and four of them are me!

- Which means

we've already had one hit!

- (Ryan and Kevin):

Yeah!

- Hey, guys!

- Hey, Mom! How's your side

of the attack going?

- It's coming along.

How about you guys?

- So far, we've raised $4,

including 2 Canadian

quarters and a bus token!

- So, that puts us at about

98% short of our goal. Hmm!

- (Ryan):

Or 2% closer to victory!

- I think we need to find a

better way to get the word

out.

- You know, I think

I just might have one.

- (Chelsea):
Seriously?

We're supposed to change

minds

with tree scraps?

- Well, you call them

scraps.

I call them festive pine

art.

- (Chuckling):
Well,

either way, it'll be fun,

which, as they say back home,

is the best reason

to do anything.

- Hi there!

I'm Ryan Wilson.

This is Chelsea Hastings.

- (Chelsea):
Hi!

- Any chance you remember

the tree lighting

in Greenwood Park?

- Oh, I do!

Haven't thought

about it in years.

But it was beautiful,

and so much fun!

- Well, it can be again,

with your help.

Hope to see you there!

(Woman chuckling)

- Can any woman

resist your charm?

- I'm hoping one woman can't.

(Chuckling)

- So, how'd you get

into teaching, huh?

- Uh, well, after college,

I did a lot of jobs,

but teaching is the best by far.

- Really? Why?

- Light bulbs.

- Light bulbs?

- Yeah, turning on

over kids' heads

when a concept they've

been struggling with

finally sinks in.

- Hmm...

- I love that.

Oh, hey!

- (Man):
Hi there!

- Hope to see you there.

- Thanks!

- Merry Christmas!

- (Man):
You too!

(Clearing throat)

- Must be a challenge,

being a single mom.

- It was definitely

hard the first year

after Kevin's father left.

But I never had any illusions

that the world would

make it easy for me, so...

- Is that why you're

such a skeptic?

(Chuckling)

- Well, partially by

nature, partially my job,

and partially the result of

living with Kevin's father.

- Hmm... Feel like

telling me about him?

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