Note– I have no idea why folks look forward to the Christmas Adventures of Paula, but for all her fans—Superpossum is always out there if you need her. Merry Christmas.
Once upon a time there was a possum named Paula. Unlike most possums, Paula could fly.
The other possums thought Paula was a superhero, so her mother made a cape for Paula, since all superheroes need capes. Everyone called her Superpossum.
Paula enjoyed flying around, helping other animals and sometimes even people. She really enjoyed flying on Christmas Eve, when she could see all the pretty lights down below, and meet her friend Santa Claus.
It was an especially cold Christmas Eve in North Carolina, and Paula was concerned that she hadn’t heard from Santa. They had many adventures together, fighting the Evil Weasels who always tried to ruin Christmas.
“I wonder where Santa is,” Paula said as she flew along. “He’s usually heading this way by now.”
Meanwhile, Santa was pacing back and forth. He was on the Reindeer Recovery Vehicle, on the way back to the North Pole.
He’d been almost all the way around the world when several of the reindeer began feeling sick. Santa called the First Response Team down from the North Pole, and they met him over Virginia with the Reindeer Recovery Vehicle. The reindeer were barely strong enough to pull the sleigh into the RRV. The reindeer were rushed into the treatment stalls as soon as they were unhooked.
Santa expected to be able to harness the backup reindeer and continue his rounds, but the stalls on the RRV were all empty. The veterinarian elf came up to Santa, shaking his head.
“Boss, it isn’t good. They all have a stomach virus. Everybody will be okay, but I can’t clear them to fly. I’m sorry.”
“But what are we to do about delivering the Christmas presents?” Santa said.
“You’ve come close to postponing the presents in years past,” the elf-vet said. “People who know what Christmas is really about understand.” Santa shook his head.
“I know, but with all the unhappiness in the world, you know our policy is to brighten things up a little, wherever we can. There’s no hope to complete the run tonight?” The elf shook his head.
“No way, Boss. Maybe the new fawns? Some of them are pretty big for their ages.”
“They haven’t even started reindeer games yet, much less flight training,” Santa said. “There’s no way they can be ready.”
“Boss? Hey, Boss?” came a weak voice from one of the stalls. Santa and the vet stepped over to the door. The elf shook his finger.
“Rudolph, take it easy. You need to rest.”
“We’ll come up with something,” Santa said. Rudolph coughed.
“Why don’t you call Superpossum, Santa? Maybe she can help.”
Santa and the Elf-vet looked at each other, and Santa grabbed his phone.
“Ho-ho-ho! We may yet be able to save Christmas!” he said.
Paula was flying around enjoying the Christmas lights when her telephone rang. She dug into her pouch and saw she had a message from one of her best friends, Santa Claus.
“At least he called instead of texting,” Paula said as she slowed to a hover. “It’s never safe to text while you’re driving, even a magical sleigh pulled by reindeer.”
Santa’s voice boomed out of the phone, echoing through the woods.
“Ho, ho, Hello, Paula! Merry Christmas!” he said.
“Merry Christmas, Santa!” Paula said. “What time are you coming through my neighborhood?” Santa’s voice became sad.
“That’s why I called you, Paula. We have a terrible problem. The reindeer are all sick.” Paula almost dropped her phone.
“What’s wrong? Are they really badly sick?” Then her voice became a growl. “Was it the Weasels?”
“I don’t know if the Weasels had anything to do with it, but it’s definitely some kind of stomach virus. The Elf Vet says they’ll be okay, but the whole herd is down, even the third string. Even Rudolph. We need your help. We don’t know what to do. We have to pull the sleigh, somehow.”
“Let me grab my winter coat,” Paula said, “and I’ll be on the way. I have an idea.”
Paula called her mother, and Momma Possum was waiting with her coat and a bag lunch when Paula swooped into the yard. Momma Possum slipped a Bluetooth earpiece over Paula’s ear while Paula shrugged into the heavy coat.
“You’ll need a snack if you have to fly all the way to the North Pole,” her mom said. “And I worry about you being on the phone when you’re flying. Your bag of Reindeer Dust is in the left front pocket. Be careful, and good luck!”
“Thanks, Ma!” Paula yelled, and with a bounding leap was flying again.
Paula’s first stop was across the river. Her horse friends had moved to a new farm, and they were all in the barn singing Christmas carols when she flew over Meadowsweet and called out to them. From up at the house, Walter the Wonder Dog came bounding down the driveway.
“Merry Christmas, Superpossum!” June neighed. “Feliz Navidad!” called Leon the Paso Fino.
“Merry Christmas, everybody,” Paula said. “Santa needs some help.”
“What in the world?” said a horse in the next pasture. June flipped her mane.
“This is our buddy, Paula the Superpossum,” June said. “Paula, this is Romeo.”
“Howdy,” Romeo said. “You said Santa needs help?”
Briefly, Paula explained what was happening. All the other horses came over to the fence, asking questions. Two little donkeys, Kimmee and Fozzie, stood to one side, listening.
“Basically, we need to find animals who aren’t scared of flying. We’re going to need a lot of us, since none of us are designed to fly. It’s going to be a long, tough night, with a lot of bouncing. We still have about half Santa’s stops to make.”
“I wish I could help,” Old Red said. “My knees are just too bad.”
“I’m your pony,” said Romeo.
Melanie the mammoth donkey moaned.
“I’m just about due to have my baby,” she said.
Paula heard two quiet little voices from behind the other horses.
“We can help,” the little donkeys said.
The other horses stared at them, and some laughed.
“Fozzie, Kimmee – you’re too little.” “That’s silly.” “How could you ever pull a sleigh?”
“I’ll be doggone,” came a voice from the sky. A tiny quivering owl alighted on the fence. “Anyone can help. Even if you’re little. I did last year!”
“I was there,” Walter said. “Size doesn’t matter.”
“Dearheart!” Paula said. “Good to see you. I need you, too.” Dearheart fluffed her wings, and turned to Fozzie and Kimee. The donkeys were barely as big as Walter.
“I thought I was too small, and I couldn’t help. It was kind of scary, but we did it together.”
“Well,” one of the horses said, and shuffled away. “I have presents to wrap. You guys have fun.” Romeo and Sunny strained to get across the fence.
“What can we do?”
Paula pulled out her bag of Reindeer Dust.
“Just believe in Santa,” she said.
A few minutes later, a radar operator at the Wilmington airport called his supervisor over to look at something. There were a dozen odd shaped dots on the radar, all of different sizes, and only one had a radio beacon. The beacon identified the blip as Paula the Superpossum. The others were more or less in formation behind her, heading north-northeast.
The supervisor traced the line of one blip, which was much larger than the others.
“Is that Santa Claus?” he said. The operator shook his head.
“No,” he said. “Santa always has a transponder code. Besides, his is hovering over Virginia.”
“Keep an eye on them,” the supervisor said. “Last thing we want to do is to stack up planes over Atlanta on Christmas Eve.”
Dearheart flapped her wings as fast as she could, looking for the place Paula had told her about.
“When you get there,” Paula had said, “you’ll know it.”
Dearheart was panting when she found the zoo, and had to rest before she dropped down from the fence and made her way to the funniest animal she had ever seen. He was big and tan, with a long neck, and looked kind of like a horse, but not really.
Paula heard something scream, and she jumped into the air in fright.
“Who are you? Get out of here!” screeched a monkey. The strange horse lifted his head and looked at her. Dearheart was frightened.
“I’m Dearheart,” she stammered. “Paula the Superpossum sent me.” Several other monkeys began yelling and calling.
“Paula?” “Is she here?” “Where’s Paula? I want her autograph!”
“She’s a friend of mine,” Dearheart said, yelling to be heard over the monkeys. “She’s helping Santa. She needs Trapper the Camel. Is that you?”
The horse-thing stood, and Dearheart was terrified. She’d never seen anything so big, not even Bumblebee the Belgian Horse.
“It’s been a busy Christmas season,” Trapper said. “No idea how many nativity scenes I’ve been part of, but if Paula and Santa Claus need me, I’m your camel.”
Paula streaked toward the Reindeer Recovery Vehicle. She had tried several times to get Santa or the RRV on the telephone, but no one answered. She was beginning to worry.
Fozzie and Kimee were on either side of Paula. Behind them were June, Romeo, Walter the Wonder Dog, Sunny, and Bumblebee, the biggest horse Paula had ever seen.
“This is sooooo COOL!” Romeo shouted.
“A great way to cover some territory, that’s for sure!” said Walter. “I wish Old Sam could have come along. You ought to see that pig fly!”
“Pigs don’t fly,” Sunny snorted. Walter looked at her sideways.
“What are you, a sparrow?”
“Good point,” Sunny said.
Paula shushed them.
“Something’s wrong,” she said.
“Shouldn’t there be lights or something to guide us in?” Fozzie said.
“Son, she said to be quiet,” Kimee said.
“He’s right,” Paula said. “I haven’t been able to get them on the phone at all.”
“Maybe if Walter and I fly ahead, we can see something,” Paula said. “Romeo, you keep everybody in a holding pattern out here til we know it’s okay.”
The animals all thought that was a good idea. Walter the Wonder Dog flew up beside Paula.
“Hey—we need to be careful. I think I smell weasels.” Paula looked at him and nodded.
“I thought I did, too. You take the other group around on that side and see if you can see anything.”
Paula and Walter flew up beside the RRV at the same time, and looked through the windows. Weasels were everywhere!
Santa, the Elf-Vet and the RRV pilot were pounding on the window of one of the stalls. The weasels had locked them inside, and they were running in and out of the sleigh. Paula could hear the reindeer begging for help.
One weasel, bigger than the others, was in the cockpit. Another weasel had a bag slung over one shoulder, with small bottles sticking out of it.
Walter flew over to Paula.
“I think the weasels made the reindeer sick,” he said. Paula nodded.
“If one of us can get inside and open the loading gate, we can take the RRV back from them,” she said.
“But how?” Walter said. “That emergency door is pretty heavy. You’ve got opposable thumbs, but Reindeer Dust makes you fly, not strong.”
The RRV’s nose dropped, and it slowly began moving away toward the ocean. The dog and the possum looked through the window—the weasels were in the cockpit, and trying to fly the RRV!
Paula grabbed the handle to the emergency hatch.
“We got to try,” she said. “You go get the others. We have to save Santa and the reindeer!”
Walter streaked back toward the horses, and they began flying back toward the RRV.
“We have to turn it around!” Paula said. “If we can get your lead ropes on it, maybe we can make it spin to the ground!”
“But how?” Bumblebee neighed. “We can’t tie knots!”
“BUT WE CAN!” came a shout from the distance. Dearheart was flapping as fast as she could, leading Trapper the Camel and Sam the Pig. In the bright full moon, Paula tried to figure out what the bumps were that were all over the camel – then she saw the bumps were monkeys!
“Come on, guys!” Paula shouted. “There’s no time to lose!”
“You know you couldn’t keep me away from an adventure!” Sam bellowed.
Some of the monkeys jumped from Trapper to the RRV, while the horses and Sam the Pig flew up beside them. Then other monkeys tossed the lead ropes to their friends, who tied them where Paula pointed. Bumblebee and Trapper got on opposite sides of the RRV, and Sam put his nose against the front. When Walter barked, they all began flying as hard as they could, slowly turning the RRV. Several of the monkeys joined Paula at the emergency hatch and began tugging at the handle.
Fozzie and Kimmee flew up beside them, and flipped their lead lines to the monkeys.
“Tell us which way to pull!” Fozzie said. Paula pointed, and the little donkeys heaved against their leads. The hatch popped open!
Paula, Walter and the monkeys jumped inside the RRV, followed closely by the two little donkeys. The weasels shrieked and began running for the hatch, only to stop when they saw how far they were from the ground. The stall where Santa was locked up was chained shut.
One of the monkeys opened a box marked “Weasel Emergency Kit” on the sleigh, and began tossing weasel-proof bags to the other monkeys. They grabbed the weasels and began stuffing them inside.
The big weasel looked at them through the cockpit window and laughed.
“You’ll never make it in here,” he said. “You’re too late, Superpossum! We’re going to ruin Christmas for EVERYBODY!”
Kimmee sniffed the door, and looked at Fozzie.
“Come on, Son,” she said, and backed up to the door. “Look out, Paula—we got this. One, two, three, NOW!”
The two little donkeys kicked with all their might, and the door to the cockpit flew open! Walter and Paula rushed in, followed by several monkeys and the donkeys.
“Not again!” the big weasel moaned. “I surrender.” Walter looked at Paula.
“Weasels are like all bullies—they give up when the going gets tough. Now let’s get the RRV back on course!”
“Hah!” The weasel said. “I jammed up the controls—you can’t win!”
“Come on, boy,” Kimmee said. The two donkeys looked under the control panel, then backed up to the board.
“One-two-three-KICK!”
Fozzie stuck his head under the panel and made some noises to himself. Then he bit down on a cable and gently pulled. The RRV shook for a moment, then leveled off. Paula jumped for the controls, wrapped her paws around the stick, and reached with her tail for the throttle.
“Where’d you learn mechanics?” Paula asked. Kimmee shrugged.
“We saw a human do that with a water pump once,” Kimmee said.
“Paula,” Santa said over the intercom, “we got the door open, but the reindeer can’t pull the sleigh. What are we going to do about delivering the presents? Little Cooper, Gingersnap and Littlest – they’ve all been so good.”
“We can help,” Trapper, Sam and Bumblebee said. Their heads were so big they could only get their noses through the door to the cockpit. “We were made to pull!” Paula looked at Walter.
“I have to fly this thing—get some of those monkeys, and hook everybody up to the sleigh.”
“You mean sleighs,” Santa said. “The emergency sleigh is still onboard. I like having a spare. Can your friends make up two teams?”
“I can take one, and Trapper the other,” Bumblebee said. “We can’t let the little kids be disappointed!”
“Let’s go,” Sunny said.
“I know the way to Cooper’s house!” June said. “His grandmom helped me when I was sick!”
“Follow me!” Trapper brayed. “I wish my brother Clyde was around to see me help Santa!”
“You can’t have a big critter pull a sleigh from the front,” Santa said. “It won’t fly right. You have to have a smaller animal up front. Put the two mini-donkeys in the front harnesses, and the big guys in the back. Sam, there are some onshore winds tonight, so you go with the sleigh heading for Wilmington!”
“Ten-roger, Santa!” shouted the monkeys.
“You can help deliver the presents,” Santa told the monkeys. “Walter? Can you drive the other sleigh? We need Paula to help the pilot fly the RRV.”
“I’m Walter the Wonder Dog,” he said. “I can do almost anything. Let’s go, y’all. It’s Christmas!”
As the sleighs launched out the big doors on the RRV, Paula opened her lunch bag. Her mom had packed her favorites, with a note reminding her to share.
“Would you like a snack?” She asked the pilot. “I have muffins.”
And that’s how some folks saw two sleighs in the light of the full moon one Christmas Eve, but they weren’t pulled by eight tiny reindeer.
Instead, one was pulled along by a camel and a pig, another by a huge horse (with a dog on the reins), with matching teams of other horses behind them, urged on by monkeys–with two tiny donkeys leading the way.
And the Weasels? Their story will just have to wait for another day.
The end