Four Wishes and an Elf

"Oh, Peter, that can never happen. it's very unlikely we will see each other again," she said sadly. "I received this message on my mobile only two hours ago,"

She showed me the phone.

Report back to Guildford Elf Lodge by 7 a.m. tomorrow morning (27/12) when transport back to the North Pole will be arranged. Santa

"I don't know where I'm going to be for the next eight months, but after my performance this Christmas it's very unlikely that they will allow me to leave unsupervised again.

Peter, I need to be honest with you. Elves are not promiscuous. We marry only once and always for love, and elvish girls go to their marriage bed a virgin. Marriage between humans and elves, although it happens, is very rare indeed.

Even If I wanted to go out with you, I am sure my parents would not approve, and they would never permit our marriage. It is far better for both of us that when I leave in the morning, we forget about each other, and move on with our lives."

Then she turned. left the lounge and busied herself in the kitchen.

***

As I sat gloomily in the lounge, I heard the coffee grinder and the blender working and wondered what it was that Alvina was preparing. Shortly, she returned carrying a tumbler containing a brown liquid.

"Do you trust me?" she asked.

"Of course."

Then drink this. I need to show you something.

She handed me the glass and I drained it in one long gulp. It tasted awful: rancid, sour, and salty. I started to complain, but before I could say anything the world started to go grey, and then black. Just before the darkness engulfed me, I heard Alvina's voice.

"Goodbye my love," she said softly. "I never meant to hurt you."

***

I woke suddenly. I was surprised to see that I was no longer in my flat but was walking down Guildford High Street on a warm sunny day. I was not alone. Alvina was walking beside me, talking softly as we walked down the hill.

"I want to show you the future," she said. "Today is July 25^th next year, and that, and she pointed to a dishevelled man with a week's stubble on his chin who was sitting begging, is Mr Champagne. You got your wish. He's been sitting here for the last three weeks."

"How did it happen?"

"His business had a cash flow problem - a few million- I understand, and the bank wouldn't bail him out. His business went belly up sometime in May. He put his house in his wife's name, for tax purposes, and when he outlived his usefulness, she ditched him. He's a nasty piece of work by all accounts and deserves what's happened to him, but make no mistake, this is the result of the first wish I gave you. Only you can undo it, if you wish to, but not just by wishing it away. You must do something to break the entire process.

Like finding him the "few million?"

She smiled.

"That would work."

"What's his name and what was his business address? I enquired.

***

The next thing I remember is waking up in my bed. It was dark outside and the luminous numbers on my digital clock said 6.30 am. Suddenly I felt wide awake, the memory of my "dream" fresh in my head. Except I knew it hadn't been a dream. Alvina had shown me the future.

I switched the light on, put on my dressing gown, and went into the kitchen to make myself a coffee. Alvina had been there before me, and a pot of coffee sat percolating on the counter. I made myself a mug and sat at the kitchen table where a white envelope, with my name on it, had been placed. It was then that I knew for certain she had gone. I opened the envelope and read the handwritten note.

Dear Peter,

When I arrived at the flat on Christmas Eve, I didn't expect to find a man like you. You are everything a girl could ever want; intelligent, kind, and generous, patient, handsome, and (LOL) rich. Our problem is I'm not just a girl, I'm an Elvish girl.

It is because a relationship between us couldn't happen that it didn't, yet now I'm leaving, I wish it had. Despite this, I know that in the future, I will be glad that I remain a virgin. And if that sounds Elvish, it is.

You can, if you want, use your third remaining wish to reverse your first wish. or you can use it some other way. A word to the wise, however. Some wishes are just too "impossible." Don't wish for, "peace on Earth," "end to climate change," or even, "an end to conflict in the Middle East." Your wish doesn't have the power to do that.

Remember you can't wish a person physical harm or make them do something that is not in their nature. Your wish about that unpleasant man becoming poor was granted because it was fair, albeit harsh. If you had wished to sleep with me, it would not have worked.

If you are reading this before seven o'clock, if you go outside a few minutes afterward, you may catch site of Santa's sleigh passing over your flat going north-west. I'm pretty sure that's going to be my transport. If it sounds romantic, it isn't. It's freezing cold, and have you ever wondered where the reindeer shit goes when they poo "in flight."

I'll close now,

Have a good life and don't dwell on, "if only." Those are both the saddest and most useless two words in the English Language.

Alvina xxx

PS Mr Champagne's business card enclosed.

I shook the envelope and out dropped a gold embossed card.

At seven o'clock, in the dark, I stood on the balcony of my flat and looked up. I can't be sure, but a few minutes later I felt a shadow pass over me and thought I heard Alvina's voice.

"Dancer!"

***

Christmas Day fell on a Thursday in 2014. The day that Alvina returned to the North Pole was a Saturday. I had closed the office to give my staff a four-day break, and because I had expected to still be in Istanbul over Christmas and the New Year.

Once again, I was at a loose end, only now I felt as if I had found something precious, and promptly lost it again. I tried to think rationally. How could I possibly love her? I knew virtually nothing about her. She was a Scottish Presbyterian Elf from somewhere North of the Border with a degree in mathematics and plans to study further. For the next eight months, she was going to work for Santa at the North Pole. I knew her name, but not her surname. I didn't have her mobile number. I had not thought to ask for it before she gave me the magic potion. I was sure she did not want me to have it, anyway.

Although many of my customers were not working over the holiday weekend, Muslims and Hindus do not celebrate Christmas and I kept myself busy on the phone talking to clients, first in Mumbai, later in Dubai, and then in Istanbul. I then busied myself reading and sending emails.

That evening I drank too much to drown my sorrows and fell into a deep sleep, but when I woke in the morning I was still filled with a deep sense of loss. Sunday passed slowly. I watched three football games back-to-back on television and drank too much.

On Monday I returned to work and positively threw myself into it, Days became weeks, and weeks became months, and although the hurt slowly eased, I never stopped missing Alvina.

In the middle of April, I started to think about Claude Pratt; his was the name on the card that Alvina had given me. I bought a National Lottery ticket for the last Saturday in April and sent it by registered post to Claude's office address in Guildford. I enclosed a note.

Dear Mr Pratt

Please find enclosed a WINNING ticket for this week's National Lottery. Don't ask me how I know, or why I am sending it to you. I know your business is in trouble and this win will help you. Doubt however much you want, but don't throw this ticket away until after the draw.

Yours sincerely

On the Saturday of the draw, I sat in front of my television and watched my six numbers and bonus ball number drawn in sequence. The prize was somewhere north of seven million pounds, and my conscience was clear. Then in May, his win was announced in a local newspaper. I admit that I visited Guildford High Street on two occasions in mid-July but there was no sign of Claude. My plan had worked.

I still missed Alvina and had not even looked at another woman since her brief presence in my life. I was like a rudderless ship drifting at sea.

***

Late one Sunday morning, in the last week of July, the doorbell rang and when I looked through the peephole, I saw a familiar figure standing outside. I fumbled with the chain lock and opened the door., and there stood Alvina smiling at me.

I was speechless and stood there just looking at her for several seconds. She looked even more beautiful than I remembered, and I was filled with love for her.

I heard her say only two words.

"Thank heaven," before she stepped forward put her lips up to mine and kissed me.

As we kissed, I took her in my arms and held her tight against me. I could feel the curve of her breasts and the warmth of her body through the thin yellow cotton dress that she was wearing. That first kiss seemed to last forever and then I kissed her forehead and her neck and when I kissed her eyes I tasted salty tears of joy,

"Please stop," she said. "I need to rest. Just hold me and don't let go."

We sat together in the lounge. She sat in the same armchair that she had occupied the first evening we had met. Then, she had been drinking red wine. Now. she was holding a cup of black coffee.

"I was so scared to come," she said. "I thought you might have forgotten me. I came as soon as I could. Santa gave me two weeks' holiday. I've been to Aberdeen to see my parents and now I'm here."

"I've thought about you every day for the last eight months I said. I love you, Alvina."

"I know," she replied. "I felt it when you met me at the door. and combined with what I feel for you, the emotion I felt was almost intolerable. My mother quite specifically warned me not to use my telepathic powers when we make love. She warned me that my passion would be quite sufficient without feeling yours too. The term she used was, 'emotional overload.'

It was stupid and extremely bad-mannered of me. but I had to know whether you still loved me, and I switched on. I shouldn't have done it and will never do it again. It was an invasion of your privacy."

I brushed her apology aside, I was focused on what her mother had said about, us "making love."

"Your mother knows about me?"

"And my father. They both know."

"I thought you said that they would not approve of me because I was human."

"I was wrong."

"What happened?"

"When I got back to the North Pole, I was reassigned to the Accounts Department pending an inquiry. That didn't happen until the middle of January. Santa was very busy and then he caught a head cold and was in bed for a couple of days. He's not getting any younger you know. When I finally explained to him what happened in the supermarket he was very understanding and said it was an honest mistake. He was also very interested in you.

'Sounds like a good man,' he said.

When I agreed with him, he saw right through me. I remember exactly what he said.

'You love him, child, don't you?'

'Yes Santa, I do.'

'Try to forget,' he said. 'Humans and Elves are a heady mix.'

But I couldn't forget you. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep. I was inconsolable. I wanted to die. Elves love only once, marry for love, and stay married until they die. Just imagine - an elf bewitched by a human.

In early June Santa asked me to see him. He had seen what was happening to me and had made inquiries about you. He already knew about your third wish and had the annual reports of your behaviour as a child, scattered all over his desk. He told me you were a mischievous but generous child with a good heart. He declared you a decent honest human being.

'Better than a lot of elves,' he said.

And then he told me that if you still wanted me, he would support my choice, and speak to my parents on my behalf.

So, he did. I misjudged them. They told him they only wanted my happiness and would not stand in our way, although I'm sure Santa's blessing didn't hurt. It didn't stop my father from giving me the usual advice about the difficulties of mixed marriages and pointing out that any child of ours would be a half-elf, but I smiled sweetly, said nothing, and he gave up."

She stopped talking and looked expectantly at me. She had been speaking very quickly and was almost breathless with excitement.

I've been dreaming of this moment since the day you left me, and I never thought it could happen, I said.

"Will you marry me, Alvina?"

I didn't need any special ability to sense her joy.

Later that day I bought her a diamond engagement ring and she bought me a silver ring in return, and she told me her surname, Virtanen.

"Mine is Wallace."

"I know. Santa told me."

She turned to me and spoke earnestly.

"Please marry me quickly. I don't want to be a virgin anymore."

***

One month later we were married in a small church, a few miles outside of Inverness in Scotland. It was a very small affair. Only Alvina's parents, my parents, and my sister and brother-in-law were present, together with the minister. The reception was held in the Bunchrew House Hotel overlooking the Beauty Firth. Alvina had requested Scottish smoked salmon and Beluga caviar as a starter, Aberdeen Angus fillet steak with champagne and black truffle sauce served with new potatoes and asparagus, as a main, and cheese and biscuits to finish off. Only she and I Knew the significance of the choice.

Alvina had worn a white silk dress for the wedding and gone to it a virgin as Elvish custom dictated, but now she wore my wedding ring, and she would not remain a virgin much longer.

When the time came for us to leave the reception and our guests, I watched Alvina hug her mother and her mother whisper something in her ear and smile, and I wondered.

Although it was a cool September evening, and the sun had set, our room was toasty warm, the radiators working overtime.

Whilst Alvina busied herself at the dressing table, brushing her already perfect hair, I showered and got ready for bed wearing only a pair of pyjama bottoms, As I crossed the bedroom, she turned and admired me. It was the first time she had seen me bare-chested, and she smiled. I was pleased I kept myself fit and had broad shoulders and a flat tummy.

A short while later Alvina emerged from the bathroom. She was wearing a long white lace nightie that extended to her ankles.

"My mother and her mother wore it on their wedding night," she said, as she pulled back the sheet and slid into the bed next to me.

I turned to face her took her in my arms and held her tight. I looked into her eyes They were blue, the colour of the sea, and I saw her love within them.

"I love you," I said.

"I love you too," she said, and then we kissed.

My penis was erect, and she must have felt it hard against her because when we stopped kissing I heard her whisper,

"I'm a little shy."

"We'll stay under the sheets if you like," I replied.

I could wait no longer, and I removed my pyjamas and threw them on the floor. It was then that Alvina sat up, and with her back to me, drew her nightdress over her head and discarded it. For the first time, I was able to see her naked back. Her skin was pure white, the colour of milk, and was completely flawless, her waist was narrow, and her neck was long and slender.

I rose and kissed the nape of her neck, and she shivered in pleasure before pulling the sheet around herself, lying down, and turning to face me.

Now naked, we lay entwined and kissed, my rock-hard penis pressed firmly against her belly, Then, I gently guided her to lie on her back and briefly pulled the bedsheet to expose her breasts before kissing each one turn, with the sheet now pulled back over my head. As I kissed, nibbled, and sucked each nipple in turn, they grew erect. As she lay still, I gently parted her thighs with my hand and placed my fingers between the lips of her sex. She was already wet when I found her clitoris and started to gently rub.

I heard her moaning gently, and then I felt her hand brush against my prick. She was tentative at first but after a few words of encouragement and appreciation, she grew in confidence and gently drew my foreskin back and forth. Soon I could wait no longer.

"Are you ready," I asked.

"Oh. Yes." She murmured gently.

She parted her legs and I lay between them, then as I looked deep into her eyes, and she looked back at me, I slowly slid inside of her. There was a moment of slight resistance before I was deep within her, and I stopped and waited for Alvina.

"Please," she said softly, and I started to fuck her.

At first, I moved slowly, but then I started to move more rapidly spurred on by the mewing sounds of pleasure that she was making, and the growing signs of need and passion on her beautiful face. Her eyes were wide, her lips moist and parted, and her face flushed as she approached her first climax and I drove myself hard inside her trying to give her the sexual release she now needed so badly.

And then her orgasm was upon her. Her body bucked, and shuddered beneath me, her cunt muscles tightly gripped my shaft, her mouth formed a perfect O, and she let out a long-drawn-out sigh of bliss and relief. I continued to thrust until she stopped moving and lay still, and then I rolled off her and held her tight in my arms.

When she had recovered, she looked across at me and kissed me briefly on the lips.

"That felt wonderful, "she said.

"Again?"

"Oh, yes,"

"But this time we get to see and feel," I said.

I pulled back the bedsheets that had been covering us, gathered them up, and threw them unceremoniously on the floor. Alvira lay on her back, and I knelt between her legs and looked down at her. Her breasts were perfect half spheres of porcelain white flesh the size of melons, her nipples were pink, and her narrow waist and hips were perfectly proportioned. For the first time, I saw her hairless sex framed by her smooth muscular thighs.

Alvina, in turn, looked back at me.

"My mother told me human men were very big, and to enjoy you."

I licked two fingers, covered them with my saliva, and then as she watched I reached down and rubbed her clitoris. Her labia were pink and flushed from what had come before, and she was ready when, once again, I lay between her legs and penetrated her.

Unimpeded by the bedclothes, she spread her legs and crossed them behind me as I ploughed her, and she climbed, once again, toward her orgasm. This time, when she came, she raised her legs and drove her pelvis against me, grinding as she did. I felt her vaginal muscles rhythmically tighten and relax on me, and watched her eyes wide and staring, as her lower body flailed, and she clawed the bed sheets with her fingernails.

Her cry of passion was long and loud, and for the first time in her life, I heard her swear.

"Ohhhhhhhh! Fuuucccckkk!"

This time I did not give her time to recover but flipped her over and asked her to kneel. She seemed to Know what to do, and with her beautiful round bum raised, and her breasts against the bed I entered her again. Her cunt lips puckered as I moved in and out. My balls slapped, the bed creaked, and Alvina gently moaned as I fucked her hard and fast.

Alvira's groans grew louder, and then I saw her reach between her legs with her right hand and start to rub her clitoris.

We came together. As I felt my penis start to pulse and spurt my semen into her, and as my strokes shortened, her fingers moved faster. I grunted and heard her sigh in ecstasy as her perineal muscles spasmed and I watched her anus contract and relax rhythmically.