JEBWizard Publishing is excited to announce the upcoming release of a wonderful new book by Cumberland (RI) native, John Eric Johnson.

For those of us who love the wonders and magic of Christmas, this is a story you’ll want to share with your kids, grandkids, and everyone who loves a good Christmas tale.

Order your ebook copy today on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Watson-Terrific-John-Eric-Johnson-ebook/dp/B08NGYW7MQ

or send an email to info@jebwizardpublishing.com to reserve a signed print copy for $14.99. Book will be released on December 1, 2020, in plenty of time for Christmas. Be sure to let us know how you’d like the book signed and where to send it.

Excerpt from Watson:

A Leap of Faith

The first thing in the flight manual was for the reindeer to flump ten yards and land—maintain balance and flump again. A flump is half flying and half jumping and is also the sound that reindeer hooves make on rooftop landings. Since an estimated 73% of all takeoffs and landings on Christmas Eve would be in the 10 to 100-yard range—flump training was critical to the success of Santa’s sleigh.

However, the most important part of flying and flumping has always been the landing. And everyone knew that the key to a good landing was the two-step stop. This refined method of stopping was developed by an elf named Rusty countless years ago during a particularly harsh winter. Rusty was a student of all things flying and knew that easing into a stop on ice was better than just trying to dig in the hooves and slide. Simply put—it was touch the ground, take two steps, and stop.

“It’s all about control,” Rusty said often to his young apprentice, Troy.

“Feel the landing,” Troy yelled. “Do not fear it. Take two steps and stop.”

All the reindeer lined up along a field of snow that was 100 yards long and 50 yards wide. Troy walked the line and draped a silver bell attached to a gold chain around each reindeer’s neck.

The bell would continue to ring on flumps and flights for as long as the reindeer remained in the training program. Once the reindeer resigned or was dismissed—the bell would NEVER ring again.

“The best of luck to all of you,” said Troy. “And remember the gold is not at the end of the rainbow. The rainbow is the gold.”

The first hooves on lesson was that every time Troy blew his whistle the reindeer would flump ten yards and stop. Ten flumps down and ten flumps back.

Tweet!

And all 20 reindeer flumped.

It was like a dance. They all went up in the air and came down ten yards later—just the way Troy designed it.

That is all, except Watson.

Watson was so happy to be given a chance to fly that he put just a tad too much effort into his flump and soared all 100 yards. When he tried to land, he forgot to take two steps and slid into a snowbank and then over the edge of the field and down a steep hill. Watson rolled hooves and antlers end-over-end to the bottom— before crashing to a stop in a different snowbank.

By the time Georgia and Sasha arrived at the end of the field all they could see were four skinny legs and two smiling teeth sticking out of the snow. Then they heard what can only be described as sounds a seal and then a duck would make.

“Aaaagh, quack quack!”

Over and over again.

“Aaaagh, quack quack!”

Georgia and Sasha thought Watson must be hurt until they realized he was laughing.

“Aaaagh, quack quack!”

As they dug him out of the snow—Watson laughed and laughed—and soon Georgia and Sasha were laughing right along with him. And the more they laughed, the harder it became to stop—until all three were rolling on the ground.

“Aaaagh, quack quack! Aaaagh, quack quack!”

Troy, however, was not amused. He glared down from the top of the hill. His face the color of Santa’s red suit. His black licorice turned red in his lips. And Georgia swore she saw steam—like you would see over a cup of hot chocolate—coming out of his ears.

“What did I just say?” seethed Troy as he banged his cane in the snow. “Follow the rules. The exercise was to flump ten yards, not 100! Do you want to be one of Santa’s reindeer or not?  I won’t tolerate this! I simply won’t tolerate this!”

As hard as they tried, Georgia and Sasha could not stop laughing. They would try to think of something very sad like not having sugar cookies every day, but then they would hear, “Aaaagh, quack quack!” and the laughing would start again.

The rest of the day’s training was more of the same. Most of the reindeer struggled to make a 10-yard flump—while Watson struggled to keep from flumping further than ten yards.

Despite a less than stellar first day, Watson, Georgia, and Sasha all headed back to the stables with huge smiles on their faces. Flight training was going to be fun! Not easy, but definitely fun.

“Aaaagh, quack quack!”

After the day’s session, Troy met with Santa.

“I’ve never seen a reindeer make that long of a flump on the first day of training. Twenty yards maybe, but 100 yards is simply amazing. We may have a superstar in our midst. Undisciplined no doubt, but a star nonetheless.”

Santa simply ran his hand down his beard and said, “Hmmmmm.”

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Everyone has a story to tell, let us help you share it with the world. We turn publishing dreams into a reality. For more information and manuscript submission guidelines contact us at info@jebwizardpublishing.com or 401-533-3988.

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