Mid-Winter Bleak

It's mid-winter, not long before Christmas, and snow is falling. Little orphan, Dot, lives in a big house in the country where she is made to work like a slave by her cruel mistress. Exhausted, she falls asleep. Meanwhile, beyond the North Pole, there is trouble in Santa's workshop where all the toys are made. He too has driven his hardworking elves to exhaustion. They can take no more. Santa sacks them and replaces them with goblins to finish the work. But this only makes matters considerably worse. Will something happen to save the day and get all the presents made in time for Christmas? Or is it all a dream?

Ray Fuller taught psychology for 40 years at Trinity College, Dublin. He has published extensively on human risk-taking although he did venture briefly into the psychology of humour, appearing in a line-up with the comedian Ken Dodd at the first-ever international conference on humour. Now retired from academic life, he lives in SW France where he builds stone walls, makes furniture, the odd short film and enjoys writing in prose as well as verse.