3

LAPLAND 
by Max Reif 

way at the top. But there was no road. A sign pointed only to a narrow, winding foot trail.
      Mr. Nugent parked the car and started to climb the trail. He felt very small. In fact, he realized with a smile, he felt like a child, climbing up a hill of big laps—the kind giants might have!
      Finally he reached the palace. Another sign pointed up some winding stairs. At the top was an office with still another sign on the door. This one said: COMMISSIONER OF LAPS. Mr. Nugent knocked on the door.     
       "Come in-n-n-n," a kind voice practically sang.
      Mr. Nugent opened the door. Behind a desk sat a tiny man with a long, white beard that flowed over the desk. The man was sitting on a chair that somehow looked like a big lap, too! The head of a tiny lap dog poked through his beard.

"Lapland", © 2005 by Max Reif