✅ The Last New Start [NaNoWriMo2021]

89. A New Toy

Ffrances was a real handful when she was being a toddler. That was something Tess hadn't even thought about, she'd just assumed it would be a lot of fun looking after a little kid. But when the kid was trying to put everything in sight into her mouth and ended up with half of it on her face, she started to remember that babysitting could be a lot of work. But Tess really liked Ffrances, and she didn't want to make extra work for Gabby, so she did everything she could to help the little one.

"You can make our breakfast," she told Gabby. "I'll help her." She laughed a little at herself then. She knew that she couldn't boss Gabby around, and she would never normally do something like that. Maybe it was all part of the game. So she tried to clean Ffrances's face while the baby was still making more of a mess. And then she picked up the fork, and teased the baby with one mouthful of food at a time, making sure that each one had a different mix of bacon, sausage, egg, and toast on it, so that it was always something new and interesting for the little one.

By the time they had finished eating, she was sure that they both had quite a lot of food spread on their clothes. But they could wipe their faces clean, pick off the big bits, and she was sure the rest would come off in the wash. Dabbing at bits of ketchup with a damp cloth didn't make them clean, but it meant that at least their clothes wouldn't leave sticky marks on whatever they touched next.

"I think she's getting into this a bit too much," Gabby commented. She was the grown-up today, and she had mostly managed to avoid getting any food on her so far. "Maybe she should go back to–"

"No," Tess snapped. "She's the baby today. That's what we said. And I got a little sister to look after." She helped Ffrances out of her seat, and gave her an arm to lean on while they moved towards the lounge. For a little one, she seemed to be quite good at walking. But Tess was sure they could change that later. She knew that Ffrances wanted this more than anything, to be a real baby. And she knew that Gabby would try to make some excuse for her to be an adult again. Tess just wanted them both to be happy, and she was ready to keep on doing what it took to make sure that happened. This was going to be fun.

As soon as they entered the lounge, Ffrances was bounding over to the tree. It had been there for ages, even before Tess went away, but she hadn't really noticed how big and sparkly it was before now. It was plastic, not a real tree, and there were lights and baubles hung all over it. At the top there was a glittering five-pointed star, and at the bottom the branches were bent upwards by the pile of presents. There were more boxes than Tess could count, large and small, all wrapped in shiny foil paper. Ffrances grabbed one and started shaking it, obviously excited to see what was inside. She dropped it pretty quickly, and then grasped for another.

Tess was a little more reserved in her enthusiasm. She stood in the door for a second, resisting the temptation to run over and start opening them up. She was amazed at how much Ffrances was acting like a real kid, and that was interesting enough to keep her attention for now.

"Tess?" Gabby whispered, gently putting a hand on her shoulder. Tess looked up, and followed her cousin back into the kitchen. It seemed like this was going to be a grown-up talk, very serious. Tess wasn't a grown-up now, and she didn't want to think about serious things when it was Christmas and all her presents were right there. But she still knew that she needed to make sure that everything was perfect. It was like the first real Christmas for her little sister, and she was determined to do this right. Ffrances would be happy enough looking at the shiny paper for a few minutes.

"What's up?"

Gabby flashed a brief smile as Tess fidgeted, and it took her a second to work out why.

"Excited to start opening your presents, little one?" Then Tess could only nod, slightly embarrassed. She wanted to be good and look after Ffrances. But it was Christmas day, and she was looking forward to the presents so much that it was hard to think about anything else. Gabby made it quick, just asking a few things. And it was no surprise what she wanted to talk about. She wanted to make sure Ffrances was happy, and she was trying to persuade Tess that she didn't need a baby sister to have fun. But Tess knew exactly what she had to say to that: she wasn't interested. If Gabby wanted them to play at being little kids, it had to be both of them. By that point it was already hard for Tess to remember how it felt to be a big girl; but she knew she could end this if she really wanted to. So she let her emotions run away with her, laughing and blushing.