✅ The Nice List

Silent(ish) Night

This bonus chapter is dedicated to Kevin. Thank you for your support!

Tarja darted around the kitchen in a state of near panic. She would have liked to simplify the process a lot. She didn't need to do all the fancy sauces, she was sure. If she were by herself, she would have been just as happy without the berry mustard jus, blue cheese sauce, and a half dozen other exotic accompaniments that she never got to taste outside of a Christmas dinner.

That had been one of Tarja's first thoughts when she started cooking today. She'd known that Merri wouldn't be able to help so much, and that she wouldn't remember the plan like she usually did. So, of course, it would make more sense just to do the regular ingredients, or maybe something a little more fun for the baby, and then save the other stuff for later in the week. But it turned out that she couldn't make something different, because the contents of the cupboards and fridge was almost entirely geared towards the special christmas dinner. Merri had planned everything perfectly so she wouldn't need to do shopping before new year, but that also meant that there was nothing in there that she didn't actually need. There was no space, for example, for anything that Tarja knew how to prepare on her own. The only option would be the one meal that she had clearly-written instructions for.

Simplifying it should have been an easier task. She could just skip the steps relating to the complex sauces. Except that the instructions were all simple, telling her what needed to be mixed together at what time, and most of them would involve mixing flour and butter, for example, and then dividing it into two bowls and a little pot, two of which were being saved for later. Merri's sheet of directions was packed with information, but every single word was geared towards what needed to be done right now, and what not to forget. There was no indication of when the chilled bowl of eggs, milk, and garlic was going to be used again, or which of the sauces it was for. Merri would probably have been able to figure it out, if she wasn't a baby right now. But Tarja wasn't used to handling so many details in one place, and she wouldn't know where to start deciphering it. She decided that the best she could do was to follow the recipe, and hope that she didn't mess up too badly.

When she was mixing, folding, beating, and simmering, there was no room for distraction. But when she reached the next little break, she finally allowed herself to think about the magic remote control. She still wasn't sure that she'd done the right thing, but Merri was starting to enjoy being a baby now, which she thought had to be a good thing. She could also worry a little less now that her friend had started to return to normal. Perhaps it was because she'd had nobody to help her in the bathroom, so had needed to think like an adult again. Or maybe the magic only lasted while she was playing with the new toys that had appeared in their house. She didn't know which was most likely, but either option sounded like it would ensure Merri couldn't get stuck like this.

In a way, Tarja thought that was a little disappointing. When she'd started thinking about magic, and wanting to give her housemate a special Christmas, the biggest thought on her mind had been teaching Merri that she didn't have to be so serious the whole time. And whatever mystical agent had managed to organise all this had certainly hit the mark on this one. But Tarja had never expected to have so much fun looking after a child, and she knew that she would miss this as soon as it was over.

Even all the work. And that thought surprised her more than anything. She needed to do so much today, keeping an eye on Merri every minute, and it seemed that every minute of watching a kid at play with delighted fascination was matched by ten minutes of cleaning up, making sure stuff wasn't broken, or taking care of all the things that Merri couldn't do herself. Tarja had never had so many things to do, or so much responsibility at once. She'd barely even realised all the things that she should have been doing, because Merri had always done those things for her.