Christmas is quiet and... «Deep End»
goldfish1929 марта 2026Christmas is quiet and lazy, good food and movies and naps, just the three of us, just the way I like it. Barb is, miraculously, not on call. Pip snores softly and farts loudly. I’m full and happy and maybe a little reckless, because I snap a picture of the holiday spread and send it to Lukas with the caption Fika?
The reply is, as usual, instantaneous. That’s a meal.
SCARLETT: How do you even know that?
LUKAS: No coffee in sight.
I add a Pac-12 mug to the side. Better?
LUKAS: Still a meal. With an empty mug next to it.
SCARLETT: Are you the fika police?
LUKAS: Unlike you, I speak Swedish.
SCARLETT: I’m tired of this gatekeeping.
Two minutes later, my email pings with a message. Someone gifted me a yearly premium subscription to Duolingo. Lukas must not know my middle name, because he went with Scarlett Troll Vandermeer.
Most likely, he’s perfectly aware that it’s Ann.
SCARLETT: The passive aggression!!!
LUKAS: Nothing passive about it.
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