Mischief Makers: The New Gal

Nim and his new partner landed with a thud on the windowsill of a quiet house in the country.

“Here we are!” said Nim.

His new partner was a small reindeer with a fur collar and a determined glint in her large brown eyes. She stood stiffly on the edge of the window sill.

“Yes. Well. Here we are,” she said looking at Nim expectantly.

Nim smiled his brightest, most winning elfin smile and led the way inside.

The reindeer pranced slowly around the kitchen counter, taking in the splendor of the tree and lights decorating the house.

“This is nice,” she said finally.

“Yep, real nice! Such Christmas spirit! Such joy!” agreed Nim. “Now, for tonight I thought we could get out all of the Christmas sprinkles and spill them out on the counter and write our–”

“No!” she shouted in alarm. “Santa sent us reindeer to keep you elves from doing mischief and that is just what I intend to do.”

Nim, not one to back down easily, narrowed his eyes at her.

“Ok,” he said slowly. “How about we write a welcome message for them. An “I’m back and here’s my new partner.’ note for them to read.”

“That sounds like a great idea!” she said primly. “I just know we will get along great if you just follow all the rules.”

Nim looked at her doubtfully.

“Let’s see here,” she said calmly. “We need a paper and pen to write the message. We should set it up somewhere out of the way so the parents aren’t inconvenienced in any way and then–what are you doing?!”

While she was talking, Nim had pulled piles of notecards out of the desk drawer and was busy putting them up all over the sliding glass door.

“I’m writing our message of course!”

The poor, shocked reindeer stared open-mouthed at Nim as he busily scribbled the welcome message…one word on each scrap of paper.

I’m back with a partner!
She comes with a book
So sit down, get comfy
And then take a look

You’ll both have to name her
You’ll have to agree
She’s here to make magic
And fun, just like me!

Cuddle this reindeer
Squeeze her and play
Yes, you can touch her
She won’t go away

She’ll be here all season
To keep us line
Until Christmas eve
Then she’s all mine!

“Well, what do you think?”

“You-you…made a mess! Such a big mess!” she spluttered.

Nim looked around the room. Bits of paper were scattered all over the table and floor.

“Well, I guess the first day of the Kindness Calendar should be to ‘Pick up a mess that you didn’t make,’ right?” Nim said with a smile.

The reindeer glared at Nim. “This is my first assignment out of Reindeer School. It has to be perfect. PERFECT! I have to do a good job and follow ALL the rules. Do you understand?”

Nim finished putting the last word up before answering her.

“Of course I understand,” he said in what was meant to be a soothing voice. “You can come up with tomorrow night’s message, ok?”

The reindeer had no time to disagree. The sun was coming up over the horizon and they had to get to their places.

“Oh, I almost forgot!” said Nim, zipping down to the table to put a small note next to the new book.

“What is that?”

“A knock-knock joke for the boys,” said Nim.

“Oh, I don’t think–”

“Knock, knock.”

“Er…who’s there?”

“Yule.”

“Yule who?”

“Yule never know!”

Nim laughed hysterically as he flew to his place. The reindeer looked at Nim nervously, wondering how she was going to make a good impression on Santa with such a mischievous and silly partner.