Page 17 of Emma and the Elf Next Door

NOAH: Give me one minute.

I swallow the lump in my throat and duck into my bedroom to change into the pyjamas Mum had sent in the mail the first week of December. Grabbing a beer from the fridge and a bag of pre-popped popcorn, I settle back onto the couch, turning on Disney Plus and finding the movie.

NOAH: OK, I’m ready.

GAVIN: Press play now!

I do as ordered, sitting back and letting the nostalgia of the movie wash over me, feeling close but oh-so-far from my family, who are watching along with me over the other side of the world.

“Kevin?!”Kevin’s mum screams frantically on my TV screen, only to scream it again, more faintly.

That’s weird. The Disney Plus app is playing funny buggers with me. My movie has an echo.

“We’ve lost Kevin!” … “We’ve lost Kevin!”

There it is again. And it’s so annoying.

I pause and un-pause the movie, hoping this will fix it, not wanting to resort to the next step in any IT issue…turning it off and on again.

“Nope, still not working.”

I sigh and shoot off a quick text to my family to let them know I’m having troubles and to pause it on their end. We take the family movie watch seriously. When I get a thumbs up from Gavin, I turn the movie off and am stunned when it keeps playing.

Or at least the sound does.

“What is happening?”

My TV is off, only a black screen staring back at me, but I can still hear Kevin’s shenanigans as he thwarts the attempts of the bad guys who are trying to rob his house.

“You guys give up? Or are you thirsty for more?”

My eyes dart to the wall and I stand in a sudden motion, the bag of mostly empty popcorn dropping to the rug in front of me.

“This can’t be happening!”

I tiptoe to the wall, not wanting to chance her hearing me, and press my ear against it. And sure enough, not only is my neighbour watching the same movie as me, but she’s also watching it atexactly the same timeas me. There was never an echo; it was just the world’s strangest coincidence.

“So, shecanwatch something other thanLove Actually…” I observe as I sit back down on the couch, running a hand through my hair, my eyes never leaving the wall.

GAVIN: Can we press start again? We’re getting hungry for Mum’s French toast!

Another family tradition, Christmas Eve morning French toast. Since I moved to Melbourne and they’ve had to adjust our movie watching schedule, they postpone the breakfast until after we’re done. By pausing the movie, I’m delaying their breakfast feast.

NOAH: Yep, let’s keep going.

I get another thumbs up from my brother and I too press play, distracted now by the woman next door. What are the chances that she is watching this movie at the same time as me? Especially after having only watched the one movie on repeat for a week, despite my efforts to get her to stop.

Maybe this is a tradition for her as well?

And maybe she’s also home alone on Christmas Eve, and doesn’t want to be?

I know I’m making a gigantic leap here, a part of me wanting this to be real, that she’s over there feeling as lonely as me, butall of a sudden, I want to make peace with her. I want to get to know the person on the other side of the wall for someone other than the pain in my butt she’s recently become.

Spurred into action by these thoughts, I leave the movie playing in the background and rush to the kitchen. In both of the notes she left me, she’d written how much she loved the cookies I’d baked for her. And I plan to use this to my advantage.

With flour and sugar flying around me, I put together the ingredients for my favourite cookie ever, and when it’s out of the oven, as the movie credits roll on the TV in front of me, I fashion a white flag out of a piece of paper and a toothpick, along with another note. I assemble it all on a plate, stick the flag in it, and the note under it, and after walking on light feet to her front door, I leave it there. But this time I knock, so she can see it now and know it’s from me.

And then I bolt back to my house to wait.

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