There was once a little girl who lived in a small house on a
quiet street with her mama. Every day, at exactly the same time, her mama would
tell her to go to sleep. ‘But it’s not night time yet!’ The little girl would
say, rather impetuously. She was a stubborn little creature, with big green
eyes, two dimples (one much bigger and much
deeper than the other) and the most
delightful little ringlet curls that framed her face in the loveliest possible
way. The little girl, who was impossibly cute, was also fearless. When she fell
over, she would get back up again, dust herself off, and continue to wherever
she was going at the time. She would try her hardest to do things she’d never
done before, and despite multiple failed attempts and countless scraped elbows,
she would never give up. She was determined, to say the least.
The little girl (who was also prone to tantrums) did not
like being told what to do by her mama, and would often try every trick in the
book to get out of sleeping. ‘You must have a nap or you will be tired and
grumpy’, her mama would say. ‘How long does a nap take?’ the little girl asked.
‘A while’, her mama replied. ‘How long does a while take?’ the little girl
asked, as her mama tucked her into bed. Her mama smiled, leaned forward, and kissed
the little girl just once on her tiny freckled forehead. As she watched her
mama leave the room and gently close the door behind her, the little girl
clenched her fists tightly and kicked her feet at the foot of the bed ‘Humph!’
In the little girl’s mind, sleeping at this time every day
did not seem normal. To her, sleep was for night time, when the moon was
shining and the stars were out. It was for the end of a long day of mud pie
making and garden bug hunting. The little girl sighed. She was restless. She
knew her mama meant well, but she simply wasn’t tired! She shuffled her body,
stretched her back out on the lambskin rug her mama insisted she sleep on (for
warmth), and gazed at the ceiling. Slowly, she lifted her head off the pillow
and snuck a peek at her toys resting on the dresser at the foot of her bed. Her
dolls were all lined up perfectly, in order of her most favourite, left to
right. It seemed they were almost willing her to play with them. The little
girl couldn’t resist. After all, being such a cheeky creature isn’t always
easy. She peeled the covers back and placed her little toes on the carpet
beside the bed. Quietly, and in the most mischievous of all manners, she tip
toed towards her favourite doll, Cindy, promptly plucked her from the dresser,
and held her close to her heart. She scurried back down to the floor, but not
before collecting Jacqui, her favourite teddy bear (who was very special indeed). The little girl was sure to
position herself close to her bed, (in the event that her mama should check on
her) and in the minutes that followed, she enjoyed a sumptuous three-course tea
party with Cindy and Jacqui.
Although she had no concept of time, the little girl knew
that before too long her mama would indeed return to wake her from her sleep.
And she knew that her mama was clever too. One time, the little girl had been
particularly naughty, and spent her entire nap time playing a little game she’d
made up, ‘Fairytale Theatre’. She’d played out the story of Snow White and the
Seven Dwarves, using a wide array of useful props she’d discovered in her
bedroom closet. Needless to say, the little girl made quite the mess. When she heard her mama approaching, she
quickly hopped back into bed and pretended to sleep, only to discover that her
mama somehow, miraculously knew
what she’d been up to. Her mama was so clever in fact, that she even knew to check the bed sheets to see if
they were warm. That night, the little girl was sent to bed with no supper as
punishment.
Suddenly, just as she was buttering a third scone for Cindy,
memories of supper-less nights and rumbling tummies came flashing back to the
little girl. She LEAPT back into bed and pulled the covers over her head,
breathing rapidly. Sleep, she told
herself. Go to SLEEP! But she
couldn’t, she just couldn’t! Carefully, she pulled the covers down from over
her face and folded them onto her chest. She s q u e e z e d her eyes shut and
tightened every muscle in her face, hoping that sleep would naturally occur as
a result. And then, the most wonderful thing happened…
The little girl opened her eyes and noticed that her mama
(bless her heart) had placed brand new sheets on her bed. They were white, with pictures of ice-creams all over them. The little girl was amazed. She
pulled the covers back further, and much to her utter delight, she discovered dozens
and dozens of ice-creams! They were all
different colours, pink ice-creams, blue ice-creams, green ice-creams, even
purple ice-creams! The little girl was so thrilled, the excitement was almost
too much to bear. She THRUST back the covers even further and ran the palms of
her hands all over the ice-creams (she was a very tactile little creature). She
thought about the colours and wondered what flavours they would be, especially
the blue ones. In her excited state, she
hurriedly began counting the ice-creams, determined to know just how many there
were. But alas, the little girl only knew how to count to twenty, and somewhere
between 18…19…20…100…5…10, she
became confused. But she did not let this deter her! She wrapped the sheets
around her body and flopped back onto her pillow.
All of a sudden, the little girl transcended into a magical
world all of her own. A world where she floated through candy pink skies full
of love heart clouds. She felt her body lifting, higher and higher into the
sky. ‘Higher!’ she squealed, ‘Higher! Higher!’ as she giggled in much the same
way she did when her mama tickled her. She looked to her side, and there,
floating right past her in all its cotton candy wonderfulness, was the most
gloriously white fluffy cloud she had ever seen. She reached out as far as her
little arm could stretch, took hold of the cloud, and pulled herself onto it.
She was riding through a pink sky, on a love heart cloud. Surrounding her were
pastel coloured, talking ice-creams, floating every which way…up, down, and all
around. They would always say the nicest things to the little girl. Each time
one would come near her, she would stick out her tongue and lick the dripping
ice-cream from the cone, making a loud ‘Sssssthip!’ sound. Sometimes, the
ice-creams would giggle in delight. It was positively delicious! In this world,
with its infinite possibilities for imagination and play, the little girl felt
safe. She was warm and comforted, happy and free. It was quite simply, the most
magical place not on Earth.
From that day on, the little girl no longer worried when her
mama said ‘Nap time’. She gleefully jumped into bed, gave her mama a big kiss
and relaxed into the warmth of her lambskin rug. Never again did she sneakily
climb out of her bed to play with her toys. And never again did she miss
supper.
The End.
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