Blogs Away: The Sleep Time Story

It was her first night when she was all alone in the room.
"Not fair! Why do I have to sleep by myself?"

The little girl longed for the familiar touch of her parents, to be the one lying in the middle, as her hand snaked towards where her mother's hair would have been. Hair which she would twist with her fingers as she gradually fell asleep.

"Daddeeeeee," she called. It was more of a summon than a request.

"Oui madam, you screamed for zomething?" Daddy was at the door with his french waiter accent.

"I am thirsty. Can you get me a drink of water?"

"Zertainly, what ze madam wants ze madam gets" and he was off to get her request.

She took her time, sipping the glass of water, each sip buying her more time with her father.

"Anything else ze madam requires before ze madam sleeps alone?" The Daddy-Garçon was on to her for sure.

"Can you tuck me in?"

And so he did, elaborately, making sure she was snug inside.

"All done sweetheart. Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite"

And then giving her a kiss he went out of the room, leaving her a l o n e.

She turned and twisted around on the bed. Kicked off the blanket, threw the pillow down, something was still not right. No matter which way she turned, it wasn't comfortable sleeping alone. She wasn't really scared of sleeping all by herself, all her friends had been doing that for a while. It was something that she had avoided telling them about, that little Miss Six still slept with mummy and daddy.

Her dad used to twist the poem she had learned in childcare. The one that went

When I was one I had just begun
When I was two I was nearly new

Daddy changed it around
When I was one my poo had just begun
When I was two my poo was smelly too

Naughty daddy! Then he teased her by changing the last lines too.

But now I am six, I'm still sleeping with my parents
So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever even when they are grandparents. ;

Well that part was true, she was six now and still sleeping with her parents. But last week her parents negotiated an agreement. A historic agreement was what daddy had said. She would start sleeping in her room five days a week and if she kept it up for three months, she could get the pink bicycle that they saw in the store last week. So here she was, all by herself, trying to sleep alone.

"Dadddeee"

It was a slightly frowning daddy at the bedroom door this time.

"What is it sweetheart? You know you have to sleep alone tonight"

"But I need someone next to me. Can't you lie down here tonight?"

"Hmm that will break our agreement. I am pretty sure clause 1A of the contract on page eighteen, specifically mentioned that I can't lie down with you for the whole night. I can't dear, you know what a hassle these legal agreements are."

"But I am alonely. I need someone by my side"

Daddy's eyes went around the room and then he smiled.

"Well I knew something like this might happen. It so happens that with my astute thought process and forward planning that I was able to think of something that might please madam," he smiled again, "wait for a minute".

Daddy walked out of the room and was back after a minute with his hands behind his back.

"Ta daaaa"

In his hands was the biggest teddy bear that she had ever seen.

"And it's not a toy", he said. "It's a sleep assistance device, especially designed to meet the needs of young six year olds. And the occasional thirty year olds too I may add".

With that he placed the teddy next to her and tucked it in.

"Good night sweetheart"

"Good night daddy"

She cuddled up to the teddy and was asleep before she knew it.

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Reach out to the largest community of Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda

‘Little Girl, Toy, Scared’