… MORE PLAY? asked Monster.
“Go to bed,” moaned Lucy.
But monster would not go to bed.

COLD whined Monster.
Lucy drew pajamas.

SCARED
Lucy drew a huggy bear.

DARK
Lucy drew a moon.

Then Lucy crossed her arms.
“That’s enough. Now go to bed.”

NOT SLEEPY
Snapped Monster.

Bronson snapped my book shut. “Stop reading,” he insisted.

I stopped reading.

Against the insignificant gravitational pull of the mattresses, Bronson and Evelyn’s bouncing damped only slightly.

It was late.   The incident of the 90˚ solution was 36,000 kilometers in the past; the earth rushed on towards winter.

I wondered, how do astronauts bounce on their beds in space? Do they read bedtime stories in space?

There was no way out, trapped in this vessel with two alien creatures, there was only one recourse.

“Would you like me to tell you a story?” I asked.

“YES! YES!”,  they exclaimed in unison.

They have certain expectations.

On the mantel above the stone fireplace stands a collection of figures, rescued ornaments of Christmas past.   They sit silently, waiting to be woven into the fabric of stories. Not the stories of Christmas tradition, but stories intertwined with the threads of experiences of Bronson, Evelyn, and Jennie.

They know the how frog saved giraffe, how fox rescued seal, the cubs search for their mother. They are happy to hear a new story, which I prefer over repeating an old story, certain to be admonished for my failure to remember a critical detail.

With neither concern for fineness of word nor rhythm of sentence, the story moves forward maintaining momentum and structure, responding to Bronson and Evelyn until they are satisfied.

At last, all is quiet.

I look at my watch; another 22,000 kilometers.

Excerpt from GO TO BED, MONSTER! By Natasha Wing, with Illustrations by Sylvie Kantorovitz, in Sweet Dreams 5 minute Bedtime Stories, Houghton Mifflin Publishing Company, 2014.