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Some Bedtimes Are Like That
A Bram and Pippa story
A story from Lantern Wood
1
That night Bram read Pippa the story of a boy whose day had gone wrong from breakfast to bedtime.
“Some days are like that,” the boy’s mother said. “Even in Australia.”
Pippa listened very carefully.
Then Bram closed the book.
Unfortunately, their own bedtime had been listening too.
It began with one moon sticker. Then water. Then another sticker, because the first moon looked lonely.
Some bedtimes are like that.
Bram promised that tomorrow might contain a park.
And perhaps chickens.
Pippa needed to know how many chickens, what their names were, whether they enjoyed parks, and what would happen if tomorrow arrived before the plan was fully approved.
“This is the coziest room in the whole house,” Bram said.
The quilt was soft. The lamp was golden. The pillows were exactly where pillows ought to be.
Pippa wondered why Bram kept giving this speech from the doorway.
Bedtime added two bunnies, loose pajamas, tight pajamas, a sticker audit, and a contingency plan for later.
Bram’s watch was no longer telling time.
It was filing a complaint.
At last Clementine appeared.
She was calm. She was lovely. She had missed the book, the water, the bunnies, the negotiations, and most of Bram’s remaining patience.
“I can finish,” she said.
Clementine explained that she was something of a bedtime ninja.
Bram agreed that she was extremely talented.
He only wondered whether ninjas usually began their missions after someone else had found the castle, packed the equipment, and exhausted all the guards.
Pippa looked at Bram. Then at Clementine. Then at the book that was somehow open again.
“Daddy stay,” she considered. “Daddy go,” she decided.
Bram kissed her goodnight and transferred the kingdom.
Some days are like that.
Some bedtimes are, too.
Even in the coziest room in the whole house.
The next morning, the Department gave both parents full credit.
This satisfied neither of them, but the decision was administratively final.
With a brief echo of Judith Viorst’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.