“Mama?” The high-pitched voice came from down the hall, followed by the pitter-patter of tiny feet moving at speed on wooden floorboards. “Mama. Mama!”
Ellen set down her knitting and opened her arms to the flannel-clad missile headed toward her lap. As much as she’d never imagined it would become the norm, her rocking movements and soothing backrub was automatic after years of practice. “What is it, sweetie?”
“Monster under the bed again,” a muffled voice said into her sweater.
She suppressed an eyeroll, even though her husband silently laughed from where he sat across the room reading the latest mystery novel. He kicked up sock-clad feet and pulled the book closer to his nose, a silent signal that it was her turn.
“How about I tuck you in and sing you a song?” She switched to running her fingers through Elizabeth’s hair, a move her daughter called “tickle-good.”
“‘kay.” Her daughter kicked tiny feet in footie pajamas, looking all the world like a living teddy bear.
She oofed her way up from the rocking chair and carried Elizabeth down the hall. “You want me to check for monsters when we get there?”
The small head nodded, another precious moment she’d vowed never to regret. No matter how many monsters her miracle found.
“All right. Do you want to see?” She always offered, and Elizabeth always refused.
Tonight was no exception. And for once, Ellen was quite glad of that.
She backed away slowly. “How about a treat, and you sleep with Mommy and Daddy tonight?”
“‘kay,” came a sleepy voice.
She edged back into the living room. “Psst. Psst!”
Drake looked up in surprise. “What’s up? Spider?”
“Dragon. Under the bed!” Ellen tried to keep her voice low and calm. Her heart raced, and she adjusted her grip on Elizabeth with sweaty palms. “I can see the snout.”
His mouth opened and shut several times before intelligible words came out. “I’m not sure how to remove a dragon…”
“Well, it’s a baby,” she hissed. “Tiny snout.”
“Oh,” he said, and set his book aside. “No big deal, then. I’ll take care of it straightaway.”
“You will not!”
He paused.
“Baby dragon,” she explained. “Alone. And mama will be looking.”
This week’s prompt came from Becky Jones, and I had so much fun with it! Mine went to Leigh Kimmel, who’s guided by runestars this week.
The idea of under-bed or in-closet monsters long amused me. Under the bad and in closet (when we finally move to a place that even HAD closets!) were MY spaces.
Oh. Wait. *I* AM the monster? Cool!