Bedtime

“Hey kiddo”, Dad says, with his deep dad-voice. “It’s time for bed.” Tilly looks up to Dad. Dad is smiling, a crinkled-eyes dad-smile. Then Tilly glances at her toys. Her hand stretches out towards the stuffies, stops midway and goes for the marble run instead. It’s a tall marble run, made of colorful plastic. She runs her hand over the marbles. They’re cold and hard and round. Her hand picks out a blue one and puts it into one of the top funnels. The marble rattles and clicks as it starts rolling. Half-way down the run it hits a spinning plate and spins, spins, spins. Dad, too, has come over to watch the marble spin. It spins for a long, long time. Tilly smiles. 

“It’s bedtime”, Dad says, when the marble finally makes it to the bottom, going clinkclinkclink as it hits the floor. Tilly looks at Dad. Dad is standing there, being tall. She grabs a red marble. It goes into the funnel, a different funnel. Her eyes follow as it rolls down. “Come on Tilly”, Dad says. “We have to go to bed now. I’ll let you pick what story we read.” Tilly watches Dad, then picks up another marble. A green one. She holds the marble out to Dad. Dad shakes his head. “We have to go to bed sweetheart. If you come now we’ll have time for a story.” Tilly gives the marble to the marble run. Then she toddles over to the stuffies, picks up a monkey and starts giving it a toy bottle. “Monkey need milk before bed”. 

“Tilly”, Dad’s face is a big frown. “Tilia Alexandra Cooper”, he groans, “It. Is. Time. For. Bed.” Tilly feeds Monkey, then traipses over to the pile of stuffed animals. She picks up Owl and Piggy, carries them to where Dad is sitting. Dad frowns. “Okay Tilly” he says, with his stern dad-voice. “I’m taking the toys away now.” He snatches Monkey, Owl and Piggy and puts them on the high-up shelf. Tilly stretches her arm out to the shelf. “Monkey” she says, her eyes wet. But Dad just shakes his head. His big hands start moving towards Tilly, who shrinks away. “No snatching” she says, her voice trembling.  “You get to choose” Dad tells her. His voice is loud now. “You can either come with me now or I’ll snatch and carry you.” Tilly looks at Dad carefully. Then she looks at the stuffies on the shelf which are now far away. She walks over to the marble run, finds a purple marble. Clink. Roll. Clink. Dad marches over to Tilly and the big hands snatch her, pull her close to him. Tilly struggles. “No” she protests. “No, no, no, Daddy.” Dad pulls her even closer, traps her arms with his big Dad arms. “It’s time for bed now” he says calmly as he hauls her upstairs. 

Tilly cries for a long long time after Dad lays her down on the bed. “No bed” she howls. “No sleep”. Dad sits next to her, watching her silently, until Tilly climbs into his lap and melts into him. “No sleep” she whispers one last time as her eyes start to close.