The Tale Of The Three Bears

Title: The Tale Of The Three Bears
Author: Allison Wonderland
Rating: PG-13
Summary: A Feel That Fire story. Kyle tells Addy a bedtime story which she tries to improve.
Warning(s): Slight ageplay, hints at a sexual/romantic relationship between two characters of the same physical gender one of whom is underage, male to female transgender teenager
Disclaimer: this is a work of fiction and any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental
Series: Feel That Fire
Word Count: ~6,000

A tale which may content the minds of learned men and grave philosophers. –Gascoigne

Addy’s bedtime was ten o’clock on school nights. By ten o’clock she had to have her bath and be in her pajamas – or whatever she was sleeping in that night – and the usual Pull-Up, be in her bedroom, in her bed with all the lights out except for the Tinkerbell lamp turned on its lowest setting. By half past ten o’clock she had to be alone in her room with only the lamp and – if she wanted it – the radio turned on at low volume. If she wanted Ed or Maggie to read a bedtime story or for Kyle to tell her a story or sing her favorite lullaby – which, unlike most sixteen year old girls, she usually did – it had to be done by ten thirty.

But there were occasional exceptions to the rule. Like if Addy wanted to watch the network premiere of the Tinkerbell movie. Like if she had been looking forward to it and unbearably excited about it for two weeks. Like if it was supposed to end exactly at ten o’clock but a special news bulletin about a flood in some third world country she had no interest in and was never going to go to delayed the start of it for forty five minutes. Maggie and Ed had decided – and Kyle had agreed – that she could stay up until the movie ended but she had to go to bed with only one lullaby sung one time or one of Kyle’s stories told one time instead of the usual three or four or five. They all knew there would likely be no need for the one story, one lullaby condition because she always fell asleep between ten o’clock and ten thirty and would most likely be asleep before the movie ended.

So far they had all – except for Addy who had been sure she could stay awake through the whole movie – been proven wrong. Ed and Maggie had gone to bed some time ago, leaving Kyle with the task of getting her to bed when the movie was over. It seemed as if it wasn’t going to be hard to do. Dressed in only a Pull-Up and one of Kyle’s tee shirts, she was curled up on the couch with her head in her boyfriend’s lap, her favorite doll in her arms, and her Tinkerbell blanket wrapped around her. Kyle, who didn’t particularly care about the movie, was paying more attention to Addy than the television, running his fingers through blonde hair that was still damp from her bath almost two hours earlier. Addy’s eyes were almost shut and her thumb was in her mouth though he didn’t think she was sucking it.

“Hey,” Kyle whispered as, on the enormous flat screen plasma television above the fireplace, Tinkerbell came to terms with being a tinker fairy and spray painted a ladybug. “Ya ‘sleep yet?”

“Huh-uh.” Addy took her thumb out of her mouth long enough to tip her head back and look at him. “Kyle?” she asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes with the hand connected to the thumb that had just been in her mouth.

“Hey,” Kyle murmured, “don’t rub your eyes.” He moved Addy’s hand away. “Put your thumb back in your mouth.”

“Can we watch another movie when this one goes off?” She yawned. “I promise I’ll still wake up early and go to school tomorrow.”

He laughed softly. Addy was so tired there was no way she was going to make it through another movie and Kyle wasn’t sure if she would get up in the morning without complaining as it was. “No, Sweetheart. Ya gotta get up at six o’clock tomorrow morning and I’ll probably be up when ya get up.” If he wasn’t already awake she was sure to wake him up.

“You don’t work tomorrow.”

“No,” Kyle agreed.

“Bring me lunch.” At Shady Lake High School the senior class was allowed out of school for an hour at lunch time, provided their grades were at a C average or above. Addy had just started her junior year and still had to stay on school grounds but for their one hour lunch all of the students were allowed outside on the front lawn. Addy wasn’t the only student not allowed off school grounds who had someone older bring her lunch. It wasn’t exactly against the rules and most of the staff at the school pretended not to see older brothers and sisters or boyfriends and girlfriends who dropped by for lunch.

“Hmm. I could.” Kyle resumed running his fingers through her hair. “If ya tell me whatcha want before I drop ya off tomorrow.” On days when Kyle was off or when he needed to be at the garage early he dropped Addy off at school instead of letting her walk with Tessa. With Addy’s best friend out of town with her grandmother and her cousin Bailey, Kyle had been taking Addy to school more often than not, even when he didn’t have to be at work early.

“Can I sleep with you?”

“No, Lil Bit. It’s a school night. Ya know that.”

“Please?”

“No.” Kyle let his hand rest on the back of her neck, thumb massaging over her smooth skin.

“You could sleep with me,” she suggested hopefully.

Kyle wanted to laugh because the idea of both of them fitting in her little white day bed with the Tinkerbell blankets and sheets and pillows and the menagerie of stuffed animals that lived there was just comical. Even without Addy and her stuffed animals involved Kyle was pretty sure he was taller than her bed was long. “No, sweetheart. Now lay down and watch your movie or ya can go to bed now.” He began to pet her hair again and when he reached the end of it he simply ran his hand down her back to her waist and back up again.

Addy’s thumb found her mouth again. She wanted to argue with Kyle but she really was tired and maybe if she fell asleep Kyle would carry her upstairs and either sleep with her or let her sleep with him. With that in mind she let the antics of the Disney Fairies capture her attention again.

Her breathing evened out a few seconds later. Kyle waited until the credits rolled to give her time to fall into a deep enough sleep that she would be unlikely to wake up when he moved her. He used the remote to turn the television satellite dish receiver off. The room was plunged into darkness except for the light of the street lamp outside. “All right, princess,” he muttered and waited for a reaction. None came. Even her breathing remained the same. Kyle nodded. “That’s what I thought,” he said. Now, if only she stayed asleep. Carefully lifting Addy’s head out of his lap with one hand he slid out from under her and stood up. She didn’t move so he stretched until his back popped – because being bent over the hood of a car to poke and prod at its insides all day could get painful – then almost effortlessly lifted her into his arms. At just over five feet tall and not quite a hundred pounds, she wasn’t exactly heavy and he carried her upstairs and to her bedroom without straining himself.

Addy had forgotten to make her bed – again – and for once Maggie hadn’t done it for her for which Kyle was grateful. The top sheet and comforter were pushed back already and that made it easier for him to deposit her on the bottom sheet, light purple and sea green for once instead of the usual Disney Fairies. He didn’t take the time to wonder why because, really, he didn’t care. Even in her sleep Addy curled up in a little ball as soon as he put her down. She burrowed into her pillows and her thumb found her mouth. Kyle covered her up with the top sheet – an exact match to the one covering the mattress – then the thick white down filled over stuffed comforter with flowers and butterflies embroidered on it. He frowned, somewhat puzzled, because Addy had always had Disney Fairies sheets and a Tinkerbell comforter on her bed. In fact, her ‘new’ bedclothes looked like the ones that had been on Heaven’s bed in the locked room down the hall. He knew why Addy would need clean sheets on her bed – she had probably come home from school and fallen asleep without intending to again and woken up to a wet bed – but why she had Heaven’s sheets and how she had gotten into the locked room and did Ed and Maggie know Addy was using their daughter’s things most likely without permission…he wasn’t sure but he intended to find out on the way to her school the next morning.

If he remembered.

Kyle kissed Addy’s cheek so softly he knew he wouldn’t wake her then stood up to turn her lamp on to its lowest setting. He was just turning to leave when her eyes fluttered open and her hand came up to rub them. “Kyle?” she murmured, her thumb falling out of her mouth.

“Right here, Lil Bit. Go back to sleep.” He sat down on the bed beside Addy, prepared to stay until she fell asleep again.

“Where’s Chrissy?” she asked. Chrissy was the doll Kyle had bought Addy at a Salvation Army store about a week after they had left home. She had quickly become attached to it and even now couldn’t sleep without it.

“Dunno, sweetheart. Ya have her downstairs?”

Addy shook her head.

In the dim light Kyle could see the floor and while there didn’t seem to be a single inch of carpet space – except for the path he had taken from the door – devoid of dolls, stuffed animals, doll accessories and a few things Kyle couldn’t identify in the semi darkness, Chrissy definitely wasn’t on the floor. “Ya lose her down here?” Kyle asked. He leaned over Addy to sweep his right hand down in the space between the bars on the back side of her bed and the wall. “How about a dog?” he asked, tossing a pink one at her.

Addy shook her head. “Nooo,” she whined. “Chrissy.”

There was nothing else behind the bed and Chrissy obviously wasn’t under the blankets because the only lump under the thick, soft comforter was Addy. Besides, with the state the bed was in, Kyle would have noticed his girlfriend’s favorite doll. That left under the bed so he got up, stretched out on the floor, and peered under the bed. Addy’s under-the-bed space was nothing like Kyle’s. He wouldn’t willingly have looked under his own bed for anything because when something was on the floor in his way he simply kicked it under his bed. There was dust under Addy’s bed, a few odds and ends of doll clothes, a stray shoe, and – almost back too far for him to reach – Chrissy. “Hey,” he said as he stood up. “Look what I found.” He dropped Addy’s doll on her bed.

“Chrissy!” If Addy hadn’t been so nearly asleep it would have been a squeal. She picked up her doll and hugged it tight with her left arm. When she rolled over on her right side the thumb of the same hand slipped into her mouth and she closed her eyes.

Kyle pulled her – or Heaven’s, he still wasn’t sure – comforter up to her chin and bent down to kiss her forehead before silently turning to leave the room. He made it to the door this time.

“Kyle?”

“What?” he asked. He mentally went over a list of everything she had to have to fall asleep:

Chrissy?

Yes.

Light?

Yes.

Big fluffy blanket?

Yes.

Big fluffy pillows?

Yes.

Pull-Up? Which wasn’t really necessary for her to fall asleep though it was necessary for keeping the bed dry.

Yes.

Thumb in her mouth?

Yes, until she had taken it out to speak.

So if Addy had everything she needed in order for her to fall asleep, why wasn’t she asleep?

“Stay here with me.”

So maybe there was one thing she needed to fall asleep that she didn’t have: Kyle.

“I can’t,” he told her. For six months while Kyle had been ill they hadn’t slept together. She should have gotten used to it. She would have gotten used to it except that half the time when Kyle had been ill – not to mention contagious – she had slept between Ed and Maggie – whom he was pretty sure she was starting to think of as ‘mom’ and ‘dad’ – in their big king size bed and the other half one or the other of them had tucked her into bed and read to her until she fell asleep. It was a school night so Kyle couldn’t give in and let her sleep with him and he couldn’t read so that option was out too.

“Please?” she asked.

Kyle sighed. And almost gave in. “Til ya fall asleep,” he told her as he sat down beside her on top of the comforter.

“Tell me a story.”

“Sweetheart, it’s too late. Ya got school tomorrow.” And the alarm clock on her nightstand said it was more than an hour after her bedtime.

“Just one?” she asked. “Please? It can be short.”

“One story,” Kyle relented. “But ya gotta be quiet and close your eyes. No interruptin’.”

Addy settled down again but she didn’t take her eyes off of him.

“What story ya want?” he asked because if he didn’t start out with something she wanted to hear he knew he would end up telling her two stories. “That butterfly dance one?” Addy’s favorite bedtime story was An Invitation To The Butterfly Ball by Jane Yolen. Kyle couldn’t read it exactly but he had heard Daddy read it to Addison so many times he had it memorized. It was a simple rhyming poem in the form of an illustrated children’s book and not exactly difficult to remember, particularly when looking at each picture jogged his memory of the words that went with it.

“No,” she answered simply.

“Cinderella?” Not one Kyle particularly liked but he knew the whole story.

She shook her head.

“Snow White?”

“No.”

“Beauty And The Beast?”

“Huh-uh.”

“Sleeping Beauty?”

“No.” She sounded annoyed now and frowned at him around her thumb.

“The hell d’ya want then?” Kyle asked irritably. He never took that tone of voice with Addy but he was tired.

“The monsters one. With the little boy and his mommy sends him to his room and then he goes to the island-“

“Where The Wild Things Are,” Kyle clairified. “Sorry, sweetheart. I don’t know that one.” He had most of the stories in her fairy tale book memorized as well as An Invitation To The Butterfly Ball and though he didn’t have the whole thing committed to memory, between the illustrations, his memory, and what little bit he could read, Kyle could make a fairly decent go of Goodnight Moon.

“Alice?” she asked hopefully.

Kyle shook his head. “Too long, sweetheart. It’s already after your bedtime. What about the bears?” The story of the three bears had been one of Addison’s favorite stories when he was little. Kyle could usually get her to lie still and listen to it even now.

Addy nodded but he could tell she wasn’t completely happy.

“Good girl. Close your eyes.”

She popped her thumb back into her mouth and let her eyes close, doing as she was told for once. Addy had been acting more like a teenager lately and less like a little girl. While Kyle liked teenage Addy just fine, it was those few minutes when he was putting her to bed on a school night and she was already under the blankets with her toys and her thumb in her mouth that he waited all day for. It was then that she was most like Addison and as much as Kyle loved his girlfriend, sometimes he missed his brother.

“Once upon a time,” Kyle began.

Only to be interrupted.

“Wait.” Addy’s thumb left her mouth and her eyes opened.

Kyle resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “What now?” he asked.

“Why ‘once upon a time?’”

“Cause that’s how all stories start. Close your eyes.” He waited until she had closed her eyes again before he began again. “Once upon a time there were three bears.”

“Kitties.”

“What about kitties?” Kyle sounded confused.

“I want a kitty story. Not bears. Bears are big and mean and scary. Kitties are little and cute and fluffy,” Addy explained.

This time Kyle did roll his eyes. “Fine,” he said. “Once upon a time there was three kitties: a great big huge father kitty an’ a middle size mother kitty an’ a wee little tiny fluffy cute baby kitty.”

Addy grinned at that but before her brother could continue she interrupted him again. “Not a mother kitty and a father kitty,” she told him. “A momma kitty and a daddy kitty.”

“Whatever.” Kyle sighed and began again. “Once upon a time there was three kitties: a great big huge daddy kitty an’ a middle size momma kitty an’ a wee little tiny fluffy baby kitty.” He hesitated just for a moment, waiting for her to interrupt but when she didn’t he continued. “They all had their own bowl for their…” Here he trailed off. In the original story the three bears had eaten porridge but Addy seemed to want a story about cats and what the hell did cats eat? “…milk,” he decided at last. “The great big huge daddy kitty had a great big huge bowl-“

“Like Maggie makes cookies in,” Addy interrupted again.

“Like Maggie makes cookies in.” Kyle wasn’t going to question her. He’d just go with it. “And the middle size momma kitty had a middle size bowl-“

“Like I eat Froot Loops in,” she chimed in.

“Like ya eat Froot Loops in,” Kyle agreed. He wondered what she was going to come up with next. “An’ the wee little tiny fluffy baby kitty had a wee little tiny bowl but it wasn’t fluffy.”

Addy giggled but was otherwise quiet.

Finally, Kyle thought. It always took a few minutes for her to get interested enough in whatever story he was telling her for her to lie quietly and not interrupt every other sentence. “They all had their own chair to sit in too. There was a great big huge chair for the great big huge daddy kitty an’ a middle size chair for the middle size momma kitty an’ a wee little tiny chair for the wee little tiny fluffy baby kitty. They had their own bed to sleep in too. The great big huge daddy kitty had a great big huge bed an’ the middle size momma kitty had a middle size bed an’ the wee little tiny fluffy baby kitty had a wee little tiny fluffy bed.”

Addy giggled. “Fluffy bed,” she murmured almost to herself but she didn’t interrupt or try to challenge Kyle’s version of events.

“One day after Momma an’ Daddy kitty had warmed up their milk-“

“Why do the kitties have warm milk?” Addy interrupted.

“Cause they was gettin' ready for bed an’ they couldn’t fall asleep without it.” He ran his fingers through her tousled hair affectionately. “That sound familiar?” Addy couldn’t sleep unless her stomach was full of something warm. Hot chocolate and coffee had too much sugar and caffeine and had the opposite effect so sometime between her bath and bedtime Addy always had a glass of warm milk.

Addy giggled and burrowed deeper in her nest of blankets and pillows and stuffed animals.

“So one day after Momma an’ Daddy kitty warmed up their milk and poured it in their bowls the decided it was too hot and needed some time to cool.”

“So it wouldn’t burn their tongues.”

“So it wouldn’t burn their tongues when they tried to drink it.”

“Kitties don’t drink milk, Kyle. They lap it with their tongue. That’s why it burns.”

“Didn’t I tell ya to close your eyes?” He didn’t give her a chance to answer. “Ya close your eyes an’ stop interruptin’ or I won’t tell ya the rest.” Addy hid her face against Chrissy’s hair so Kyle couldn’t tell if her eyes were shut or not but he continued anyway. If he didn’t tell her the whole story she would refuse to go to sleep. “So after the kitties were gone on a walk a little girl-“

“Boy.”

“What?”

“A little boy came to their house and messed everything up. An icky nasty little boy. Not a little girl. Girls don’t do stuff like that.”

Kyle wanted to point out that yes, they did and Addy caused more than her share of trouble on a regular basis. But it was late and he wasn’t going to argue. At least not tonight. “So after the kitties were gone on a walk a little boy with curly blonde hair an’ big blue eyes that everybody knew was nothin’ but trouble cause he wouldn’t go to sleep when he was told to an’ kept interruptin’ his bedtime story come up to their house.”

Addy giggled. “Not me.”

Kyle laughed softly. “No, ya wouldn’t never do a thing like that, would ya?” Without waiting for her to answer – and really hoping she wouldn’t – he continued with his somewhat different retelling of the story of the three bears. “First the little boy knocked on the door cause he was hungry an’ wanted somethin’ to eat.”

“Why was the little boy hungry?” a curious little voice asked from Addy’s pile of blankets.

“’Cause he was a bad little boy an’ didn’t eat his dinner. Nobody opened the door so the little boy looked in the window and there wasn’t nobody home so he opened the door and went in.”

“Why didn’t the kitties lock the door?”

Kyle sighed. “Can’t ya just go to sleep?”

“No,” Addy whined. “Why didn’t the kitties lock the door?”

“Cause they didn’t have thumbs,” Kyle told her. “Can I finish now?”

She must have thought his explanation of the kitties not locking the door because they didn’t have thumbs was plausible because she only nodded.

Kyle opened his mouth to continue his story but thanks to her latest interruption he had no idea where he had stopped at. Something about the kitties not having thumbs. “Where was I?” he asked her.

“The little boy went in the house cause the kitties didn’t lock the door cause they didn’t have thumbs.”

“Right. The little boy was hungry cause he didn’t eat his dinner so since there wasn’t nobody at home an’ the door was unlocked cause the kitties didn’t have thumbs he opened the door an’ went inside.” Surprisingly she hadn’t interrupted. “The first room he came into was the kitchen an’ on the table was the porridge the bears-“

“Milk.”

“What?”

“You said ‘porridge’ and ‘bears.’ It was milk and they were kitties.” Addy’s thumb went back into her mouth.

“Yeah. Whatever. So the milk was on the table in three bowls-“

“A great big huge bowl for the great big huge-“

“Hey,” Kyle interrupted Addy’s addition to the story, “who’s tellin’ this story?”

“You are,” she mumbled around the thumb that was in her mouth again.

“An’ who’s s’posed to be sleepin’?”

“Me.”

“Then lay down an’ close your eyes or I ain’t finishin’ it,” he threatened.

Addy pouted but she wriggled beneath her blankets until she was comfortable once again. Her thumb found her mouth again and she closed her eyes.

Kyle knew she wasn’t likely to stay that way. “On the table,” he continued, “there was a great big huge bowl filled with a great big huge bunch of milk for the great big huge daddy kitty an’ a middle size bowl with a middle size amount of milk for the middle size momma kitty an’ a wee little tiny bowl with a wee little tiny bit of milk for the wee little tiny fluffy baby kitty. An’ the little boy was so hungry and such a bad little boy he decided to drink all the milk. He was a greedy little boy so he decided to drink the great big huge bowl of milk that belonged to the great big huge daddy kitty.”

“Bad li’l boy,” Addy murmured. She seemed closer to sleep than she had a few minutes ago.

Or maybe it was just wishful thinking on Kyle’s part.

“The little boy tasted the milk in the big bowl and it was so hot he burned his mouth so he couldn’t drink that milk. Next he tasted the milk in the middle-sized bowl. The milk in the middle size bowl was too cold.”

“Why was the milk cold?”

Kyle sighed. “Cause momma kitty didn’t like her milk warm.”

“Ucky,” Addy murmured almost to herself.

“The little boy didn’t want the cold milk either so he said a very bad word ‘cause he was a very bad little boy an’ then he tasted the wee little tiny baby kitty’s milk. The milk in the little bowl was just the right temperature so the bad little boy drank it all up an’ then he said another bad word cause he was still hungry after he drank all the milk in the wee little tiny bowl.”

“Uh-oh.”

Kyle stopped. “Uh-oh, what?” he asked, alarmed. God only knew what was wrong with her this time.

“The little boy drank all the milk.”

“Thought it was somethin’ important,” he told her.

“No. More story?” she asked.

“Yeah, alright.” It took Kyle a moment to remember where he was in the story. “Then the little boy went into the living room to watch TV. He sit down in the great big huge chair that belonged to the great big huge daddy kitty but it was so hard it hurt his butt.”

Addy giggled, which had sort of been Kyle’s intention all along.

“Then the little boy sit down in the middle size chair that belonged to the middle sized momma kitty. But that chair was too soft an’ he sank way down in the cushions an’ almost couldn’t get out again ‘cause it tried to swallow him all up.”

Addy giggled.

Kyle lifted the edge of her blankets to slip his hand beneath them, then her tee shirt where he began to rub her back in slow, soothing circles. Rubbing her back when she was already tired never failed to put her to sleep. Addy’s eyes fluttered shut and the sound of her sucking her thumb grew less and less audible as Kyle, hand still on her back, continued the story. “So then the little boy sat down in the wee little tiny chair that belonged to the wee little tiny baby kitty. It was the perfect size for the little boy an’ not too hard or too soft but the chair wasn’t made for a little boy. It was made for a wee little tiny fluffy baby kitty to sit in an’ the wee little tiny fluffy baby kitty wasn’t as heavy as the little boy was.”

Addy yawned. Her eyes were open again but as Kyle watched they drooped shut once more.

“So when the bad little boy was watchin’ TV the legs broke right off the chair he was sittin’ in and the little boy fell down on the floor. He said a bad word about that too. The nasty mean little boy was tired after he drank all that warm milk so he went upstairs to the big bedroom all the kitties shared. First he tried to lay down on the great big huge bed that belonged to the great big huge daddy kitty but it was so high he messed up all the blankets trying to get in but he couldn’t climb up. Then the bad little boy tried to lay down on the middle size bed that belonged to the middle size momma kitty. But it was still too big an’ he messed up the blankets tryin’ to get in that bed too. Then the nasty little boy tried the wee little tiny fluffy bed that belonged to the wee little tiny fluffy baby kitty. That bed was just the right size an’ he climbed in an’ snuggled under the covers an’ fell asleep.”

Here, Kyle paused. He withdrew his hand from beneath the blankets and Addy’s tee shirt and whispered her name. “Addy,” he said again when she failed to respond. “Think ya finally fell asleep, Baby Girl,” he murmured. “An’ it’s about damn time.” He stood up from the bed then bent down to kiss her before he departed for his own bedroom. Kyle’s lips were about an inch away from Addy’s cheek when-

“What happened to the kitties?” she asked, her eyes popping open suddenly.

“Thought ya went to sleep,” Kyle told her. He sat back down on the side of her bed. “Where was I?”

“The little boy went to sleep.”

“I think the little girl needs to go to sleep too,” he told her. “Don’t you?”

To Kyle’s surprise, Addy nodded and yawned as if on cue. “Sleepy,” she murmured.

“Then close your eyes. Try to go to sleep and I’ll finish the story.”

Addy’s eyes slipped slowly closed. Her thumb returned to her mouth and she hugged Chrissy tight in one arm.

“That’s my good girl,” Kyle said softly. He began to rub her back again as he continued his story. “By the time the bad little boy fell asleep in the wee little tiny fluffy baby kitty’s wee little tiny fluffy baby bed the kitties decided they was gonna go back home cause their milk was prob’ly just the right temperature by now. So when they got home they went in the kitchen to drink their milk. There was milk all around the great big huge daddy kitty’s great big huge milk bowl ‘cause the little boy spilled some ‘cause it was too heavy for him to pick up.” Kyle knew Addy liked different voices in her stories when the different characters were speaking so he deepened his voice to a low growl and said, “Someone has been drinking my milk-“

Addy smiled but she didn’t open her eyes.

He continued in his regular voice. “-growled the great big huge daddy kitty. Then the middle size momma kitty looked at her milk bowl and there was dirty hand prints on it cause the little boy never washed his hands cause he was bad. ‘Someone has been drinking my milk, too,’ said the middle size momma kitty. Then the wee little tiny fluffy baby kitty looked at his-“

“Her,” Addy interrupted.

“Baby kitty’s a girl?” Kyle asked. He was pretty sure it hadn’t been earlier.

“Uh-huh.” Addy still hadn’t opened her eyes or let go of her doll. Her thumb went back into her mouth as soon as she was done speaking.

“Alright. Then the wee little tiny fluffy baby kitty looked at her bowl an’ it was empty an’ she started to cry cause somebody drank all her milk an’ she couldn’t sleep without her milk.” The wee little tiny fluffy baby kitty was becoming more and more like Addy with every passing minute.

“Poor baby.” Addy sniffled.

Kyle decided to improvise in the interest of holding back any tears his girlfriend might manage to squeeze out. “The wee little tiny fluffy baby kitty stopped crying when her mommy and daddy got her some more milk that was just the right temperature an’ promised she could watch TV ‘til she got sleepy. So she drank all her milk then they went in the livin’ room to watch the Tinkerbell movie.” Because the Tinkerbell movie was Addy’s favorite of the moment. “But the cushion in the great big huge daddy kitty’s chair was all knocked out so he said, ‘Somebody’s been sittin’ in my chair.’ Next the middle size momma kitty looked at her chair an’ said, ‘somebody’s been sittin’ in my chair, too,’ cause the soft cushion was all smooshed down. An’ then the wee little tiny fluffy baby kitty started to cry again ‘cause she saw her chair an’ it was all broken up.”

“Ky,” Addy mumbled.

Kyle could tell, without even looking at her heavy eyelids or her arms clutching Chrissy so tightly, that she was almost asleep. For the first few years of Addy’s life, Kyle had been ‘Ky’ because it was as close as she could get to saying his name. When she was ill or sleepy she often reverted to her childish name for her brother. “Right here, baby.”

“Wanna kitty.”

“Yeah?” Kyle glanced around her bedroom in the dim light, trying to find a stuffed one. He hoped she only wanted a stuffed one because he had no idea where to get a live cat at midnight. “How ‘bout a green one?” he asked when he finally located and held up a green and white striped tabby cat for her inspection.

“Yeah.” Addy let go of Chrissy long enough to reach for it. Kyle tucked the new toy in beside her. Immediately, its tail went into Addy’s mouth along with her thumb.

Kyle started to speak, ready to tell her that she needed to take her toy out of her mouth, that her doctor had said the things she consistently put in her mouth had been a big part of what had made her ill when she had had a stomach bug a few weeks ago. But she was so exhausted and so close to sleep that he decided just once he could pretend he hadn’t seen it. Instead of rebuking her, he continued with the story.

“The middle size momma kitty an’ the great big huge daddy kitty decided the wee little tiny fluffy baby kitty was just cryin’ cause she was real sleepy.” Again, that seemed familiar. When Addy was really exhausted she became overly emotional and clingy. Cuddling for the few minutes it took her to fall asleep on those occasions always brought an end to it. “So they all went upstairs an’ in the bedroom. The great big huge daddy kitty saw the blankets on his great big huge bed all messed up and said, ‘somebody’s been sleepin’ in my bed!’ Then the middle sized momma bear saw her bed an’ said, ‘somebody’s been sleepin’ in my bed too!’ So the wee little tiny fluffy baby kitty looked at her bed an’ saw the bad little boy sleepin’ in her bed an’ said, ‘somebody’s been sleepin’ in my bed and he still there!’ The wee little tiny fluffy baby kitty’s wee little tiny high pitched voice right beside his ear woke the little boy up and he sat up in bed. When he saw all those kitties standin’ there lookin’ at him he jumped right out the window an’ went runnin’ off to the woods an’ he got lost and nobody ever seen him anymore. An’ the kitties lived happily every after,” Kyle finished because that was the way the stories always ended.

The soft sound of Addy sucking her thumb in her sleep was the only noise in the nearly dark room.

“And I think,” Kyle said softly so he wouldn’t wake her up again, “ya really did go to sleep.” He leaned down to kiss her gently on the forehead. “G’night, Goldilocks,” he murmured.