Zipper

1

Emmy felt the hot sun on her cheek first, and then she heard her mother moving around the room. She knew it was Kat Harrison, because it just felt like her. The sound of her feet on the hardwood floor, the scent as she passed, and the air around that just felt...safe. Like a bubble that spread out from Kat and encircled Emmy inside.

"Morning, mommy," Emmy said, raising up from the bed. 

Mornings were Emmy's favorite. Sleep was no fun at all. Everything got dark and quiet and boring. But mornings meant everything was go, go, go. 

Kat was moving away from the window, where she'd opened the shade and bent to pick up Hoppy, Emmy's pink stuffed bunny. Hoppy's long ears, longer than his body, trailed down Kat's arm. Eric, Emmy's daddy, had once asked Emmy why she called Hoppy 'he' when he is pink and Emmy had said that Hoppy picked pink because he likes pink and that was all there was to it. Grown-ups ask silly questions sometimes. 

Hoppy landed in the toy box with some blocks and a plastic horse that Kat had also picked up along the way. Toys that Emmy had played with during the night when she couldn't sleep. That's when she'd dropped Hoppy. He usually slept beside her.

"No!" Emmy cried, when Kat went to shut the toy box with her beloved bunny inside.

Emmy rushed across the room and fished Hoppy out, then she placed him on her bed and straightened her blanket the way Kat had taught her. 

"Honestly, I thought you had given him up, since you left him on the floor," Kat teased. 

"No, he just fell out of bed," Emmy said. She was pretty good at using her imagination, especially when it came to her best friend Hoppy. 

"Did he?" Kat asked. "Along with the blocks and the horse? Let me guess...they fell out of the toy box?"

Emmy's lip pouted out and she lowered her head, knowing that she'd been caught. Usually she put the toys back away so she didn't get in trouble. Kat didn't like Emmy playing at night while the world was sleeping. 'You could get hurt or anything!' she had said.

"You were up again, weren't you?" Kat asked. 

Emmy looked at the wooden planks on the floor, and the point where her fuzzy white rug began to cover them. She didn't answer Kat. Kat already knew the answer, actually. Of course, Emmy knew she did. She'd gotten too tired, forgot to put the toys away, was lucky to have made it back to the bed at all, instead of falling asleep on the floor beside them as she had done before.

Kat sighed. "You can't keep doing this Em. What happens when school starts back? First grade isn't like preschool or kindergarten. You're not going to get naps. You'll be tired all day--" 

"I won't do it when I have school," Emmy said. "Promise."

"How can we be sure?" Kat asked. She was at Emmy's closet, picking out an outfit for the day. 

"I can pinky promise," Emmy suggested. 

"Hmm, I think we might need something stronger than a pinky promise." Kat held up a white dress with a yellow ribbon around the waist. 

"Stronger than a pinky promise?" Emmy was shocked. Was there anything in the world stronger than a pinky promise? She shook her head at the white dress. She wasn't in the mood to wear white. She was feeling energy and energy usually wound up getting her dirty, because she liked to get rid of all the energy outside at her swing set or climbing the hill behind her house and sliding down over and over until her legs were tired. "I'm not even tired, mommy. I want to play!"

"Yeah, for now," Kat said. She held up a neon green shirt and neon green shorts with blue and black butterflies on them. Emmy nodded in approval. Kat began helping her into the outfit. "By lunch time, you'll crash."

Emmy thought about the word crash. It made her think of hitting something very hard. It sounded painful and kind of scary. She didn't want Kat to be afraid or worry. "Mommy, I'll be okay, I won't crash!" She stepped into the shorts. 

"We'll see. I'm going to call Dr. Abby and see if we can get something to help you sleep better," Kat said. 

By lunch time, Emmy was falling asleep at the table, with her grapes and squared cheese and ham in front of her. Kat called Dr. Abby to make an appointment.