Tailspin Anthology

Tot Short 1

Toddler John hasn't been sleeping well lately.

"Alright, young man." Calvin sat the blonde toddler on the office chair. "We need to talk." Two-year-old John narrowed his eyes at him. "Don't give your father such a stare." Calvin scolded. "Why have you been acting up lately?" John said nothing while sulking. "Johnson."

"No, sleep."

"Come again?"

"No, sleep." John repeated.

"You've been acting up because you no, sleep?" John's lips quivered. "It's alright, son." Calvin is assuring the tot. "Now, tell your good old dad why you can't sleep."

John diverted his eyes while mumbling, "Miss brother sound."

"Brother sound?"

John made snoring sounds puzzling Calvin.

"You can't sleep because you make that sound?"

"No. Brother sound."

"Brother sound." Calvin repeated as he racked his brain. "Wait." He stared at his eldest child. "You miss your brother making those sounds when he sleeps?" The blonde toddler nodded his head bashfully. "John. You and your siblings are in separate rooms now. You must learn to rest without them being present." John's lips quivered again, and Calvin sighed. "Let me talk to your mother, and see what she says, okay?" John nodded. "Good. Now, let's get you to the den. And behave yourself when we get there."

After leaving John under Troy's care, Calvin found his wife to discuss John's predicament.

"Maybe we shouldn't have made our kids sleep separately from each other so soon." Tracy felt guilty.

Calvin placed his hand over hers. "We did the right thing, my love. We just need to figure out a way for our eldest son to sleep without his brother's snoring."

Tracy drooped. "I don't think he'll sleep without the sounds of snoring immediately. And I don't want to deny him the chance of sleeping."

Calvin frowned. "Do we have him and his brother share a room for the moment?"

Tracy looked torn. "That wouldn't seem fair to the others."

Calvin thought for a moment. "Wait. Why don't we switch rooms to where they are close enough to one another, but they can still learn some independence?"

Tracy smiled with the idea. "It couldn't hurt to try."

Later in the middle of the night, John was resting peacefully as the faint sounds of snoring could be heard from the wall behind where his bed was located.