Good Knight

Bed Time

Penelope Pimm is now eight years old. She likes to be tucked into bed every night since she was a baby. This included her mother reading her a bed time story, singing her a lullaby and tucking her under her covers. Penelope was fairly used to this routine and like anyone else, didn't like change. So when her parents got new jobs and uprooted her to move away, bed time became more important to her than it ever was. She even became more attached to her Teddy Bear than she ever was.

Teddy was given to her upon her arrival home from the hospital after she was born. She could never spend a minute without him. Of course, when she started going to school, Teddy would have to stay home where he was safe. But bed time would still come every night and Teddy and Penelope were reunited.

Penelope's mother entered her bedroom with a glass of water in her hand. She handed it to her daughter and the girl drank it down. Penelope placed it on her nightstand and reached for Teddy. Her mother lifted the comforter and the little girl shimmied herself between the sheets and the mattress. Then she hugged Teddy close to her.

"What's the story-pick tonight?" her mother asked. Penelope was caught off-guard for a moment. For once, she hadn't actually thought about what story she wanted to hear.

"Is magic real?" she asked her mother. Penelope's mother quickly searched for words to use in the explanation of what her answer would be.

"Of course magic is real. Why would you ask that?" she asked.

"Miss Krabbtree," Penelope replied. Miss Krabbtree was Penelope's new third grade teacher and she certainly wasn't built for the title.

"And what was Miss Krabbtree's crime this time?" her mother asked.

"We were talking about whether or not magic is real and she told us that it wasn't because if magic is real then how come we never see dragons flying through the sky and how come no one's seen Santa yet?" Penelope explained. Her mother was silently outraged by her daughter's explanation of Miss Krabbtree's next attempt to rid the world of magic and happy endings. She rolled her eyes and massaged her left temple in annoyance. Then she cleared her throat.

"Well dragons went extinct with the dinosaurs a long time ago and Santa is just really good at hide and seek," she explained.

"I'm good at hide and seek," Penelope added.

"Yes you are," their mother replied. "But Santa holds the world record."

"Miss Krabbtree also told us that if magic were real then all the bad magic would be real too and if we believe in magic then we believe in the bad kind too and that would make us evil little children," Penelope added.

"Don't worry Penelope," her mother assured her. "That's why we gave you Teddy. So he can protect you from all the bad magic and nightmares of course."

"But Miss Krabbtree told me that Teddy Bears don't do anything but waste space," Penelope said. The little girl seemed troubled by her teacher's accusations toward her favorite furry friend, but they did leave Penelope to question his purpose. What if Teddy wasn't protecting her from certain nightmares simply because he just couldn't? After all, he was made of nothing but thread and stuffing. She stopped hugging him and casually put him over to the side.

"Don't let Miss Krabbtree get into your head. One day she'll realize that not believing in magic will be the worst mistake she ever made," Penelope's mother explained.The truth is, Penelope is not ready to let go of her faithful friend yet. They had been through everything thus far. Teddy was the only one who could comfort and console her. This was the first time she ever had doubt in him and she wished the dilemma had never arisen.

Her mother stood up from the bed and examined the bookcase briefly. After a quick decision, she picked a book and came back to the bed. Penelope made herself comfortable. Her mother opened the book and began to read the bed time story. It was one of Penelope's favorites.

Hurt by betrayal after a careless King and Queen give her job away, a vengeful witch curses their newborn son, the Prince. On his sixteenth birthday he will eat the petals of a water lily and turn into the slimiest, ugliest creature ever to crawl through the mud of Hemlock Hollow. Little do they know, there is a counter to the curse. The Prince can only be rescued by the kiss of his true love in his cursed form.

A happy ending always helped Penelope drift off to sleep easier. Her mother only hummed the routine lullaby as she put the story book away, turned off the light and exited the room. Though unintentionally, thoughts of Miss Krabbtree's influence about not believing in magic and deeming Teddy as a waste of space carried over into Penelope's sleep. It wouldn't be long before Penelope wouldn't have to worry about doubting Teddy again. But that's getting ahead of the story so far.