A Rhiannon Story

When I am away from Rhiannon for any length of time, I like to think back on how I put her to bed. I started drawing little pen-and-ink cartoons of her when she turned three (the illustration above is from this evening), with her big noggin and her sprouts of hair gathered by "pretties" that make her ponytails stick straight out. I have photo documentation of this which I'll post sometime soon.

These cartoons are inspired by stories that I tell her at bedtime. When she's all tucked in, had her drink of water, and is ready for a visit from Morpheus, she usually asks, "Dad, can I have a Rhiannon story?"

"Sure," I say, and then scramble like mad to think of something that she'll enjoy seeing as she is always the protagonist, and is occasionally of the Quality. So she relaxes then, her eyes wide with anticipation, because sometimes she thinks the stories are really, REALLY good, and then I've dug myself a pretty deep hole to try and top what I told her on a previous night. So I stall a bit, which is actually great fun for her, always starting the story in the same way, but mixing up the words.

"Once a time upon..."

Giggles. "No, dad, it's 'once upon a time!'"

"Oh. Erm. Well. OK. Once upon a time, there was a girl named Bob."

"NO!" More giggles. "Her name was Rhiannon!"

"Oh! OK. Once upon a time, there was a girl named Rhiannon..."

Rhiannon smiles because I am telling it right this time, but she also knows there's more to the game...

"...who had bright, blue hair and long, yellow eyes."

BIG laughs. "NOOOO!!! She has long, blonde hair and bright, blue eyes!"

I smack myself in the forehead. "Gah! OK. OK. Sorry."

I speed up the tale.

"OnceuponatimetherewasagirlnamedRhiannon and she had long, yellow hair, and bright, blue eyes. And one day..."

(this is where she settles down because what's coming next is completely new to both of us.... The following story was the second one I ever told her.)

"...and one day she was blowing bubbles outside with her friends."

Rhiannon smiles at this. She adores blowing bubbles, outdoors, indoors, in the bath.... Anyway...

"She was having such a good time when all of a sudden..."

Rhiannon's eyes get bigger.

"...when all of a sudden she blew a bubble and Kitty was inside! Kitty flew up and up and up in her bubble."

Giggles. "What else, dad?"

"So Rhiannon blew another bubble and Daisy was inside!"

More giggles. Daisy was the neighbor's beagle. "What else, dad?"

"Rhiannon kept blowing these big, big bubbles, and Anthony was inside (remember Anthony, dear reader?), and Angelina, and Briana, and Pete, and Brandi, and..."

Rhiannon has totally lost it at this point, with all of the neighbor kids (collectively called "The Petes") and their pets flying high above the street.

I continue. "And then Rhiannon blows ANOTHER big bubble and then SHE's inside it, and up and up and up she goes into the sky."

Rhiannon stops laughing for a minute. "How does she get down?"

"Well, when the bubbles got too high to float, they started popping, and all the animals and kids started to fall, but fairies came and caught them and helped them to land safely."

"Oh! And Rhiannon, too?"

"Yes, they helped Rhiannon, too."

Relief. "That was a good one, dad."

"Thank you, Rhiannon."

"You're welcome. Good night."

Kisses, and a big, big hug.

"Tell me another one tomorrow, dad."

"Okay." Erk. What will I think of next?

Rhiannon. Bubbly. And cute.

Andrew (Papa)