The Twenty Year Nap

Vanessa Ripa took her schoolwork very seriously. She took it more seriously than any other girl she knew. She took it more seriously than any other kid she knew. She was always always studying and hardly ever had any time for fun.

Her parents wished she would have a more rounded life. They wished she would get out and have a little fun sometimes. "You're a smart girl, Vanessa." her mom assured her. "You always do well in school. You can get by with a little less studying."

Vanessa frowned deeply. "I do well in school because I study." she pointed out.

"We're not telling you to stop studying." replied her father. "We are just saying you don't need to study all the time. After all, you are only going to be young once you should enjoy your youth."

"Yes." agreed her mother. "You need a little balance in your life. Go out make friends have fun."

"I have Wanda. " replied Vanessa. Wanda Irvine was Vanessa's best friend.  They often studied together.

"Yes, but do you and Wanda ever do anything fun together?" asked her father.

Vanessa bit her lip and thought about it. No, they really didn't. They mostly just studied together. It wasn't that Wanda never asked Vanessa to go and do something fun with her like go to the movies or play a game or whatever. It was just that Vanessa never wanted to.

As if she knew they were talking about her, Wanda suddenly appeared at the front door. "Hi Wanda." Vanessa greeted her cheerfully opening the front door to let her in. "Are you here to study?"

Wanda shook her head. "I'm going to watch my little brother play soccer at the park. Do you want to come?"

Vanessa shook her head. "Thanks for the invite." she replied sincerely, "but I'm swamped." she waved her hand around to indicate all her school books and papers spread out around the kitchen table where she'd been sitting.

Now, it was Wanda's turn to shake her head. "But it's Saturday, and we didn't even get that much homework this weekend."

"Well, you know," said Vanessa. "I don't want to get behind."

Wanda gave Vanessa a look of pity. She just couldn't understand Vanessa at all. How could anyone possibly study that much? "I guess I'll see you around." she replied sadly. She went off still shaking her head.

Vanessa sighed. Wanda just didn't understand her. Nobody did. It wasn't enough to just do good. She wanted to do the best she possibly could. She needed to do the best she possibly could. It was the most important thing in the world to her.

Vanessa studied for a while, but then she started having trouble concentrating. She looked out the window. It was a beautiful bright and sunny day. Maybe, she would go outside. She would do her studying out there. Maybe, the change of scenery and the warm air would help her concentrate.

She took her books and went outside and sat down on the lawn. It didn't help her to focus at all. In fact, it did quite the opposite. It made her sleepy. She started drifting off and before she knew it she was fast asleep.

She woke with a start when she heard the sound of singing. The voice sounded familiar. It was Wanda. Maybe, she was coming back to study. Vanessa ran down the path to meet her.

Then, suddenly she stopped in her tracks. The girl she saw looked sort of like Wanda, but not exactly, This girl's hair was longer and blonder and her eyes were bluer. "Wanda?" asked Vanessa uncertainly.

The girl smiled. "I get that all the time." she replied. "You must be looking for my mother, Wanda. I'm Winter. Everyone says we look alike. I don't see it though." She shook her head.

Vanessa's mouth flew open but not a sound came out. How long had she slept for? She was in a state of shock. She couldn't move. She couldn't talk. She couldn't do anything.

"Are you okay?" asked Winter. "You're not having a seizure or something, are you?" She started backing away.

Vanessa quickly closed her mouth and tried to gather her composure. "No. I'm fine. I'm just surprised at how much you look like your mother. I haven't seen her for a while." she explained. 'Or at least I guess I haven't seen her for a while'. she thought.

"Do you want me to tell her you said hello?" asked Winter.

"Sure." replied Vanessa uncertainly.

Winter didn't seem to notice Vanessa's hesitation. "And you're who ?" asked Winter in a friendly manner. "Just so I know who to tell my mother said hello." she explained.

"Vanessa Ripa." replied Vanessa.

"Great!" exclaimed Winter. "It was nice meeting you, Vanessa. I'll be sure and tell my mother you said hello." She waved to Vanessa and continued in the direction she had been heading.

Vanessa shook her head. What in the world was going on? She went off to find her mother and father. Maybe, they could tell her what was going on.

When she got to her house. The door was locked. That was strange. She hadn't locked it when she came out. She rang the bell but nobody answered.

Things were getting even stranger and by now, Vanessa was really frightened. She pounded on the door shouting. "Mommy! Daddy! Let me in!"

The door opened. Vanessa was about to sigh in relief when she noticed it was neither her mother or father. It was an old man, she didn't recognize. "What do you want?" the man asked angrily. "And why are you pounding on my door?"

"Daddy?" asked Vanessa. It couldn't be? Could it?  The man gazed at her in a familiar way. Now, she was sure it was her father. How did he get so old and where was Mommy? "Daddy." Vanessa repeated "Where is mommy?"she asked.

"Now you're just being cruel." replied the man even angrier than before. "I don't have any children anymore, and I no longer have a wife either. My wife died of a broken heart twenty years ago when our daughter, Vanessa disappeared."

"But Daddy. I'm Vanessa." insisted Vanessa.

The man slammed the door in Vanessa's face. Vanessa didn't know what else to do so she started running away. She ran and ran until she couldn't run anymore, and she collapsed on the ground.

When Vanessa woke up, she was in her bed. Mommy was there sitting beside her bed. "Mommy!" she exclaimed. "You're alive!"

Mommy looked at Vanessa strangely. "Well, why wouldn't I be?" she asked worriedly.

"No reason." replied Vanessa smiling. Then, she noticed her father was there too. "Daddy, you're young!" she exclaimed.

"Well, I hope so." replied her father with a smile.

"Never mind about him." replied her mother. "How are you? You had too much sun, and you fainted. That's why we brought you in the house, and put you in your bed."

Vanessa smiled happily. That explained everything. "I'm feeling a lot better." she declared. "In fact, I think I am going to go down to the park and see if I can find Wanda at her brother's soccer game." she announced sitting up and getting out of bed.

"That's great!" replied her mom in a combination of relieve because Vanessa was feeling okay and happiness because she was going to do something beside study.

"What made you change your mind about going?" asked her dad curiously.

"Well, you know, " replied Vanessa. "Twenty years can go by in the blink of any eye, and I guess I wouldn't really want to spend all of that time studying."

Vanessa ran off towards the park and left her parents staring after her still wondering about her sudden change of attitude.

The Little House

The Little House  was white with black shutters. It lived at the end of a block on a quiet street in a nice neighborhood. It had a nice family to live in it. There was a Mom and a Dad and three kids.

When the Mom and the Dad moved to the Little House, they didn't have any kids. There were just a young married couple settling in for their new life together. It made the Little House so happy to have them live in her rooms and take care of her.

At first the Mom and the Dad, who were not really the Mom and the Dad then because they didn't have any children, both worked. They were away a lot of the day. The Little House missed them, but she was really excited when they came home every night.

Then, the Older Brother came along, Only then he wasn't the Older Brother, he was the Baby. The Mom stayed home to take care of him. The Little House loved having the Mom and the Baby home all day. Of course, they did not stay home all day every day, but they were home a lot more than when the Mom and Dad both worked.

The Little House loved having a Baby around. She loved the sound of baby laughter. It was such a happy sound. She loved to be filled with happy sounds. She hated baby tears though. She didn't like sadness of any kind. It made her sad too.

When the Baby was about two along came, another Baby. This one was a girl, At first, she was the Little One but eventually she would become the Middle One. The Little House couldn't be happier with the new Baby. She loved to have babies around and she would like to have a nice big family living in her. The more the merrier, she truly believed.

It got a lot noisier and a lot busier in the Little House with two kids. The Little House just loved it. She wanted to be useful and she wanted her family to grow with her. She wanted them to have lots of happiness and build lots of great memories while they lived in her.

Eventually, it was time for the Big Brother to go to school. The Little House missed him but he always came home every day just like the Dad always came home from work. It was a little bit quieter without the Big Brother but not that much because the Mom and the new Baby were usually around.

Shortly, after the Big Brother started school, another baby came along. This one was another girl. She was truly the Baby because there wouldn't be another one after her. The Big Brother and the Middle Sister fought a lot but everyone adored the baby. The Little House loved her too. She loved all of the family. She didn't like it when they fought or argued or yelled. She liked it much better when they loved each other and got along with each other.

The Little House watched the children grow from little babies in their parents arms to toddlers waddling around in diapers to little kids chasing around to big kids walking around. They seemed to grow by leaps and bounds and get bigger every day. She loved watching them grow.

Finally, there came a time when the Little House seemed too little for the family. The kids were all bigger and taller and older. They took up more space. They had more things too, and they needed more room.

When they talked about moving, it made the Little House very sad. She loved her family, She didn't want them to leave her. It made the family sad to think of moving too. They loved their Little House. It was the only house the kids had known.

Still, it was time and the family had to move on. The Little House was so sad when they finally packed up their stuff and moved. She didn't think that she could ever be happy again. However, she wasn't empty for a long. Another young couple just starting their life together soon moved into the house. The Little House was so happy and excited when they moved in. She would have another family to live in her rooms and take care of her. She would have another family to watch grow. She missed her old family but they would always be a part of her as she would be a part of them, but life would go on for the Little House with her new family just as it would go on for the family in their new house.

Sophia Can't Sleep

Tomorrow was going to be an exciting day for Sophia Darrow. She would be going to see the ballet, Cinderella.  She was really excited. She knew she needed plenty of sleep so she decided to go to bed early. She quickly got her favorite purple striped pajamas on and brushed her teeth and hair. Then, she said "Good night." to her Mom and Dad kissed them each on the cheek.

"Going to bed so early?" They asked in surprise.

Sophia nodded. "I want to get plenty of sleep for my big day tomorrow." she told them happily. Mommy and Daddy smiled at Sophia's excitement.

Sophia hurried into her room. She climbed up into her bed and pulled her big fluffy pink blanket up to her chin. She shut her eyes but she just couldn't fall asleep.

After a little while, she figured maybe it was just too early for her to go to sleep because she wasn't used to it. She turned on her light, got out her book and read for a little bit. When she felt like she was starting to get tired, she put her book away and turned off the light. She crawled back under the covers.

Still sleep wouldn't come. After a half hour of trying, she opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling. She couldn't believe that didn't put her to sleep. That had to be one of the most boring things in the world to do.

She decided to count sheep. By the time she got to one hundred and she still hadn't fall asleep, she gave that up. She tried doing things that would make her brain tired like saying the alphabet backwards or doing complex math problems in her head. Those things didn't help either.

She got out of bed and went in Mommy and Daddy's room.

"What's the matter?" asked Daddy full of concern.

"Are you feeling okay?" asked Mommy worriedly.

Sophia nodded. "I'm feeling fine. I just can't sleep."

"You're probably just over excited about tomorrow." said Daddy.

"I'll make you some warm milk." Mommy told her. She led Sophia into the kitchen and heated up some milk on the stove. The thought of drinking warm milk disgusted Sophia. She hardly even liked to drink milk that had been sitting around for a few minutes at room temperature. However, she was willing to try anything. When Mom handed her the glass of warm milk, she still thought it was gross, but she drank the whole thing.

Mommy smiled and took the empty glass from Sophia and put it in the dishwasher. "There!" she said. "I'm sure you'll be sleeping in no time." She walked Sophia back to her room and tucked her in. Sophia pulled up the covers and closed her eyes again.

After another half hour of lying there and not being able to sleep again, Sophia opened her eyes and sat up again. Maybe, some soothing music would help her to sleep. She turned on the radio softly. However, the stations were playing really loud upbeat music tonight and Sophia couldn't find anything that helped her sleep.

After a while, she turned off the radio and went back to Mommy and Daddy's room. By now, they were both fast sleep even if  Sophia wasn't. 'Well at least they can sleep' she thought jealously. She quickly tiptoed back to her own room.

In her room, she got back into her bed. She tried to relax and sleep, but she just couldn't. She figured she was trying too hard. She decided to just lie in bed and think until she got tired enough to sleep. That took longer than Sophia thought it would. By the time, she finally started drifting off to sleep, it was starting to get light outside.

"Come on, honey. It's time to go." Sophia's mother's voice broke into her sleep what felt like and probably was only a few hours later. Sophia groggily dragged herself out of bed and got dressed. She practically fell asleep when she was brushing her teeth.

Mommy and Sophia got into the car to head to the Civic Center to see the ballet. Daddy wasn't going with them. He hated the ballet.

Sophia wanted to sleep in the car but she couldn't because the noise outside the car was so loud. There was loud construction going on and horns blaring and all kinds of other noise. To Sophia, it seemed much noisier than usual like she was being punished for not having slept.

Finally, they arrived at the Civic Center and went inside. Mommy bought Sophia a program, and they were quickly ushered to their seats. Soon, the auditorium was full. The orchestra started playing and the ballet started. The music was so sweet and soothing not at all like the noise of the traffic.

At the intermisson, Mommy asked Sophia. "How are you enjoying the ballet so far, honey?" Sophia didn't answer. "Sophia?" said Mommy. Sophia still didn't answer. Mommy looked at Sophia. Sophia's eyes were closed and she let out a loud snore. She was fast asleep.

A True Princess

Once there was a man and he wanted to marry a special kind of woman. He wanted a woman who had a mind of her own and wouldn't just blindly say what she thought he wanted to hear. A woman who had fine and expensive tastes. She would only shop in high-end department stores and would never set foot in a Walmart or  a Target. She would never  be found in the kitchen when she could just as easily order food to be delivered. Of course, her preferred method of dining would be to eat out and only at the finest restaurants. The words fast food would never cross her lips.

The man was a very eligible young bachelor indeed. He was handsome. He was smart. He had plenty of money. He would need plenty of money to support the type of wife he was looking for.

All of the girls in the town who were old enough for marriage wanted to marry the young man. He wanted to take his time and make sure he was choosing the right one. He began lining up dates one at time.  With all of his dates, he went through same ritual to see if the woman was right for him.

First, he would dress up in the most hideous clothes. They weren't made well and they were faded and thin. He had gotten them from some bargain store. When he picked up his dates, they would stare at his clothes for a minute, and then quickly look away. "Do you like my outift?" he would ask eagerly.

"Oh, it's lovely." They would say whether they really liked it or not. The outfit was so dreadful that he didn't know how anyone could like it.

"Where would you like to go to eat?" he would asked but before a woman could answer he would exclaim as though he had just thought of it. "I know! Let's go to my house, and I will cook you one of my gourmet burgers!"

"Okay.'" The woman would reply eagerly.

He would bring her to his house and sit her in his dining room  uncomfortable chair with hardly any cushioning. Then, he would disappear into his kitchen to prepare the meal while she waited. "The recipe is a family secret passed down from generation to generation." he would explain as he would go into the kitchen and shut the adjoining door.

Then, after he had hung around the kitchen for a while doing nothing, He would take a McDonald's burger and put it on a plate and heat it up. He would put it on a  plastic plate, take it out and place it in front of the woman. "I hope you like it." he would say eagerly.

The woman would take a bite. Her eyes would raise a little. "Do you like it?" He would ask hopefully.

"Oh. It's delicious." they would say, and they would force themselves to eat every bite.

The end of every date would be the same as well. The man would be very disappointed that the woman was not the right one for him. He would promise to call, but he never would. He would just move on to the next one.

One day a new woman moved to town. The young man quickly made her acquaintance and asked her out on a date. At first, she played hard to get but then finally she agreed to go out with him. When he picked her up for their date she took one look at his clothes and declared "You call that an outfit? Where did you get that the sales rack at Sears?"

The man smiled but refused to let his hopes get up. "Why, yes I did." he replied.

"You ought to let me take you shopping." suggested the woman. "I'll show you how to dress have you been to Lord & Taylor or Saks Fifth Avenue?"When the man pretended as though he had never heard of those stores, the woman replied "Well, you ought to."

The man smiled even brighter, but he didn't reply. Inside, his heart was beating rapidly with excitement. Could this woman really be the one - the woman of his dreams?

When  the man whipped  out one of his alleged gourmet burgers and put it in front of her, at first she just stared at the cheap ugly plastic  plate. "Another bargain purchase?" she inquired. "Oh, honey. You really need help shopping." she declared as she quickly shifted uncomfortably in her scarcely padded seat.

The woman took a bite of her burger. She quickly spit it out. "Gourmet burger, my foot!" she shouted. "Secret family recipe?" she mumbled shaking her head. What is this fast food?" she asked. "I bet this tastes like a  burger a person could get at McDonald's." She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

The man's heart overflowed with joy. He knew she was the woman for him. She was a true princess. He quickly knelt by her side. "Will you marry me?" he asked happily taking out the diamond ring he always carried in his pocket hopefully.

The woman stared at the ring for a minute. It was big and beautiful and shined like the sun. However, she couldn't see herself forever stuck with a man such as this. He had too much to learn, and she wanted a man who was already trained and prepared to share the finer life with her. "I'm sorry." she replied apologetically. "You're just not the man for me."

Lazy Lulu

The bright morning sunshine streamed through Lulu Morgan's window, but Lulu did not bother getting out of bed. After a few minutes, her Mom came in the room. Mommy shook her head at Lulu. "Lulu," she scolded, "Aren't you going to get up? It's a beautiful day. Come have breakfast."

Lulu shook her head. "I think I'll just stay in bed." she replied.

A little bit later delicious smells drifted up from the kitchen. It smelled like cheesy eggs, Lulu's favorite.However, Lulu still didn't get out of bed. She just turned over and went back to sleep.

After breakfast, Lulu's dad came into her room. He couldn't understand how Lulu could waste such as beautiful day. "Come on, get up." he urged. "You can come with me to the store."

Lulu scrunched up her nose and glared at her father. "Why would I want to do that?" she asked.

"Because maybe afterwards we can go to the park." suggested Daddy.

Lulu thought about it for a about a minute, but then decided she still didn't want to. "No, thanks." she said.

 At lunch time. Mommy came in again. "Aren't you hungry yet? " she inquired of Lulu. "Aren't you ready to get up?"

Lulu was a little bit hungry. but her bed was just so warm and cozy. "No, I'm not ready to get up." she replied.

Lulu was so lazy. She stayed in her bed all day and wouldn't come out. When she heard kids playing outside, she wouldn't come out. When she smelled the delicious dinner her mother had made. she wouldn't come out. No matter how much Mommy and Daddy begged and pleaded Lulu just wouldn't come out of her room.

"I'll get up when I'm ready." she assured them

"When will that be?" asked her mother. She did not understand how a person could be in a bed for a whole day if they weren't even sick. "Are you okay?" she repeatedly asked as she tried to take Lulu's temperature.

"I'm fine, Mommy." insisted Lulu ducking away from her mother.

Finally, it was night time. Mommy went to see Lulu. Lulu smiled brightly and bounced up out of her bed.

"What are you doing? asked Mommy accusingly.

"I'm getting up now." replied Lulu. "Just like you've wanted me to all day"

"Oh, no you're not." insisted Mommy.

Lulu shook her head. "You want me to get up, you don't want me to get up. Make up your mind."

"I don't want you to get up. It's too late."

"No, it isn't. "  stated Lulu getting ready to climb out of  bed. "Why is it too late?"

"It' s too late because it's bed time!" replied Mom.

Phyllis Isn't Funny Anymore

This story is not only for my daughter but by my daughter.


Phyllis was the funny one  around. In school, during recess everybody would hang around Phyllis and she would tell them funny things. Everybody wanted to be her friend.

One day, the day before Phyllis became not so funny anymore. Phyllis's teacher said they were getting a new student her name was Fern.

Ding Dong! Phyllis's doorbell rang. "I'll get it." Phyllis said opening the door.

"Hi . It's me Fern from school. I was just wondering why does everybody call you funny Phyllis?" Fern asked Phyllis in confusion.

"Well I am funny. At least that's what everybody tells me." Phyllis replied.

The next day the teacher assigned a project. She put people in pairs of two. Phyllis got paired with Fern.

The day after,  Fern went over to work on their project. Evie Phyllis's little sister came over. "Evie want to pay too!" Evie pleaded.`

"Evie we're not playing we're working."  Phyllis stated.

"I've got this. I'm great with little kids.  Evie do you want to hear some jokes?" Fern asked.

"Yeah." Evie said happily.

"Okay, but after will you let us work alone?" Fern asked hoping she would agree.

"Okay." Evie agreed.

Fern told her all the jokes she could think of. 

"Fern funny." Evie said with a smile.  

The next day at school Phyllis was so excited for recess. She had thought of  a ton of new jokes and funny stuff to tell  everybody, but when she got outside someone else was telling jokes. Phyllis walked a little closer to see who it was. She was shocked to realize that the person telling jokes was Fern.

"Everybody, I'm here and I've got a lot of new jokes to tell you." Phyllis said happily No one even seemed to notice Phyllis was even there. "Maybe you didn't hear me, but I've got some new jokes to tell you." Phyllis repeated.

"We heard you the first time, but right now Fern is telling us jokes. Maybe, you can later." one of the girls said.

"Oh I see." Phyllis said sadly running away. No one even seemed to notice she left.

Later that day, when Phyllis got home from school, she saw Fern there talking to Evie. "What is she doing here, Mom?" Phyllis asked angrily

"I'm sorry if you don't like her, but Evie and I took a walk and she fell. I asked her what would make her feel better. She said the only thing that would make  her fell better would be Fern." Phyllis's Mom answered.

"My own two year old little sister likes Fern more than she likes me." Phyllis said running up to her room.

"Honey, wait!" Mom said running after Phyllis.

"How come it was Fern she wanted? Why not me? I'm her sister, and she likes Fern more than she likes me. You should just adopt Fern. I can live by myself on the streets, and everybody would be happy." Phyllis said.

"Phyllis, you know I love you, and you know Evie loves you." Mom told Phyllis.

"Then, how come Evie wanted to be with Fern and not me?" Phyllis asked.

"Don't take it personally. you know she is just a little kid." Mom said

"Evie wov Phyllis!" Evie said.

"I love you too, Evie." Phyllis said.

"How about from now on we can be funny together instead of being in a funny competition? Like we can tell jokes together at school." Fern suggested.

"That sounds good to me. I think we will be better at being best friends then we did at being enemies." Phyllis agreed

The next day at recess,  Phyllis and Fern did told jokes and did funny things together. Everybody loved it. It worked out great.

Alea Wonders

Alea Carroll was a very curious girl.  She was curious about everything. She wanted to know  everything there was to know about everything. She was always asking questions.

Alea was sitting out on the porch one day. Her mother came out of the house. "What are you doing?" she asked Alea.

"Oh just sitting around." replied Alea sadly. She was really rather bored.

"It's too nice of a day to just be sitting around." declared her mother. "Why don't we go for a walk?" she suggested.

"Oh yes. That would be great!" exclaimed Alea excitedly jumping up out her seat. Alea loved going on walks with her mother. They saw all kinds of fun and interesting things on their walks. They weren't always things that were fun and interesting to other people but they were fun and interesting to Alea.

Alea and her mother had only gone a few steps on their walk when a  little gray cat crossed their path. "Oh! exclaimed Alea, "What a cute little kitty!" She scooped down to pet it.

"Be careful, Alea." warned her Mother. "You shouldn't pet unfamiliar animals. They might bite you or carry a disease or something."

Alea ignored her mother. She kept petting the little cat. The cat seemed friendly and began to purr happily. Alea smiled at the little cat. She felt like it was smiling back at her too. "Do you think cats can really smile?" she asked her mother.

"I don't know." replied her mother.

"Well, I think this one is grinning at me." declared Alea.

Finally, Alea's mother made her leave the little cat. They continued on their walk. Alea spied a brown bunny jumping in the grass.  She tried to chase after the rabbit but couldn't find it. She ran back to her mother. "Do you think that the rabbit was late for an appointment?" she asked her mother, "He seemed in a awful hurry."

"I don't know." replied her mother.

They continued on their walk. Soon they passed a couple of little girls wearing princess dresses sitting out on the lawn in front of a big blue house. They were sitting at a folding table. The table was covered with a little pink tea set. There were little cups, little plates, little spoons, a little sugar bowl, a little milk pitcher, and a little teapot.

"Oh, what fun!" exclaimed Alea. "They're having a a tea party."

  "Would you like some tea?" the little girls asked Alea and her mother.

"Yes,  I would." replied Alea. She hurried over and drank some of the girls' pretend tea out a of one of their little pink cups. "That was delicious!" she exclaimed when she finished. "Thank you very much." The two little girls smiled happily at Alea.

Alea and her mother continued walking. "Do you think that animals have tea parties?" asked Alea.

"I don't know." replied her mother.

They continued walking. They passed a little boy eating an ice cream cone. He was struggling to keep up with a group of bigger boys. Alea felt sorry for him. "I bet he wishes that ice cream cone would make him bigger." she said.

Next they passed a boy sitting on a chair drinking a soda. He was much to big for the chair and his legs spilled over the sides. Alea felt sorry for him too. "I bet he wishes that drink would make him smaller." she said.

It was getting late. "It's time to head home." Alea's mother told her.

"Oh." said Alea disappointedly. She was enjoying their walk. She hated for it to be over. She was getting a little hungry though so she would be glad to go home and have dinner.

Luckily, this time they didn't see the boy drinking the soda or the boy eating the ice cream cone. That would have just made Alea more hungry.

They did pass the little girls who had been having the tea party. This time they were packing up everything  and taking it into the house.  Alea stopped to admire their pretty princess dresses. She hadn't really noticed them the first time. One girl was dressed like Cinderella and the other was dressed like Rapunzel.

"I would like to meet a real princess or a queen one day." declared Alea as she and her mother continued toward home. "Do you think a queen would cut-off our heads if we displeased her?"

"Alea!" exclaimed her mother. "Why would you ask a question like that?"

"I just wondered." explained Alea.

"You wonder about a lot of things, don't you?" said her mother.

"I wonder about everything." replied Alea.

"Yes, you certainly do." declared her mother smiling at Alea.