Once Upon a Time They Were the Dwarves

It was well after bedtime, but the vocabulary in the back bedroom had not yet devolved to words comprised entirely of the letter "z." I stealthily crept back down the dark hallway to spring upon my non-dormant children with a "What's going on in here!" in my most authoritative daddy voice. (It works every time.) As I whipped around the corner and bellowed my announcement into the darkness I saw two fuzzy shapes split from the center of the room and bolt to the two beds. One shape made it into her bed in surprisingly good time, leading me to fear that my stealthiness will soon be matched by that of another and the game will start to get interesting. The other shadowy blob, however, seemed to get snagged at the railing of his bed and began to squeal like the proverbial stuck pig. I flipped on the light, ready to issue another authoritarian bellow when my eyes were greeted with a sight that will likely be with me for a while:



It seems Snow Mike had managed to get the hem of his taffeta gown caught on his bed railing and was left face down on his matress, flailing in a whirl of princessly panic. Meanwhile the fairy godmother in the other bed, all innocence and concern, informed me that "N had gotten out of bed."

She had no follow-up to my response: "So who zipped him up?"

I had difficulty keeping my evil step-father expression as I marched our wee royal out to face his mother. Queen Stacy merely looked upon her offspring and had nothing to decree, though she did have her lips pursed in a somewhat trembling way.

Once our insomniac monarch-to-be had de-donned his gay apparel and was safely and quietly back in his castle chamber I discussed the whole episode with the Queen. The troubling conclusion we came to was that, all things considered, N filled out the dress a lot better than L ever did.