Last week I was over at my brother's house. He and his wife were cleaning vigorously, so I was all set to entertain the kids - little did I know Lily intended it to be the other way 'round.
She was carrying a miniature hymnbook, and said, "Ok, I will tell you a story. There once was a boy named Jeremy who was almost sixteen."
I smiled.
"Then, before he blew out his candles Ursula the sea witch came and took his voice and all his breath!"
"Oh dear!" I said.
"Then Ariel came and saved him, and Ursula died because she was bad. The end."
I told her that was a very good story, and wondered at a world that was so black and white that people just died from being evil.
"Ok," she said, "I'll tell you another one. There once was a boy named Jeremy..."
"No," I said, "I don't want a story about me. Tell me one about a goose! Named Crystal!"
Lily looked at me askance, and then said, "Ok, once there was a goose named Crystal. She lived on a river, and she had lots of babies, but one of the babies was blind, and always swam in the wrong direction. Then it got lost and started to cry."
"Wait," I said, "what does a crying baby goose sound like?"
She did a pretty good imitation for me.
"Ok, thanks," I said.
"Now the baby goose was called Blagle, and it was blind, and lost and crying, and then it found it's way back, and Crystal was happy and glided with glee, the end."
Glided with glee?!?! I wanted to clap my hands at her alliteration, and wondered if she did it on purpose or not. I grinned big and told her thank you.
"Now please tell me another story about a pencil," I made up wildly off the top of my head, "named Bob!"
"There once was a pencil named Bob, and he was thiiiiis big," she held up her fingers.
"He was a small pencil, huh?" I asked.
"Yes. He was smaller than a button!"
"Oooh, tell me about Bob the pencil who was smaller than a button!"
"Well, he had an eraser for hair. It was his birthday, and before he could blow out his candles Ursula the sea witch came and took his voice..."
Every story after that contained Ursula being all threatening, and a birthday, and candles at some point. I kept trying to make up crazy characters to stump her but she rose to every challenge, and kept surprising me with her little observant ways, and her seeming natural gift at alliterative prose. It was the best story I've been told in a long time.
