One Little Glommer

Posted on Mon 25th Jan, 2021 @ 10:39pm by
Edited on on Tue 2nd Feb, 2021 @ 9:34am

760 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Denouement
Location: McCabe's Quarters
Timeline: MD 13, Bedtime for Bella

Scooping Arabella up from her chair at the table, Tony blew bubbles on her tummy. She was four, having recently had a birthday, but small for her age, and it was still easy enough to swing her around over his head.

"And now, my girl, it's time for ..."

"Bedtime stories!" she screeched.

"Yes! Bedtime stories, wherein little girls are always rescued at the last minute by ..."

"Their aunties!" she giggled.

Anthony brought her nose down to his, and said, "No way! Daddies are always the rescuers!"

"Aunties! Aunties! Aunties!" Bella laughed as he tickled her. "Aunties to the rescue!"

"Hey, you got yourself into this," her Aunt Janetta said, as she threw the last of the dishes into the recycler. "You're perfectly capable of getting yourself out."

"Ha, see?" Tony crowed. "The correct answer is Daddies! And now you must be punished." He sat on the couch and grabbed her foot. "This little Glommer went to the sand dune," he said as he pinched her big toe lightly.

"And this little Glommer stayed near the Tribble pit. This little Glommer had Tribble stew, this little Glommer had none," he chanted as he grabbed each toe down to the last one. "And this little Glommer ..."

"Ran all the way home!" the little girl shrieked, laughing and wiggling her way into her father's arms.

"That's right! Because the littlest Glommer knows that home is where they have to take him in and wash off all the sand!"

"Nursery Rhymes now, Daddy," she demanded with a sweet smile, as she twisted the top button of his shirt. "The one about the tuffet, please."

"Well, ... okay, since you asked so nicely. Ready?"

She nodded her head, her blue eyes looking into his. "Ready Steady!"

Little Miss Muffet
Sat on her tuffet,
Eating her plum pie.
Along came a lamb who said,
"I'm going to follow you everywhere!"

Bella laughed, "Daddy! Do it right!"

So it followed her to school one day,
and asked Mary, who was QUITE contrary,
"How does your garden grow?
"With spider legs and little lamb's tails,"
She said, so he would know.
And then she grabbed the lamb
And ate him all up!"

Laughing harder, the little girl said, "No, Daddy, you never get it right. It goes like this ..."

Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet
Eating her targ heart stew.
Along came a Glommer
Who said, "I've got something new!"
And he handed Miss Muffet
A Tribble!"

Leaning against the bulkhead that divided the dining table from the living area, Janetta shook her head, "Now you've done it. She'll never go to sleep."

"Sure she will, woncha, Sweet Duck?" Tony said, rubbing his forehead against his daughter's.

"Sure I will," she said. "But you have to tell me a story."

Anthony stood up from the couch, throwing his daughter over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. "How about the one about Max who went to live with the Wild Things?"

"No, no, the one about the Klingon and the Targ! I like that one best!" the child insisted.

"You're sure?" her father said, going through the door into her small room. "It's got so little heart in it!"

"Oh, Daddy, you are so silly! Everyone knows Targs have lots of heart, because they have two! That's why they love Klingons so much. "Cause they have two, too! Like loves like, you know."

Tony shook his head, thinking he'd someday have to straighten out his daughter's understanding of the physiology of Klingons and their creatures. A task for the future. At least she knew about love. "Okay, the Klingon and the Targ it is, then." He laid her in the middle of the bed, brought the covers up to her chin, and began ....

"... And so the Targ said to the Klingon, 'I will always go hunting with you, and we will never go hungry.'" Tony looked at his sweet daughter, who would also never go hungry if he could help it, and noticed her eyes were fighting to stay open.

"I like that story. The Targ took care of his friend, just like you take care of me and Aunt Janetta. I love you, Daddy," the child said, all but asleep.

"I love you, too, my little Glommer," he whispered, turning out the lamp next to her bed and staring at her for a moment in the light from the living area. He pressed a kiss to her cheek, and then left the room, thinking how very blessed he was.

 

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