Bedtime Story

“Have you ever heard of Cambia the Giraffe?” The mother tucked the comforter under her son’s chin and sat next to him on the bed.

“No.” The little blonde boy pulled his hands from underneath the blanket and tucked his hands behind his head. He smiled up at his mom, not much older than five, he always enjoys his mom’s bedtime stories.

“Well, Cambia was a giraffe that lived on the great African plains, thousands of miles away from here. The grass stretched as far as the eye can see and she lived with her husband and her son in a shady grove that kept them from the hot sun during the summer and protected them from the wind, rain, and snow during the winter. Cambia and her husband cared for their son, raising him to be a strong a self reliant young giraffe.”

“One sunny morning, Cambia and her husband were leading their son to the watering hole when they ran into a wild boar. Cambia’s husband ran away, leaving Cambia and her son to get away from the boar.”

The boy looked up at his mother. “Mom, what is a boar?” She looked down at him and smiled.

“A big pig, honey, but that isn’t the important part of the story, what is important is that the father left his wife and son defenseless. You understand that is bad right.”

“Yeah mom. It is pretty bad that he left them alone like that. What happened to them?”

“Lay back down, I’m almost finished with the story.” The little boy climbed back under the covers and pulled the comforter up to his neck.

“Cambia was able to fight off the wild boar and make it back to the grove of trees where she knew they would be safe. The father was there and after they both talked, they agreed that he had to leave and never come back.”

“You understand why?”

“Because the dad could not protect the mother and the son?”

“That’s right son, a man that can't protect his family doesn’t deserve to have a family. That’s an important lesson to learn”

“Now get some sleep honey. You have to get up early for school.”

“Love you mom.”

“Love you too son.”

The woman kissed her son on the forehead, turned out the light and closed the door behind her.

The little boy’s mother walked through the house, turning off the lights, and climbed into bed next to her husband, curling up in his arms.

“How’s he doing?”

“Fine, he just needed a bedtime story is all. How is the job hunt going?”

“Nothing yet, but I feel pretty confident about finding something in the next week or so.”

The father pulled his wife closer to him and they fell asleep in each other’s arms.

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