Short prose – Bedtime

Bedtime

By Lacey Smith

It was Night-time in the Smith Household. It was Dying Down time.

With a final click of the remote-control button for the day, well for us anyway, my brother and I grudgingly attempted to make our way up the hard wooden stairs.

I hit my head on the sweet-smelling pillow. Then I heard an annoying cry, adorable to most but constant to me:

‘I lost my Rubby!’

His half-chewed, light blue dummy with the little duck on it. He would not, could not, will not sleep without his sacred object.

Me, my Dad and mother were all in sync. We all tiredly moaned ‘This always happens.’

Sleeping time turned into a wild goose chase, the treasure being sleep.

About this work

This charming sketch of bedtime in teenager Lacey’s house is a tremendous achievement, written off the cuff during one of the BG REACH workshops at Aberbeeg Community Centre. It is a memory of her little brother and the nightly ritual search for his precious dummy. Lacey’s brother is now 11, but this takes her back to when he was around 4 years old.

Lacey conjures up a fairy tale atmosphere of cosy peacefulness in her ‘Dying Down time’ as the children, and the house, are put to bed, reminiscent of Dylan Thomas’ A Child’s Christmas in Wales. While all experience a rude awakening with the familiar cry, both annoying and adorable, the wonderful closing metaphor of sleep as treasure lulls us back towards dreamland.

This page is part of the Blaenau Gwent REACH online exhibition.

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