An Early Morning

        In the early hours of the morning, when frost covered the grass and the trees still rested, a small human pulled off their covers. As two feet touched the floor, cold rushed up to meet the exposed skin. The child shivered and pulled their blanket close around them and ventured from the room. In the adjacent room embers faded slowly and the fireplace grew darker and darker. The child found their way to the couch and pulled the blankets close about them to ward off the night. And from this perch the girl spied stars biding their last farewell as the sun chased them westward. She sat, bundled up, watching as the world slowly came to light.

        She shifted in bed. Today was one of those few days where she allowed herself to sleep until the sun had at least said it’s first “hello’s”. She reached her arm to the side, questing for what she expected to be a warm body. Instead she found a few pillows where a human should have been. Where is that man? Doesn’t he know that this is prized cuddling time? She pushed herself up against the backboard with a few pops resounding in the process. First glasses, then socks, because otherwise her feet would not make it through winter. She pulled aside the sheets to meet the chilly embrace of morning and shuffled towards the wafting smell of coffee.

        Normally he slept like a rock, nothing and no one being able to wake the grumpy ogre whilst he slept. But tonight he’d awoken to the pitter patter of small feet moving across the hardwood floor. He read the time on a watch sitting on the bedside table. Why can’t this child sleep like a normal human being? Groggy and only awake in a technical sense, the man slapped the side table until his fingers found a pair of glasses. The world sharpened and he pushed himself from the protection of the covers. She hadn’t stirred. Hopefully one of us can get some REM. He charted a course through the house until before him he spied a small figure curled up on the couch. “Hey princess. You trying to learn a thing or two about astrology?”

        Coffee with almond creamer in hand, now maybe mostly alive, the woman ventured from the kitchen towards the sounds of quiet whispers. As she turned the corner before her she found the man and the girl bundled up in a blanket, eyes glued to the glass. He was telling her fanciful stories again, about the squirrel’s complicated relationship with the neighboring raccoons and the on-going novela of the woodsfolk. She shook her head softly and sat with the two loves of her life on that cold winter morning.