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citation: Collier's, April 29, 1950, 125(17):22-23, 79-80, 82
alias: None
teaser: A bedtime story for expectant fathers
summary: Al and Debbie anxiously await Debbie's appointment with her doctor. Learning that Debbie is pregnant, they go shopping for the baby before returning home.
While Debbie unpacks their purchases, Al retrieves some papers from the desk. Lying on the couch, Al listens to Debbie talk about her pregancy on the telephone, with her friend Dotty. Al cautions Debbie to pay more attention to her doctor's instructions than to Dotty's, and to not become obsessed anticipating what will come; how their lives will change.
Al is looking at information about vacationing in Mexico. He wonders if they ought to travel there now, even if they can't afford it, because they won't have another opportunity for a long time after the baby is born.
Debbie questions whether Al is sorry they are having a child. Al says he is not, but is simply being realistic; that children are not only more responsibility, but, from past experience, a lot of trouble.
Debbie surprises Al with the announcement that Dotty will be leaving her four-year-old daughter with them to babysit that evening. Al is not looking forward to the experience. They await the little girl's arrival, thinking how their life is already changing.
After the child arrives, Al and Debbie put her to bed. When the little girl asks to be told a story, Al makes up a tale about Myrtle the turtle, who didn't want to be a turtle, and wanted to live in a place without mud, like Arizona.
Not satisfied with Al's abbreviated story, the little girl insists he continues the story. Al elaborates: Myrtle meets a caterpillar who fills her head with ideas about becoming transformed, in this case, to a butterfly.
With the child finally asleep, Debbie asks Al how the story ends. Al relates that while Myrtle was sleeping, an artist painted the turtle's back. When the artist's little girl picked up the painted turtle, Myrtle thought she had indeed transformed into a butterfly, and was flying.
Al admits he enjoyed telling the story to their little guest, and the couple has renewed optimism for Debbie's pregnancy.
words: 4,558
genre: Slice-of-Life, Romance
similar: Breakfast in Bed, You Haven't Changed a Bit, The Little Courtesies, I Like It This Way, My Cigarette Loves Your Cigarette
people: Al, Debbie, Dotty, Mel, Elaine Mitchell, Dave Mitchell, Myrtle (turtle)
places: Unspecified, Arizona
comments: Forthcoming