Benjamin: Days and Knights

Once upon a time there was a little boy named Benjamin.  He was only a month old, but he was more than he seemed.  His parents didn't know this of course, so they went on blissfully with their lives not knowing that a hero was laying amongst them.

Each night, Benjamin would be bathed by his parents.  He would be fed, and he would be rocked asleep.  Now normally this would mean that he would be asleep for awhile.  After all a clean, fed, and rocked baby was pretty satisfied.  And most of the time that was true.  But sometimes it was not. Sometimes, Benjamin craved adventure.

So, after he was bathed and fed and rocked, Benjamin would only pretend to be asleep.  This time, instead of his parents waiting for him to sleep, he would lay really still and wait for his parents to go to sleep.  Soon enough, they would stop talking about their day and drift off into slumber.  He knew they were really asleep when Dad would start snoring softly and momma wouldn't jiggle the bed to wake him up and make him stop.

It was then that Benjamin's adventures would begin.  You see, he really wanted to become a knight.  A real knight who carried a sword and shield, rode a brave steed, and defended the kingdom from harm.  He needed to prove his bravery before he could become a knight and he had a plan to do just that.

Sometimes when he pretended to be asleep, he would hear strange sounds in the night.  Something bumping around outside and making low roaring noises. At first he didn't know what they were, but he soon figured it out.  He was pretty sure that it was a dragon, and if anything could prove his worth to become a knight, it would be slaying a dragon!

He began making plans. He needed a sword, shield, helmet, and a trusty steed.  The first three were easy.  Momma's rolling pin would work nicely for a sword, Dad's flip-flop fit perfectly on his arm for a shield, and he had a magic crocheted beannie that was perfect for a helmet.  It was the steed that would be the problem.  After all, a brave knight could not go into battle on foot.

His problem didn't last for long.  He was soon introduced to the neighbor's dog, Sadie.  She was noble and friendly and just the right size for Benjamin to ride.  And most of all, she craved adventure too.  So when Benjamin approached her one night about his plans, she was more than willing to oblige.  As a matter of fact she almost knocked Benjamin over with excitement at just the idea of it!  He knew then and there that he had found his trusty steed.

There was only one snag.  Time.  You see, even though Benjamin was bathed and fed before he was put to sleep...  milk only lasted so long.  It took him awhile to wait for his parents to go to sleep.  And then it took quite a bit of energy to crawl out of his bed.  You see, he was still quite short and his bed was still quite high so he had to tie all of the burp clothes together like a rope and crawl down it to get out of bed.  And then it took time to find all of his armor because his parents kept on moving them to different places.  So by the time he was outfitted and ready to go... well his stomach would start to rumble.  He needed to eat.  And that was one thing that he hadn't figured out how to get by himself.  He still needed his momma.

So he would take off his armor, climb back into bed, hide his rope underneath the mattress and go about his business of letting momma know he was hungry.  Pretty soon he would hear momma start to stir and feel her hand reaching over to see how he was doing.  She would pick him up and calm him down and feed him.  Sometimes she would say things like "My goodness, it's only been two hours and you're hungry already! You must be going through a growth spurt!"  Benjamin would just smile.  But it was dark and momma wasn't awake enough to see it.  She would then feed him, and kiss him, and rock him back to sleep. 

It was times like these when Benjamin though to himself that maybe this life wasn't so bad after all.  Maybe he didn't crave adventure like he thought.  After all his momma's arms were so warm and comforting.  And she talked so softly to him.  He rather liked it.  Maybe he didn't need to be a knight.  The rolling pin was kind of heavy, and his legs didn't really reach the ground when he was on his trusty steed.  In fact he mostly just laid on top of her and gave the command to charge.  Maybe he should wait until he was a little older.

At least that's what he told himself.  Sometimes he even believed it.

~~~~~~~~~~~
Momma: Good heavens I wish this child would stop getting his days and nights mixed up!
Benjamin: Silly momma! The business of knights is for the nights.
Then he smiled and went back to sleep.

Original story by Lora Sullivan.
Created in the wee small hours of the morning.