"Uncle Morgan! Uncle Morgan!"
Morgan burst up from the couch, to find the curious eyes of Clara Woodcomb staring at him.
"Uncle Morgan, wake up!"
"I'm up! I'm up!"
"You aren't a very good babysitter. You're not supposed to fall asleep."
"Yeah well," Morgan pushed himself up. "But you were. About an hour ago."
"I can't sleep."
"Oh, ok." Morgan's mind ran through his meager babysitting experience. "Would you like some warm milk?"
"No, I want you to tell me a story."
"Sure, Clara," Morgan took the little girl's hand and led her back to her room. After tucking her back into her bed and handing her a convenient teddy bear, he surveyed the options on the book shelf.
"Not one of those. I want you to make up a story. A good one."
"Ok." Deciding that Clara was a very high-maintenance babysitting client, Morgan sat by the bed. The images from his dream were still vivid within his mind. Clearly, not acceptable five-year-old material.
"Alright, a bedtime story. A good one. Here goes. "
The Happy Unicorn
Once upon a time, there lived a Unicorn named Sandy. Sandy was a very happy unicorn, because he lived in a Carefree Forest, right next to the Grape Soda Lagoon.
Sandy's best friend was a bluebird named Jenny. Jenny and Sandy loved to play games all day. They would chase around the forest, go swimming in the river, and climb Ice Cream Mountain.
But Sandy and Jenny's favorite things to do were to sing and dance. Every day they would dance and sing together, and all of the other happy creatures would come and see them and become happy themselves. Mikey the happy bunny, Molly the happy kitty, Alex the happy kangaroo, even Zoe the happy…"
"Stop!"
Morgan looked up at his very unsatisfied audience pouting at him.
"What am I, a baby? That story's lame!"
"I want a scary story," Clara explained. "It's almost Halloween."
"A Halloween story, huh. Are you sure you're old enough for that?"
Clara nodded.
"Ok, then. The customer's always right, so here goes..."
