Six: Calming a meltdown toddler
Plot: Taking a leaf out of his birth mother's book, James shows Nell and Bobby Lee that music is a sure-fire cure for everything when Elena's having a meltdown. (The songs used belong to their original artists)
One quiet afternoon in the castle, the peaceful atmosphere was suddenly shattered by the furious screaming of an enraged toddler.
"NONONONONONONONONONO!"
"Elena, please! You know Gabby had the toy first," Nell said as she gave Gabby the stuffed unicorn doll.
"MINE! MINE! MINE!" Elena's face had gone completely red, and she was in the throes of a full-blown meltdown.
"Elena, you'll have your turn again soon," Bobby Lee said as he tried to calm Elena down.
"I heard Elena screaming all the way from my room. This is probably a dumb question, but what's the matter?" James asked.
"There's no such thing as a dumb question, James," Nell smiled. "You know how you won that stuffed unicorn for the girls at the fair this weekend?" James nodded, recalling how, at the Dunwiddie county fair, he had won a stuffed unicorn for the girls. Bobby Lee had spent a good part of the money he brought with him trying to win it, but James had won it in the end. "Well, Gabby was playing with it, and Elena took it away from her. Gabby took it back, we tried to tell Elena that Gabby had it first, and…well," she gestured toward Elena, who was kicking and screaming for the doll, "this is about where you came in."
James couldn't help but smile. Some of the dolls Amber had in her room were there because he won them for her. When they were younger, he'd borrow some of them so his toy knights could have a damsel in distress to rescue. He recalled that he had taken one once without asking, and Amber had been upset, since it was a special doll Roland had given her for her birthday. However, he made it up to her by giving it back to her and letting her play the princess his knights had to save. He also remembered that their mother had sung a song to Amber to cheer her up before James had his knights save them.
He was shaken from his pleasant daydream by Elena crying. "Why didn't I play that game twice? Then I could have won a second doll for her," he muttered.
"Live and learn, James," Bobby Lee chuckled sympathetically. "But how did you do that? I spent half my money on that game, and you got it instead with one shot!"
"It helps playing dazzleball; that's why I'm pretty good at throwing," James admitted. "But next time, I want to win something for the girls at that shooting game! I don't know why, but Nell wouldn't let us try it!"
"Yeah!" Bobby Lee added.
"That's because you'll shoot your eye out!" Nell smirked.
"Not necessarily MY eye!" James joked, Bobby Lee laughing in agreement beside him, and whispering that he'd take him skeet shooting later, when Nell wasn't around.
"That's nice, boys, but we still have a problem," Nell gestured toward Elena, who was still crying.
"I think I have an idea," James started, "Like I said, Amber's and my mom sang to us when we were sad, angry, or upset. I think I know some songs that might help Elena."
Nell and Bobby Lee took the girls, and they followed James to the castle sitting room. There, James sat down at the piano and accompanied himself as he started playing.
"The moments of happiness
We had the experience but missed the meaning
And approach to the meaning restores the experience
In a different form beyond any meaning
We can assign to happiness
The past experience revived in the meaning
Is not the experience of one life only
But of many generations
Not forgetting something that is probably quite ineffable"
Nell and Bobby Lee applauded. They knew James was good when it came to music, but they were surprised that he knew this song perfectly after they had played it for the family once.
James noticed that Elena was starting to relax as he continued his song,
Nell smiled as she joined him, "Moonlight, turn your face to the moonlight
Let your memory lead you
Open up, enter in
If you find there the meaning of what happiness is
Then a new life will begin"
Elena looked up as she heard James and her mommy singing together. "Kitty!" she smiled.
"That's right, Love Bug, that's a show that my mommy loved," Nell smiled. "She sang some of those songs to me when I was growing up, and I sang them to you and Gabby when you were born."
"My mommy loved that show too," James smiled. "She used to play some of the songs on the piano, and Amber and I would sing with her." He suddenly had an idea. "Nell, Bobby Lee, if you want, I can make Elena a copy of the song, and of all the songs about kitties that I can think of. I know some songs might be wilder than others, but-"
"That's okay! Do it!" Bobby Lee said when he saw Elena calm down. "As long as you keep playing, it keeps Elena calm."
"You don't mind watching them while we go out for a little while, do you?" Nell asked.
"I think we'll be okay here," James said as he started playing another song.
James smiled as he played the songs and watched the girls. They were calm and happy, and he even saw them dancing as he found some tapes of Bobby Lee's and put them in the collection he was making for the girls.
When Nell and Bobby Lee came back a few hours later, they saw the girls sitting on either side of James as he played another song.
"You give me kitty scratch fever!" Gabby sang with him.
"You don't think that song is too wild for the girls, do you?" Nell asked.
"Of course not! You know that's his only good song!" Bobby Lee joked.
"Thank you, Mom's ear for music," James joked as he gave the girls each a copy of the tape. "And thank you Cedric, for making a copy of the tape!"
"Yes, and thank you, James for helping us out like that," Nell smiled. She turned to the girls, who were starting to look tired. "Well, girls, you know what I think it's time for?"
"A catnap?" Bobby Lee joked.
"Kitty nap good," Elena murmured.
"Yeah, kitty nap good," Gabby echoed.
"Well, after your kitty nap, how about I play some more songs?" James asked.
The girls cheered, and James helped Nell and Bobby Lee carry them to bed, singing cat-themed songs as they went.