The Nap That Waited — Every day, Dessa waited for the third gum blossom to drop before taking her afternoon nap; the first made a plip, the second made a pap, and the third meant the branch had warmed exactly right. Read the full story →
Every day, Dessa waited for the third gum blossom to drop before taking her afternoon nap; the first made a plip, the second made a pap, and the third meant the branch had warmed exactly right. One day, the third sound never came. She opened one eye. The air smelled of eucalyptus and sun-baked bark, but the canopy held its breath, as if every leaf were trying not to laugh.
Because of that, Dessa stayed awake long enough to hear a dry little tickle near her left ear. Because of that, she discovered the missing blossom had not fallen at all: a beetle had tucked it into the leafy curls of her ear and was using it as a hat. At last Dessa yawned, let the beetle keep its ridiculous bonnet, and settled back around the branch. Then—plip, pap, and the tiniest smug tap—the nap arrived, exactly as late as patience allowed.
