Routine

She rarely says more than
“dad, read”
The volume varies
As does the tone
And the frequency
But every time I fall asleep
As I am reading her stories before nap
She wakes me up
With some variation of
“dad, read”
And I do
Whether I’m falling asleep in the midst of reading a short book
Or a long one
Whether I am forcing my eyes to stay open in the rocking chair
Where we always read the first two stories
Or in the bed where we read the other three
And regardless of what mess
Wyeth is making
Although when he melts down I am allowed to put him to sleep
But I always resume exactly where I left off
And I never leave when I melt down
At least not for more than a minute
And never sleep more than a few seconds
And never start reading before I know which stuffed animals and dollies are in the bed
And which aren’t
If there is no Blue Baa Baa
Or no Baggy
There will be no nap
And if there are no stories
Neither one of us will be good company at dinner
So when she says “dad read”
I read