Of turtles and quiet sharing

I praised the little green thing

Even rubbed his shell

But I still threw in a reminder for all of them

Stuffed and otherwise

That they were supposed to be sleeping

Or at least not sleeping quietly

The non-stuffed one groaned out an OK at this and

I understood why

I was even a little disappointed with myself

I mean

He had called me up

To say

That his stuffed turtle was sharing books with him and

I couldn’t allow myself

To just heap some praise on both of them and

Maybe say something nice about the little stuffed reindeer

With the magnetic nose

And disappear

No

I had to try to be parental

I tried to hide it

To slip it past in a flourish of fun and play

And blown kisses but

We all knew it was there

Even the turtle

Who has to be up there every night

With a pile of books

And a magnetic reindeer

And still has to share

Could see the praise for what it was

And I’m quite sure

He disapproved