Chapter 1:
A Cold Night In
Isolated and cut off from the rest of the world, located deep in the hidden realm of nature, there is a beautiful meadow, set right near a fresh, cool lake. Near the lake was a beautiful lake house, all quiet and peaceful, with all the wooden furnishings and soft, comfortable furniture inside.
Lady Penelope and I, her daughter, lived inside the house. Lady Penelope was well known to be full of elegance, charm and deadly danger, but here, she isn’t. She’s a loving, devoted mother who always comforts and cuddles me when need be, but can also be a little handy around the house. Unlike the universe she came from, where everyone does things for her, she does things for herself now, with precious expertise. She can cook, clean and look after the house all day to make sure she keeps it nice and clean, but she also balances it with a life of fun with me, her precious little one.
In fact, she loves me so much that it’s hard to tell who my real father is. Still, that was a question yet to be revealed soon, but now, a plethora of good times was to be had by me and my mummy Lady Penelope. These are just a few of the times we had. Let me tell you about them.
One cold, snowy evening, the howling of the Winter wind echoed through the valley, just enough to be heard inside our cosy little house, inside our living room where we snuggled together, listening to the music of the snow. I was shivering like a penguin who had been standing in the Arctic all his life. “Mummy….” I whimpered, “I feel cold.” “I know you are, darling,” Penelope said in her loving ways, “That’s just one of the side effects of a Winter chill coming through the chimney on a day just like this, when you are stuck indoors due to a snowdrift, and you’re so chilly you turn into an iceberg.”
“Y-Y-Yes,” I shivered, “I know. But Mummy, can you tell me how the Winter wind gets in through the chimney?” ‘Er ladyship thought for a moment, then spoke. “Mischief. It’s a little bundle of mischief, I tell you, always playing tricks on the poor peasants who have taken shelter in a cosy and soft house like this one.” “But the snow can’t play tricks on people!” I giggled. “Of…COURSE IT CAN!” laughed Penelope loudly, and she began to tickle my tummy. I laughed loudly. “Mummy, stop! That tickles!” I struggled to say, but it was blocked out by an endless string of loud, squealing laughter coming from my mouth.
At last, it came to me. The urge to get revenge on ‘er ladyship. WHOOSH! I leapt onto Penelope and began tickling her myself, calling out “Whooo-whoooo! Winter winds are coming! They’re gonna make you so cold you’ll freeze to death!” “No! Stop it!” shrieked ‘er ladyship, whose words were blinded by her own loud shouts of laughter.
At last, she hugged me tight in her arms, and we both were laughing as we lay on the sofa together, safe and warm. As our laughter faded out, Lady Penelope tapped me gently on the nose. “Mischief. Pure mischief.” she said. “It’s what causes those blinding curtains of snow to strand us every few hours of every Winter day.” Tears of laughter were streaming from my eyes from laughing so much, and yet I wasn’t doing just that now. “Hilarious,” I said. “What a lot of fun.” “Mmmmmm….full of fun.” said Lady Penelope, and she nuzzled me affectionately.
When we at last calmed down, Penelope suggested, “How’s about we light a nice, warm fire to keep this little spirit of mi…I mean, Winter, out of our house?” “Sure, go for it,” I smiled. So ‘er ladyship went down into the cellar and found the basket full of firewood. When I asked if I offered to help, she was pleased, and said, “The kindest hands offer to help, darling.” Together, we placed some logs onto the fire, and then I had to stand back for this one, as Lady Penelope had to get the fire going. It was a job only grown ups needed to do, as kids like myself might not touch fire, it might be really too dangerous.
At last, we had a beautiful, crackling fire in the fireplace, its warm glow filling our dark house. To make sure it doesn’t spread around our humble abode, Penelope placed the guard round the fire. “There. That should keep out any fierce flame monsters from destroying what we love so dearly. Now, there’s one thing I’ve forgotten. Do you know what it is, darling?” I thought for a moment. And then, throwing my little arms high into the air, I cried out: “A mug of hot chocolate! We can’t have a Winter night in without a nice, warm mug of cocoa, can’t we, mummy?” “Of course,” smiled mummy, “A nice mug of cocoa always keeps those chilly hearts warm and safe.”
Lady Penelope and I went into the kitchen, and I offered to help her get out the mugs while Lady Penelope filled the kettle with water and set it to boil. I chose Lady Penelope’s favourite pure white China mug covered in beautiful pink roses, while I chose a yellow mug with blue Christmas jumper patterns on it. The sound of the boiling kettle bubbled like gentle lava, and it sounded like music to my ears, along with the roaring fireplace in the living room nearby.
While the kettle was boiling, I helped ‘er ladyship placed four teaspoons of hot cocoa mix into each of our mugs. I have wanted a hot drink for ages, as my throat was turning to ice because of the harsh weather outside - and today was definitely not a great day to go outside and have fun. It wasn’t even Summer, Spring or Autumn yet. When the kettle was fully boiled, Penelope filled each mug up with warm water, while I filled each one up with milk - for me, a little extra, all because ‘er ladyship thought my tongue would burn from too much hot kettle water.
A few minutes later, we brought our mugs into the living room, sipping and watching the fire dance like African warriors in the fireplace. Lady Penelope raised her mug. “To a perfect night in,” she toasted. “The same to you too,” I smiled, and we clinked our mugs before taking a huge sip. My throat was devoid of the ice that was overtaking it as the cocoa tumbled down it. Penelope took a big, fluffy pink blanket and covered both of us with its warmth and softness. There was hot cocoa all round my mouth by the time I had finished my drink, so Penelope had to wipe it all off with a wet wipe from the table behind us.
With that sorted out, we settled under the blanket, feeling safe and warm and very tired. The violent snowstorm outside seemed to have settled, and the howling wind outside seemed to have softened to a low, gentle whistle. I sighed contentedly, and snuggled close to mummy, feeling safe and happy. “So soft and comforting…” I yawned, snuggling right up close to ‘er ladyship. Penelope wrapped me in a soft little hug. “There there there,” she sighed, “It’s been a harsh little day with no games to play outside, but at least we’ve found something to keep us entertained.” “Like…..like talking about mischief.” I yawned, trying to get the words out of my mouth.
I felt so sleepy, I snuggled under the soft, fluffy pink blanket, smiled, and fell fast asleep, my eyes as heavy as two boulders on a cliff. Penelope stroked my hair softly, and kissed me gently on the forehead. “My sweet…” she sighed, as she turned her head to watch it go dark as snowflakes danced merrily outside.
The breath of Winter made the first lullaby of the night as I stayed by ‘er ladyship’s side all through this dark, cold night, until I fell into a peaceful night’s sleep.
Chapter 2:
The Meadow
One fresh, clean Spring morning, when the weather was warm and it was a perfect day for playing outside, ‘er ladyship and I ran outside to play together in the meadow near our house. Penelope was wearing her thick green jumper and her tight jeans, while I was wearing my red jumper and pyjama bottoms, just as always. I ran ahead of mummy, calling out, “Let’s go, mummy, or we’ll be so late it might’ve gotten dark by then!” “Slow down, darling!” laughed Penelope, “I’m coming! Wait for me!”
We both ran together to the meadow, laughing loudly, my footsteps becoming loud on the path leading to the meadow. We ran through the forest, and I only paused to hide behind a tree, suspecting Penelope might like the surprise I planned for her. When Lady Penelope stopped where I hid, she looked around slowly for where I might be hiding. “Dar-liiiing!” she called out loud, “Where are you?” “Over here, if you’re searching for me,” said my voice from behind my tree (see the rhyme I made up there? Ha!). Penelope knew the tree was talking to her, so she said cautiously, “Good to see you, o magical tree. Which is the right way to meadow this time?” There was a moment of brief silence. Then, the tree shouted: “No me gusta!” and from behind it jumped me. Both of us laughed and laughed, Penelope laughing out of shock, and me laughing because of my mischievous antics.
We walked hand in hand together for the rest of the way to the meadow. It didn’t take us a long time to get there, because we finally made it just in time. The grass was long and lush and green, perfect for hiding games. “Now, what shall we play first, darling?” asked ‘er ladyship. “Well, we already played one game, and that’s Magic Tree. We always play that on the way to the meadow. I think we should play at being lions.”
And with that, I let out a loud, ear-splitting roar that made ‘er ladyship jump. Penelope laughed, and roared back. I screamed and ran into the meadow, laughing loudly as Penelope ran after me, roaring like a big hairy monster - only, she wasn’t that, she was an elegant lady pretending to be a lion. “Catch me! Catch me!” I called over the noise of the wind. “You’re too fast, darling!” cried Penelope, “How am I supposed to catch you when you have the speed of an ostrich?” “I’m too fast for you!” I called, “And that’s why I have such spee-WOAH!” I tripped over a small stone and fell onto the ground just as ‘er ladyship pounced onto me and tickled me.
“Hey! Not fair!” I teased, laughing wildly. “That’s what you get when you become prey, darling,” laughed Penelope, tickling me so hard I laughed hard too. Then ‘er ladyship rolled onto her back on the ground and laughed along with me. When we had finally calmed down, Penelope breathed out a huge sigh and said, “I think we should do a spot of skygazing, what do you think, darling?” “Of course,” I smiled, “We’ve done enough mischief for one day.”
My eyes were starting to get very heavy by the time we started pointing out shapes in the clouds. Penelope only pointed out things as beautiful as her, such as swans, diamond rings and violins playing soft tunes, but I pointed out fun things like kangaroos, cakes and camels. “But you know,” I said while talking about a cloud shaped like a camel in the sky, “I think I know that camels don’t live in the mea…dow…” And then, yawning, I fell fast asleep. In the silence of the day, Lady Penelope saw me fast asleep and took me in her gentle arms, carrying me through the forest back to our lake house.
When I woke up back in the lake house, I saw Lady Penelope staring down at me with those beautiful eyes of her’s. “Goodness me!” I cried, jumping awake. “Where are we?” “We’re home now, darling,” whispered Penelope in a hushed voice. Yawning and rubbing my eyes, I smiled, “It’s good to be home, mummy. A hot Spring day can make you very sleepy.” “And you’ll always be my little sleepykins to me,” smiled Penelope, kissing me on the forehead and softly cuddling me.
Later that evening, we had a nice comforting dinner of steak pie, potatoes, peas and a glass of orangeade each, then Penelope gave me a nice, warm bath, and after she got me dry, she changed me into some soft, comfortable pyjamas, and then, we both snuggled into the bed we shared together, safe and warm by one another’s sides, feeling comforted and safe on a warm Spring night.
CHAPTER 3:
Africa
Meanwhile, in my own fantasies, in another universe….
Lady Penelope and I lived unclothed, wild and free in the wilderness of Africa. We were untamed and had the boundaryless landscape of Africa all to ourselves - unless you count a certain lion who wanted to be king when he was a cub. Here, Penelope was a natural, free woman who thought of nothing else but caring for her precious little one like all the other animal mums in Africa, while I was just a toddler, still learning to stand on my feet, but navigating the world around me.
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