Warning! No More Naps!

‘Children, come listen to what I say.’ The scuffle of Stride- Rite sneakers and Ruby Slippers conglomerated in a half- moon around the man with dark circles under his eyes. In a fatigue tinted voice, he said meekly, ‘Next year, an important part of your day will be taken away. Nap Time.’ High pitched gasps trailed those final two words as they disintegrated into oblivion. The young, brunette teacher in a brightly colored cherry-print dress busied herself with a drooping plant in the corner, trying to prevent the young children from seeing the tears flowing down her cheeks as well. A faint trail of a simple piano melody trailed from the music room filled with nap-less older children down the hall. It laced itself through the woeful thoughts of the pre kindergarteners dreading the next year of school. A black hole of sorts had sucked all of the joy from the once lively children with flashing sneakers and sparkly slippers. Now the shoes were just as lifeless as the plant in the corner that the teacher was unsuccessfully trying to revive. No sparkling, no flashing.

‘When will we rest?’ they all wonder in unison. The first dark thought of their lives has permeated the innocence of the four year old mind. After playing the physically tiring tag, every child looks forward to the time to sleep in the cool, dark room before having to tackle the ever difficult challenge of practicing writing the alphabet. The children all fell to the lull of dreams about ballet and piano, soccer and baseball. Even when the dreams occasionally go sour and become nightmares on cold, dark afternoons when the silent stillness smothers sound, and the children call for their parents, the children cannot fathom life without the gamble for whether the midday vacation would be good or bad.
‘Children, I know it’s hard to imagine a day without a nap, but do not fear! This danger next year, the tiring day with no time to rest will not harm you! You still have the rest of this year, and next year you will be big kids!’ The formerly tainted voice suddenly was lifted with pure energy. As if taking the cue, the sun started to poke out from behind the domineering clouds. The children received a few jolts of joy, but were still in awe of growing up to a world in which there are no naps. ‘Children, I hate to be the one to let you know about this awful news, but I promise you will not even notice that it is missing.’
‘When I lost my puppy, I noticed!’ piped Cleo Abrams. In a blue and white checkered dress and a brown stuffed dog, her eyes were plastered to the barer of bad news. Soon, all of the children began to chirp inquiries about the dreadful danger that had been eating at them. Genevieve Francisco cried with desperation ‘When my mommy goes away, I sleep with her bathroom, so I remember her. I notice that she’s gone!’ She held up a faded, light pink bathroom as proof, got up from her place in the crescent and ran to the teacher. The teacher held her close to her leg and reminded her that her mother would be coming home tomorrow.
‘Kids,’ the teacher said, voice steady now that the tears had dried, ‘it is your naptime now. Remember that you can still nap this year!’ Like the lotus in Egypt, the kids fled to their designated cots that were aligned along the opposite wall from where they had been sitting. 32 arms folded, 16 heads rested their tired heads on the arms, 16 rear ends in the air and 32 eyes quickly fluttered shut. Only an occasional whimper was released from 1 of the 16 pairs of lips. All of the dreams that day were nightmares. The children slept fairly lightly, eagerly hoping that they would be awoken from their common nightmare.