The Sun rises early,

but my day starts with you.

Wake up little baby,

we’re going to the zoo!

Pounce with the tiger,

Munch with the giraffe,

Listen to the lion’s roar and laugh, laugh, laugh.

Something troubles you,

I know you cannot tell me.

But daddy’s here for you,

Ignore the people staring.

The crowds are shocked,

When my boy is crying.

Some might approach and say,

“Stop that boy’s whining!”

Don’t worry, my son,

They just don’t understand.

That’s why daddy works real hard,

To spread the word to every hand.

It’s time to go home, now.

It’s not your fault, it’s mine.

Daddy loves you with all his heart,

That’s why he’s upset when you cry.

Settle down now, love.

Listen to what I say.

Daddy will never leave you,

By your side, always.

I watch you smile, play and laugh,

The happiest boy on planet earth.

Daddy wishes others could see,

And understand your worth.

That you’re smart, strong and silly.

The funniest boy I’ve ever met.

Loving, kind and sweet.

They didn’t know that, I bet.

It’s time for bed now, baby.

My love for you unmet.

I was nothing before you arrived,

And I’d be nothing if you left. 

Learn more about Autism here: https://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism

A mother and father lovingly tucked their son into bed, singing to him, and kissing him goodnight about a zillion and a half times. Finally, they left him to sleep, and stole one final peek at the boy, before shutting the door behind them. When they were gone, one eye shot open in the darkness. He stopped to listen. Was there any stirring about? Were his parents still up? 

After several minutes of silence, he called out softly, "Shadow? Are you here?"

Quietly, he reached into his nightstand, and his pudgy fingers clutched his favorite toy, a flashlight. 

He shined the flashlight against his wall, waving his fat little fist in front of the beam, "Aha, there ya are! What are we gonna play tonight?"

The boy produced a shadow puppet in the shape of a bunny, with two long ears flopping, then he waited. When Shadow didn't respond, he frowned.

"All right, how 'bout this?" He asked, making a shadowy duck creature.

The duck snapped its bill three times. Still nothing out of the ordinary occurred, and the boy sighed. Shadow sure was being picky tonight. He scratched his curly head, thinking. What puppet would Shadow most like to play with? Suddenly, he gasped with inspiration. The boy held the flashlight between his knees, because he needed both hands for this one. Crossing his thumbs, the boy spread his remaining digits in the shape of wings. He wiggled his fingers gracefully, mimicking a bird in flight.

"Say, wanna play eagle tonight, Shadow?"

Slowly, the shadow puppet grew larger and larger. Before long, the eagle began flapping its wings of its own accord. Satisfied, the boy dropped his hands in his lap.

"Yes! I always wanted to fly!"

Shadow began to squawk. First the noise came in rather low, but gradually grew louder and louder. The eagle continued to beat its powerful wings, all the while growing steadily larger. Shadow glided across the room, until the boy was face to face with the now massive bird. The boy stood on his bed, arms open wide. Then, Shadow clasped both the boy's shoulders with its mighty talons, and flew with him out the open window, in search of a new adventure.

"LU? LU!" Regan's voice cried out from the darkness.

Her stepfather Lu, the devil himself, burst open the door and approached her bedside and calmly asked. "Yes Regan. What is it?"

"Lu, I think there's another monster under the bed." the frightened five-year old peeped as she shuttered under her covers. "Can you go check it, please?"

"Another monster, you say, eh?" the devil playfully chimed. "You know, kiddo, there comes a time where we-"

The musical melody of Lu's phone paused his words. "Hello?" the devil answered.

It was Lilith's voice on the other line. "Pardon for disturbing you at this hour, boss. But Legion wanted me to inform you that one of his experiments has broken loose, and seems to have scattered off. Could you be on the look out for it?"

Lu's face froze. His black heart tapped against his breast faster. Then he heard a soft shuffle underneath his young stepdaughter's bed. Mustering enough courage to take a peak under the bed, Lu locked eyes with a shadowy mass that scurried into the back corner. 

It was too dark underneath to get a good glimpse, but he saw that the mass was rounded like a basketball, covered in slimy fur, wiggly tentacles that squirmed around, and eight set of eyes staring back fearfully at the king of the Inferno.

                                                             ***

Carmen Gravely heard the pattering of feet enter her bedroom. She woke to find her husband cradling her youngest daughter safely in his arms. The pair then plopped themselves in the comforts of the king's sized bed.

"Huh-wah?" Mrs. Gravely mumbled, too tired and exhausted to open her eyes or grab her glasses off the nightstand. "What's going on?"

"She's just gonna sleep with us for tonight, okay?" Lu frantically jabbered as he tucked himself and Regan under the covers. "Night, night."

Carmen shrugged and laid back down next to her daughter, who slept quietly. Lu stayed awake and aware, hoping that no monsters doesn't crawl under their bed tonight.

Once upon a time, there was a moment.

And in that moment a man stepped out of his spaceship onto a far away planet for the first time.

In that moment, a knight in shining armour rescued a fair damsel from the clutches of evil brigands.

In that moment, a robot started to build the tallest skyscraper in the world, but it didn't build it in the way you know, it printed it a layer at a time. It was one of many robots, all smaller than your fingernail.

In that moment, the king of England reached for a sheet of paper that would create a new law at the same time as that same king died in his bed and waved to his subjects from the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

And in exactly the same moment a gigantic brontosaurus thundered across the landscape fleeing a tyrannosaurus rex.

And that moment is right... this... second.

"But uncle! How can all those things happen at the same time."

"Time isn't what most people think. It's not just something that stops everything from happening all at once. It's a tree of infinite possibilities. Anything at all that can happen, will or has, somewhere. A tree that branches a billion times a second. New worlds, each one the result of the choices we make. The choices nature makes."

"How do you know?"

"I've been there. Well, not all of them obviously, no-one could do that, but I've seen what dinosaurs would look like today if they hadn't died out. I've seen worlds that use those little robots to build skyscrapers. I even spoke to two kings of England who were both kings at exactly the same time. I even took one of them to talk to the other."

Angela stood in the doorway and smirked. "Eric, stop showing off."

"I can't help it can I?" Eric leaned down and kissed his niece on the forehead. "Now get some sleep."

He got up, left the room and closed the door behind him.

"Just... Don't tell her the bad ones, please."

"Don't worry. Not until she's older."

         Every morning the little bus stopped by the mango tree to pick people up, the children going to school, the mothers going to market and the workers going to their offices. It was a bit of a squash, babies on laps, schoolbags, lunch boxes, briefcases all piled up or pushed under seats, but they all got in somehow.

 Yesterday there had been a rain storm  

       "mind out for the pothole by Johnson's bend" said Tanty Tania

        "yes miss" said the bus driver

  Off he went, much too fast and BANG they hit the pothole.

        "STOP" yelled everyone.

          "You bounced my phone out the window" said Akeem as he scrambled out of the bus ran up the road and retrieved his phone out of the pothole.

 The next day Tanty Tania  said 

       "Mind the pothole by Johnson's bend"

         "yes miss" said the bus driver

Off he went, much too fast and Bang they hit the pothole.

       "STOP" yelled everyone

        "You bounced my homework out the window" said Vernice  as she scrambled out of the bus, ran up the road and rescued her homework from out of the pothole.

 The next day Tanty Tania said 

        "Mind the pothole by Johnson's bend" (only this time she sounded a bit cross)

         "yes miss" said the bus driver

 Off he went, much too fast and Bang they hit the pothole.

           "STOP" yelled everyone

           "You bounced my lunch out the window" said Councillor Jackson

as he stomped off the bus walked up the road to fetch his lunch box from out of the pothole.

 The next day Tanty Tania said 

           "mind the pothole OK"

           "Yes miss" said the  bus driver

Off he went much too fastened BANG they hit the pothole

           "STOP" yelled everyone

           "You bounced the baby out the window" said Tanty Tania and she was very cross

 the baby didn't seam to mind he was playing in the muddy water in the pothole

 The next day Tanty Tania didn't say anything 

       The bus driver went a little bit slower, good job too as because when he went round the corner at Johnson's bend someone had planted a coconut tree in the pothole.

Soft and fluffy

Long and floppy

Big bunny feet

Go by us

Hoppy, hoppy, hoppy.

During summer we kids always played a lot outside, but during winter we stayed inside. 

There was a big, soft couch at my grandparents place, with a lot of pillows, with which we kids liked to snuggle.

But my grandma always said "Don't laze around, kids, go play on the floor. The couch is for people, a lazy kid only turns into a pillow."

Scared us off everytime, especially since there were more pillows after every summer.

But years later, when I grew up, a simple day like any other, on the couch i lay. My wife came and laid beside me, putting her head on my tummy. "Wow, youre such a soft pillow." and dealt me a long past blow.