A Girl Named Sophie
Once upon a time there was a little girl named Sophie and it was getting to be close to her bedtime.
Sophie had just finished up a very long day doing all sorts of interesting things with her family. They had gone to a park and gone on a picnic by the river. They went to the library and the art museum (and looked at all the interesting statues outside the museum.) Then they stopped at the market on the way home and her dad made a big dinner for Sophie and her brothers.
After dinner it was getting late but Sophie wasn't tired. She had too many things zipping around in her head that she kept imagining from earlier that day.
You should know Sophie had what her dad called, with a twinkle in his eye, "a very healthy imagination, indeed". Her teacher, Mrs. Cutler, agreed with her dad but didn't find the little girl's imagination nearly as funny. Not at all.
Part of having "a very healthy imagination, indeed" meant when it got close to bedtime, it was hard to stop thinking about all of the exciting things that happened earlier in the day. Now her head was swimming with ideas and she was sure that she would never be able to fall asleep. (You should also know that this happened to Sophie four or five times a week. )
She told her mom and dad that she wasn't ready for bed and besides: why couldn't she stay up late like her brothers, just this once? She promised she'd be good. Her mom told Sophie that if she went to bed, closed her eyes and relaxed for a little bit, dreams would come to her like they always did.
She stomped her feet and went up to her bedroom. Kitty followed her up there. Kitty had no trouble falling asleep even though she, too, had had a very big day.
Earlier, during the picnic in the park, Kitty had chased a mouse through the bushes and had come very close to catching it. Sophie wasn't sure Kitty would know what to do with a mouse if she ever caught one. But that wasn't anything she'd find out today. The mouse scampered away from Kitty to continue having adventures of its own.
Sophie looked over at Kitty, purring on the pillow next to her. She was jealous of how quickly her cat could fall asleep. Sophie knew that she would never, ever, ever fall asleep after everything she had seen today. She wondered how Kitty was able to do it. She started to wonder if Kitty was imagining the mouse she had chased. Sophie wondered if Kitty would chase her like that if she was a mouse.
Ha! Sophie giggled to herself. What a silly thought! Why, if Sophie was a mouse, there's no way that Kitty could ever catch her!
Sophie would be the smartest, most clever mouse of all time! She'd be able to get away from everyone! No one would ever be able to tell her to go to bed! She'd go where she wanted, whenever she wanted. Kitty couldn't chase her. She'd be the one to chase Kitty.
As sleep began to catch up with her she found herself imagining a world where anything could happen. Where little girls could turn into big girls and big girls could turn into mice that chased cats.
The more she thought about it, the sillier it seemed. Would she still be called Sophie? Would anyone be able to tell her when she had to go to bed? Would she still be friends with Kitty? Would she still be able to read books? (Sophie wasn't sure she'd ever seen a mouse read a book before. But since this was her imagination, after all: Of course she would!)
Her toes were tingling all electric at the thought of what things would be like as Sophie the Mouse.
