When I Was Little, My Dad Used To Read Stories To Me And My Siblings Out Loud Before Bedtime. And This

When I was little, my dad used to read stories to me and my siblings out loud before bedtime. And this was a family thing, we’d all crowd into the bed to listen, my mom included.

So just imagine: Patton reading stories to the sides sometimes before bed. At first he has to coax everyone into his room, but little by little it becomes a Thing, and the second it’s suggested that Patton’s going to read another chapter tonight, everyone just sort of… shows up.

They all end up piled onto the bed. Patton lies on his back with the book in hand - anything from Peter and the Starcatchers to Alice Through the Looking Glass - his glasses slipping down his nose as he looks down to read; the more tired me gets, the less likely it is he’ll push them back up, and by the time they fall off, he’s already asleep. Logan lies next to him, ready to remove the book and glasses when it’s time to quietly slip out of Patton’s room until the next Family Story Night. Virgil stays curled up like a cat on Patton’s other side, pretending not to care about the plot but letting out little gasps and laughs as Patton does dramatic readings or attempts to give the characters accents. Roman ends up lying horizontally across everyone’s feet because he can’t stay still, but he’s soaking up every second of the story.

And even if it’s not something anyone officially plans, and even if half of the involved parties would pretend, if confronted, that they don’t really care, everyone sleeps a little better those nights.