Another Once Upon a Time

Leeland and I ran out of books, and I was too tired to get more from the shelf. Just a few more minutes till his mama would come in and say, "It's time to get ready for bed."

So I said, "I'll tell you a story."

Leeland was open to a story with no pictures. So I began:

"Once upon a time, there was a boy named Leeland. He wanted to build a playground. So he got all his construction vehicles. He got out his bulldozer and his digger and his loader and his dump truck and his cement mixer, and he went to the place where the playground would be."

Leeland said, "And his crane."

"Right," I said. "And his crane. First, he cleared away all the trash and the loader put it into the dump truck." I then continued a very straightforward, simplified tale of the step required for making a playground from scratch. And because I was unprepared, I took this story straight from a library book we had read the day before and simply switched Leeland's name with that of the protagonist in the story.

As I spoke, his gaze drifted to an empty corner of the room. He was completely still.

And that, I realized suddenly, is what imagining looks like. I was speaking a scene into existence, and he was creating it in his mind's eye. I was so excited I almost stopped talking.

But that would break the spell. So I kept going until it was time to say, "the end."

He smiled and bounced on his knees and said, "tell me another once upon a time."

So I did. Every story was so weak. There was no characterization to speak of and very little conflict. The plots were shot full of holes. My sentences were only average (though I spoke with a certain flare). Each time I began, he got that faraway look. His imagination was developing before my eyes.

Now I'm thinking of plots for next time. If this ad hoc performance was well received, wouldn't a little planning bring even more satisfying results? I'm thinking of something involving a boy who checks out books from the library and then loses one of them. His construction vehicles all try to help him find it. Once upon a time, a grandma remembered what it was like to be a little child with a fresh, new brain, ready to imagine.