The dragon under the bed – Part Two

Following the success of the wand of rainbows, Penny had three evenings when Amy went straight to bed without a murmur. As long as the pink wand was on the bedside table and she was tucked up with teddy then Amy was happy. In fact she told Penny that evening that she had made friends with Hubert the little dragon.

‘Tonight I’m going to show him how I turn my hair into rainbows.’

‘How do you do that darling?’ Penny smiled down at her. Amy turned the wand on and waved it gently around her head, and indeed her blonde curls became a shimmering mass of pinks and mauves and blues as the neon wand lit up.

Penny had just sat down with her evening glass of wine and a magazine when she heard footsteps on the stairs again.

‘What’s wrong sweetheart?’ she asked as Amy came running into the room, cheeks flushed and hair standing on end. ‘Did you have a bad dream?’

‘Mummy! Hubert is in terrible danger!’

‘Why? What happened?’

‘I told him the wand of rainbows only works on girls, but he wanted to try it on Cedric.’

‘Cedric? Which one is Cedric?’

‘The big troll who sits next to him at school! Now Cedric is really mad – he didn’t have any hair at all and now he’s got lots and it’s all big; and he says he’s going to completely squish Hubert!’ It was hard to keep a straight face at the image of a grumpy troll sporting a fluffy mauve bouffant. Really – where did she get her imagination from?

‘Why don’t you whack him with Teddy?’

‘I tried that! Teddy is trying all his karate moves on Cedric but he’s a really big troll and Teddy says he needs help!’ She said all this while burrowing purposefully through her toy-box which had actually managed to stay tidy for five minutes. Oh well, never mind.

‘What are you looking for Amy love?’ Maybe we could make the hairband of shame to hold Cedric’s hair out of his eyes for P.E.?

‘Got her! Night night Mummy!’ she said breathlessly, and with that she clambered back up the stairs dragging Hubert’s rescuer behind her.

It didn’t mention that in any of the parenting books.

‘When a little dragon turns a troll’s hair purple and Teddy can’t rescue him then there’s only one person who can save the day.