Bedtime and All the Animals

Dad:               Good night, Darlin’.

Daughter:     G’night, Daddy.

Dad:               I love you, Darlin’.

Daughter:     I love you more, Daddy.

Dad:               Well, I love you down the hallway and through the kitchen and into the dining room and by the living room and back down the hallway and back into your bed, and more.

Daughter:     I love you more than that.  I love you down the hall and the kitchen and the dining room and the living room and out the front door and down to the mailbox and back inside again and down the hall and into bed, and that’s how much I love you.  More.  More. 

Dad:               More than that, huh?  Well, I love you down the driveway and down and around the cul-de-sac and back home again.  How ‘bout that?

Daughter:     I still love you more.  I love you down the street and three times around the block and up the hill and real fast down the hill and all the way back home and right back here.  That’s how much more!

Dad:               More, huh?  Ha!  I love you into the car and past the library and clear to the school and through the park and all the way back home again and into your beddy-bye.

Daughter:     Still love you more.  I love you back into the car and over the hill and through some meadows and to the zoo and all the animals and all the way to Grammy’s house and back home again.

Dad:               Hold on!  I love you into the car again and over two freeways and through the valley and over to the airport and up into the sky and over to Phoenix and into a taxi and up to Dammy and Grandfather’s house and the doggies and the swimming pool and all the way back home again.

Daughter:     Oh Dad.  I still love you more. I love you down to the airport again and up into the sky again and clear across a hundred hours to Boston and New Hampshire and to the lake and the canoes and the dining hall and the ice cream and the loons at night and all the way across the country again and back into bed.  More.  More.  More.

Dad:               Not more than this!  I love you all the way down the hall and the kitchen and the living room and  the driveway and the mailbox and the cul-de-sac and the hill and the library and the airports and Grammy’s house and Dammy’s pool and the zoo and all the animals and Squam Lake and all the loons and jetting down to Florida and to the Space Center and into a rocket ship and up beyond the sky and about one hundred and fifteen times around the earth and splash down in the Pacific Ocean and get picked up by a helicopter and put in a chauffeured limousine and back into our house and back down the hall and back in the sack.  Whew! I love you more, more, more!

Daughter:     WOW, Dad.  That’s a lot, Dad.  G’night, Dad.

Dad:               Good night, Darlin’.

Daughter:     Hey, Dad?

Dad:               Yeah?

Daughter:     I love you more.