“Okay, honey, you’re all tucked in now, snug as a bug in a rug.”
The little girl laughed. “I’m, not a bug, Mama. And this is my bed, not a rug.”
Her mother smiled and pinched her cheek. “Okay, Sweetie, now good night, sleep tight, and don’t let the bed bugs bite.”
She gave her mother a questioning look. “You say too much bug stuff, Mama. Why do you always tell me about bed bugs? Will they have got into my bed today after I woke up this morning?”
Her mother laughed and tussled her hair. “No, Love, they won’t have. Your daddy and I always keep the house nice and clean so they won’t come up here.”
“Well then so why do you always say it?”
Her mother glanced up at the ceiling in a moment of puzzlement. “You know,” she said, looking at her daughter again, “I don’t know. My mother always used to say it to me, so . . . well, that’s why I say it to you.”
“Did you ever have bedbugs when you were a little girl?”
“Oh no, Honey, never. I think maybe Grandma said it like a kind of magic charm, maybe. Maybe she thought that if she said it every night, the bed bugs would always stay away.”
“That’s good,” said the little girl. “Keep saying it, Mama. I don’t want any bedbugs to eat me up.”
Her mother laughed again. “Don’t you worry, Baby. Daddy and I will make sure that never happens.”
“Bed bugs scare me,” said the little girl. “Can you say it again?”
“Okay, my love. Good night, sleep tight, and don’t let the bed bugs bite.”
The little girl was quiet. Sitting beside her on the bed, her mother watched her, worried that she might actually be scared.
“Mommy,” said the little girl, breaking the silence, “you don’t hear a bed bug, do you?”
“Of course not, Honey. As I said, your dad and I try very hard to keep our house clean. No bed bugs would dare to come in. And if they did sometime, they wouldn’t come in here. I said the magic spell, right?”
The little girl’s eyes opened wide. The mother saw the alarm on her daughter’s face. “What is it, Love?”
“Are you sure you don’t hear any, Mama? Are bed bugs all hairy?”
Her mother thought about this. “You know, I’ve never seen one. Maybe they are.”
“And do they have sharp pointy teeth, like vampire fangs and all drooly?”
“Well, they do bite, but we’re not worried, right?”
“And are they big like elephants?”
“No, Love Bug, no. They’re teeny tiny little things.”
“Oh, Mommy!” the little girl screamed, her eyes bugging out. “Then what’s that standing behind you?”
Lanning Lee 