Just One More Minute!

"Bedtime!"

My heart began pounding even before I looked up and saw mom standing in the doorway, a faint, amused smile upon her lips.

What could she possibly be amused about?! Bedtime was not a funny thing!

"Nooooo!" I yelped, quickly diving under my bed, wrinkle my nose as years' worth of dust crept up my nostrils. Had no one ever cleaned under here?!

"Oh, Emily." Mom chided, crouching down to look at me curled up under the bed. Honestly, I was only breathing through my mouth at this point. I was surprised I wasn't sneezing my face off from all the dust. "It's past your bedtime, and you know it."

"I don't want to go to bed." I groaned angrily, squeezing my eyes shut, wishing I could turn invisible. That would be such a great superpower. mom would never be able to find me, and I could stay up for as long as I wanted!

"Yes, I know, dear. But I want to and you need to." She countered, "It's good for your development."

"But I was doing things!" I exclaimed.

"Things like what?" Mom asked, standing back up so I could only see her feet.

I crawled out from under the bed and walked over to my desk, then grabbed the paper that I had ben drawing on. I took it over to mom and held it out, knowing she would bask in the extreme glory and magnificence of it. She always did. I didn't know why, but mom always seemed to love my drawings, no matter how terrible they were. Even when I knew they were terrible, she'd go, "Oh, darling! This is such a lovely drawing!"

Mom examined my drawing. It was a unicorn with a pink mane and rainbow tail, with the body decorated in pretty blue polka-dots.

"Oh wow, this is an amazing drawing, dear!" Mom said as she saw it, taking it from my hands to look at it.

See? Told you she always loved my drawings.

"It's not finished, so I can't go to bed yet." I told her, "I need to finish this!"

Mom smiled, shaking her head with a small laugh. "Nice try, little missy. But I called for bedtime five minutes ago, and it's already late, so come on, it's time to get to bed.

"No! Please!" I begged, falling to my knees and clasping my hands, holding them up to mom. "Just one more minute? Pleeeeeeeeease????"

Mom rolled her eyes, then sighed exasperatedly. "Alright, fine. But I'm setting a timer. You have exactly one minute, do you understand?" Mom pulled out her phone even as she spoke.

Unable to believe my luck, I eagerly nodded, leaping to my feet. "Yes!" I immediately exclaimed, "Yes, yes, okay!"

"Siri, set a timer for one minute." She told her phone, and I snatched the drawing out of her hand, darting back over to the table before she had even finished her sentence. I only had one minute to finish this drawing, and I wasn't going to waste a second.

"One minute in counting." Siri said in her boring, monotone voice.

I grabbed my coloring pencils and quickly pulled out the green one, then began furiously coloring the unicorn's body. Once I was done, I grabbed a dark pink pencil and began to color the unicorn's horn.

This is going to be so beautiful! I thought.

I colored the grass beneath the unicorn's hooves.

I colored the blue sky.

Just as I was coloring the stars in the sky, however, I heard a familiar noise coming from the kitchen.

Oh dear.

My one minute was up!

I heard mom's footsteps walking down the hall, so I hurried to finish coloring the stars.

"Time to go to bed?" Mother asked, sticking her head through the doorway.

I held up my drawing, stared at it for a moment, then decidedly grabbed a piece of tape and stuck it to the wall. I sighed as I looked at mom.

"Okay, fine." I agreed, jumping up onto my bed, curling up under my blanket. "Bedtime."