Three-year-old Riley O’Kish loved life but she especially loved it when Granny O’Kish came to visit. Some people had grannies that were stern, no-nonsense kinds of people who liked to torture tiny tots by making them do boring things, like be quiet and listen to grown-ups talk. This was definitely not Riley’s Granny. Helen O’Kish was a small woman who wore her wrinkles proudly, like a Girl Guide wore her badges. “These are not just laugh lines,” she was heard to say,” They’re rolling-on-the-floor-laughing-my-butt-off TRENCHES”. As Riley would say, Granny was “Wots and WOTS of fun!!!!”. And so it was with great excitement, that the little girl welcomed her Granny into their home. The very first day that Granny was there, they baked cookies together. Riley’s enthusiasm was hard to miss. “Riley O’Kish, if that smile of yours got any bigger, it would break your face!” laughed Granny as Riley proudly held up her first cookie. “I’m going to have to rename you Riley O’Smiley”. Riley grinned proudly. And Riley O’Smiley she became, though the events of the next few hours would seriously contest her new name.

As in the day of any three-year-old, there comes a time when eyelids grow heavy and little yawns and sighs erupt. Granny saw that her wee granddaughter was fighting this with all her might, and stepped in. “Time for a nap, my little Riley O’Smiley”. “Oh, NOO! Granny! I’m much too big for a nap! I’m FREE! “ she exclaimed as she held up three tentative fingers. “Of course, you’re so right! Three-year-olds are MUCH too big for naps. You know, I completely forgot about that. In fact, I think that somewhere it says that it is against the law to take a nap when you’re three years old and we WOULDN’T want to break the law now, would we!!” Riley nodded enthusiastically and tried, ever-so-much harder, to keeps her eyes from falling shut. “I think, instead, that we should have a story, don’t you?” Riley thought this was a tremendous idea. Granny was just the BEST. “Now how about this one?” she asked, as she turned the page in the storybook to “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”. “Aw right!” replied Riley, “That one is my favourite one!” and so they curled up in the rocking chair and Granny began to read. Granny’s voice grew distant and the pages of the book swirled. Now, we all know the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears and what happened to her and those bears, but what happened to little Riley in the moments following, goes beyond imagination.