“Why is it called Wacky Wednesday mom?”

Esther had just finished reading her little daughter Emma, the Dr Suess book of the same name. She was about to tuck little Emma into bed, give her a kiss on her forehead, as she did every night and then join her husband in the living room, where he was busily updating himself with the news. That was something Esther didn’t like to see him do when he came home from work every evening, because it never failed to change his mood. His most used words would by the time she got downstairs have transitioned from ‘hello sweetheart’ or ‘sweetheart you’re the best cook since my mother,’ to what a moron or such similar epithets.

Over the years, they had been married for about 10 years, they had come up with an agreement that David was allowed to watch the news during a brief window. That window began from the time the two of them washed the dishes after dinner, to the time she came downstairs from putting little Emma to bed. That was about an hour or so. The only problem was this. David couldn’t turn off his brain once his wife came downstairs and it was his turn to go upstairs to wish his daughter a goodnight. There were exactly twenty individual stairs in the staircase, which led from the two storied hallway to the second floor. David knew that as he climbed those steps, he had to make a concerted effort to rid his mind of his negative thoughts and so by the time he opened the door to his little girl’s bedroom, he had a giant smile on his face and a brain filled with childish mush.

David didn’t always succeed. In such cases he was told in no uncertain terms by Esther, that he was to turn around and climb back down the stairs and try again. On days that happened, by the time he did open his daughter’s door she had already fallen asleep. He would be hesitant to go over and kiss her forehead just in case it woke her. Something he would not hear the end of from his wife. So, in those cases, he kissed her little toy lamb fondly named ‘Lamby’ which lay next to her on her pillow.

That night when opened the door and the night light lit up her room, he was surprised to see Emma still awake, considering that he had been up and down the stairs three times to the amusement of his wife, who began dishing out dessert accompanied with a glass of raw milk for him. Emma opened her eyes, “hi daddy,” she said softly. He was pleased to know she was still awake.

“I thought you would be asleep,” he whispered to her.

“No daddy, because I have a question to ask you.” She hesitated a moment and then asked, “how many times did you have to walk up and down tonight?”

David was dumb struck. He didn’t know his daughter knew what he had to do on some nights, because she was asleep. “Three,” he whispered again, “but you should be asleep, it’s late.”

“Well,” replied Emma quietly, “if you didn’t have to walk up and down so often, I would be awake on all the other times.”

“And why not tonight?” she was asked.

“Because I told you. I have a very important question to ask you.”

“Oh, that’s right!” David had hoped she had forgotten, so he could give her a quick kiss and go downstairs to have dessert which was no doubt ready and waiting for him. “And the question is?” David wanted to get it over with quickly.

“Why is it called wacky Wednesday?”

“Well,” replied David kind of stumped for an answer. “What did Dr Seuss say why it was called that?

“I don’t believe the reasons he gave. Such as a shoe stuck on the ceiling or flying cars. They don’t sound whacky, they sound silly.”

“Oh you’re right young lady. In which case we need to rephrase the title to Silly Wednesdays.”

“No ah, ah,” replied little Emma, “dad that just won't do.”

“Why not?” David wasn’t in the mood to debate his 8 year old daughter and wanted to get back downstairs as soon as possible. And this wasn’t going the way he planned. “I tell you what,” David finally had a great idea, or at least he thought it was great, “why don’t I write a book called Whacky Thursdays and read that to you tomorrow?”

“No dad.”

“Why not?” David sounded frustrated.

“Because it didn’t answer my question, why are Wednesdays wacky.”

Finally, not seeing any alternatives, David sat down on his daughter’s bed and began to list all the things he thought would be good reasons why Wednesday would be called wacky. Emma fell asleep listening to her father.

David was pleased with himself and was about to get up when he suddenly realised his daughter was holding his hand. He didn’t know what to do. He was afraid that if he tried to get up and take her hand away, she would wake up and so he just sat there. He had no idea how long he sat there, but he finally fell asleep on her bed.

After a little while, Esther came up to find out what had been going on. When she pushed open her daughter’s bedroom door, she saw her husband asleep on her Emma’s with her hand holding her father’s. A tear tickled down her cheek. In all the years she had tried to get her husband, who was a hard nosed businessman, to spend more time with their daughter and hadn’t succeeded there he was fast asleep on her bed holding hands. She wiped the tear from her cheek with the back of her hand, and silently closed the door behind her. Esther walked downstairs, put the dessert in the fridge and then drank his milk. She curled up on the couch, closed her eyes and soon she was fast sleep.

Early the next morning, David came downstairs and found his wife sleeping on the couch. He sat down next to her, still not quite convinced of what had happened. Esther opened her eyes and smiled at him. “How was that?” she asked.

David shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not sure what happened,” he answered and then noticed he was holding the Wacky Wednesday book in his hand. Esther took it away from him and pulled him down to her. David began to sob. Esther strengthened her grip around him. “So, I guess,” he whispered in her ear after a few minutes, “I guess it really was a Wacky Wednesday. I wonder if Dr Seuss knew what he did by writing that book.” David knew, but he still needed to be convinced.

“I’ll get up and get breakfast,” Esther tried to move, but David held her.

“Not right now,” he said, “I don’t want Wednesday to be over just yet.”