A Bedtime Story for Laylee, Magoo and the Bean

Once upon a time there was a Daring Young Mom and her Daring Husband, Daring Young Dad. Together, they were the Daring Duo. They had two darling children, Princess Laylee and Prince Magoo.

Princess Laylee had a special friend by the name of Ducky. But he was no ordinary Ducky - no, like every other member of this family, he was a Daring Ducky.

"Now, just what does a Daring Ducky do?", you might ask yourself. I know I have.

Well, a Daring Ducky does what anyone of the daring persuasion does: Daring Deeds. Here's a story about how Daring Ducky saves Princess Laylee and Prince Magoo from a horrible fate:

One day, Princess Laylee and Prince Magoo were in their home, playing hide and seek. Mostly Laylee was hiding and Magoo was seeking, but they were having a good time. There was much laughter, as Magoo would erupt into uncontrollable fits of joy when Laylee would jump out of her hiding place just before Magoo found her and say, "Peek-a-boo".

All of a sudden there was a knock at the door. Daring Young Mom went to the door and, forgetting to check through the peep hole first, opened it. She immediately jumped back at the sight that stood before her. It was a little woman, dressed in a black dress with a tall pointy hat. She had a green face with a long hooked nose with a giant wart on one side, and long straggly hair that fell over her shoulders like brittle straw.

"Wh, Wh, Who are you, and what do you want?" stammered Daring Young Mom, not feeling very daring at the moment.

"Well who do you think?" said the ugly visitor, "I'm Wanda, the Wicked Witch of the West, and I'm here to move in with you and your daring little family. I can't stay in Oz anymore after that water incident. Melting is not a fun thing to do, but I'm back now and I've been looking around, and I think this would be a wonderful place to live. By the way, you have very Chaaaarrrrmmming children."

Sensing danger, Daring Ducky, who had been watching the whole scene unfold from under the couch, leaped between Daring Young Mom and Wanda the Witch, and said, "Don't worry, I'll protect you and Laylee and Magoo." Locking the Witch in his gaze, he said, "If you want to get to them, you'll have to deal with me first. And I'm not about to let anyone, or anyTHING hurt my family".

"As you wish", said the Wicked Witch as she pulled out her wand and threw a bolt of lightning at the little Duck.

But Daring Ducky surprised everyone as he held up his wing as if it were a shield and the lightning bolt glanced harmlessly off.

The Witch was somewhat surprised, as were all of the Daring Family, because in their experience, Ducky had never been the least bit daring, in fact, they all thought that Darling Ducky didn't do didley. But what they failed to understand was that this was a double negative, and if Darling Ducky didn't do didley, then that meant he must do something, and what would that be? They were about to find out.

Ducky leapt into the air and flapping his stubby little wings, in his bill he grabbed the end of a ball of yarn that Daring Young Mom was going to knit into a sweater for Daring Young Dad, and flying faster than any of the astonished onlookers had ever seen he went round and round the Wicked Witch until her arms were tied helplessly to her sides. Then, tying it off in a dazzling areobatic manouver, he dropped to the ground in front of her and said, "I'll thank you not to even think about doing anything like that ever again."

The Wicked Witch was appropriatly humbled, and with her arms tied tightly to her sides, she didn't seem quite as scary. Daring Ducky looked at her and said, "Where did you say your were from?"

"I said I am the Wicked Witch of the West," said the Witch

"Yeah, yeah, I heard that, but WHERE are you FROM? What City?", said Ducky.

"Cleveland", said the Witch.

"AH HAH!!", cried Ducky, "I KNEW it!!! You're not from the WEST, you're from the EAST. And I'll bet you're not even that wicked! As easy as your were to tie up, I'll bet you're the Clumsy Clod from Cleveland. Or to the people up in Canada, you're probably known as the Silly Simpering Sourceress from the South.

Well, you can bet that this knocked the wind out of her sails. "Well", she said, "I had the people in New York convinced that I was the Wicked Witch of the West. Cleveland is west of New York, you know".

"Well, the sun may rise in the East, but it sets in the West, and we're about as far west as you can get in this country", said Ducky, "So I suggest you just quit trying to be somebody you're not, and try being nice for a change. You never know, your might like it."

Wanda thought about it for a minute and then said, "I'm really not a bad person. It's just that all of the kids in my neighborhood when Iwas growing up used to tease me about my nose, and the wart, and my green skin. I just never fit in and so I started casting spells and one thing led to another and here I am again, but I guess being tied up beats being melted. It was really nice of you not to throw water on me."

At this, Princess Laylee started to feel sorry for Wanda. She came out from behind Daring Young Mom and said, "Wanda, you can stay with us if you promise not to cast anymore spells or throw lightning bolts or mean stuff like that. We won't make fun of your nose or your green color. We are nice."

Well, you wouldn't believe what this did for Wanda. "You really mean it?", she asked, "You really do? Why, you and me and Magoo and Ducky could do all kinds of fun things together. We could play games, and go to the park and color pictures and blow bubbles and go for rides on my broom. It will be so fun!!!"

"And...", said Laylee, "Maybe sometimes you could make some ice cream with your magic wand. I like ice cream..... ALOT!"

"That would be fun", said Wanda, "but only if your Mom says it's OK".


And that is how Wanda the Wonderful (as she was known for ever more) came to live with the Daring Young Family. All because Darling Ducky wasn't afraid to do a Daring Deed!

Good night, sleep tight!