Bedtime
The child asks for a story about a dragon who is also a dentist. The machine writes one in six seconds. It rhymes. It has a moral. The dragon’s name is Dr Flame. The child listens. Laughs at the right parts. But when it ends, she does not ask for it again. She asks for the one you made up last Tuesday – the one with the wrong ending and the bit where you forgot the dog’s name and called it Steve.