I just heard about fiction friday. It's Saturday in the wee hours now, but I'm still awake. Does that count? The following is a little piece of a trilogy that I've just started writing for my three daughters.

. . .

It was a cold gray morning. Thick mushy clouds covered the entire sky. Dolphina couldn’t tell if she had woken early or late. She sat bolt upright and wavered a moment until she got her day legs. She rushed down her bunk bed ladder and dressed quickly in her favorite ruffled skirt and pink tank top with silver scales, eh, sequins.

“Hello, Mother,” she called out as she finished hopping into her clothing. She hopped past her youngest sister’s small bed, which sat kitty-corner–(not kittywampus)–to Nanibella’s bed, but there was no kitty in it. Her mother had banished the remaining family cat from their sleeping room.

When Dolphina pretended that her bed was the canopy of the rainforest, Nanibella’s bed was the understory (or sometimes a dragon’s cave), and little Emberlily’s bed was the open savannah. When their kitty, Nokomis, did sneak into the room like a black jungle panther, she hid under the bed, which was the dense forest floor. Nokomis was kittywampus. That means chaotic.

Dolphina was sometimes kittywampus, too, especially first thing in the morning when she was in a hurry to start the day and catch up to whoever else in the golden palace may have woken before her. She preferred to wake first so she wouldn’t miss anything.

She paused just long enough to consider–Did it really happen? Had she really seen the shadow of a spirit cat? Had she really heard a dragon? Had she truly flown? She was never sure, because she always awoke snug in her nest-like bed.

She shook her head to clear the uncertainty. Up and at ‘em. Onward, ho! On this new day, anything could happen. Dolphina remained at the ready for adventure.

As Dolphina got started on her breakfast, early sun stretched across the table, past Nanibella, and toward Emberlily. Dolphina knew that if the three sisters remained together at the table long enough, the sun would encircle them all in its light and gentle warmth.

What would she and her sisters do today? Dolphina wanted to wander in the woods, perhaps search for caves or animal tracks. As if Emberlily could read minds, she interrupted Dolphina’s thoughts. “Who’s with me? Want to play in the woods?”

Abruptly, Dolphina guarded her plans. “I’m not sure,” she said. “Maybe later.” She wasn’t sure why, but she wanted to wander alone. She needed to search for something, but she wasn’t exactly sure what it was.

Dolphina took her breakfast bowl to the sink and snuck down the hall to find her quilted jacket and rain boots. She quickly dressed and slipped out the front door. She walked around the corner of the palace toward the back gardens, and ducked through the secret gate into the woods.