Lay still, Steven, and I’ll tell you a bedtime story.
I’ll tell you a bedtime story that’s not for all
children. It’s a very special story, that only special
children will understand. It’s a half-awake story, and
it will be better if you close your eyes. It’s a
story that takes place in a dream, like other
nightmares you have known. It’s a dream that Alice has
dreamed. You can dream along with him. You can follow
Alice down the staircase, deep, down the stairs to the
pit where he doesn’t want to go, but he has to.
If you go to sleep now, Steven, you can go down the
long and endless stairway and sing sweet songs to Alice
and free him. And if you can’t get to sleep, Steven,
and in the middle of the night you get out of bed, when
everything is quiet and the trees are still and the
birds are hiding from the dark, you can lie down on
your bedroom floor and press your ear tightly to the
boards. If you listen very carefully you can hear
Alice searching for a way out, forever chasing
rainbows.
Sleep tight, Steven. And have a good night.
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