Ricky carried Doris over to a row of cribs by the back wall. Doris didn’t bother squirming. She knew what her fate was. Ricky gently placed her in one of the cribs.
“What am I supposed to do in here?” Doris whined.
“Uh, sleep?” Ricky said, bemused. “That’s what cribs are for.”
“But I can’t fall asleep with the lights on and all this noise!”
“Hmm. Good point. Maybe this will help.” Ricky dug around in his pocket and pulled out a pacifier. He popped it into Doris’s mouth. She began to suckle on it instinctively. “And if that doesn’t work, don’t worry. Naptime is in half an hour, so we’ll turn off the lights and put everyone else down for their naps then.”
With that, Ricky walked away. Doris crossed her arms sulkily. To her surprise, however, lulled by the rhythmic sucking of her pacifier, she found her eyes slowly drooping shut. Long before naptime started, Doris was fast asleep, curled up in the crib, suckling on her pacifier.
Because she fell asleep before everyone else, however, Doris also woke up before everyone else. She awoke in the darkened daycare. All the other toddlers and babies were in cribs, and the adult gym workers were nowhere to be seen.
Doris knew what she needed to do.