Sock Swap Sleepover

Olivia found two socks on her pillow, and they did not match. One was red with stars. One was green with stripes.

"That's funny," she said. "I packed two red ones."

Olivia was at Grandpa Ned's house, and it was her very first night away from home. She wanted to sleep here all night long, in the little bed under the window. She wanted to be brave about it.

Grandpa Ned only laughed. "Socks swap in this house," he said. "They always have. Nobody knows why."

Then he kissed her head and turned out the light.

The room was very quiet. The bed felt too small and too far from home. Olivia's tummy went wobbly. She missed her own pillow, and her own door, and the sound of her mother humming in the kitchen.

She tried counting the stars on her sock. She got to eleven and lost count.

She tried hugging her bear. The bear smelled like Grandpa Ned's soap, not like home.

Then she heard a sound. Tick, tick, tick, tick. It was the old clock in the hall.

Olivia listened. Tick, tick, tick. It was slow, and steady, like a hum.

She sat up. She looked at her feet. One red sock, one green.

"Maybe," she whispered, "the socks swapped because they wanted to visit."

She pulled the green striped sock onto one foot. Then she took off the red one, and she put it on the bear.

"There," she said. "Now you have a bit of home, and I have a bit of here."

She lay down. The bear sat on her tummy in its red star sock. Tick, tick, tick went the clock.

Down the hall, Grandpa Ned was snoring. Snuffle, snuffle, whoo.

Olivia giggled into the blanket. "Tick, tick, tick," she whispered. "Snuffle, snuffle, whoo."

Her toes were warm in the green stripes. The bed did not feel so small now. The clock kept humming, and her eyes got heavy, and the last thing she heard was tick.