Little Ted was tugging at his Mummy’s skirt.
“Just a minute Little Ted, I’m in the middle of cooking dinner” said his Mummy.
Little Ted waited for a while, then tugged at her skirt once again.
“Mummy...” Little Ted said.
“Please wait for a minute Little Ted, I’m at a crucial point in the recipe” repeated his Mummy.
So Little Ted waited some more, but his Mummy was still busy cooking so he wandered off to find his Daddy.
“Daddy” Little Ted said “how long is a minute?”
“60 seconds. About as long as it takes you to make your bed. Why are you asking” enquired his Daddy.
“Because Mummy said she would be with me in a minute and that was ages ago.”
“Aah” replied his Daddy “perhaps she is still busy cooking dinner or perhaps she forgot.”
When his Daddy saw how sad Little Ted looked when he said this, he continued “I’ll go and ask Mummy if I can give her a hand and remind her that you’re waiting to tell her something.”
Little Ted’s Daddy went into the kitchen while he sat on his special chair waiting. He knew he was meant to wait patiently but Little Ted wanted to ask his Mummy something NOW. Soon his Daddy returned.
“Mummy promises that she’ll come and see you very soon. She said that you should count up to 10 elephants for every finger on both hands and then she’ll be there.”
Little Ted stared at his fingers, held one up and started counting.
“One elephant, two elephants, three elephants, four elephants, five elephants, six elephants, seven elephants, eight elephants, nine elephants, ten elephants.” Little Ted gave a cheer, held up a second finger and started counting again. “One elephant, two elephants, three elephants...” and so he carried on until he was holding up all 10 of his fingers.
“My, look at all these elephants” joked his Mummy as she came into the room “you have been very patient waiting for me Little Ted. What was it you wanted to tell me?”
Little Ted looked at his Mummy, tipped his head to one side and replied “Err, umm I can’t remember, I’ve forgotten.”
“Well you seemed pretty keen to tell me something. Did it have anything to do with nursery today?”
“No” Little Ted said.
“Was it about any of your toys?”
“No” Little Ted said.
“Oh well, I’m sure if it was important it will come back to you. You need to be more like an elephant – did you know they are meant to have incredible memories and never forget another elephant or person once they’ve met them. They can remember places where they have found food and water in the past, and if they’ve ever been injured they can hold grudges against those who have hurt them.”
Just as his Mummy finished her sentence Little Ted remembered what he wanted to ask his Mummy.
“Mummy, what’s for dinner?” Little Ted said.
“Salmon fishcakes” replied his Mummy “they’re meant to be brain food for your memory. Eat it all up and maybe we can get you to have the memory of an elephant!
The End