Ups and Downs

Troll Baby sat in his high chair eating his favourite cereal, Trollios, when Troll Mother came into the kitchen and sat down at the table beside him.

“Oh sweet innocent Troll Baby,” said Troll Mother. “You are so lucky. You have the rest of your life ahead of you. You have so many opportunities to do so much in your life.”

Troll Daddy came into the kitchen and stood quietly, listening to Troll Mother talk.

“Why are you sad Troll Mother?” asked Troll Baby.

“I’m not really sad,” said Troll Mother. “I guess I am kind of depressed though. You see, I’m getting older and I feel that I’m a failure.”

“What is a failure?” asked Troll Baby.

“A failure is something that your Troll Mother is not,” said Troll Daddy, after hearing enough of Troll Mother putting herself down.

“Troll Daddy,” said Troll Mother, nervously. “How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough,” said Troll Daddy. “How can you say that you are a failure?”

“I just feel like I’ve done nothing with my life,” said Troll Mother. “I feel useless.”

“Useless!” exclaimed Troll Daddy. “What are you talking about? We need you, every single one of us does.”

“Yeah,” said Troll Baby. “I need you Troll Mother.”

“Oh you just don’t understand,” cried Troll Mother, storming into the bedroom and slamming the door behind her.

“Oh oh!” exclaimed Troll Baby. “Troll Mother is crying.”

“Don’t worry Troll Baby,” said Troll Daddy, lifting Troll Baby out of his high chair. “Troll Daddy will fix it.”

Troll Daddy went over to the fridge to get himself a drink, when he noticed a magazine sitting on the kitchen counter. The headline caught his eye and he picked it up and started reading it.

“Troll Mother,” said Troll Daddy, outside of the bedroom, after reading the article about how a young mother needed to just get out of the house for a night. “I’ve got a good idea. Why don’t you and I go out for dinner tonight?”

“Oh really,” said Troll Mother, opening up the door to the bedroom.

“I’d love to.”

“Okay,” said Troll Daddy. “Let’s do that then. Troll Sister is old enough now to babysit her brothers.”

Troll Daddy and Troll Mother went out for dinner and had a wonderful time. It did wonders for Troll Mother.

“You know Troll Daddy,” said Troll Mother. “I had so much fun tonight. I really needed to get out of the house tonight. As a matter of fact, I am seriously thinking about taking a course at the Troll Town Community College this fall.”

“That’s a great idea,” said Troll Daddy.

“Then once Troll Baby starts school,” said Troll Mother. “I could go and get a part-time job.”

“Yes,” said Troll Daddy. “That would sure be great. We could use a little extra money.”

“Yes,” said Troll Mother. “We sure could. Maybe we’d be able to take a nice vacation down south sometime.”

“That is a good possibility,” said Troll Daddy.