Father took some time to commence, so Martha Mary, who knew it would be hard work for him, tried to help him along.
“You don’t need to tell about Fairies,” she said. “Kings and queens will do, or even every-day people. And Flip never begins with ‘once upon a time.’”
“Is that so?” asked Father. “Well, I am going to be different. My story is going to commence with ‘once upon a time’ and it isn’t going to be about Kings or Queens or Fairies, or not even every-day people.”
“I know,” said John. “It’s about pirates.”
“It is not.”
“About ice cream,” said Liza.
“Sorry, Butterfly. Not even ice cream.”
“I give up,” said Edward Lee, although he hadn’t been guessing at all.
“You would never guess,” said Father. “So be quiet and I’ll tell you. It happened ever and ever and ever so long ago—I mean once upon a time.”
“When was that?” asked Walter.