Dinah and the Giant Words

Dinah is a tiny golden dormouse who lives in a cozy round nest at the bottom of Hollow Hill. She has big dark eyes, round ears, and a long furry tail that she wraps around herself when she sleeps. Dinah is very small. But she has one very big idea.

It started one rainy afternoon, when her cousin came stomping into the nest.

“Nobody EVER lets me choose the game!” he shouted. “I ALWAYS have to play what everyone else wants! It’s NEVER fair!”

Dinah listened. She could see that her cousin’s feelings were huge. They were so huge they were bumping against the walls of the nest.

“Those are giant words,” Dinah said gently.

“What are?”

“EVER. ALWAYS. NEVER.” Dinah held her paws as far apart as they would go. “They are the biggest words there are. When you use them, a feeling gets as big as this.”

Her cousin frowned. “Well, it IS that big.”

“Maybe,” said Dinah. “Let’s check. How much, really?” She held her paws close together, then a little wider, then wider still. “Is it a tiny bit? Sometimes? About half? A lot? Or almost always?”

Her cousin thought. “Well… yesterday I chose hide-and-seek.”

“Oh,” said Dinah. “So not never.”

“And last week I chose the treasure hunt.” He scratched his head. “And this morning everyone wanted to play my game, but I wanted to play theirs.”

Dinah’s paws moved closer together. “So, how much, really?”

Her cousin pointed between her paws. “Sometimes,” he admitted. “Today I didn’t get to choose. And that feels unfair.”

“That makes sense,” said Dinah. “Today you didn’t get to choose, and that is really disappointing. That’s a real feeling.” She smiled. “But it’s a today feeling, not an always feeling.”

Her cousin’s shoulders came down. The feeling that had been bumping the walls of the nest shrank to a size that fit comfortably inside. He didn’t feel happy, exactly. But he felt like he could breathe.

“Now,” said Dinah, “shall we find a way for you to choose next time?”

That is Dinah’s big idea, for such a small dormouse. ALWAYS and NEVER are giant words. They make a feeling feel enormous. But when you ask how much, really?, you can turn a giant word into a size you can handle, and then you can figure out what to do.