The Thunderstorm

One summer evening during a violent thunderstorm a mother was  tucking her small boy into bed. 

She was about to turn off the  light when he asked with a tremor in his voice,

“Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?”  The mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. 

“I can’t  dear,”  she said.

“I have to sleep in Daddy’s room.”

A long silence was broken at last by his shaky little voice:

 “The big sissy.”