As suggested in yesterday’s paper, we are finding many ways to trick Kina into giving us extra hugs these days. This morning, I walked out of the bedroom to find legendary television physician Doc McStuffins offering some hug therapy to her sick patient, Mommy. Upon seeing me, Doc McStuffins ordered me—another doctor, as it turned out—to snuggle Mommy to help her with her sickness while her primary care provider applied a band-aid. In the wake of a long election night, I will admit that a little hugging treatment was quite effective at resolving existential aches—for both patient and doctor(s).

I’m kind of low on fuel today, for reasons that I imagine our readers likely understand. I wish I could go into more elaborate detail regarding the other headlines here, but here’s the general shape of the stories:

Everybody Eats Dinner Together

Or: a last-minute decision by all of Kina’s caregivers to share some roast chicken, couscous, and wine in an effort to ignore the news (even as I spent much of my evening checking Slack to make sure the servers weren’t on fire—and they weren’t). Carrot cake was eaten.

Daddy Is Mommy’s Husband

In which our protagonist discovers marital status and the duties of spouses, exploring them in both obvious and novel ways. It turns out there can be lots of wives and husbands!

Witch Casts a “Nice Spell”

The story of a witch (long forgotten in these pages) who casts a spell to make Mommy nicer and more generous with special treats. Did the spell work? Did a tantrum soon follow? Who threw the tantrum?

Listen, I know we’ve all been casting nice spells today. Hopefully they bring about the intended result. Get some sleep; it’ll be a long week. Our newsroom will be here every day for hugs and distraction.

dad