"And so after traveling so far and facing many trials, the heroes finally arrived at the palace of the Demon King. Standing steadfast, the heroes prepared for their final battle. With the combined powers of intelligent witch Jenna, the keen elven archer Lily, and me, the great knight Katie, we are unstoppable. I will fulfill my promise and slay the Demon King with my holy sword," Katie monologues.
Katie is really getting into character. In fact, Katie always takes playing pretend too far. Our backyard, otherwise known as the 'palace of the Demon King', is done up to be a pretend castle made of cardboard. Katie's 'holy sword' and her armor are also made out of cardboard. Katie's friends are also wearing similar costumes. Jenna has on a big witches hat and a black cape, both are most likely part of an old Halloween costume. Lily has on fake elf ears made of plastic and a bow made of stick and rubber bands. Katie is always insistent on everyone staying in character too. For such a young girl she really is quite a handful.
"Who dares enter my palace?" I ask, as I try and play along.
"No Daddy, not like that. You need to act meaner and scarier," Katie tells me.
"Oh, uh sorry sweetie," I say in response.
Since somebody needed to play the bad guy the task was left to me. Just like the girls, I was made to wear a costume too. I am dressed up with demon horns and a big intimidating cloak. It's been hard being Katie's father and dealing with her overactive imagination. With my wife out for the weekend, it means I have to babysit these three girls alone. Normally, I would be happy to be around such cute young girls, but with Katie leading them it can get exhausting really fast.
"WHO DARES TO ENTER MY PALACE?" I ask again, this time with a more booming and intimidating voice.
"Us three heroes, you fiend!" Katie responds getting back into character as she brandishes her cardboard sword.
The three then start to 'attack' me. Lily starts by trying to launch a stick at me with her rubber-band bow. Then Jenna starts saying something in a made-up language to 'cast a spell'. Finally, Katie charges at me with her cardboard sword in hand. As they attack me I feign pain and fall to the ground.
"Oh, you got me!" I state hoping that this game will be over.
"No Daddy! You are supposed to be the big tough bad guy. You can't go down that easy. It's no fun!" Katie explains.
"I think he was doing a good job," Jenna chimes in.
"Yeah, thank you for playing with us again Mr. Johnson," Lily adds.
I smile at the girls. I'm happy to play along however they wish. In truth, I was hoping this weekend would be a more traditional girl's slumber party. That way I could admire my daughter and her cute young friends in their pajamas and not have to be afraid that my wife would catch me perving on them. Still, these outfits are cute in their own way, and being the 'Demon King' means I can wrestle with them and cop-a-feel.
"You guys don't get it. Daddy, this is supposed to be the epic final battle. The Demon King needs to be scary and strong. So you need to be more aggressive, okay?" Katie tells me with an overly serious face.
"More aggressive... Okay then," I say thinking deviously to myself.