Bunk-Bed Blues

Levi tried to pose his dinosaurs on his half of the dresser, but he had to squeeze them together to make them fit. He frowned at Kurt’s model airplanes on the other half. In Levi’s old bedroom, there had been plenty of room for his dinosaur collection. But his parents were getting his old room ready for a new baby. Now Levi would have to share his brother’s room.

Dad heaved mattresses onto the new bunk beds. Levi’s frown curved into a smile. Sleeping on the top bunk was the only thing that could make up for losing his room.

But Kurt scrambled up the ladder. “I get the top bunk!”

“No!” Levi wailed. “The top is mine!”

Kurt turned to Dad. “If I have to give him half my room, I should get to pick the bunk I want!”

“I have to give up my whole room, so I should get to pick!”

“If you both want the top, you’ll have to take turns.” Dad fished a quarter from his pocket. “We’ll flip to see who goes first.”

“Heads!” Levi shouted as the quarter spun through the air. Dad caught it and plopped it onto the back of his hand. “Tails.”

That night, Kurt climbed the ladder and Levi flopped into the bottom bunk. He scowled at the wooden slats that held up his brother’s mattress.

Kurt turned over and kicked off his sheet. A corner of it fell over the edge. Levi pulled the sheet until it hung down over his bunk. He was in a dark, secret cave.

He slipped out to find his flashlight. He scooped up three glow-in-the-dark dinosaurs and pulled shoestrings from a drawer. Then he crawled back into the cave.

In the flashlight’s beam, he tied one end of a shoestring around Stegosaurus and the other end around a slat above. He did the same with Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus rex. When he turned off the flashlight, the dangling dinosaurs glowed. Kurt rolled over, making the dinosaurs dance. Levi grinned. He fell asleep in the cave. The next night Kurt sighed. “I guess you want the top bunk.”

“No,” Levi said. “You can keep it. I like the bottom better.”

Kurt’s eyes opened wide. “Why?”

“That’s my secret.”

Kurt frowned and climbed into his bunk.

Levi pulled an extra sheet from the dresser in case Kurt didn’t kick his off tonight. He looked at his dinosaurs squished against Kurt’s airplanes. He might have to share a bedroom, but he didn’t have to share his cave.

Levi looked at Kurt’s model airplanes. They were squished, too.

He crawled into the bottom bunk and hugged his knees. He pictured Kurt’s airplanes hanging beside his dinosaurs. “Kurt?” he called. “Maybe I’ll share my secret with you.”

Levi tucked the extra sheet under Kurt’s mattress and let it hang down. Kurt’s eyes lit up. “It’s a tent!”

“It’s my cave,” Levi said. “But we can take turns.”

“Thanks!” Kurt grinned and disappeared into the tent.

Levi climbed the ladder. He glanced over the edge at the dinosaurs on the dresser. He was in a tree house above a prehistoric rain forest....

 

By: Jacqueline Adams