The BedBoat
by Dale Haas
It was Tuesday night, so Hannah and Harmony got to sleep in the spare room, on the futon bed. After they brushed their teeth, went potty, said their thank-you's and prayers, and had their sleepy dust and water, they settled in for four bedtime stories by the flashlight.
After Hannah finished with the stories, she turned off the flashlight and the two girls said good-night to each other. Hannah cuddled up to Balto, and Harmony cuddled up to Cocoa. That's when the adventure began.
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After a couple of minutes, Hannah said, "Harmony, stop that! You're rocking the bed."
Harmony rolled over and said, "Hannah! I did not."
"You did too! Now, stop it!"
From the other room, they heard Mama say, "Girls! No fighting in there."
"Okay, Mom," they said together, and they lay back down.
A minute later, Harmony sat up and said, "Hannah, stop wiggling."
Hannah sat up and said, "I didn't do that! What are you talking about?" But before she could say anything else, she saw that her sister was staring out across the room.
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What they saw was amazing. Where the floor should be, now there was a vast ocean. The walls were gone, and all you could see when you looked up or out was stars, millions of them. They weren't afraid at all, because it was so beautiful and so calm.
"This is great!" Harmony whispered. After all, they didn't want Mama to come in and spoil the fun. "Yeah! This is great!" Hannah replied.
They lay back down on their backs, looking up at the stars. After a while, Hannah tied Balto to the back of the bed-boat, and Balto gently dog-paddled. They took turns sitting up looking around and laying down, drawing pictures in the stars.
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After a while, Harmony noticed some strange shapes up ahead. Even though the moonlight was bright, it was hard to tell what the shapes were. "Hannah, whit is that?" she said.
Hannah looked up and stared hard. Pretty soon they were close enough to see what the shapes were. Standing perfectly still in the water were hundreds -- no, thousands -- of pink flamingos! They had their heads tucked into their chests, and they had one foot tightly pulled up toward their bellies. Hannah and Harmony smiled to each other for a second, then Hannah whispered down for Balto to gently paddle them through.
The girls took turns saying "SShhh" to each other while Balto weaved in and out between the flamingoes. Just when they got to the middle of the flock, Harmony got a tickle in her nose. "Uuhh .... ...uuuhhhh...."
Hannah's eyes widened. She mouthed "NO....NO," and shook her head violently, but Hannah could tell it was no use.
Harmony continued, "UUhhhhh . . .AAhhhhh. . ."
"C H O O O O !"
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Suddenly, all two thousand, four hundred and sixty three flamingoes whipped their heads up and scattered away in a cloud of pink. Hundreds of feathers came loose, falling around the girls like snowflakes. Hannah and Harmony grabbed one together. They tugged at it and pulled, screaming and scrapping. Quickly the feather ripped in two.
"Harmony!! Look what you did!"
"I didn't do it, Hannah! You did!"
"Girls!" Mama called from the other room.
"Nothing!" the girls called back together, and went dead silent. They exchanged dirty looks, and lay back down.
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About the time they got calm again, the girls started hearing a funny sound. It started out like a low rumble, like "w w r r r." After a couple of times, the girls sat up together and looked up ahead. "W w w r r r." Silence. "Wwrr." "Wwrr." "Whr, whr." And louder, "Whrb, whbrut."
As the sound grew more distinct, they saw up ahead another strange sight, thousands of lily pads! Now they knew what the sound was -- bullfrogs! One on each lily pad, belching away.
This time, Hannah told Balto to paddle around the pads. She didn't want those frogs jumping onto their bed-boat! Just as they started around, suddenly, the sound stopped. It was a quiet as the stars. Harmony and Hannah looked at each other curiously. What would happen next?
Then, one of the frogs breathed in and sang, "Whrm whrm whrm whrm, whrm whrm." It sounded like "I'm in the Mood for Love"! And all the others joined in the chorus. "Whrm whrm whrm whrm, whrm whrm whrm." They were singing a love song for all their girly frog friends! Hannah and Harmony smiled the whole way around them, and as the sound of their song faded, the girls were humming along.
The stars and moon seemed even brighter now, so they were really enjoying laying on their backs and connecting the dots. They didn't even notice the low rumble at first. By the time they did, it was too late.
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"Wwwwwwww." Hannah sat up quickly and looked. The rumble was louder already. "WWWwwww." Harmony sat up and they saw it together.
"A waterfall!"
"WWWWWWWWW!" The sound was super loud. Hannah yelled, "Quick! Paddle!" Balto swam as fast as his furry legs would go. Harmony turned the flashlight into a paddle and started rowing as hard as she could. Hannah took her long arms and lashed them through the water.
"Hannah, stop splashing me!" Harmony cried.
"Harmony, I can't help it!"
"Girls?" Mama called. "Are you all right in there?"
"Yes, Mom," they answered, only a little calmer. So they tried to paddle and stroke a little quieter, but after all, there was a WATERFALL up ahead!
They went faster and faster, but it was no use. They were being sucked over. Just as they got to the edge of the waterfall, the bed-boat leaned over, and for a second it was as if they stopped just long enough to see what was below. The sky stretched endlessly, and thousands of feet below them was a tremendous cloud, more like a fog because it went on forever. Then they tipped and went over.
"AAAAHHHHHH!" They fell and fell, their bed-boat rocking wildly up and down. They seemed to fall for twenty minutes, until finally they plopped into the puffy cloud.
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As soon as they went inside the cloud, they felt themselves start to slow down! They slowed and slowed, until it seemed like they were just floating in mid-air. Then, ever so gently, they emerged from the bottom of the cloud, and could see their house below. The roof opened for them, and underneath was the spare room. They eased into the corner of the room, right where they had left off.
"That was great!" Harmony whispered to Hannah.
"Definitely!" Hannah answered. They promised to keep their adventure a secret, and they went to sleep right away.
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But the next morning, Harmony forgot about the secret. As soon as Mama came in to wake them up, Harmony screamed, "Oh, Mama, it was great! Last night, the bed turned into a bed-boat, and we floated on the ocean, and flamingoes flew away, and frogs sang to us from their lily pads, and we went down a waterfall, and fell and fell through a cloud, and. . ."
"Yes, yes, little girl," Mama said in her purry voice. "You can tell me all about it while you're having your oatmeal downstairs." So the girls ran downstairs and had their oatmeal, laughing and talking all the way.
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Later that morning, as Mama was making the bed in the spare room, she pulled back the sheets and saw. . . . . . . a pink feather?
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Copyright 1996 Dale Haas