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Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Short stories, The Night the Bed Fell on Father

Hello Bookworms!
Sorry for the long delay, time is going wibbly wobbly on me.
One of the short stories that my mother loved to tell me growing up was James Thurber's "The Night the Bed Fell on Father". A dramatic comedy, this story is perfect for late night reading when everything else is done and your trying to fall asleep. Then again, looking at the title, maybe you shouldn't read it late at night, especially if you sleep in an attic...
A lot of unnecessary back-story is involved, however the tales of 'Aunt Gracie Shoaf' who believed that even though nothing was missing, burglars had been running all around her house every single night for the past forty years. As such, every night she would go to bed, get up five minutes later and toss every pair of shoes in the house down the hall in opposite directions. The actual story centers around a young boy whose father decides to sleep in the attic, while his mother frets that the bed will fall on him in his sleep and kill him. At two in the morning the young boy rolls over in his own room and ends up bringing his bed crashing down, which his mother of course assumes is the boy's father's bed and that the father is dying. This crash awakens the whole household and all their crazy phobias while the father has conveniently locked the door to the attic, (and is a very sound sleeper). While half the household thinks their father is dying the other half is trying to shout above the noise of everyone else. With a lot of yelling, tackling, hysterics, and a pandemonium of unwarranted fears, this story will likely have you rolling on the floor with laughter. Habent sua fata libelli!

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