Under The Bed

• James Dixon, Grade 4
• Short Story
• 2022

Today Louis and Shelly would venture into an extremely dangerous world to retrieve ‘The Precious Item’. Let me take back to the beginning….
It was a picturesque day and all the beautiful birds were chirping; but most excitingly for Louis was that his best friend Shelly, was over for a playdate. It wasn’t long after they arrived, that the best friends saw their parents in a deep conversation and they snuck to Louis’ parent’s bedroom and opened the door.

Louis was in 3rd grade with Shelly. Louis was short and skinny, but Shelly was tall and chubby. Shelly was strong, but Louis was weak. Shelly’s parents were divorced, but Louis’ parents were happily married. They were complete opposites but they were best friends.
The duo decided that Shelly would be the one to go under the bed to retrieve ‘The Precious Item’. Just before Shelly adventured under, Louis glanced around his parents’ bedroom as he was barley ever allowed in there. Suddenly, he remembered the giant crack in the bed that stretched from the very bottom of the bed base to the tipsy top of the mattress. It was time. Shelly bent down but when she tried to squeeze under the bed she didn’t fit. Shelly was absolutely shocked, she thought she was a mediocre size for age. It was okay though because with an enormous push from Louis, Shelly was fully squeezed under the bed. She had barely been under the bed a few seconds before she screamed.

“Shelly, please quieten down! If my parents hear us, we are going to get in so much trouble and we will never retrieve ‘The Precious Item’.”

Shelly got so annoyed by that comment that she yelled at him even louder than before and explained she was stuck under the bed! Louis was almost as shocked as Shelly was but he knew that if they didn’t act now, the chances were that they would never retrieve ‘The Precious Item’ and they would get in diabolical trouble.

In Louis’ mind they were almost destined to never retrieve ‘The Precious Item’ and he had no idea how to solve this problem with out getting in trouble. They were absolutely doomed!! First, he told Shelly to slide on her stomach from under the bed, but when she tried, Louis heard a loud BANG noise which turned out to be Shelly smashing up against the bed head. But just then, Louis remembered something…. the crack in the bed! He immediately started to tell Shelly his idea. Shelly started to squeeze through the crack with her hand up high and that’s when Louis realised, Shelly had retrieved ‘The Precious Item’… a 5 cent coin.

Epilogue
The day after their playdate, the best friends went to the milk bar across the street and bought a 5 cent piece of gum to share. Their mission was complete.