Prompt: Falling out of bed, Part 1

Douglas lay on his sleep platform, eyes barely open, watching the play of the rising sunlight through the broad blue leaves. He heard rustling in the canopy around him, then two soft thunks. Doppler and Gringo were always the first to check for any remaining night crabs, tossing rocks they carried up into the trees the night before.

With a sigh, Douglas rolled over and fell off the platform. As the vine hammock swung him gently underneath, he remembered how unnerving it had once felt to sleep in the trees, hearing the clicking movement of the crabs far below. It was jokester Brownie who introduced him to the morning bed roll. Dougles had almost fallen out of the tree, trying to scramble over to Brownie’s platform and catch him. Only to find Brownie laughing, swinging underneath.

Douglas had cried when Brownie died. The boola had been mystified by the water coming from his eyes, and more mystified by his horror when they unceremoniously rolled Brownie out of the tree into the path of the night crabs. Douglas had lain awake that whole night, listening. There was nothing left in the morning.

Continued in Part 2…

Dogs in house	Houdini
Music	Sarah McLachlins’ “Prayer of St. Francis”
Time writing	~40 minutes
December word count	7,533