By James Thurber (adapted)

Before You Read

Vocabulary Preview:

  • attic — a space or room just below the roof
  • collapse — to fall down suddenly
  • hysterical — extremely emotional, unable to control feelings
  • roused — woken from sleep
  • conviction — strong belief or certainty

I suppose that the high-water mark of my youth in Columbus, Ohio, was the night the bed fell on my father. It was a night of confusion and chaos, but I think my mother enjoyed it more than anyone.

The Sleeping Arrangements

My father decided to sleep in the attic one night, to be away where he could think. My mother opposed the idea strongly because, she said, the old wooden bed up there was unsafe: it was wobbly and if it fell, the heavy headboard would collapse right on my father’s head and kill him.

The rest of the household that night consisted of my mother; my brother Herman, who sometimes sang in his sleep; my cousin Briggs Beall, who believed he would die of suffocation during the night; and myself.

The Chain of Events

Briggs Beall was a strange young man. He believed that he was likely to stop breathing during the night. He had a conviction that if he was not awakened every hour during the night, he might die of lack of oxygen.

At about two o’clock in the morning, the memorable event began. My mother heard a strange sound from the attic. She immediately assumed that the heavy bed had fallen on my father. In her panic, she became hysterical and began to shout: “The bed fell! The bed fell on your father!”

This woke up Herman, who began to shout with her. It roused Briggs Beall, who immediately believed that the shouting was about him — that he had stopped breathing.

The Chaos

Briggs, convinced he was suffocating, grabbed a glass of water and poured it over himself. He then began to run through the house, wet and shouting. My mother continued to shout about the bed. Herman kept shouting. I tried to get out of bed but fell over a chair.

And then — at the height of all this confusion — my father appeared at the top of the stairs from the attic. The bed had not fallen on him at all. He had simply turned over in his sleep and bumped the wall.

“What in the world is going on down here?” he said calmly.

The next morning, my father made a rule that nothing that happened during the night was to be discussed before breakfast.

Reading Question: What caused each person to panic? How did their different fears create the chaos?

Vocabulary Review: attic | collapse | hysterical | roused | conviction

Difficulty: Intermediate • Reading Time: ~5 minutes