When I put myself down into the seat of the rocking chair, I fail to miss the purple nerf ball that rests on the pillow. Oh, and same for the maroon colored dress sticking out of the plastic shopping bag next to it. But whatever, the day is old and my energy is waning.
John is jumping on the bed. Up. Down. Up. Down. I imagine what it looks like to see our house, the yellow light spilling from the windows to the darkness outside. Peaceful, except for the window with the little boy clad in blue volleying up and down.
Rosie brushes past me and sits down on a small plastic chair against the other window. She sets down a pair of pink slippers.
“In the white house,” she says, “it’s a rule to not jump on the bed.”
I sit up. That’s interesting. A rule to not jump on the bed.
“Did you hear about those monkeys, eh Rosie?” I ask. “About the jumping on the bed.”
“Yes, they bounced on their heads.”
“Rosie,” John says, in midair. “No, its not that way. Its not that those monkeys were jumping. No. Those monkeys, they were jumping too high. They were jumping like this.”
John then jumps really high and does a jack knife back on to the mattress.
That’s gotta hurt, right?
“I am glad that you do not jump, John,” says Rosie.
“No, Rosie, those monkeys were flipping around, too.”
John elevates, twists, and extends his body with his arms narrowly against his side. He lands flat on his back. The springs propel him up.
Rosie crunches her eye brows. She raises her hand, points a finger, and speaks again.
“John, I am glad that you do not jump on the bed, John,” Rosie repeats.
John gets off the bed. He turns and stands on the small small circular trampoline, about 30 inches in diameter, that we keep in his room. He bounces once, then leans forward and springs into a forward twist, arms tucked around his knees, in a 360 degree circle. He lands in a perfect cannonball. Bam!
I spring out of the chair. “Let’s brush teeth!”
—
No one follows me. I hesitate at the door to our hallway bathroom. I can hear more commotion. I turn and go back into John’s room. They are both jumping.
Samson Doggie 