The Case of the Missing Bed
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Hello friends and welcome to Bedtime Stories with Mr. Jim. I was just getting ready for bed. Are you as well? Oh good. I hope you brushed your teeth and found all of your comfy things like pillows and blankets and stuffies. Oh yes, oh good. Well, as long as you have all those things ready,

Then it's time for our story. But first we must close our eyes so that we can travel to an imaginary world. Ollie and Theo finished brushing their teeth and headed into their room. They were ready to crawl into their bunk bed and curl up with their favorite snuggle bugs. Ollie flipped on the light and both boys froze. Ollie, where's our bed?

There next to their full bookshelf was a big empty space where their bunk beds were supposed to be. The boys spun around in their room trying to figure out what may have happened. "Maybe mom and dad moved it," suggested Ollie. The boys ran into their parents' room. Mom and dad's bed was there, but not their bunk bed. They ran down the hall to the office. There was mom's desk in one corner and the spare bed in the other.

But no bunk bed. The boys raced down the stairs. No bunk bed in the living room. No bunk bed in the playroom. No bunk bed in the kitchen. "Where did our bed go? How will we sleep?" they wondered. The boys were stumped. They didn't know how long their bed had been missing or where it may have gone. "It's a mystery. We need to get our detective Pax."

They went to the playroom and gathered their supplies. Ollie listed off his detective gear as he packed it into his bag. Magnifying glass, binoculars, notebook, and markers. Theo looked into his bag and did the same. Jump rope, gummy bears, and superhero masks. Ollie smiled at his little brother and continued leading the mission. "Let's start looking for clues."

He led them through the living room, where the dogs were lying on the rug. He saw the little dog, Eleanor, chewing on something. "'What's that, Ellie?' asked Theo as he picked it up. He held out a piece of cardboard from a delivery box. "'A piece of box. I wonder what was in there?' Ollie led them into the kitchen next.

On the other side of the island was a box ripped open on the floor. Hoping it was the next clue, the boys raced over to see what was inside. The box was empty, except for a receipt. Since Ollie could read, he picked up the receipt and read, Captain Shrinko and Shrink Ray Disaster Volume 1? Special surprise included?

Theo started to jump up and down. "'Ollie, this is just like the story. A villain stole the shrink ray and shrank all of Captain Shrinko's things.' Ollie looked at him, confused. He had never heard of this book, and it wasn't even in the box. "'Theo, how did you know that?' "'Because Dad read it to me tonight. Come on, I'll show you.' Now it was Theo's turn to lead the way."

He brought Ollie back upstairs to the reading nook in the hallway. Then he pointed to the book on the side of the gliding chair. Ollie skimmed through the story and he agreed that it sounded just like what was happening to them, except who was the villain? And where did the shrink ray come from? Was it the special surprise that was supposed to be in the box?

Ollie asked Theo these questions and Theo shrugged. "We should go back to the scene of the crime and investigate." The boys headed back into their room and looked in the corners of their bedroom, under the dresser, even in the drawers. Nothing had turned up. Theo thought for a second. Then he checked the dog bed. "Ollie, look!" There in Eleanor's bed was a strange device.

It was facing toward the empty space where the bunk bed was supposed to be. And worst of all, it was covered in bite marks. It looks like the special surprise in the box was a shrink ray. And Ellie got to it, groaned Ollie. He pulled out his magnifying glass. Let's check to be sure. He handed the magnifying glass to Theo.

who happily searched the floor, he crawled all around the empty space for a moment before the bunk bed. He passed the magnifying glass to Ollie so he could take a look. There in the middle of the floor was the teeniest, tiniest bunk bed the boys had ever seen. The only thing that could use it at this size were ants.

"I'm so sleepy though, what do we do?" "Well Theo, what happened in the story? How did Captain Shrinko get his things back to normal size?" "Oh yeah," said Theo, "the Reverso Switch." Theo ran up to the chewed up shrink ray and turned it round and round then on the bottom he found the switch. "Ready?" asked Theo.

He flipped the switch and pointed it to the floor. "Hey, be careful where you aim that thing," called Ollie. Theo tried to get control over it and held on tight. And as he did, the bunk bed grew bigger and bigger until it filled up the space it had gone missing from. Ollie and Theo were so happy. They took the shrink ray and placed it high up in the closet far, far away.

from their mischievous little dogs and curious little brothers. Exhausted from the night's surprise adventure, the boys jumped into their beds and happily fell asleep. A few minutes later, the dogs came into the boys' room. Eleanor sniffed the bed then searched for something underneath it. She pulled out a ginormous pretzel that had accidentally been hit with the shrink ray.

dragged it over her bed, and fell asleep. Well, friends, as we snuggle up with our pillows and blankets, may you have very sweet dreams. Good night.