The Great Room Swap

     In the middle of the night, I went back to my room with my brother Jynja. He had wanted a glass of milk, and I went with him, because he’s afraid Meuka will jump out and attack. Also, I share a room with him, so it’s easiest just to go. I stumbled over something I was sure hadn’t been there before- hadn’t the Decorated Artificial Brain Tree been in the room my twin sister Abby shared with Sally and Gabby?

     As we approached our room, I heard muffles voices from inside- were Indy, Jessica, and Gwen playing a prank or something?

     I stifled a yell as Jynja flicked on the lights, and Jynja did something between a squeak and a shout- Ariel’s room had been moved where our room had been! Ariel looked up.

     “Where am I?” she said sleepily. “This isn’t my room, the door was over there, and the windows were there- oh, hello, what are you doing here?” she said dozily. “Your room is over there.”

     Jynja said sternly, “This is my room, so get out! I want to go back to sleep!”

     For an eight year old, he can be pretty bossy.

     I realized what had happened- again.

     Alex sometimes feels the need –when we’re asleep- to move around our rooms, with us in them. One time, she decided to build a garden where my old room was, and I woke up in a pond surrounded by gnomes.

     Jynja and I found our room- where the dining room had been, and tried to get some sleep. But as Jynja softly snored, I realized how we could stop Alex moving items without our permission. Usually, I’m fine with whatever she does; I even managed to laugh off the garden incident, but I realized enough was enough- this had to stop.

     The next morning, as Alex did some errands around Neopia, I called a meeting; even the toddlers were invited. I had a plan.

     “Okay, so here’s the deal,” I began. “Alex keeps on moving our stuff around without our permission, right?”

     Gwen, Sally, Terry, and Indy nodded, Abby said, “Uh huh,” and the two toddlers Jim and Harrison just nodded because everyone else was doing it.

     “We can get her to stop doing that. But I need everyone’s help.” I looked sternly at Abby. Because she is my twin, she often agrees last to my plans, mostly because she refuses to believe I can actually have good ideas. “Anyway,” I continued, “I think we can stop Alex moving our stuff.” Their eyes light up as I told the plan. Part A- Amazing and Awesome- was good to go.

     Alex seemed not to notice any of the small changes; we hoped she wouldn’t because she might get suspicious. The odd Poinsettia Basket in another room, the Punch Club Pie Plates that you weren’t supposed to talk about somewhere new, the vanity table moved ten or twenty inches- all part of the plan.

     We moved them slightly every day, until Alex began saying things like “Wasn’t that over there?” and “I thought that was in the next room” and we began saying “I don’t think that’s moved” and “No, it definitely hasn’t”. Time for Part B- Bigger, Better, Bolder.

     A week or so after Operation Move began; it was time to really mess it up. At midnight, when Alex was asleep, Abby, Sally, Gwen, Ariel, Indy, Jessica, and I crept into her room. Quietly, so as not to wake her, we moved every last thing in her room over to the next, empty, room. We then left, as quietly as we had come.

     The next morning, Alex came down to breakfast looking distinctly confused.

     “Wasn’t my bedroom in the next room over?” she asked. “I could have sworn it was.”

     We all assured her that her room had always been in that place, and she must be tired, because rooms couldn’t move in your sleep. Muttering, Alex left the room.

     As she left, we all heard her say, “Well, I must be drinking too many slushies- they’ve made my brain all funny. I could have sworn my stuff was in the next room. Oh well, I’ll move it there.”

     That night, we snuck into her room again, and carefully moved every piece into that empty room.

     Every morning, Alex would appear, looking more and more disheveled, and would always say “Didn’t I move that room?” and we would always assure her she hadn’t. A week later, it was time for part C- Cooler and Crazier.

     This time, during the night, we snuck in and not only moved Alex’s room to the empty room, we also moved the gnomes from one garden to another, beds from the bedrooms to the kitchen and visa versa, and another bedroom to the living room.

     This time, when Alex woke up, she looked very scared. “Are you sure the rooms weren’t changed? Are you completely sure?”

     As we assured her we were completely sure, little Harrison toddled in, clutching his blue plushie Lupe.

     We hadn’t told him not to tell Alex, so he said, “Mummy, they switched the rooms to teach you a lesson but it’s a secret.”

     Alex turned to look at all of us. Somehow, Gwen, Indy, and Jessica had disappeared, and the other girls were looking very innocent, as if they had had nothing to do with it. Alex turned to me.

     “Is this true?” she asked. “You have been switching rooms just to give me insomnia and keep me away from slushies? You better have a good explanation,” se thundered, looking distinctly upset.

     All eyes turned to me. I had better have a good explanation, or else I would be in a lot of trouble.

     “Ah, um,” I began. Not the best beginning. “We only switched rooms because we were tired of waking up with our rooms switched and we thought you wouldn’t listen so this was the only way,” I said, very quickly.

     To my surprise, Alex’s expression softened, and she pulled me into a big hug. “Oh, you should have told me you didn’t like having rooms switched; I thought you didn’t want the house to be boring. I’m so sorry,” she said. “That was a very devious trick, though. Mind games, I suppose, from that book I gave you to read.”

     I laughed nervously, still unsure why I wasn’t grounded until Kiko Lake wins the Altador Cup (which should be a while). “Um, actually, the plan was my own. It was in three phrases- Parts A, B, and C.” I continued on, explaining every detail of it to her, while she listened intently.

     After I finished, Alex began to talk. “I really should ground you for this, I should ground all of you, but, I realize, it’s as much my fault as yours, and I don’t want to ground myself,” she confessed.

     And so, from that day onwards, Alex never moved our rooms again.

     “Hey, why is the kitchen there? Ooh, are you writing a story for the NT?”

     “Jynja, did you move the living room? And yes, I am.”

     “Where did the bathroom go? No, I didn’t move the living room, I’m living in the same room.”

The End