The Flying Bed: Episode 1-Saving the Ice Caps.

At bedtime, my two sons would demand only one story, the story of the flying bed. All other stories had been exhausted, our own folktales, the universal fairy tales, spy stories, robot stories, stories about famous people, etc., etc..I even made them listen to online stories but the clear voice and intonation made them even more awake than drowsy.

So, finally, at my wit's end, I invented the story of the flying bed. The big bed where the three of us slept was the main theme of the story and we three would be the great adventurers. We took along the Genie too, quietly sleeping inside his lamp at the footend of the bed. We would be Captain Columbus(regardless of my gender), Captain Optimus and Captain Maximus...no lieutenants except for Genie, our errand boy.

Our bed would be flying every night on an important mission and the boys would be so excited to be on a new adventure every night and I would be wracking my brain creating new episodes night after night.

Episode 1: Setting the bed on flying mode, we embarked on an important mission to Antarctica to study the melting polar ice cap. On the way we crossed the Arabian desert and there we saw Genie, with his typical blue complexion walking around quite aimlessly. We called out to him and he wanted to join us since the 'Arabian Nights' days were over and he had no particular work. But, we told him about the limited space in our bed to which he immediately disappeared inside his lamp and called out from inside to pick up the lamp and include him in the journey.

So, the four of us flew to Antarctica. The temperature dropped and we forgot to carry any warm clothing. But the bed was equipped for such exigencies. I switched on the temperature regulator and all was fine. We met some migrating birds too along the way, and had a race with them which we easily won. Due to amateurish navigation by Captain Optimus, we made a detour towards the Himalayas

. We could also see the Yeti colony in the Great Himalayas from above. 

Finally, we reached Antarctica. The polar ice cap was indeed melting. Captain Optimus and Maximus were very concerned about the dying penguins and the increasing waterline. They brought out a gadget from our flying bed which had almost everything that we needed. This gadget would check the rise in temperature for sometime and meanwhile we would plant more trees wherever we could to stop global warming.

The adventure had been quite taxing and it was time to go home. Putting the flying bed on homeward mode, we started on our homeward journey. We met the birds again, still flying. The compass and the navigator again made the same mistake taking us over the Himalayas again. The Yetis called out and we assured them that ice would still be there in the Himalayas because of our gadget. There was a slight technical snag with the bed due to the sudden change of temperature from the icy air to the warm tropical air but Genie who had been so quiet all this time brought out his flying carpet and bailed us out till the snag was rectified. It was now time to bid farewell to Genie but he wanted to be in our team always and so we let him come home with us.

We were approaching home fast. To avoid the neighbours' curiosity, we put the flying bed on 'invisible' mode and the roof of our house opened and we landed safely inside our bedroom. By now, an important mission was accomplished and the boys were tired and drowsy and ready for sleep feeling important to have done something for Earth! 

Phew! I heaved a sigh of relief. One bedtime story done. Good night, my boys! Sleep tight.