When your brothers have the room next to you

Since the boys room is next to mine, when they open the door so fast that it slams into the wall, it knocks things off my shelf, and there is nothing nicer than having the rocks that you have collected and stored nicely in their own compartments come falling down off the wall like rain. They also like run up and down the hallway, and it gets even better when Dad joins them for "Tickle Time" SLAM, (he he), PATTER, patter, patter, their foot steps get quieter as they move on in the house and then they turn around, patter, patter, patter, (he he he), PATTER, and once again, SLAM, (he he he)! M. also uses a flashlight to read during the night, and it shines on the wall across from our rooms casting shadows. However great the disadvantages to having the boys room next to yours, it also can be quite soothing to listen to the boys as they begin to wind down for the night. We all sleep with our doors open at night, and hence, I can hear the boys quietly chatting with each other as they drift off to sleep. I hear all about B-747s (which actually do happen to be pretty awesome planes) and things that happened during the day; about how the cow did this and their goats did that and M. found a butterfly and Bunny forgot his tool set. The sweetest thing is when M. reads books aloud to Bunny, for he has a different sort of voice when he does it, sort of a hushed soft sing-song voice, as if acknowledging the fact that all the house is asleep. Once Bunny drifts off, M. again returns to his beloved book “100 Best Stories of WWII”, reading sometimes until eleven, and till he can keep his open no longer or Dad comes and tells him to put his book away and get some sleep. And then to hear the sounds of little brothers sleeping, M’s heavy snore and Bunny’s quiet soft snore, the squeak of their bed as they turn in the night, and the loud thud of books falling off the top bunk when M. forgets to put it away before he goes to sleep.