Jaiden Deubler 顏丹

Once again， I found myself lying on the edge of my twin-size bed. I feared I might tumble1 over the side and onto the floor below if I so much as breathed. I had done it many times before. I didnt want tonight to be a repeat of all those other nights.

It was only about a two-and-a-half-foot drop. Regardless of the actual height of the bed， it still hurt when I fell. On top of the pain， the loud sound of my body hitting the floor usually told my parents downstairs that I had fallen out of the bed again. As I hung there on the edge， my body tense with the possibility of meeting the hard floor below. I felt those familiar paws2 pushing against my back. It was my cat， Smokey， who was currently taking up the entire bed while leaving just a small sliver3 of space for me.

I always started out in the middle of my bed， but somehow found myself being pushed toward the edge as the night progressed. The evening would start out with my gray companion jumping up onto the bed to curl up beside me. All would be well for a few minutes， but then I would start to feel two small paws push up against my back and shoulders. Naturally， I believed this gesture meant to scoot4 back a little， so I happily gave my furry5 friend some space so that it could sleep more comfortably. That way， it would have its space， and I would have mine.

Then I would feel those paws pushing up against my back again. Had I somehow shifted closer without knowing？ Feeling like a terrible pet owner and friend， I inched closer to the edge of my bed so that my cat would have its space again. This process would repeat until one thing happened—either I fell off the bed and hit the floor， or I got up and moved to the other side of the bed only to repeat the entire cycle.

I have no idea why I shared my warm bed to my cat so willingly. It slept all day anyway. I was the one who needed the rest. However， I was afraid that if I didnt please it， it would move on to one of my brothers rooms. It wouldnt have been so easy for it to take over my brothers beds. They wouldnt have yielded6 to those paws of it as easily as I did. It would have to be content7 with curling up into a ball at their sides if it wanted to stay with one of them. Why do that when it could trick me and take the entire bed for itself？

I recall8 several nights when I just ended up sleeping on the floor and let it have the whole bed to itself.

Well， that was about to stop. No longer was I going to allow myself to be controlled by my cat. It was lucky it even got to lie in bed with me. I could have easily closed my door and let it stay outside my room.

I suddenly realized that maybe Smokey was trying to teach me something by doing this to me every night. Maybe it was trying to teach me to stand up for myself and not let others push me around. It certainly never let anyone push it around or tell it what to do. Perhaps that was why it chose to sleep with me every night. It did it to teach me this important life lesson so that I would be better prepared for the future. That had to be it！ Well， I was certainly going to make this change right now. I was going to stand up for myself， starting with taking back my bed—thump！

我再一次發(fā)現(xiàn)自己躺在雙人床的床邊上。我擔心甚至只要我呼吸，就可能會從床邊翻下去摔在地板上。我以前摔過很多次。我可不想在今晚讓那些夜晚的經(jīng)歷重演。

摔落的高度大約有兩英尺半（0.8米左右）。不管床的實際高度如何，我摔下去時還是很疼。而且，我身體撞擊地板的巨響通常會告訴樓下的父母，我又從床上摔下來了。當我懸在床邊上時，我的身體因與下面堅硬的地板遭遇的可能性而緊張。我感覺到熟悉的爪子在推著我的背。那是我的貓，斯莫科，它現(xiàn)在正占據(jù)著整張床，只給我留下一小塊空間。

我總是一開始在床中央，但夜?jié)u深，我發(fā)現(xiàn)自己不知怎地被推向了床邊。夜晚會從我灰色的同伴跳上床并蜷縮在我身邊開始。幾分鐘里一切都好，但之后我會感覺到兩個小爪子用力推著我的后背和肩膀。很自然地，我認為這個姿勢是要我稍微讓開一點，所以我高興地給了我毛茸茸的朋友一些空間，那樣它可以睡得更舒服。這樣，它就有了自己的空間，我也有了自己的空間。

然后我會感覺到那些爪子又推到了我的背上。我是不是在沒意識到的情況下靠近了它？我感覺自己是個糟糕的寵物主人和朋友，同時慢慢靠近了我的床沿，這樣我的貓就會再次擁有它的空間了。這個過程會反反復復，直到發(fā)生一件事情——要么我從床上摔到地板上，要么我起來移到床的另一邊，重復這整個循環(huán)。

不知道為什么我如此心甘情愿地把我溫暖的床分享給了我的貓。反正它睡了一整天。而我才是那個需要休息的人。但是，我擔心如果我不取悅它，它就會跑到我兄弟們的一個房間去。占領我兄弟們的床對它來說可不容易。他們不會像我那樣輕易屈服于它的爪子。如果它想和他們中的一個呆在一起，它就得樂意蜷縮成一個球。為什么它能耍花招把我的整張床都占領了？

我記得有幾天晚上，我最后只能睡在地板上，讓它獨自擁有整張床。

好吧，這種情況就要停下來了。我再也不允許自己被貓操縱了。它很幸運能和我一起躺在床上。我本可以輕易地關上門，讓它待在我房間外面。

我突然意識到，也許斯莫科每晚都這樣對我，是想教我一些東西。也許它是想教我自己站起來，不要任人擺布。它當然從不讓任何人擺布它或告訴它該怎么做。也許這就是它選擇每晚和我睡的原因。它這樣做是為了給我上一堂重要的人生課，這樣我才能更好地為未來做好準備。一定是這樣！好吧，我現(xiàn)在一定要做出改變。我要為自己站起來，從奪回我的床開始——砰！

（英語原文選自：www.chickensoup.com）

【Notes】

1. tumble [? ? ?] vi. 摔倒;打滾

2. paw [? ? ?] n. （動物的）爪子

3. sliver [? ? ] n. 細片;少量

4. scoot [? ? ] vi. 溜走;快走

5. furry [? ? ] adj. 毛皮的;毛茸茸的

6. yield [? ? ] v. 屈服;放棄

7. content [? ? ] adj. 滿意的

8. recall [? ? ] vt. 回想起，記起