Read Being the Adventures of a Knowledgeable Stingray, a Toughy Little Buffalo, and Someone Called Plastic for Free Online Page B

feels he’s got it made—all the importance and extra kisses of going to sleep on the high bed, and none of the boringness. He just waits until the Girl is asleep, then hops down—Bonk!—and lives it up until midnight, when he (very cleverly) positions himself below the edge of the bed, so it looks like he fell off by mistake, and goes to sleep till morning.
    StingRay feels this behavior is disrespectful. “It’s an honor to sleep on the high bed,” she complains. “You’re not taking it seriously.”
    She, Lumphy, and Plastic are watching cartoons in the living room while the Little Girl is at school. “I’m not sleepy at eight,” Lumphy says, when the show goes to a commercial.
    “Fine, then,” says StingRay. “Don’t get up on the bed.”
    “It’s not like I have a choice now.” Lumphy is smug.“The Little Girl takes me. She wants me, I guess, because of how much she loves me.”
    “When it’s bedtime,” explains StingRay, “you’re supposed to get in bed and stay there until morning.”
    “Why?”
    “Because people bigger than you want you to,” pipes up Plastic. “That’s why.”
    “Who knows the difference?” Lumphy asks. “The Little Girl doesn’t know I’m hopping down.”
    “
I
know,” says StingRay. “And I don’t like it.”
    “What
she
doesn’t know won’t hurt her. And I’m not sleepy at eight.” Lumphy goes back to watching the cartoon.
    … …
    But the Little Girl is no dummy. She notices Lumphy on the floor each morning by the side of the bed. One night, she gets a length of shiny green ribbon and ties it tohis tail. She ties the other end to her bedpost. “You won’t fall out now, sweetie buffalo,” she says, kissing his head an extra time to make up for all the bumps he must have suffered in his falls.
    “StingRay, look at my tail!” whispers Lumphy, when the lights are out and the Girl is asleep. “Take the ribbon off!”
    “No.”
    “Why not?”
    “The Girl wants you to have that ribbon. She goes to school. She knows what’s best for you.”
    “I know what’s best for me,” says Lumphy. “And this ribbon is not it.”
    StingRay wrinkles her nose. “You got covered with peanut butter, and then you got covered with jam,
    and then cookie batter,
and hummus,and soy sauce.
    You’re always getting dirty. How is that someone who knows what’s best?”
    “I’m older now,” says Lumphy. He walks to the edge of the bed, stretching the ribbon tightly. He leans forward, and feels the pull on his tail. “StingRay, help me!” he cries. “I’m tied up like a balloon!”
    “You wouldn’t be, if you’d stayed where you belong.”
    “My tail is killing me!” says Lumphy, lying. “I need to get down!”
    “Be quiet, or you’ll wake the Little Girl.” StingRay flips over and closes her eyes.
    … …
    Being tied up makes Lumphy feel frantic. The knots in the ribbon get tighter and tighter the more he pulls. He tugs harder and harder, grunting his buffalo grunts, andfinally jumps off the edge of the bed with the ribbon still attached to his tail.
    There is no bonk. Lumphy is upside down, tail side up, hanging in the air. He feels sick to his stomach.
    He tries to scramble back up the side of the bed, but he can’t get his feet turned around the right way.
    He wiggles and tries to lift his head up to chew on the ribbon, but his body is not very flexible.
    He is stuck.
    “Lumphy!” It is Plastic, rolling across the rug toward him. “Why are you upside down?”
    “Untie me,” cries Lumphy.
    “No hands,” says Plastic.
    “Pull me.”
    “No arms.”
    “Chew through the ribbon.”
    “No teeth,” says Plastic. “It’s normal for a ball.”

    “What
can
you do?”
    “Bounce.”
    “Bounce me, then,” says Lumphy. “Please.”
    Plastic rolls back to get a good start, and then she bounces herself hard at Lumphy, banging him against the side of the bed.
    “Harder!” cries Lumphy.
    Plastic bounces harder.
    And again.
    And a really hard