We haul all the furniture upstairs before Casen grabs the tools from the basement and places them beside me. My father and I start unpacking the bed to put it together, and Malik sets the mattress against the wall, removing the plastic covering.
“He will love this,” I tell my father, looking at the picture on the box.
The bed is a green race car. My father and I set to work putting it together and trying to follow the impossible instructions. We get the bed together only to pull it apart again when we realize we place the bottom support railing upside down and can’t screw the slats down flat from the joins.
“How did we mess that up?” My father says while scratching his chin and staring at the instructions again. “This is why I left the assembling to Shirley,” he says, and I laugh, turning the frame on the side to see if we can pull the brace off without completely undoing it.
“Hold that,” I tell him, and he grabs the frame while I remove the screws before flipping the brackets over.
Once in place, we turn the bed back the right way up. When I hear footsteps in the hallway, my father removes the bed slats from their bindings. I notice Jonah rubbing his eyes and standing in the doorway when I look up.
“Hey, little man,” dad says to him, and Jonah looks at him.
“What are you doing?” He asks, looking at me kneeling beside the bed. His little eyes light up at the race car bed.
“We are putting your bed together. That pop brought you,” I tell him.
“Is it for me?” He asks, bouncing on the balls of his feet excitedly as he stares at us.
“It’s all yours, and this will be your room,” my father tells him.
“Really? My room, with my bed? I never had my own bed,” he says excitedly, rushing over. I try not to let his words bother me.
“You want to help?” I ask him, and he nods excitedly. We place the bed slats down in their allocated spots before I grab the drill. “Come here,” I tell him, reaching for him and pulling him to stand in front of me.
I pass him the drill and place the screw in the hole in the slat. He struggles to hold it under its weight. Gripping the bottom, I show him how to do the first one before letting him do the next one. His tongue pokes out the side of his lips as he tries to line the drill piece up with the screw.
“Now, pull the trigger and press down,” I tell him. He jumps when the noise of the drill starts before screwing in the slat.
“I did it,” he squeals excitedly, jumping up and down, only for the drill to drop from his hands. It lands on my toes, making me hiss. “Ah, fuuuuudgiickles!” I only just manage to hold back the curses I want to sling at the pain, my hands clench, and my jaw locks shut as I try to breathe through it.
“Sorry!” Jonah shrieks, his lips turning to an O shape before he purses his lips. My toes are throbbing to their own beat when I look down to find my toes turning black, and one is bleeding. I force myself to wiggle my toes, so they heal.
Jonah bends down, examining my bleeding toe before he pokes it. “Does it still hurt?” He asks, jabbing it with his index finger. My father chuckles while I blink at the small boy as he continues to poke my foot. “You should be more careful where you put your feet,” he says, like it is my fault that he dropped it on my toe.
“Yes, I should start wearing steel cap shoes around you,” I tell him, shaking my head and picking up the drill.
“Want to do the rest?” I ask him, and his hands instantly reach for the drill. I keep my feet away and a hand on the drill this time as we set up his bed.
Sage
I wake to the bed empty, my heart hammers when I don’t feel Jonah.
Sitting up, I scan the room with my eyes to see the door is shut, but I can hear giggling coming from the other side of it. Grabbing my dressing gown, I see the sun going down out the window before glancing at the alarm clock – 5 pm. I slept the entire day away.
Opening the door, I walk down the hall to the open door at the end, where I can hear Jonah’s laughter coming from.
Pushing the door wide, I see the surveillance room has been turned into a child’s bedroom. Perfect for Jonah. A race car bed with matching green linen sits along one wall, and a blue and green dresser which matches the bed sits on the other wall. A bedside table with a car night lamp sits next to the bed, with dinosaurs and car wall decor stickers covering the walls. Jonah sits on the floor in Andrei’s lap as they play with matchbox cars on the car mat.
“Who did all this?” I gasp, looking around the room.
“I helped,” says Jonah, climbing out of Andrei’s lap and rushing over.
“You did?” I ask, looking around.
Andrei climbs off the floor and stands up, kissing my temple. “Dad went shopping and came home with this. I woke to them pulling the room apart,” he says, laughing softly.
“Your dad got all this for him?” I ask.
“Yep, Pop-Pop got it. Look, I have my own bed,” Jonah says excitedly, sitting on it and brushing the covers with his hands. I love how easily Jonah just slipped into the role of being our son and being everyone’s shining light.
“I didn’t want to wake you,” Andrei murmurs into my hair.
“Look, I have toys too,” Jonah squeals, rummaging through a toy bucket. He pulls out a dinosaur holding it up.
“Wow, isn’t he cool?” I ask, and Jonah makes roaring noises at me.
“Dinner is done,” Derrick calls out from downstairs.
“Quick, wash your hands and face so that you can have dinner,” I tell him, and he rushes to the bathroom.
“This is amazing. I can’t believe you all did all this while I slept,” I tell Andrei as he leads me out of the room.