On my tiptoes I made my way thru the plane with the words "MINE! MINE! MINE!" chanting thru my brain. Following the chants was the memory of the discussionwe had all had sitting around that huge assed table. Kevin, with his booming voice had said, and I quote,

"NO ONE is getting the bed."

Ok, Ok, yes, I think we did take the bickering just a little to far but does he forget who he's dealing with here? I think not! So with that, being the little rebel that I am, continued to make my way to the back of the plane with the thoughts swirling on just how great that bed was gonna feel. So far I have fell asleep on one of the few couches on the plane and one of the chairs. Yes, they look plush and comfy but let me assure you, they are not. But then again, I'm a pretty big guy. Big Guy+small couch=a lot of cricks when one wakes up. It's not a peasant feeling. And they wonder why I wake up cranky...pffft!! As I entered the "bedroom" I noticed that my other brothers had had the same idea as me.

"HEY!! Wait a freakin minute here!" by mind yelled. I'M the sneaky one of the bunch. I mean Brian comes in a close second but I have always prided myself on being the sneaky, conniving, prankster of the bunch.

Yup, you guessed it, they had ALL beaten me to the punch. I was quite proud actually. They did, after all, learn from the master. Then a wide smile crossed my face I imagine cuz I just had a doozy (yes I just said doozy, I'm a dork, what can I say*shrugs*) of an idea.

"Ok" I whispered to myself, "they wanna do it the hard way, I'll gladly do it that way." I mean, after all, these guys knew me better than my own family did. Did they really think I wouldn't retaliate in some way? Come on now.

As I stood a few feet from the end of the bed I took in the sight in front of me for the first time since entering the room. Howie was on the end, looking all snug asleep on his belly. Next to him was Brian, mouth agape (wow! Big word for me, well not big as in letterwise but, well, you know what I mean damnit, and quit laughin at me!) with a slight snore rousing from those huge nostrils. I'm surprised he wasn't snoring louder. Then again, I'm told I hold that title as well. And then we have dear AJ, practically hanging off the side of the bed. I smiled which, I'm sure, turned quite wicked as my eyes lit on him. Ok, it's now or never (no pun intended) I thought to myself.

I squatted down and wiggled my butt (just like a kitty does when getting ready to pounce on something) which I'm sure was quite a sight (eat your heart out fans!!). And with that made a flying leap between Howie and Brian landing with a wave of a thud.

I wasn’t disappointed with the reaction I got. It was what I was going for. Oh to have had Kevin's handy, dandy video camera. Howie shot straight up along with Brian. AJ, well his was the most I was looking toward to seeing. Yup, you guessed, THUD!! He hit the floor in a heap.

"What the HELL do you think your doing Nicky!" Howie screamed at me.

From Brian I received a nice whap on the head from his pillow. I think he was not surprised at all at what I had just done. Seriously tho, none of them really should have been. Now AJ, hehe, I think I saw my life flash before my eyes as he slowly picked himself off the floor. That glare he has, man, that can cut right thru a person. I had been on the receiving end of that glare several times thru the years. But I think the exhaustion from this little escapade were on had set in so much that he just glared at me and crawled back into the bed.

So we finally all laid back down and got settled and I think I dozed off with my trademark "Carter Smirk" on my face as I fell into a deep sleep along with the rest of the fellas.

Little did I know that while we lay there passed out that Kevin had snuck in at some point in time and took this picture:

I'm so proud that some of my sneakiness had rubbed off on him as well.

And God, Don’t I look uncomfortable? How in the hell did I sleep like that?!?!

When we woke up (in several compromising positions I might add) I was filled in by what had taken place for them to have been in that big ol bed in the first place.....

*****************

“PSSST!! Brian?” I whispered. “You awake?”

*Well, I am now. What did you expect when you poked me in the head several times PPSTTTing in my ear?” Brian said.

“Sorry, I just wanted to know if you wanted to sneak back into the bed with me” I said with a devilfish look on my face.

Brian thought for a moment and came to the conclusion that ANYTHING was better than this crampy old chair he was scrunched up in. He may be a lil guy but this is ridiculous!

*Ok, but you know we will pay dearly if Kevy finds out, right?” he said.

*Oh Kevy Smevy” I responded. “He’s not the boss of us” I said but thinking full well the wrath of Kevin would be well worth it if that meant being comfortable sleeping for once during this hellish trip.

What we didn’t realize was that Howie was only pretending to be asleep. With his track record with sleeping neither of us even suspected he wasn’t asleep.

So he followed us as we made our way back to the bed. As Brian and I laid down Howie decided to make his presence known.

“What do you think YOUR doing?” I asked.

“Same as you” he retorted.

“Well, with the three of us there should be plenty of room. Let’s just hope Nick doesn’t wake up as well” Brian commented, “he’d take up the whole damn thing and his snoring would vibrate us off the bed”.

We all just laughed and got comfortable and fell asleep very soon after.

*******************

As I told AJ that I hoped Nick would not wake up, I knew better. No one knew that kid better than I did. I just KNEW he was gonna do SOMETHING, I just didn’t know what and I knew it was not gonna be good. I had taught him too well.......