Bradley's favorite thing to do was jump on his bed.

His mama kept telling him, “Don't jump on the bed, Bradley. One day you'll fly through the air and land on something and hurt yourself.”

But Bradley never listened to his mama. Each morning after he woke up, he'd jump on the bed. Sometimes his pillow fell off. Sometimes the blankets did. If Bradley jumped high enough he could see out of his bedroom window. If he jumped really high, he could see his mama's car in the driveway and the oleander bushes blooming in front of the house.

One morning Bradley climbed out of bed and put on his clothes. His mama had told him not to jump on the bed and he was going to do just like she asked. He pulled the blanket up over the pillow and tucked it in. He was about to put his stuffed tiger on the pillow when he started to giggle. “Mama will never know if I jump just a little bit.” He climbed on the bed and jumped. “Whee! Whee! Whee!” He went higher and higher. “I can see Mama's car. I can see the oleander bushes. I can see Mr. Ogilvy's dog.”

He was paying so much attention to the things he saw out of the window that his foot slipped off the bed. He went flying across the room and landed with a crash on his toy car. It broke into pieces and hurt Bradley's leg. He sobbed and shouted for his mama.

Mama came running when she heard Bradley's cries. She saw the covers lying on the ground. “Bradley, have you been jumping on your bed after I told you not to?”

Bradley kept his head hung and didn't look at his mama.

“You have. Now look what's happened. You've hurt your leg and broken your brand new toy car.” Mama picked him up and put him on the bed. “I'm going to have to take you to the doctor, Bradley.”

Bradley cried and didn't want to go, but Mama took him anyway. His leg was broken and the doctor had to put a cast on it. When they got home, Mama told Bradley to lie on the couch. She went into his room and made his bed and then brought him some broth and a sandwich. She carried through his favorite toy car and threw it in the trash. “I guess you'll not be jumping on your bed any more, will you, Bradley?”

Bradley ate his soup. “No, Mama. I will never jump on my bed again. I promise.” And he never did.