Prompt 35 - Jump

"Luke, stop jumping on the bed!"

Seven-year-old Luke ignored his uncle's call and kept jumping, his feet sinking down into the mattress before the springs bounced him back up over and over and over. Why didn't grownups ever understand how much fun it was to jump on the bed? Maybe if grownups jumped on the bed, they wouldn't be so serious all the time.

"Luke!" Uncle Owen was standing in the doorway now, a hand on each side of the frame, that you'd-better-listen-or-you'll-be-in-trouble-young-man expression on his face. "Luke, I told you to stop jumping on the bed!"

"Why?" Luke asked in a simple voice, bending his knees as he landed so he'd jump higher.

"Because it's dangerous," said Owen, folding his arms. "You could fall off the bed and break your legs."

"No I won't!" Luke insisted, now jumping around in circles. "I'm bein' careful!"

"Oh?" asked Owen. "Well that's just what Darth Vader said."

Luke's eyes suddenly widened as he sat in mid-air, landing on his bottom and still bouncing in a sitting position. "What're you talkin' about, Uncle Owen?"

Now Owen had a cheeky smile on his face as he shuffled up to his son's bed. "Well don't you know why Darth Vader has to wear a suit?"

Luke's eyes bulged. "Why?"

Owen sat next to his son on the edge of the bed. "Well, no one knows for sure, but some say that when he was little, he loved to jump on the bed. He'd jump on the bed every night – even though his mother told him not to, he never listened."

"Wait, Darth Vader had a mother?"

"Of course he did. Now listen, they say that one night, he jumped on the bed really hard. He jumped with shoes, too, so he sank real deep into the mattress and then the springs would throw him extra high."

"Wow!" exclaimed Luke. "I should try jumping on the bed with shoes too!"

"Now hold on a second, son," said Owen, rubbing his nephew's shoulder. "Listen to what happened first. See, little Darth Vader kept jumping and jumping and jumping and he was having the time of his life, but then his bed couldn't handle it anymore. When he landed, he fell right through the mattress!"

Luke gasped.

"And not only that," continued Owen, "but he was jumping so hard that he fell through the floor as well as the mattress! The doctors had to come real quick and it took them hours to get Vader out of the broken floor."

"What happened next?"

"Well, they took little Vader to a hospital, but he had jumped and landed so hard that he broke all his bones and needed to be put in a suit for the rest of his life. So you see, that's why you shouldn't jump on the bed."

Luke cocked his head up at his uncle. "Is that true?"

"Maybe," said Owen, kissing his nephew on the head. "Either way, you should stop jumping on the bed and get some sleep."

"Okay," said Luke, scooting under the covers. "G'night, Uncle."

"Good night, Luke." Owen stood up and started to leave the bedroom, but before he reached the door, Luke spoke up again.

"Uncle Owen?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm not gonna end up like Vader, am I?"

Owen gave a long sigh. "I sure hope not, Luke. I really, really hope not."