Just wrapped up another two chapters from the story of King Arthur. As I closed the book Mojo joyously announced from the top bunk that he'd picked a giant toenail from his foot. Disgusted, I instructed him to take it to the waste-paper pail. "Oh, dang!" he said, and started climbing down the ladder. I watched from where I had been reading on the floor. Once he got to the bottom he stopped. Then he began patting the sheets of Cookie's bed on the lower bunk. "I dropped it," he said and I knew it was hopeless.

"Your brother will wake up tonight with a toenail stuck in his skin," I said. "Now get into bed." And I sang a Brak tune and turned out the light.