and Jeffery were leaning over the edges of their beds, watching the scene below them with warm smiles on their faces.

 

If ever I’m not with you,
If ever you're alone.
Remember where my heart is,
And you’ll always have a home

 

She laid him back down onto the pillow and kissed him on top of the head.

 

Remember where my heart is,
And you’ll always have a home

 

At the last line of the song, Chris Cloudkicker drifted off to sleep…

 

Chapter Six                                                          

FLASH! Bunny Rabbit Chris!  

Chris was gliding among the clouds, the wind blowing through his fur, obliterating all worries and cares from the young bear cub’s mind. It was the most wonderful and relaxing feeling.

He continues to glide on top of the yellow, creamy clouds on an airfoil, looking left and right, watching all the different birds flying around him. He giggled and laughed as a flock of birds flew all around him, tickling his face with their outstretched wings. And then the birds soared upward toward the sun. Chris watched them go with an awed look on his face, thinking how pretty they were.

Then, all of a sudden, the pink and gold sky turned dark and the clouds moved out from under him, revealing that he was ten thousand feet up in the air. For a moment, he froze, feeling an acrophobic panic attack coming on before he let out a yell.

“Ahh! What’s going on?” he shrieked with fright, nervously glancing around at his surroundings, which were now dark and stormy-looking clouds.

He gasped, panicking as a rumble of thunder sounded and the airfoil fell away from the bottom of his feet before he started falling himself.

“No! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” he screamed, his voice echoing as he fell.  “AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!”

As he was falling, he spotted Kit gliding toward him on an airfoil. He let out a breath of relief— he was safe, his big brother was coming to rescue him! 

 “Chris, grab my hand, hurry!” Kit yelled, looking terrified for Chris’ safety.

Chris made a grab for Kit’s hand but missed. He gasped in panic as he fell away from Kit, falling out of the sky like a ten-ton brick, screaming as he fell down, down, down…

Up above, Kit made a determined face, put away his airfoil and dived after Chris.

“KITTTTTTTTTTT!” Chris yelled as he was being swallowed by the darkness. “Save me, big brother!”

The next thing Chris knew was that he was thrashing around on his bed with someone standing over him, shaking him awake.

“Chris… Chris! Wake up, little brother!” said Kit’s voice above him. “You’re having a nightmare, wake up!”

Chris stopped thrashing around and opened his eyes weakly, feeling scared and confused. He blinked, looking around until his eyes rested upon Kit, who was standing over him at the side of his bed. Chris then let out a sob and threw himself onto Kit, wrapping his arms tightly around Kit’s neck and clung on like magnet on metal, crying into his shoulder.   

 

Kit wrapped his arms comfortingly around his little brother, rocking him back and forth and patting the back of Chris’ head very gently.

“Shh, Chris, it’s alright…” Kit said soothingly. “It was just a bad dream; you’re safe, little brother, shh…”

Chris calmed down and ceased his crying, but still clings to Kit like a kitten on a tall tree.

“Chris, do you want me to sleep with you?” Kit asked, knowing that his brother was too terrified from the nightmare and therefore, unlikely to let go of him anytime soon.

“Mm-hmm.” Chris nodded his head against Kit’s chest, a hint of a sob in his voice.

Kit kissed Chris on top of the head and gave him a comforting squeeze before laying him gently back down onto the bed. Chris was feeling much calmer since Kit comforted him. He relaxed as his big brother guided his head onto the pillow.

“Okay then, scoot over.” Kit said, pushing Chris back against the wall on the other side of the bed. He then climbed into bed and laid there next to his brother. Chris then snuggled himself up against Kit’s side, holding on to Kit’s arm and was asleep within minutes.

On the top bunk, Jeffery was watching the brotherly scene below, wishing for the umpteenth time that he had a brother like Kit, who would go to the ends of the earth to comfort Chris and get what he needs.

Kit looked up, noticing Jeffery watching them from his bunk.

“What’s up, Jeff?” he whispered up to him, so not to reawaken Chris.

“Oh, nothing…” Jeffery whispered back. “I just—no, it’s nothing, go back to sleep.” Jeffery rolled over, away from the edge of his bed so that he could not see the brotherly scene below. And then, Jeffery begins to sob softly into his pillow.

“Jeff, c’mon, you can tell me.” Kit urged him in a whisper from below. “What’s wrong?”

Jeffery wiped his eyes on his pillowcase before he rolled over to the edge of his bunk, looking down at Kit again.

“Nothing’s wrong, Kit,” he assured Kit. “It’s just that…” he hesitated. “It’s just—you and Chris, you two are everything I ever wanted for…”

“For what?” Kit asked, confused.

 “Brothers!” Jeffery said a little louder than a whisper, it was more of a hiss. “I want you and Chris for brothers,” he paused to let out a sob that was fighting to get out, tears running down his furry cheek. “I—I want a brother!”   

 “Oh…” Kit said awkwardly, not knowing what to say, for he knew that he couldn’t make a brother for Jeffery appear out of thin air and Melissa was slowly approaching the age where she would be past the age of child bearing in a few years.

Silence fell between them for a few minutes.

“Look, forget I said anything,” Jeffery said finally, rolling over in his bunk again.

Kit heard a soft sob and knew that Jeffery was crying into his pillow. He knew Jeffery had it a little rough growing up and being the only child was making him feel lonely, having all that he has and not being able to share it with a  sibling, like a brother.

He disentangled himself from Chris’ clutches very gently so not to wake him up. He rolled out from the bottom bunk and started to climb up to Jeffery’s top bunk, which was on the same level as his own bunk, separated by the corner. He got into Jeffery’s bunk and pulled the silently sobbing bear cub into a sitting position, away from his damp pillow and embraced him very tightly, pressing Jeffery’s face to his chest.  

“There, there, Jeff…. Shh….” Kit said soothingly in Jeffery’s ear. “It’s okay… Look, even your Mom can’t magically make you a brother and I know that you want one badly, but—”

“I want a brother more than anything!” Jeffery sobbed, holding on to Kit in the embrace. “I’d trade all of my stuff for just one brother! What wouldn’t I give to have a big or little brother?”

“Shh… calm down, Jeff…” Kit said, patting Jeffery on the back, while wondering how in the world did he suddenly became everybody’s comforter and guide. “Tell you what, Jeffery, Chris and I will be your brothers—surrogate brothers, we’re so much like brothers anyway, so why not make it official?” 

“You—you really mean it?” Jeffery sniffed, staring at Kit with wonder. He wiped away a few tears and his nose on a sleeve. “Sorry about that,” he muttered, looking slightly ashamed of himself. “When I’m sad, I get like that…”

Kit knew Jeffery was referring to his emotional side and hugged him tightly.

“No need to apologize, Jeff, you’ve got nothing to be sorry for.” Kit said gently. “You can’t help it…. And to be honest, I wanted a brother everyday before I met Chris. I wanted a Dad everyday before I met Baloo. And a Mom before I met Miss Cunningham. They may be my surrogate parents, but they’re as good as real parents to me and Chris. And Molly’s been like my sister from day one. At least you have a real Mom and a good one at that. Do you know how many people would kill for a Mom like yours? You’re so blessed to have her.”     

“Yeah,” Jeffery sniffed, sounding cheered up somewhat. “I don’t know what I’d do without her, she’s the best Mom in the world and I love her so much.”

“And she’s been a wonderful aunt to me and Chris and we love her too.” Kit said, smiling with a hand on Jeffery’s shoulder. “Anyway, we’ll make you our surrogate brother; we could be the Cloudkicker Trio.”

“But, I’m not a Cloudkicker, Kit, I can’t cloudsurf.” Jeffery said, sounding as though he thought he wasn’t worthy of the Cloudkicker name.

“Neither can Chris and he’s scared of heights, not exactly what you’d call a Cloudkicker quality.” Kit said, shrugging. “Beside, you’re as much of a Cloudkicker as you are a Cunningham.”  

“Okay…so can I be the

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