Ash reads Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:01]Ira sleeps over by Bernard Waber.

[00:00:11]I was invited to sleep at Reggie's house. Was I happy? Oh, I had never slept at a friend's house before.

[00:00:22]But, I had a problem.

[00:00:25]It began when my sister said, "Are you taking your teddy bear along?"

[00:00:31]"Taking my teddy bear along?" I said, "To my friend's house? Are you kidding?

[00:00:36]That's the silliest thing I ever heard.

[00:00:37]Of course I'm not taking my teddy bear."

[00:00:43]And then she said, "But you've never slept without your teddy bear before."

[00:00:50]"How will you feel sleeping without a teddy bear for the very first time, hm?"

[00:00:57]"I feel fine. I feel great. I will probably love sleeping without my teddy bear. Just don't worry about it." I said.

[00:01:10]"Who's worried?" she said.

[00:01:13]But now she had me thinking about it.

[00:01:17]Now she really had me thinking about it.

[00:01:20]I began to wonder, "Suppose I won't like sleeping without my teddy bear.

[00:01:26]Suppose I just hate sleeping without my teddy bear."

[00:01:32]Hm.

[00:01:33]>> [clears throat] >> "Should I take him?"

[00:01:38]"Take him."

[00:01:40]said my mother.

[00:01:42]"Take him." said my father.

[00:01:44]"But Reggie will laugh." I said. "He'll say I'm a a baby."

[00:01:51]"He won't laugh." said my mother.

[00:01:54]"He won't laugh." said my father.

[00:01:59]>> [laughter] >> "He'll laugh." Said my sister.

[00:02:03]I decided not to take my teddy bear.

[00:02:10]That afternoon I played with Reggie.

[00:02:12]Reggie had plans, big plans.

[00:02:16]"Tonight," he said, "when you come over to my house, we're going to have fun, fun, fun. First, I'll show you my junk collection, and after that we'll have a wrestling match, and after that a pillow fight, and after that we'll do magic tricks, and after that we'll play checkers, and after that we'll play dominoes, and after that we can fool around with some my magnifying glass."

[00:02:41]"Great." I said. "I can hardly wait."

[00:02:46]"By the way," I asked, "what do you think of teddy bears?"

[00:02:53]But Reggie just went on talking and planning as if he had never heard of teddy bears. "And after that," he said, "do you know what we can do after that?

[00:03:02]I mean, when the lights are out and the house is really dark, guess what we can do?"

[00:03:07]"What?" I asked. "We can tell ghost stories."

[00:03:14]"Ghost stories?" I said. "Ghost stories." Said Reggie. "Scary, creepy, spooky ghost stories."

[00:03:21]I began to think about my teddy bear.

[00:03:26]"Does your house get very dark?"

[00:03:29]I asked.

[00:03:30]"Uh-huh." Said Reggie.

[00:03:33]"Very, very dark?"

[00:03:35]"Uh-huh." Said Reggie.

[00:03:38]"By the way," I said again, "what do you think of teddy bears?"

[00:03:45]Suddenly Reggie was in a big hurry to go someplace. "See you tonight." He said.

[00:03:52]"See you." I said.

[00:03:54]I I decided to take my teddy bear.

[00:04:00]"Good."

[00:04:01]said my mother.

[00:04:02]"Good." said my father.

[00:04:05]But my sister said, "What if Reggie wants to know your teddy bear's name?

[00:04:12]Did you think about that?

[00:04:14]And did you think about how he will laugh and say Tata is a silly baby name even for a teddy bear?"

[00:04:22]"He won't ask." I said. "He'll ask." she said.

[00:04:27]>> [sighs] >> I decided not to take my teddy bear.

[00:04:32]At last it was time to go to Reggie's house.

[00:04:35]"Good night." said my mother.

[00:04:38]"Good night." said my father.

[00:04:40]"Sleep tight." said my sister.

[00:04:44]I went next door where Reggie lived.

[00:04:48]That night Reggie showed me his junk. He showed me his flashlight, his collection of bottle caps, a chain of chewing gum wrappers, some picture postcards, an egg timer, jumbo goggles, a false nose and mustache, and a bunch of old rubber stamps, and a label from his father's office.

[00:05:07]We decided to play office with the rubber stamps.

[00:05:13]After that we had a wrestling match. And after that we had a pillow fight. And after that Reggie's father said, "Ooh.

[00:05:22]Bedtime."

[00:05:24]"All ready." said Reggie.

[00:05:26]"All ready." said his father. We got into bed.

[00:05:30]"Good night." said Reggie's father.

[00:05:33]"Good night." we said.

[00:05:36]Reggie sighed.

[00:05:38]I sighed.

[00:05:41]"We can still tell ghost stories." said Reggie.

[00:05:46]"Do you know any?" I asked.

[00:05:49]"Uh-huh." said Reggie.

[00:05:51]Reggie began to tell a ghost story.

[00:05:54]"Once upon a time was that once there was this ghost and he lived in a haunted house only he did mostly the haunting himself. This house was empty except for this ghost because nobody wanted to go in near this house so they were so afraid of this ghost. And uh every night this ghost would walk around this house and make all kinds of clunky like creaky sounds. A room boom. A room boom. I mean like that."

[00:06:23]"And he would he would go around and look for people to scare because that's what he liked most to do scare people.

[00:06:32]And he was uh very scary to look at. Oh, was he scary to look at."

[00:06:41]Reggie stopped.

[00:06:43]"Are you scared?" he asked.

[00:06:46]"Um uh-huh." I said. "Are you?" "What?"

[00:06:50]said Reggie.

[00:06:53]"Are are you scared?"

[00:06:55]"Just just a minute." said Reggie.

[00:06:58]"I have to get something."

[00:07:00]"What do you have to get?" I asked.

[00:07:03]"Um something." said Reggie. Reggie pulled the something out of a drawer. The room was dark and but I could see it had fuzzy arms and legs and was about the size of a teddy bear.

[00:07:16]I looked again.

[00:07:17]It It was a teddy bear.

[00:07:21]Reggie got back in the bed.

[00:07:23]"Now about this ghost." he said.

[00:07:27]"Is Is that your teddy bear?" I asked.

[00:07:30]"What?" said said Reggie.

[00:07:33]"Is that your teddy bear?"

[00:07:36]"You mean this teddy bear?"

[00:07:39]"The one you're holding." I said.

[00:07:41]"Uh-huh."

[00:07:42]Reggie answered.

[00:07:44]Do you sleep with him all the time?

[00:07:45]What? said Reggie. Do you sleep with him all the time?

[00:07:50]Uh-huh.

[00:07:53]Does your teddy bear have a name?

[00:07:55]Does your teddy bear have a name? I said louder.

[00:07:58]Uh-huh, Reggie answered.

[00:08:01]What is it?

[00:08:04]You won't laugh? said Reggie.

[00:08:06]No, I won't laugh, I said.

[00:08:09]Promise?

[00:08:10]I promise.

[00:08:13]It's Fufu.

[00:08:17]Did you say Fufu?

[00:08:19]Uh-huh, said Reggie.

[00:08:21]>> [sighs and gasps] >> Just a minute, I said. I have to get something.

[00:08:27]What do you have to get? Reggie asked.

[00:08:29]Uh, something, I answered.

[00:08:32]The next minute I was ringing my own doorbell. The door opened.

[00:08:37]Hi Ira, everyone said. What are you doing here?

[00:08:40]I changed my mind, I answered.

[00:08:42]You what? said my mother.

[00:08:44]You what? said my father.

[00:08:46]You what? said my sister. She was still up.

[00:08:49]I changed my mind, I said. I decided to take Tata after all.

[00:08:53]I went upstairs.

[00:08:56]Soon I was down again with Tata. My sister said, Reggie will laugh. You'll see how he'll laugh. He just won't he'll just go going to fall down laughing.

[00:09:08]He won't laugh, said my mother.

[00:09:10]He won't laugh, said my father.

[00:09:13]He won't laugh, I said.

[00:09:15]I came back to Reggie's room.

[00:09:17]I have a teddy bear, too, I said. Do you want to know his name?

[00:09:22]I waited for Reggie to say, Uh-huh, but Reggie didn't say, Uh-huh. Reggie didn't say anything.

[00:09:28]I looked at Reggie.

[00:09:30]He was fast asleep, just like that.

[00:09:33]He'd fallen asleep.

[00:09:35]Reggie, wake up, I said. You have to finish telling the ghost story.

[00:09:39]But Reggie just held his teddy bear closer and went right on sleeping.

[00:09:44]And after that, well, there wasn't anything to do after that.

[00:09:48]Good night, I whispered to Tata, and I fell asleep, too.

[00:09:55]Good night.

[00:09:57]I love you.