I once put a soft fluffy soft toy at “foot level” on Mrs T’s side of the bed to see what would happen when she got in. It didn’t end well.
It was a spontaneous thought and, to this day, I don’t know why I did it, but while she was brushing her teeth, I nipped into the kids room and grabbed one of their soft fluffy toys then carefully placed it at foot level on her side of the bed and carefully covered it with the duvet. I then crawled in and closed my eyes, pretending to sleep. Eventually, Mrs T came into the room all “la-de-da-de-da”, took her slippers off, switched off the bedside light and gently slid into bed.
There was a momentary pause as the tips of her toes touched fur, then a shriek of expletives as her knees overtook her shoulders as she rocketed out of bed. By the time I’d rolled over and switched the light back on, she’d bumped into all 4 walls, left the room and was already halfway down the stairs, shouting and screaming all the way.
She had to be coaxed back into the room again, wide eyed and hyperventilating and wouldn’t get back into bed until I rolled back the duvet and said “See – it’s one of the kids Furbies. I put it there”.
I should have left out the last sentence.
We had breakfast in silence the next morning and it was years before I did it again.