Latest / Dad’s Bedtime Stories / Fern and the Secret of Shapeshifting - A Bedtime Story

Transcript

Fern and the Secret of Shapeshifting - A Bedtime Story · Dad’s Bedtime Stories

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: He Hello, friends from across the nation and around the world.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: I'm Martin, and you are listening to Dad's Bedtime Stories.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Tonight we have a very special treat for you because
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: tonight I'm finally doing a guaranteed story idea for one
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: of our contest winners. Let's have a listen, Okay, so
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: welcome everyone we have with us today Audrey and Audrey
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: won the art contest for Dad's Bedtime Stories that I
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: did quite a while ago, and we've finally gotten together
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: to give me her guaranteed story idea. So, Audrey, what
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: are you thinking for the guaranteed story idea?
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: I'm thinking it will be about a girl who wakes
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: up as a fox and when she goes into the
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: living room, they tell her that she's a shape shift
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: her and she gets to go on an adventure and
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: learn how to use her shape shifting powers.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: So like her family always knew she was a shape shifter, yes,
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: and she but she's confused they never told her before.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: She just turns into a fox and she goes downstairs
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: and they're like, oh, yeah, by the way, you're a
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: you're a shape shifter.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah. It's like a coming of age thing and she
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: wakes up as a fox and then they're like, oh yeah,
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: and also you're a shape shifter.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Oh that's cool. What, like what kind of adventure you
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: think she goes on.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: I'm thinking that the parents will like teach her how
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: to swim as a fish. They'll like take her to
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: the ocean and teach her how to transform into some
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: kind of ocean animal whim, and then teach how to
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: fly as like a bird and how to like run
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: as a four legged animal.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: How long have you been listening to Dad's bit types?
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: I have to say at least a year and a half.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Oh that's a long time. What was it? Do you
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: remember the first story you ever heard?
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: Like?
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: What made you start listening?
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: I think we started with the first episode. Okay, it
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: took us a while to like catch up.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, probably probably like years almost. Unless you listen to
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: multiple ones every day, it.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: Does shake me a while to get to bed. So
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: sometimes I'll listen to like two and Night.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Oh nice, And what's your favorite series so far?
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: I liked the Bedtime Storytime episodes.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: I think I like the random ones. Yeah, this will
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: kind of be an episode of Bedtime story Time too. Now,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: Audrey and I did talk some more, and she did
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: give me some more ideas on you know, exactly how
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: she thought the story would go, and I've incorporated those
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: into the story. But I didn't want to ruin it
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: for you by telling you exactly what would happen first,
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: so you're just gonna have to listen and find out.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much to Audrey for both agreeing to
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: interview with me, for coming up with the story idea,
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: and for the wonderful art that inspired it. If you
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: like the podcast and have a suggestion for it, you
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: can always leave me a voicemail on speak pipe, fill
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: out the Google form, or you know, just send me
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: an email or something. And if you you want add
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: free episodes or just feel like supporting the podcast a
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: little extra, you can join us on Patreon. But now
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: we should probably get on with the story. After a
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: possible word from a possible sponsor, of course, time to
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: close your eyes, get as comfy as you can in
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: that bed, and imagine yourself doing what the kid Fern
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: in the story does. Fern was having a very strange dream.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: She knew it was, at least she thought she did.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: She was standing in the middle of a forest at night,
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: surrounded by enormous pine trees that stretched high above her,
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: moonlight seeping in through the branches. Everything was quiet. Then
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: something moved behind the trees. Fern turned to see a
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: fox step into the moonlight and was beautiful. Its fur
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: was deep orange, almost red, with black legs and bright
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: white fur beneath its chin. Its enormous fluffy tail swayed
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: slowly behind it. The fox looked directly at Fern. Fern
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: looked directly back. Neither of the moved. Then the fox
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: turned and ran. Fern didn't know why, but she ran
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: after it. She ducked beneath branches and jumped over fallen trees,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: following flashes of orange fur through the darkness. The fox
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: was fast, really fast, so Fern pushed herself harder, and
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: then something strange happened. She stopped feeling her feet hitting
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: the ground, and instead she felt four paws. Fern looked down,
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: orange legs flashed beneath her. She'd become the fox, and
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: somehow this didn't seem strange at all. Fern raced through
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: the forest. She bounded over logs she never would have
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: attempted to jump as a human. She squeezed between bushes
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: without slowing down. She heard tiny animals moving beneath leaves
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: and smelled things she hadn't even realized had smells. A
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: rabbit had passed beneath a bush, a deer had walked
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: through here earlier. Something small was hiding under that log.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: Fern could almost see the smells around her. She ran faster,
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: her paws barely seemed to touch the ground. She darted
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: around trees, scrambled over rocks, and squeezed beneath a fallen
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: trunk before bursting into a clearing. She stopped. The moon
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: hung high above her. Fern lifted her nose and smelled
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: the cool night air. For some reason, being a fox
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: felt completely natural. Then Fern opened her eyes. She was
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: back in her bedroom. For a few seconds, she simply
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: lay there. That had been a weird dream. Fern stretched,
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: except instead of two arms reaching above her head, two
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: orange paws stretched across her pillow. Fern froze. She slowly
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: lowered them. Pause, definitely pause. Fern looked down. Orange fur
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: covered her body behind her. Something large and fluffy moved
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: beneath the blankets. Fern whipped around a tail. She had
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: a tail. Fern leapt her to bed. Unfortunately, she'd apparently forgotten,
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: and she was now about one third or normal height.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: She landed on all four paws. Fern stared at them. No,
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: it came out as a strange mixture between a bark
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: and a squeak, definitively answering the age old question of
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: what does the fox say? Fern raced across the room
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: to warder mirror, but the mirror was much too high.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: She looked around frantically. There was a chair beside the desk.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Fern jumped onto the chair, and then onto the desk.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: She scurried over in front of the mirror, and a
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: fox stared back at her, A beautiful fox, bright orange fur,
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: white chest, black paws, pointy ears, but still a fox.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: Fern screamed, in a particularly human scream. Her bedroom door
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: flew open. Her mother rushed in Fern. Her father appeared
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: directly behind her. They both stopped. Fern stood on the
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: desk and looked at them. Her parents looked at the
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: empty bed, then the open window, then the fox. Her
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: mother tilted her head Fern. Fern blinked, How was that
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: possibly the first conclusion they'd come to? Yes, Fern shouted,
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: though it mostly sounded like an angry fox noise. Her
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: parents looked at each other. Now, her father said, her
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: mother nodded, So it finally happened. Fern stared at them.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: So it happened. Fern jumped down from the desk, on
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: to the chair, on to the ground, and marched towards them,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: which wasn't nearly as intimidating as she'd intended, because her
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: paws made very little noise against the carpet. Her parents
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: remained strangely calm. Okay, her mother said, we need to talk.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: That was not generally a sentence Fern enjoyed hearing, but
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: considering she was currently a fox, she figured that this
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: particular conversation might be important. They went downstairs. Fern hopped
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: onto the couch, turned around twice without meaning to, and
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: sat upright with her tail wrapped around her paws. Her
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: parents sat across from her. Her father leaned forward, Ah, Fern,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: there's something we've known we'd eventually have to tell you.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: Fern stared at him. Her mother continued, ah, honey, you're
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: a shape shifter. Fern waited, then she looked down at herself. Actually,
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: her father added, I suppose that part is fairly obvious now,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Fern narrowed her fox eyes. Her mother smiled, you see,
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: our family comes from a very long line of shape
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: shifters on both sides. Actually, Fern looked from one parent
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: to the other, both sides at a certain age. Her
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: mother explained, every shape shifter meets their spirit animal, usually
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: in a dream. Fern immediately thought about the fox. The
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: animal represents something important about who you are. Her father said,
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: your strongest natural traits. Fern looked down at her paws again.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: So what does fox mean, she tried to ask. Her
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: parents seemed to understand her, even though she wasn't entirely
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: sure she was speaking actual words anymore. Foxes or agile,
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: her mother said, Clever, adaptable. They notice things other animals miss,
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: and a lot of old stories. The fox survives not
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: because it's the biggest or strongest, but because it understands
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: what's happening and finds another way. Fern considered that she
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: liked fox. But here's the important part. Her father said,
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: your spirit animal isn't the only animal you can become.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: Fern's ears perked up. Any animal, she asked. Eventually, her
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: mother said, but shape shifting isn't about memorizing what an
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: animal looks like, you have to understand it, really and
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: truly understand it, how it moves, how it senses the world,
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: what it feels like to be that animal. Ferns stared
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: at them. Normally, she would have had several questions about
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: the scientific reliability of everything they were telling her, but
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: she was sitting on the couch with four paws and
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: a tail, so skepticism seemed slightly less useful than usual.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Her mother stood, maybe it would be easier if we
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: showed you. She stepped away from the furniture for a moment.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: Nothing happened. Then her body shimmered. Her shape seemed to soften,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: almost as though Fern couldn't quite focus on her. Her
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: mother shrank slightly. Dark fur spread across her body. Four
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: paws touched the floor, and where her mother had been
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: standing was now a beautiful gray wolf. Fern's jaw dropped.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: The wolf looked at her father. Here turn Fern somehow
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: understood her perfectly, even though she didn't really say anything.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: Her father stood. His body shimmered too, except he didn't
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: get it's smaller. He got considerably larger. A moment later,
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: a huge brown bear stood in the living room. Fern
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: jumped backward. The bear lifted one paw. Relax, it's still me.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: Fern stared. Her father was a bear, her mother was
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: a wolf, and Fern was a fox. Apparently this was
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: just perfectly normal in their household. Her mother explained that
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: the wolf had been her own spirit animal. Wolves represented instinct, loyalty, cooperation,
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: and an incredibly strong connection to family. Her father explained
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: that the bear represented strength and courage, but also protection
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: and patience. A bear doesn't need to prove it's strong
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: every five minutes, he said, it already knows. Fern looked
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: between them, then she looked down at herself again. Okay,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: she said, how do I turn back? Her parents transformed
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: into humans again. That's your first lesson, her mother said.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: Fern sad very still, you don't force yourself to become human.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: You remember what being human feels like. Fern closed her eyes.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: Think about your hands, her mother said, not what they
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: look like, but what they feel like, or what they
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: felt like when you were human. Fern imagined her fingers.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: She remembered picking things up, holding a pencil, wiggling each
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: finger separately near legs. Her father said, Fern remembered standing upright,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: walking on two feet, the strange balance of being tall
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: instead of low to the ground, her face, her arms,
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: her hands, her toes. Being Fern. Something tingled in her paws.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: Fern opened her eyes. Don't stop, her mother said. The
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: tingling spread. Fern suddenly felt strangely light, not like she
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: was floating, more like her body had stopped being completely solid.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: Her paws stretched, her legs changed, her tail disappeared. Fern
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: grew upward, and a moment later she was sitting on
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: the couch as herself, her human self anyways. Fern immediately
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: held both hands in front of her face, ten fingers.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: She wiggled them. Then she looked down. She was wearing
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: her pajamas. Fern blinked. Wait, she grabbed her shirt. Where
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: were these? Her father laughed, And we have absolutely no idea.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: The magic changes them with you, man brings them back
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: when you return to human form, for which every shapeshifter
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: and human history has been extremely grateful. Fern laughed. Then
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: she looked at her parents. So you're gonna teach me,
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: her mother smiled, Where can it teach you everything? Her
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: father headed to the door and lesson two starts outside.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: Fern followed, because somewhere beyond their backyard was an entire
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: world full of animals, and for the first time in
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: her life, Fern was about to learn what it actually
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: felt like to be one of them, or all of them. Hopefully.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: Fern followed her parents out the back door and into
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: the forest behind their house. The morning air was cool,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: and sunlight slipped through the trees and golden beams. Her
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: mother stopped beside the trail. First, we're going to start
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: with something you already know, Fern smiled. The fox. Her
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: mother nodded exactly. Fern closed her eyes. This time, she
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: didn't think about what a fox looked like. She remembered
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: what it had felt like for pause against the ground,
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: her body low and light, her ears turning toward every
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: tiny sound, that incredible fluffy tail behind her, the world
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: full of smells. The tingling started almost immediately. Fern's body softened,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: her arms shortened, her hands became pause. A moment later,
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: she opened her eyes from much closer to the ground,
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: fox again. Her mother transformed next, instead of becoming a wolf,
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: she too became a fox. Then Fern's father shimmered and
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: shrank down beside them. Ferns stared at him. He was
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: a much larger fox than either of them. Are you
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: a giant fox, Fern asked, I don't know. Her father replied,
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: maybe I'm just a big guy in every form. Fern laughed.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: Then her mother took off running. Come on, she said,
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: and Fern followed Almost immediately. Something inside her seemed to
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: take over. Running on four legs should have been confusing,
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: but it wasn't. Her paws knew exactly what to do.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: Fern flew between the trees. Her parents ran beside her.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: They leaped over roots, darted around rocks, and squeezed between bushes.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: But this time Fern wasn't distracted by the running. She
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: was noticing something else. Her ears moved constantly. There a
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: woodpecker hammered against a tree far away. Somewhere behind them,
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: a squirrel raced through dry leaves. Fern could even hear
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: insects buzzing among the plants. Then there were the smells.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: They were everywhere. Fern slowed beside a tree and sniffed.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: Something had climbed it recently, a raccoon. She didn't know
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: how she knew that, but she just did. Further along,
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: Fern suddenly stopped she smelled water. Her parents kept running.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: Fern followed, and a few moments later, the trees opened
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: into a huge body of water. Her parents transformed back
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: into humans. Fern copied them. The tingling passed through her body,
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: and soon she stood beside them again. That was awesome,
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: Fern said. Her father smiled, wait until you try this one.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: He stepped into the water. Fern watched him way deeper.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: What are you doing, she asked, less than three He
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: suddenly dove beneath the surface. His body shimmered underwater. Then
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: something long and well gray passed Fern's legs. Fern jumped,
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: and a dolphin poked its head up above the surface.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: Come on in, he said. Fern stared, you're you're a dolphin.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: Excellent observation. Her mother just laughed, Come on slowly, Fern
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: stepped into the water. It was cold at first, but
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: she got used to it now. Her mother said, call
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: the fish how she asked, Well, you don't use your
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: words exactly, You just sort of reach out with your mind.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: Fern wasn't exactly sure what that meant. Still, she closed
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: her eyes. She thought about the water, the creatures beneath
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: the surface, and she imagined herself saying hello without actually speaking.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: Something brushed against her ankle. Fern opened her eyes. A
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: small sunfish swam beside her. Then another appeared, then another,
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: and another. Within seconds, dozens of tiny and somewhat large
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: fish surrounded her legs. Fern's eyes widened. They can hear me,
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: not exactly, her mother said, but living things understand more
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: than humans usually realize. Fern crouched in the water. She
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: looked around at all of the fish, big and small,
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: and all of the other sea creatures that had come
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: to join them. Dolphins, seals, things she didn't even recognize.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: Fern studied the dolphin, after all, it kind of looked
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: like the best thing to turn into. She studied its skin,
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: its fins, its eyes, that blowhole, or whatever it was.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: But then she tried to look deeper. She looked into
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: the dolphin. How did it move? Its fins barely seemed
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: to do anything, yet it stayed perfectly balanced in the water.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: It didn't fight the water. It sort of belonged to
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: the water. Fern imagined, feeling water pressing against every side
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: of her body. Not something to push through, but something
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: that supported her. She watched the dolphin breathe and suddenly
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: she felt another strange sensation, the tingling. That's it, her
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: mother whispered, don't think about turning into the dolphin. Fern
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: kept watching. Just let yourself understand it. Fern's body began
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: to change. The world stretched around her. The water rose
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: over her head, and for a terrifying second, Fern thought
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: she was drowning. Then she breathed, only, instead of breathing
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: through her mouth as she was used to, the air
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: came in through a different part of her body, her blow,
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: a hole or whatever it was. It felt like she
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: could hold her breath for a very long time. She
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: dove down under the water and looked around. She could
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: see better under the water than she'd ever imagined. The
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: other fish surrounded her. Fern could feel them noticing her.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: Curiosity passed through the group. Not words exactly, more like feelings.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: Who are you? You're new? Do you want to hang
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: out with us? Fern's father swam past, her mother transformed
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: beside her, and the three of them disappeared into the ocean.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: Fern forgot that she was underwater. She even stopped thinking
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: about the whole breathing thing. She simply swam. They passed
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: over fallen trees over top of coral reefs. The sunlight
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: rippled across the sandy bottom. Fern chased schools of fish
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: just for fun. They swam all across the ocean, and
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: finally they reached another shore. Fern didn't want to stop,
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: but her father transformed armed. Then her mother. Fern reluctantly
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: remembered being human, hands, feet, air, standing upright. She tingled
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: and changed as well. A moment later, she stood knee
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: deep in the water cud, her mother said. Fern smiled proudly.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: Then her mother pointed upward. Now we're gonna learn the air.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: Fern looked at the sky. Her mother stepped on to shore.
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: Fish understand water in a way humans don't, she explained.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: Birds understand air the same way. Fern looked confused. We're
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: in air all the time, she said, yeah. Her father replied,
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: but he Womans mostly ignore it. Birds feel it constantly.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: Her mother began to shimmer, her arms became wings. Feathers
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: covered her body, and a moment later, a beautiful hawk
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: launched into the air and landed high in a nearby tree.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: Fern stared upward. Her father smiled, Call the birds honey.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: Fern reached out again. This time she imagined the forest
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: around them, the tree tops, the open sky. A bird
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: landed nearby, then another, blue jays, chickadees, robins, a cardinal,
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: even a raven landed on a branch and watched her.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: Fern studied them. She watched how they balanced, how their
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: feathers moved, how their wings caught the air. Then she
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: focused on a hawk, not simply its shape, but its confidence.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: The sky wasn't dangerous to hit, The sky was home.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: Fern tingled, her arms stretched outward, feathers rushed across them,
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: Her body shrank, and suddenly she stood on the ground
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: as a hawk. Her mother called from the tree, Come on, dear.
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: Fern looked at her wings, then at the tree, then
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: back at her wings. Her father laughed and transformed into
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: a bald eagle. He spread his enormous wings and lifted
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: effortlessly into the air. Just jump, and your wings should
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: hold you up. Fern stared at him. That sounds like
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: terrible advice, but she jumped. Her wings opened instinctively, and
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: the air caught beneath them. Fern expected to fall. Instead,
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: she rose. She flapped hard, almost too hard. She shot
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: upward awkwardly tipped sideways, corrected herself, and somehow stayed in
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: the air. I am flying. Her mother launched from the tree,
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: and together the three of them climbed. Fern slowly stopped
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: fighting the air. She began to feel it pressure beneath
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: her wings, currents, tiny changes in temperature. Her father showed
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: her how to circle inside a rising column of warm air.
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: Fern stopped flapping and rose anyways. She laughed, She could glow,
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: she could turn with tiny movements of her wings and tail.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: The world stretched beneath them. The lake became a sparkling
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: blue patch surrounded by forest. Their house appeared in the distance.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: They flew together for what felt like hours. Eventually they
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: turned to ward home. Fern followed her parents across the
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: forest and descended into their backyard. She landed somewhat less
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: gracefully than they did, stumbled twice, and then transformed back
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: into herself. Her legs felt strange. After everything she had
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: well been that day, Fox dolphin hawk, Fern yawned, I
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: think my brain is tired. Her father laughed. Shape shifting
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: takes practus. Her mother hugged her. You did incredibly well, dear.
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: That night, Fern climbed into bed. Gus, her cat, was
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: already curled into a perfect little ball at the end
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: of her bed. Fern smiled comfortable. Gus opened one eye.
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: Fern lay beside him. Then she stopped. She looked at
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: Gus properly, not just as fur, not as whiskers, not
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: his paws. She watched the way he breathed, the complete
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: relaxation in his body. Cats didn't wonder whether they should
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: be comfortable. They simply found the best spot and became comfortable.
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: Fern understood the tingling began. Her body softened, became smaller.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: Warm fur covered her, her hands became little paws. Gus
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: lifted his head. A small cat now sat beside him.
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: For a moment, Gus stared at her. Fern could feel
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: his confusion. Then something like recognition passed between them. Fern
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: Fern curled beside him. Gus sniffed her once. Apparently satisfied,
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: he curled back up. Fern tucked herself against his warm fur.
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: She'd never understood before why cat seemed so ridiculously comfortable
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: when they slept, but now she did. Her body fit
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: perfectly into a little circle, her tail wrapped around her.
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: Gus purring beside her. Fern closed her eye and with
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: each breath she sank down a little deeper into the mattress,
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: becoming a little more comfortable. She began to slowly purr
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: with each breath, and her mind started to wander off
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: to thoughts of new dreams, new animal transformations, and new
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: adventures to come. Good Night, everyone.
• 38:33
  Speaker 3: In New York. More union, no mo of thing, no
• 44:27
  Speaker 3: more mo union in m Union, M M