Latest / Dad’s Bedtime Stories / The Pumpkin That Fought Back - Magic Costume Tree - A Halloween Bedtime Story

Transcript

The Pumpkin That Fought Back - Magic Costume Tree - A Halloween Bedtime Story · Dad’s Bedtime Stories

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Hello, friends from across the nation and around the world.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: I'm Martin, and you are listening to Dad's Bedtime Stories.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: And tonight, as promised, we'll be headed back into a
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: very special world. One of my favorite story worlds, in fact.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Especially near Halloween. The Magic Costume Tree. I asked at
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: pretty much the last minute if anyone had any ideas
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: for the series, and you guys didn't disappoint. Let's check
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: out the one I chose for tonight.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Hi, Dad's Fan Time Stories. I'd like to suggest a
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Magic Costume Tree series episode. It's like you have a
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: costume that's like a pumpkin. and there's a jack-o'-lantern thief,
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: so you go up to porches and turn into a jack-o'-lantern,
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: and then you try to catch the jack-o'-lantern thief. Bye,
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: I love your podcasts.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: I thought that was an excellent idea, and I had
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: a lot of fun thinking about what a jack-o'-lantern costume
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: would be like. Now as a small disclaimer, in this episode...
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: being sort of a halloween episode we do scare other
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: people now they don't scare us to be clear like
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: as the main character you do not get scared but
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: you do decide to scare others so if that bothers
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: you or something maybe listen to a different episode of
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: the podcast if not i hope you enjoy it if
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: you like the podcast don't forget that there's lots of
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: ways to support it You can join us on Patreon,
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: you can write a review, you can continue listening, you
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: can share it with friends, or you can check out
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: the new Cards of Power game, or any of the books,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: including a few new graphic novels, the Cards of Power
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: graphic novel, and the Spaceship, or Kid Spaceship graphic novel,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: which are now available on my website. And, by the way,
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: printing in color costs... A lot of money, so... Yeah,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry. I tried to price them as low as
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: I actually could. But graphic novels are just expensive, it
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: turns out. So sorry about that. Now it's time to
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: get as comfy as you can in that bed, close
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: your eyes, and imagine yourself doing what the kid in
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: the story does. Imagine yourself in the middle of your
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: own home, sitting at the table, carving. A pumpkin. You're
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: surrounded by the newspaper that you've plastered all over the
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: place to try to keep things clean, even though it's
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: pretty much a lost cause. Slippery seeds and strings of
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: orange pumpkin goo. You scoop out one last handful. How
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: does one pumpkin make this much stuff inside it? You ask.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Your parent. laughs and slides the bowl closer. Eventually, you
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: finish scraping. You draw two eyes, a nose, and a wide,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: jagged mouth. With some help, cutting, your jack-o'-lantern begins to
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: take shape. One tooth comes out crooked. You consider fixing it,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: but the longer you look, the more you like it.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: It gives your pumpkin a slightly ridiculous grin. Plus, it's
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: super hard to change a pumpkin once it's been carved.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: Your parent helps you place a candle inside and light it.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: Warm orange light shines through the face. It's perfect, or
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: as perfect as it's gonna get. You carry it outside
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: and set it down beside the front door. That night,
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: sometime after you fall asleep, A strange scraping noise wakes
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: you up. Then comes a muffled laugh. You lift your
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: head from the pillow. For a moment, you listen. Nothing.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Probably just someone walking past. You snuggle down and go
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: back to sleep. In the morning, you rush outside to
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: check on the pumpkin. You know. blow out the candle
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: or whatever but you don't find a pumpkin at all
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: it's gone you check behind the porch steps beside the
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: house even under a bush although pumpkins don't usually roll
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: under bushes by themselves but still you can't find anything
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: someone has taken your pumpkin You rush in to tell
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: your parents, who are also very upset, especially when they
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: see your face. Later that day, they bring home another pumpkin.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: You carve it carefully, adding a crooked tooth on purpose
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: this time, and by evening, another cheerful face glows beside
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: your door. But by morning, that one is gone too.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: You stare at the empty spot where your pumpkin once stood. Oh,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: come on. Two pumpkins. All that carving. All that scooping.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: And someone stole my pumpkin. You feel like you want
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: to scream. But instead, you decide to go for a
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: short walk. Off to the side of the house. And
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: as you walk, you think. You plot a possible revenge
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: for the people who stole your pumpkin. Maybe even a
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: way to trap the thieves. A pumpkin thief trap of
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: some kind, maybe. You get so lost in thought that
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: when you finally look up again... Well... You find yourself
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: in a completely different place. A place you've been before.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: The magic costume tree. You look around you and your
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: house is completely gone. You're surrounded only by forest. With
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: the large ancient looking magic costume tree in the center.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: You hurry towards the door. Inside, warm light shines across
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: row upon row of costumes. Some have wings, others have tails, armor,
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: enormous boots, strange-looking hats. Nearby hangs a fluffy dog costume,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: which could be a lot of fun. And right beside
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: it is a cat costume with pointed ears and a
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: long curly tail. You reach toward it, and then you
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: notice the light. A bright beam shines onto an orange
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: costume further along in the rack. It has arms, legs,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: and a great big jack-o'-lantern head. Normally, dressing like a
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: vegetable wouldn't be your first choice, but after two stolen pumpkins... Well,
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: it seems like a fairly specific coincidence, and the costume
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: tree does tend to appear with certain ideas of its own.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Are you going to help me catch them? you ask.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: The tree remains quiet. The light keeps shining. You lift
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: the costume down and climb inside. Immediately, it adjusts around you.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: The sleeves settle against your wrists. The legs fit perfectly.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: The pumpkin head lowers comfortably over your own. A warm,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: fizzy feeling spreads through your body. Somehow, you understand what
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: to do. You relax. Your feet lift from the floor.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: which feels kind of weird. Orange light shimmers along your
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: arms and legs until they turn into streams of glowing energy,
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: drawing inward until they, well, until they disappear entirely into
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: your pumpkin head. You hover in front of the costume rack,
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: just a floating jack-o'-lantern head, You can still see, and
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: of course you can still hear. You can even smell
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: the wood and costumes around you, which is impressive because
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: your nose is now just a triangle cut out of
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: your face, but either way, you think about moving forward
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: and you glide forward. You think about stopping and you stop.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: This is so cool, you say, though your voice comes
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: out surprisingly deep for some reason. Excellent. You float outside
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: through the door. and you follow the forest path. Before long,
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: the trees thin, and your house appears once again. You
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: drift around to the front, settle beside the door, and
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: become completely still. Inside your head, a little flame flickers,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: kinda pleasantly, honestly. It feels like sitting beside a fireplace
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: except in this case you are. You are the fireplace.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: After a while your parent opens the door. Now where
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: did this come from? They say looking down at the pumpkin.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: The you pumpkin. A hand gently turns you toward the street.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: You nearly say thanks but Fortunately, you catch yourself. Your
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: parent studies your grin. Well, hopefully they leave this one alone.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: I don't know what we're going to do if another
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: one of these pumpkins gets destroyed. The door closes, and
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: you just settle into your pumpkin shape. Something strange happens.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: Clouds start to hurry overhead. Shadows stretch across the porch.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: People pass along the pavement in quick little bursts. Whenever
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: you pay attention, everything feels, well, normal, but as soon
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: as you relax, time seems to just sort of slip past.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: Being a pumpkin, apparently, involves very little worrying about a clock. Soon,
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: Evening arrives, much sooner than you'd expect. Porch lights glow,
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: curtains close, the street grows quiet. And eventually, footsteps approach.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: Several teenagers come along the pavement wearing Halloween masks. One
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: stops at your gate. There's another one! A second teenager
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: hangs back. No, absolutely not. We've already taken two from
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: this house.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: So?
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: So maybe stealing a third pumpkin from the same house
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: is kind of pushing it. The tallest one shrugs. It's
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: just a pumpkin. Hands lift you from the porch. You
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: remain perfectly still. content to see exactly where this goes. Well,
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: it's kind of warm. There's a candle inside it, genius.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: They carry you down the street, stopping at other houses
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: until every one of the teens holds a pumpkin of
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: their own. You can't help but grin just a little bit. Eh,
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: Was its face always like that? One of the teens asks.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: Like what? The other teen says, looking down to study you. Eh,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: never mind, I must be seeing things. Eventually, the teens
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: leave the road and follow a narrow trail into the woods.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: Moonlight shines through the branches. And ahead of you is
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: a clearing. Orange pieces cover the ground. Broken pumpkin faces
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: lie among crushed shells and scattered seeds. Some are fresh
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: while others have begun to decay or be eaten by
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: the local wildlife. A pumpkin graveyard. Then you notice a
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: familiar piece near a root. A crooked tooth. Your crooked tooth.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: The pleasant warmth inside you grows a little bit stronger.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: The teenager carrying you steps into the clearing. Alright, me first,
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: he says. The nervous one looks around to make sure
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: nobody's watching. Can we just do this and go? Your
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: carrier lifts you high overhead. Watch this, he says. He
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: throws you toward the ground as hard as he can.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: But you don't decide to fall. Instead, you decide to
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: stomp right in the air. A few inches above the leaves.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Then you slowly turn around to face the kid who
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: threw you. Huh? What's going on? Slowly you rise up
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: into the air. Your eyes brighten. Your mouth fills with
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: orange light. And the tallest teenager takes a step backward.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: Huh?
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: Huh? It's floating! One of them yells, I can see that!
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: The other one says, You drift closer. Someone drops their
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: pumpkin beside you. You catch it with a simple thought.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: Vines shoot out of the ground, wrap around the thing,
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: and gently allow it to, well, lower to the ground.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: What?
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: It's alive! Then you speak. The voice that rolls out
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: of your mouth is deep enough to make you feel, well,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: rather impressed with yourself. You have attempted to destroy my kind.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: One too many times. The teenagers stare. And now you pause,
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: you know, to be dramatic. You have been judged. One
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: teenager points a shaking finger. It's gotta be a drone
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: or something like that. You turn your head completely around. Then,
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: you turn it back. Orange energy streams from beneath you.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: Arms unfold. Legs stretch downward. Your feet settle onto the ground. Now,
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: you stand before them in your orange suit. Your enormous
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: pumpkin head glowing above your shoulders. Something stirs inside the costume.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: You can suddenly feel another power. You tip your head
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: back as the power inside you swells, and a great
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: plume of fire shoots upward, roaring into the open sky
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: above the clearing. It lights every teenager's startled face Luckily,
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: none of the leaves catch fire. Somehow, you feel like
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: you know exactly where the flames can go. The teenagers scream. Then,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: they run. Or try to. You think about stopping them
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: and the ground rustles. Thick green pumpkin vines shoot through
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: the leaves and curl around their ankles. Not so fast,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: you say. The vines stop them, gently but firmly. Obviously,
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: you don't want to actually hurt anyone. Smaller tendrils climb upward,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: hook the edges of their masks, and pull them free.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: You look from face to face.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: Please.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: Please. says the tallest one. We didn't know. We didn't
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: know pumpkins were like alive or whatever. We're totally sorry.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: You fold your arms. Didn't know. Yeah, I'm sorry. The
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: teenager looks at your burning face. Didn't know I was alive.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: Would it have been acceptable if I weren't? Nobody answers.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: You glance at the broken pieces around your feet. Someone
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: grew these pumpkins. Someone chose them. Someone carried them home
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: and worked very hard carving their faces. And some of
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: those people We're looking forward to seeing them shine. The
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: nervous teenager looks down. We're sorry. You feel like your
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: anger could soften a little bit, but you aren't quite finished.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: For breaking my kind, you announce, you must suffer the consequences.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: Several pairs of eyes widen. You let your face grow brighter.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: Your punishment shall be... You pause for a long time.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: One teenager makes a tiny squeaking sound. It shall be...
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: The fire inside you gathers, then... An enormous inferno surges
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: into the air, the clearing flashes orange, and the teenagers
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: all shriek, every single one of them. Well, they wet
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: their pants. They totally pee their pants. You hadn't expected that, but, well,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: it's kind of perfect, honestly. For a moment, it takes
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: all of your concentration to keep your enormous pumpkin voice
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: suitably serious and not break out laughing. The flames settle.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: You lower your head. Your punishment shall be the memory
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: of this night and the feeling of wetting your pants. Silence. Silence.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: Then somebody lets out a very shaky breath. But before
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: you go, there is something you must do. You point
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: toward the intact pumpkins. You will return every pumpkin you
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: have taken to the house it belongs to. And for
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: those pumpkins that have been destroyed, you will replace them.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: With a thought, more vines grow out of the ground,
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: instantly giving birth to new pumpkins that grow quickly to
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: full-sized pumpkins. And you will apologize. In person, to everyone
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: you've harmed. We totally will, the tallest one says. To everyone,
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: you repeat. Yes, absolutely. We'll bring the pumpkins back and
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: we'll apologize to everyone. Then you may begin. The teenagers
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: quickly scramble to collect the pumpkins... The nervous teenager picks
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: up two, tucking one carefully beneath each arm. No one
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: suggests smashing anything and, well, they hurry toward the path,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: stumbling over their own feet and probably being wildly uncomfortable
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: with the wet pants thing. Carry them carefully, you call.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: We are.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: We totally are carrying them carefully. Soon, You float up
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: above the edge of the woods, your arms and legs
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: disappearing into your pumpkin head once again. You watch as
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: the teenagers emerge from the forest, back onto the street,
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: and begin returning the pumpkins. At your house, the tallest
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: sets one beside the door and presses the doorbell. YOU
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: HEAR THE BEGINNINGS OF A VERY AWKWARD APOLOGY. SATISFIED, YOU
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: DRIFT AWAY, CARRIED BY A SENSE THAT YOU CAN'T QUITE PLACE,
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: BEYOND YOUR HOUSE, ABOVE A FOREST, TO A CLEARING WHERE
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: THE MAGIC COSTUME TREE NOW STANDS. You slowly lower yourself down.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: The door to the tree opens and you float inside.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Your arms and legs appear once again. You land on
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: the ground and unzip the suit. Suddenly, you feel your
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: own head appear back inside the pumpkin head. And your
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: body feels... You pull the head off, pull off the
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: arms and legs, and hang it carefully inside the tree
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: once again. You head outside, hoping that you'll see the
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: tree soon once more. You head straight down the forest path,
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: and almost magically... You appear behind your house once more.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: You walk around the front, open up the door, only
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: to be met by your parent. You're never gonna guess
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: who came by. Really? Maybe I could guess, you say.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: I don't think so. These teenagers from the neighborhood came
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: by with their pants all wet and stuff. And they
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: totally apologized. I guess they're the ones who, well, broke
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: the pumpkins. They brought you a new one. Oh, that's awesome.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: But I'm feeling kind of tired, you say. Maybe we'll
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: carve it tomorrow. All right. Well, good night, your parent says.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: And you head straight for your bedroom. You open the door.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: quickly change into your pajamas, and you climb into the bed.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: You pull the covers up to your chin, you close
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: your eyes, and you focus on your breath. With each breath,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: you release the tension from your arms, then from your legs.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: You let your shoulders drop away from your head. You
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: allow your face to soften into a nice half smile.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: And you sink down deeper and deeper into the mattress.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: The more you breathe, the deeper you sink. And the
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: deeper you sink, the better you feel. Until soon it
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: feels like you're floating on a cloud, and your mind
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: wanders off to thoughts of new dreams and new adventures
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: to come. Good night, everyone. Thank you.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you.
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: You Thank you.
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: Thank you. you Thank you.
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 51:26
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: Thank you.