Alligator Droppings/Bees in the Ballot Box

Hey grownups, Lee here. Welcome back to episode 2 of Season 8. Before we start, I'd like to take just a minute here before the episode starts to ask for your help with finishing the season. We want to be honest with our listeners that it is a really challenging time right now for educational media providers like story pirates. And unless we're able to raise more funds, this season could unfortunately be a short one. So right now, we're asking for your help in a new way. We're offering for the first time personalized videos from us to you. That's right for your donation. We'll send you or your kids or whoever in your life you think will appreciate it. Probably be your kids. A personalized video saying hello, happy birthday. Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, whatever. You can choose a video from me or Peter or Megan or Nimini or Eric or even Rollo or Smitty. This is the only time we've ever offered this and we're not going to be offering it again anytime soon. So this is your chance. Get a video for that special, imaginative kid in your life and help the story pirates finish our season. And if you're hearing all of this and you have more significant resources to spare, we're looking for some larger patrons who may want to have a conversation with us about becoming credited producers on the show. If that sounds like you, drop us in line. You can do that and get your personalized video today at storypires.com slash support. You can also find that link in the show notes. Okay, thanks for listening and thanks again for all your support. It means the world to us. And to the show, after a few more words for the grownups. Alright everyone, thank you for meeting me out here on the beach. Before we can start our road trip to Storyteller con, I have to switch the ship to road trip mode. I honestly don't remember all the features I built into this, so we should probably stand back. Niminis right, safety first. Let's walk further up the beach and we can get a nice full view of our ship, the good old tidal wave. Wow, look at it. Who would have thought, way back in season one, when I bought this ship on eBay and tricked the rest of the pirates into setting sail with me, that it would soon be retrofitted with Viking magic to make it fly, then secretly modified for intergalactic space travel, then pressurized for the deep sea, then fitted with the drill to burrow through the earth, then impounded in New York City, and finally sent through a magical painting and back onto the sea. I actually did think that. But all those transformations sure left their mark on the old girl, all her battle scars. Memorating our many adventures, have left the tidal wave looking a little well. Weird? Yes Rachel, the ship is indeed very weird. Then again, so are we. Alright everyone, ready for the next transformation? I do it. Switching to road trip mode in three, two, one. Whoa, the sails are folding in and the anchor is rising up. A dive windshield is coming up on the deck. A convertible roof is enclosing the deck under the bucket singing. Monster truck wheels are coming out of the sipes. And does that have a retractable tail fin, flame throwing engine exhaust pipes and racing stripes? You know it. Wow, I wish our new arch enemies the evil robot's dory pirates could see this. I bet they'd be so jealous. Oh, what's that? A giant repeat is burst through the trees, I'm onto the beach. Who's driving it? Hello human story pirates. Hello evil robot story pirates. Were you saying something about us being jealous of that incredibly impractical vehicle? Don't make us love. Ah, we are laughing. We are laughing. Maybe we could give you a ride in our new road vehicle. Do you like it? Is that a deluxe winnabagle air screamer 7,000 camper and RV? Jellies. No. Do you want to hear what the horn sounds like? OK, I'm a little jealous. I love dory pirates. It just filled me up with joy. My mom loves the jokes. Yo, yo, my check. It's maybe very proud about my setting. He's gays, pumpkin pie, apple pie or chocolate cake. I definitely think I can be more creative now. I'm the champion. The story pirates. Welcome back to the Story Pirates podcast, everybody. Where we take stories written by kids and turn them into sketch comedy and songs. You call that in the intro. Take a listen to the intro for our podcast. Your podcast. Welcome to the new Story Pirates podcast, Humans. Where we take stories written by kids. And fix them by turning them into sensible short stories with clear instruction on practical behavior and logical thinking. And songs. We are going to call it the Story Pirates podcast. What? You can't call it that. We're the Story Pirates. And so are we. But the name is copyrighted, right, Lee? Lee? Hey, how about we do a story? Lee, yeah. And here to introduce it is the author. Hi, my name is Jocelyn and 10 years old and I live in Ontario. This is my story, alligator droppings. Uh-oh-oh-oh-oh. Oh, it is morning, my king. Yes, I suppose it is, my queen. The start of another day being the two most important souls in the land. How boring. I'll say good morning, sir. Madam. Good morning, servant, who's a name I can't remember. It's Trevor. I didn't say I wanted to remember. Of course. What would the royal madrassities like for breakfast? Something new. You say that every morning and it's getting hard. I don't think we asked for excuses. We asked for something new. I thought that might be the case. Breakfast, makeers. Your madrassities. I have prepared for you butter or milk pancakes with diamond cut outs and roughels. Yon. Next. I have made waffles in the shape of your extended family tree with spiked horn melon carved figurines representing each member of your extended family. You want me to eat my mother-in-law? No, thank you. But when you wind them up, they dance and wick. Oh. Your highnesses, I have prepared a scrambled dodo egg quiche served to you by a living dodo bird who's been trained to be a waiter. A toto bird serving a toto bird egg? That's very unsettling. No, but if you know you're right. Well, this was a miss. No, you don't get to read the specials. Let's go. I'm sorry, my king. But that's the last of our breakfast makers. Really? Well, well, what? Out with it. There is one more. He is quite odd though. Oh, we do not care. Okay. Hello. You do not look at all like any of the other chefs we have seen. That's because I do not cook like any of the chefs you have seen. No, I think it's because of the very dark sunglasses and bunny ears that you're wearing. Yes, you are creepy, disgusting, and all around unpleasant. I thought you might say that. How'd you go? We love it. Ah? This man scares us. Our refreshing. Tell us, what will you serve us for breakfast? I think for breakfast, you should have alligator droppings. What? That's outrageous. You can't expect us to eat the droppings. Wait, wait, wait, my queen. Don't you see? He doesn't mean to serve us literal alligator droppings. He doesn't. No, it's a metaphor. The fear and disgust we feel right now is all a part of the experience. Oh, yes, of course. Okay, strange chef, we will try your alligator droppings. Oh, very good. Follow me. Here we are. This is an alligator swamp. Where else do you expect to find alligator droppings? He's really committing to the metaphor. Oh, cheeky. What's next? First, let me get the supplies we'll need out of my bag. Wow, that's a lot of stuff. Together alligator droppings, you will need five stakes, these stilts, beans, eight nets, a set of armor, a chestnut, a rubber band, rock, and 19 books. I have many questions. No time. The queen will fetch the alligator droppings. Why me? I said no time. Okay. Here, put on this utility belt. It's designed to carry all these things. Let's do this. And finally, the rubber band goes here. How do I look darling? Like a beautiful queen on stilts in a swamp. You know the plan, right? Yes, but can you repeat it? No time. Come on, King. She's on her own. Good luck, darling. Do you think we'll ever see her again? No time. All right, queen, time to find some literal alligator droppings so you can eat some metaphorical alligator droppings. Just gonna wade into this swampy water on these stilts. There's an alligator. I'll have to distract it as a strange chef instructed to be. Take books, a chestnut, and the beans. It worked. Now to grab those droppings with one of these eight nets. I'll just scoop them up and I'll be on my way. Ha! Don't take this alligator. Net attack. Don't know it ain't my net. Time for Plan B. The using the rubber band and rocks as a slingshot. Take this. I did it. This is already the best breakfast I've ever had in my life. Back to the King. You know, between that and the endless fiefdom bickering, sometimes I'm just like, do I even want to be King? You know? Not really. Exactly right. You get me. I did it. I got the alligator droppings. Wow, I was sure you were gonna be eaten. Let us see the kittens. And a little of this. And a dash of that. Your majesty's, I'm so glad you made it back to the castle in one piece. But about this meal, I'm not sure. That you know what you're talking about? Yes, that's clear. Today was the best day of my life, and if we'd listened to you, it would have never happened. But breakfast is served. Oh, oh, wow. The aroma of this dish is quite something. Very pungent. Oh. Almost smells like actual alligator droppings. That's because it is. Right. Sure it is. But literally is. Oh. Right, right, right, right. Here we go. Please don't. Please do. Oh. This is delicious. The best breakfast I've ever had. See servant? How about you feel like a fool now? Yes. And the flavor of this breakfast is our. Yes, it's. Oh, it's a. I can't put my finger on it. Yeah, it's like. Oh, it's a, it's, you know, it's sort of like. Well, it's, it's, it's. Alligator droppings. Yes, yes, that's it. This is alligator droppings. So like literally. Oh. So poop. We're eating poop. I'll be on my way then. Goodbye. Do you think there's a listen to you? I know we talk about it. But then. Oh, I love this. I love this too. See evil robot story pirates? Even you have to admit that that story was pretty awesome. Far too creative for our tastes. Well, who cares what you think? We will tell you who the many crowds at StorytellerCon. Our keynote address has been optimized using AI digital focus groups and math to be 99.99% persuasive. By the time we are done, no one will want to listen to stories written by kids ever again. Now, if you'll excuse us, we are going to start our road trip on the most practical route. The highway, making sure to skip all of the unimportant small stops along the way. But we can still stop for snacks, right? No, robot Peter. We do not eat. All right, I forgot. Wouldn't hurt you try though. Well, we're not taking the highway. We're going to do the opposite. We're going to take the longest route possible. And we're going to like it. Whoa, is that a good idea? Yes. All right, well, we hope you have a terrible time. Robot Eric, let's roll. Lee, are we really going to take the long way? Yes, and it's going to be great. No more whining. Everyone back onto the ship. Oh, look at the deck. Or the cockpit. The bridge? What would you even call this? It's all those things, Rollo. As you can see, I've adjusted the ship's wheel for road driving and installed 10 captain chairs and five rows. So all 10 of us can sit safely and see out the windshield while we drive. There's 10 of us. I would guess like six. All right, everyone. Find your seats and buckle up. Wow, these are some comfy seats. Seat belts on. Oh, wait. What is it? I forgot my headphones. I'll be right back. Yeah, while Nimmie is getting her headphones, is there anything else people need before we leave the ocean? Oh, actually, I should probably use the bathroom real quick. Then go. Because once we hit the road, I am not stopping until we get to our first pre-determined stop. I'll be right back. Anything else? I'm so sorry, but there's already a squished bug on the windshield. And if I don't get out right now and clean it up, it's going to drive me bonkers. Fine, but then we're hitting the road. Lee, do you mind if I get out and stretch my legs? We just sat down. But I'm tall. Oh, look at that sunrise. I simply must do a sun-salutation on the beach. No, Megan. Oh, Lee. What is it, Sig Freed? Before we leave the ocean, as of Viking, it's been a bit of a dream of mine to hunt a narwhal with my bare hands. Do I have time for that? What? No. Lee, I need a fresh diaper. Oh, baby with a mustache. Lofa, you just fell into my vat of garbanzo beans. Why are you cooking beans in your seat, rollo? Lee, what is all this? Did you all turn the ship into a car while I was sleeping? I didn't forget about you, smiddy. I didn't think you did until you said that. That's it. Rachel, leave the smashed bug. Eric, stretch your legs later. Megan, what you do is not yoga. Sig Freed, no one has ever hunted a narwhal quickly. Baby with a mustache, change yourself. Rollo, take Lofa out of the beans and smiddy. I did forget about you and I'm sorry, okay? Now buckle your seat belts, sit back, relax, or I am really gonna lose it. Thank you. Okay, here we go. I forgot to get gas. We'll be right back after a few words for the grownups. Ah, the open road. We finally got our act together. The road trip has officially begun. Hey Lee, what is this route you're taking? My phone suggests that there's a much quicker way if we get on the interstate. And travel like robots, no thanks. StorytellerCon is in for several weeks, so we're going to take this opportunity to see the country. You know, before they built the giant road systems like interstate highway system or the auto-bond or whatever, places used to have a bunch of smaller, historic highways that zigzaged across the land with quirky roadside attractions and charming small towns. Like the famous Route 66. Well, what route is this? This is an even older and far, less well-known route. This is Route Zero. It's officially the slowest way to get where we're going. Hey, what did I say about croning? To do it? To not do it. Ah, I was close. Eric, stop it. What? Your foot keeps touching my foot. Stay on your side. But I'm the Thomas. I need room to stretch my legs. Well, find space that isn't on my side. Oh, come on, you're not the only one with less than me. I'm the best to be Thomas. Niminy, no more fighting back there. Stay on your sides. Hey, let's listen to something. I know a great new True Crime podcast called Sad Town. It's very dark and very slow. Um, how about something we can all enjoy? I know this great new podcast about Australians who are afraid of rest and relaxation. It's called R&R. R&R. What? R&R. Sad Town. Sad Town, Sad Town, Sad Town. You two, cut it out. If you don't stop fighting, I will turn this land ship around. Hey, Lee. I'm sorry to say this, but this infant car seat is way too small for me. I can barely breathe. Peter, no one told you to sit there. That's Lufa's car seat, Peter. Well, where is Lufa? She's just swimming around in this bubbling out of Carfonso beans. Rollo, I've told you that this is not the place for cooking. Come on, it's fine. It's not like I'm going to spill the... I smelled it. Ants everywhere. Rollo. Is this a good time to mention that I get car sick very easily and usually with no warning? Lee, I'm not familiar with the rules of the road. Do I have to find a seat belt for this narwhal or can he lay down? Quiet you. Sorry. Sigfried, where did you get a narwhal? I hunted it. Lee, the narwhal's tusk is on my side. I'm still stuck in the seat. I'm not going to let you go. I'm so sorry. That's it. I'm pulling over. I've had it up to here with all your fighting. This is a road trip. It's supposed to be fun. Is anyone having fun? No. I hate to say it Lee, but maybe this whole thing was a bad idea. Yeah. Perhaps it's for the best if we just head back. Maybe the road just isn't the place for the story. Look. Huh? Out the window. What is that? It's gasp. A quirky small town roadside attraction. Come on everyone. Let's go see. Where are you? Where are you? Well, there it is. What is it? The sign says that this is the world's biggest ball of wadded up used tissues. It's 10 feet tall. That's the grossest thing I've ever seen. It's almost beautiful. Don't you see my friends? This is what a road trip is all about. Letting yourself get lost to find things you've never dreamed of seen. Beautiful things. Disgusting things. Weird things. If we, the story pirates, can't appreciate how utterly weird this nauseating roadside attraction is then we're no better than robots. Wow. You're right Lee. I'm glad we're on this road. Together. Look, the sun is setting behind the ball. The warm light is glowing red off the glistening surface of the snotty tissues. It sort of looks like a giant meatball. Huh. Yeah, yeah it does. Do you think it might taste like a meatball or? Peter, no. You know just in case maybe I should. Peter, no! Oh, yeah, you're right. I ruined the moment. Should we do another story instead? Yeah. Anything to stop Peter from eating that. And here to introduce it is the author. Hi, I'm Trevor. I'm nine years old. I live in Virginia. And this is my story. Bees in the ballot box. Happy birthday Trevor. Thanks mom. I can't believe my boy is nine years old today. Now blow out your birthday candles and make a wish. Okay, I wish. Uh, never mind. What is it son? I was going to wish to be able to do the most important thing a citizen can do. Vote! But then I remembered that kids aren't allowed to vote. Trevor, aren't you forgetting something? What? They changed the voting law and lowered the voting age from 18 years old to nine. Hey, I'm nine. That's right. Now head on over to the ballot box and make your voice heard. I will mom and dad. This is the best birthday ever. What a beautiful day to invest in my country's future by voting. Hey Trevor. Hey neighbor. Where are you headed on this fine day? I'm on my way to the ballot box to vote for the very first time. Oh awesome. You must be nine years old. Have fun exercising your right to vote. Just watch out for bees. What? Oh, nothing. Have fun voting. That's all I said. Bye. Bye. That was weird. Well, I'm here at the ballot box. Welcome to the ballot box. Are you here to vote? Hi, sure am. I'm nine years old today. Congratulations. Here's your ballot. Take that right into the ballot box, which is just through that curtain. Thanks. Just watch out for bees. What? I didn't say anything. Have fun voting. Bye. Ha ha ha. Should you be running away if you're working the ballot box? First, the neighbor. Now the ballot box worker. This is getting weird. Well, I'm not going to let a little weirdness stop me from voting. Into the ballot box. I go. Here I am ready to... Wow! Bees in the ballot box. So this is what everyone was talking about. What are you doing here? You bees can talk? Of course we can talk. We even have names. I'm Beesany. I'm Beatrice. I'm Bean. Like Ben. But B. They thought of my left. What are you doing in the ballot box? We were sent here by the Queen Bee to annoy the humans. Are you voting? Of course we're voting. What else will we be doing in a ballot box? This kid probably thinks we go into the ballot box and make honey. Ha ha ha. What do you want me to do? No, it's just I didn't think bees could vote. Well, we can vote. In fact, we have to vote. Our Queen and Unquestion Leader is forcing us to vote. Queen Bee. That doesn't sound very democratic. Because it's not. We don't live in a democracy. We're ruled by a cruel Queen. But what are we going to do? We're bees. And bees are ruled by a Queen. Oh, Hail Queen Bee. Now scram. Oh, my God. Well, that didn't go well. Better go home as fast as I can and tell mom and dad about this. To my house. Mom, dad. Welcome back Trevor. How was voting? Bad. When I went to vote, there were bees in the ballot box. What? Where? Why? Bees. The ballot box. To vote? Well, who did they vote for? John, no. It's a secret ballot. Oh, you got me. I didn't even get to vote. We better get to the bottom of this. Let's head back to the ballot box. Here we are at the ballot box. Well, welcome to the ballot box. Are you here to vote? Oh, hey. It's that ballot box worker from earlier. You came back. Yeah. Yeah, I realized I was being a coward. Plus, I forgot my reusable water bottle. I'm here with my mom and dad. We're here to do something about those bees. You. The buzzing is starting to get to me. Sounds like a lumber mill in there. Time to enter the ballot box. Listen up. Bees in the ballot box. Oh, look. That's human boys back. What are you doing here? And home. Have you brought with you this time? My mom and dad. Hi, bees. Hello there. Look, bees. I love that you're here exercising your right to vote. But voting is how you show your country what you think makes a good leader. You don't just vote for someone because they tell you to do it. Voting for Queen Bee because she tells you to vote for her means throwing away your opportunity. Nay, you're right. As a pollen carrying citizen of this country to vote for what's in your heart. That's right. This is me. I never thought of it that way. I don't know who's in a way to be. Human boy, you have spoken the truth. I don't even want to be here voting for Queen Bee. I want to be in a field of flowers. I want to visit a hummingbird feeder. I want to open a rock. I already. Huh? What? It's never too early to invest in your future. Anyway, kid. That was a beautiful speech. But we're bees. And as long as Queen Bee is the queen, we're forced to do her bidding. But what if we could come up with a way to defeat the Queen? Who? Me? Who? Queen Bee! Yes, you decide. The Queen Bee, the undemocratic and unelected ruler of the bees. I came by to speak in the face of democracy and ensure that you were all carrying out my orders to annoy the humans. I also vote for me as Queen Bee. Yes, you have to see. Bees, this is your chance. Vote for someone else. She'll lose the election. And you won't have to listen to her anymore. These droves will vote exactly as I say. That's so fast, Queen Bee. The human boy is right. My vote is my voice. And I'm using it to make a difference. I'm voting for Ladybug. I'm voting for a adorable sea otter. And I voted for Ross Perot. But Ross Perot is never mind. Hey, Queen Bee. What is it, human boy? Turns out none of your bee subjects voted for you. You just lost the election. Foolish boy. You can't defeat me with your silly elections. I am a monarch. And your few tile attempts at democracy mean nothing to me. I will rule you all forever. I will. Thank you, Queen Bee. Or we could just spray the Queen Bee with bee spray. I'm sorry, but. Great idea, Trevor. I have some bee spray in my purse. Thanks, Mom. Take that, Queen Bee. No! My eyes! My compound eyes! I gotta get out of here. This is the Queen Bee. Bees. It worked. The Queen Bee has gone forever. Now we can fly off to wherever we want. Rough I already. Here I come. Oh! Well, Trevor. You did it. You saved democracy and freed the bees. What do you say we go home and enjoy that birthday cake? Birthday cake? Can I come? No, you can't, ballot box worker. No, you can't. Where's the shot? The end. Who did you vote for? John. Had? What? And now, Lee speaks with the author. So Trevor, you wrote bees in the ballot box? Yes, I did. For people that might not know, can you describe what voting is? When you're at like, I think it's like 16 or 18, they vote. And what you say there's a, the president named John and the president named Mike. And 32,000 people voted for Mike. But 42,000 people voted for John. So John wins and now John's the president. Can you vote at home? Do you have to go somewhere? What's the deal? Usually go to like a school. Usually like school and like other public places. Like have like voting. Do you think it's important that people do that? Or is it okay to just be lazy and stay home? I think you're supposed to do it. So here's the question I have because when you're voting, like one person's going to win, one person's going to lose, right? Yeah. Let's say that I am a person that votes. And the person I vote for loses. How am I supposed to deal with that? Like how am I supposed to be okay with that? This is supposed to just when it's fine. If what it's fine. Am I allowed to be like angry or sad about it? Or do you just forget about it? You can vote sad like, like, shock. But you can get like angry or something. Are there any other things in your life that you would like to have a vote for that right now is just decided for you? Like dessert we're going to have for dinner. What would you vote for for dessert tonight? So I'll give you four choices. These cakes, pumpkin pie, apple pie, or chocolate cake. Which one would you choose? I'm definitely going with chocolate cake. I certainly would probably go with cheese cakes. Is there anyone in your house right now nearby that can cast the deciding vote since we've tied now? Cheesecake and chocolate cake have tied. My mom, I love a sister. Your mom and your sister? Okay. Okay, your first down. I hate cheese cakes. Okay. I think cheesecakes too. Wow. You must make a good cheesecake over there if the entire family's voting for it. Yeah. Trevor, this has been so fun to talk to you about your story. Thank you so much for sending it into us. You're welcome. All right. Bye. Bye. And when we come back, it's time for story love where Peter and I read even more stories written by kids. And this time, we're joined by Nimini. We'll be right back, after a few words for the grown-up. Welcome back to story love where we read stories written by kids and we talk about them. And today, Peter and I would like to welcome a very special guest, story pirate, host, extraordinary Nimini where. Wow. Hello. Hello. Hello. Thank you for that lovely intro. I'm Nimini and I see you guys. Very excited to get into these stories. All right. Let's read the first one. I'll read this one. It's a photo of the handwritten story. And it is by a six-year-old named Lucas in Michigan called the Army that couldn't Army. Once upon a time, long ago in the age of knights and kings, there was an army. But this was no regular army. Instead of fighting, they danced. Breakdancing. One day, an evil knight came to the kingdom with a cannon and was trying to shoot the castle. The king demanded that his army protect the castle. The army had a dance off with the evil knight. They were spinning on their heads and lifting themselves up in the air with their left hands. The evil knight was defeated in the dance off and was forced to retreat. The kingdom was safe once again. Wow. And such a good story. Nimini, any thoughts out of the gate? Well, out of the gate, I'm like the army that couldn't army. It sounded like they army pretty well to me. They got rid of the foes. Also. Yes. Also as someone who's kind of getting into calisthenics a little bit, spinning on your head and lifting yourself up with one arm, crazy advance. Yeah, especially your left arm. Are we right here? I'm right in there. I'm lefty. You're lefty. I'm righty. So you fit right into this army. I think so. I will say the thing that got me at the beginning of this story when they said there was no regular army. It was an army. They just did breakdancing. And then the other knight showed up with a cannon. In my mind, I was like these dancing knights are in trouble. Right. But they're so charismatic and cool that the guys with cannons are like, well, we can't just shoot our cannons. We must engage in dancing. Have you guys ever been in a dance battle? Oh, yeah. Like a real one? Well, I don't know if we can say real, but at a club. You know, just, you know, the music's good and they point somebody out and they just start. Yeah. And you feel competitive, not like building each other up? I feel like building each other up. Because I'm not like a dancer dancer, so I'm not trying to be like, I'm a win, but... I've done that, but I've never been good enough where I can be earnest about it at all. Mm. Whereas I feel like you're doing it and you're enjoying it and really dancing. But it's me at a wedding being like, mold, this better be funny. Do you have Peter? Like if you, if I was like, there's a dance battle, we need you. Like, do you have a go-to move? Like, what would you, in your head, what would you decide to do to try to keep up with the competition? It is you, it is almost, this is what I do in story pirate stories. It's always a funny move because I can't, like, impress people technically. So it's usually a horse sleep. Ooh. It's something unexpectedly graceful because I'm like, a little ballet. Yeah, and then I'll do a spin and land. I've, I see those moves and I'm like, I've seen those a million times. From my days of being a hockey player, I was a very good skater. And so I can be, I legitimately, I was a figure skater first when I was like four or five. Oh, wow. And I played hockey. And so I can go from, maa, into a little bit graceful. Oh, it's funny. Well, that's always amazing. Lucas, great work, my friend. Let's go to our next one. Nimini, this one I would love for you to read. It's by a 10 year old named Holland and an eight year old named Brightly, great name. They're, they live in Utah and their story is called Adventures of Evil Pancake Pants and the Question Mark Agency. Ooh, okay. It was a dark night. Evil Pancake Pants was jumping around in his pink-hearted underpants. Dun, dun, dun! Then Evil Pancake Pants yells out, world domination is today. Then he mysteriously does a back flip. Meanwhile, Sir Question Mark, the greats and Greg, the dog bunny, are making a plan to stop Evil Pancake Pants. Tomorrow, they will use their plan the next day. Greg and Question Mark, the great, get in a super high-speed hot dog Lamborghini and start riding in the car. Greg sticks his tongue out the window. Then Question Mark, the great says, great, how you doing back there? He responds, meanwhile, at Evil Pancake Pants' base, he is doing a workout. Then all of a sudden, Question Mark, the great pulls up to his base. Then Evil Pancake Pants gets to his him burger race car. Then they have a super fast car chase. Then Evil Pancake Pants says, yeah, during the car chase, they pass the bakery and the woman is holding bread. When they pass her, she gets twirled around and loses her bread. Then she screams, I just wanted my bread. Eventually, they get to a dead end and Evil Pancake Pants goes to jail. Then he says, the end. In gravel. Wow. So many twists and turns. The center piece of that story to me is the car chase, though. Yeah. And the detail about the woman who is holding the bread. I just wanted my bread. I just like, always the best part of a car chase are the sort of like, innocence that are stumbled upon. Like the two workers carrying the glass pain, that the car crashes through. I crave that. Yeah. You know what I mean? I do. It's giving like Charlie Chaplin. Yeah. Kind of, yeah. Yeah, totally. It's something that stood out to me. The hot dog, super high speed hot dog Lambert. Gimi. What? What do you want to know? Yeah, that's good. I would say one of my favorite detail of this whole story is the then he mysteriously does a backflip. Yeah. Right. Well, I mean, to me, that sounds like we're setting up a dance off. Right. Oh, what a theme. Right. It never comes back. And I like to pick the mysteriously. What could that mean? I picture him going, it's world domination is today. Then long pause. And then just, like a little one. You know how people who can do backflips, that's like their thing? I just realized something. Maybe this is obvious. There's a pancake. You flip pancakes. Oh. So maybe it is world domination day. And then the hand comes in with a spatula. It just flips. It goes, oh, oh. What did that hand come from? It's a mystery. Where is the face on a pancake, though? Are you flipping onto your face? There's a drawing. Oh, see that? He's got a heart shape underpants and like a. So he has legs. Like a robber mask. He's not flipping like a pancake with on the griddle. He has legs and arms. Yeah. Oh, wow. Good catch. Yeah. Great catch, Peter. Thank you. All right. Let's get to our final story, Peter. Yes. Did you do us the honors? I would love to. Our final story comes to us today from an 11 year old from Virginia named Calvin. Calvin's story is called story backwards. The. Here we go. Can I play the mom? Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Definitely. Story backwards, though. Note. A period or comma indicates the end of a backwards phrase. It'll all be clear in a moment. Ready for this? Time upon once, short for Jeff or Jeffrey, was named whose kid it was there. Breakfast for time. Upstairs called mom his. Heck, the what? Said he. Betty jumped out of dressed get to. Breakfast gets downstairs walked. Sneakers his beneath stairs the on wood and went squeak. Pancakes best to make you mom said, Jeff. Okay, you are mom his asked. No, oh, date backwards. Was it for got high? Great. Oh, Jeff said. It of best to make well as might. Note to the story parts. This is taking a while to type. So can you guys make the school parts and I'll just skip to the end. School after dessert delicious and a dinner he had. Games video some playing in homework. He's finishing after went he bed. Day backwards another B won't tomorrow, least that said he the next day he found himself in the ceiling. No, no. End the. Yeah. Wow. That was so fun. So good. It's giving Shakespeare. Honestly, I was like, which player are we in right now? I know exactly what you mean. Like the words when I heard them out loud, I wasn't expecting them to make as much sense as they do. Exactly. Because when you look at the pages like kind of confusing, but hearing it worked. Yeah, I love it. It's very Yoda where it just all, you know, he just rearranges the order of the words. Right. It sounds Shakespearean and important. This has the same vibe. And the let there is the second, the last sentence he does forward. Yeah. Because the new day he's now on the ceiling. So he's no longer backwards. He's upside down. Wow. I did think I kept that flip as well. I thought that was genius. It also, I do wonder how long it took to do this. Like did they literally just type it backwards or do they type it forwards and then switch it? Right. Yeah, I would assume that they wrote it forwards first, but maybe not. You know, that's some different kind of brain power. All right. Everyone think of it. Really short sentence right now in your head. And then when I say go, say it backwards. Take five seconds. Okay. I'll go first. Now, right. Hungry, very, am I. Okay. Today's train, the took I. Okay. Great. Here, Nimini, have two wonderful it's. Ah. That's the three. Yeah. Oh yeah. The. Nimini. Yeah. Thanks for being here today. Well, of course. They were having me. Lovely to have you. And everyone who wrote stories. Thank you so much for sending them in. Calvin, their last one was amazing. All of them were amazing today to read all of today's story. Love stories yourself. Just head to storypirates.com. And guess what? grownups you can find an even longer version of today's story. Love on YouTube. And grownups story. Love isn't just the name of a segment on our show. It's also the name of our incredible corporate volunteer program. To find out more about story love, our digital creative writing program, story quest, or our sister nonprofit story pirates change makers, check out the show notes for links. That's it for today's episode. Thanks to today's authors, Jocelyn and Trevor. And a huge thanks to all of you for joining us for season eight of the story pirates podcast. And guess what? You can still send us your stories. And we respond to every single story we receive. grownups can submit stories at storypirates.com. We'll be back next week with another brand new episode. Until then, stay creative and stay kind. Bye! The Story Pirates podcast is a production of Story Pirate Studios. Executive produced by Leo Vertrie and Benjamin Salka. This episode was produced by Sam Bear, Peter McNerney, Andrew Miller, and Leo Vertrie. Recording Sound Design and Mixing by Sam Bear at the Relic Room in New York City. Additional production by Brett Tuben. Theme Song by Bobby Lorde. Musical scoring by Eric Urson and Jack Mitchell. Our head writer is Peter McNerney. Staff writers are Megan O'Neil and Alexis Simpson. And contributing writing by Leo Vertrie. Episode artwork by Camilla Franklin. Music by Eric Austin. Greg Barnett. Matt Cox. Sasha Diamond. Quinton Johnson. Anna Mar. Peter McNerney. Alex Andrew Nader. Megan O'Neil. Leo Vertrie. Peter Russo. Austin Sanders. Rachel Initski. Nimini Ware. And Matt Zimbrano. Finally everyone's asleep. The perfect time for me to sneak off the ship and secretly taste the giant ball of watered up used tissues just in case it tastes like a meatball no one will ever know. The perfect time for me to sneak off the ship and secretly taste the giant ball of watered-up used tissues just in case It tastes like a meatball. No one will ever know Break lights. I see you Peter step away from the tissue ball Cass you need of a tree