Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to Koala Moon, a podcast of
Speaker 1: original children's bedtime stories and meditations designed to make bedtime
Speaker 1: a dream. Coco and I would like to thank you
Speaker 1: for your continued support. You're making a big difference in
Speaker 1: helping us improve our little podcast and help make many
Speaker 1: more bedtimes a dream. We're getting ready to head back
Speaker 1: to Harmony Cove tonight and help reunite some precious lost
Speaker 1: property with its owner. But before we do, let's warmly
Speaker 1: welcome our newest freshest recruits to Coco's Club. Hello, and
Speaker 1: thank you for joining us. Amos and Isaiah from Massachusetts,
Speaker 1: Lucy aged eight, Eleanora and Emilia from Henderson, Texas, Orion
Speaker 1: from Maryland and Addison and Cassidy sisters from Glasgow, Scotland.
Speaker 1: We're delighted you join the club and hope you enjoy
Speaker 1: all the bonus episodes and add free stories coming your way.
Speaker 1: So I wonder whether you remember Harmony Cove. It's where
Speaker 1: our friend Echo the Turtle lives now quite happily after
Speaker 1: his encounter with Confidence of the Bear. We'll be staying
Speaker 1: on the beach for this story and hanging out with
Speaker 1: a very special sea turtle who has an important and
Speaker 1: very busy job running the Lost Property Office. Why is
Speaker 1: it so busy and important, Well, it's pretty easy for
Speaker 1: visitors to lose track of their things amongst millions and
Speaker 1: billions of grains of golden sand. It seems every day
Speaker 1: more and more items are lost and end up at
Speaker 1: the office. And tonight our friend is trying to reunite
Speaker 1: a very mysterious object with its owner. Only problem is
Speaker 1: he has no idea what it is. Soon see how
Speaker 1: he muddles through and finds out who it belongs to.
Speaker 1: But first, lie back in bed and get comfy. Find
Speaker 1: your fingers and toes and give them a little gentle
Speaker 1: wiggle and squeeze.
Speaker 2: Perhaps, roll back.
Speaker 1: Your shoulders and move around in bed a bit until
Speaker 1: you're in your most relaxing spot. Now close your eyes
Speaker 1: and breathe in and out steadily and quietly. Perfect, It's
Speaker 1: time to begin. The Lost Property Turtle by Jane Thomas.
Speaker 1: There's a beach not far from Sleepy Forest that, even
Speaker 1: if you were to sail up and down the entire coastline,
Speaker 1: you would be unlikely to find.
Speaker 3: It.
Speaker 2: Is tucked into a hidden.
Speaker 1: Cove where the cliffs rise from the sea and fold
Speaker 1: this way and that in such a way as to
Speaker 1: disguise the entrance from even the most nosy, curious and
Speaker 1: inquisitive eyes. And yet on hot summer days, when the
Speaker 1: sun beats down and the only escape is to dive
Speaker 1: into the cooling waves, this hidden beach is one of
Speaker 1: the busiest beaches anywhere in the world. It's known by
Speaker 1: locals as Harmony Cove, as it's so very peaceful. As
Speaker 1: soon as the sun starts to rise and sunbeams reach
Speaker 1: around the corners of the cliffs, the beach shines and
Speaker 1: shimmers as if it is covered in diamonds. And by locals,
Speaker 1: I mean all the sea turtles and hermit crabs, or
Speaker 1: the sea lions and dolphins, or the starfi should see
Speaker 1: an enemies, an octopus and fiddler crabs. Sometimes koalas and
Speaker 1: kangaroos even turn up there, taking the long paths that
Speaker 1: zigzag their way down the steep cliffs and running towards
Speaker 1: the gentle waves that ease themselves up up and down
Speaker 1: the shifting sands. Because Harmony Cove gets so very busy,
Speaker 1: there is of course a lost property office.
Speaker 2: There are piles and piles.
Speaker 1: Of strange items in there, most of which Michele has
Speaker 1: no real understanding of, but he keeps them safe and
Speaker 1: sound until the owners come along and reclaim them. Michelle
Speaker 1: is a sea turtle, and he's been working in the
Speaker 1: Lost Property office for nearly four months now. He's learned
Speaker 1: about plastic buckets and spades and inflatable unicorns, and been
Speaker 1: temporarily terrified by an inflatable crocodile.
Speaker 2: He now knows that.
Speaker 1: A single washed up flip flop makes an excellent surfboard
Speaker 1: if you happen to be starfish sized, and that if
Speaker 1: you blow into the tops of empty drinks bottles you
Speaker 1: can make music. Michelle takes great pride in working out
Speaker 1: what a particular item does and ensuring it gets back
Speaker 1: to its rightful owner. If a young octopus comes up
Speaker 1: and says they've lost their favorite bucket, Michelle makes sure
Speaker 1: the octopus describes it absolutely perfectly before he searches under
Speaker 1: his table and through the boxes of bits and bobs,
Speaker 1: pulling out exactly the right one. Would you say it's
Speaker 1: yellow like the sun or yellow like the sand, He'll ask?
Speaker 1: Or when you say it's big, would you say as
Speaker 1: big as the shell on my back, or as big
Speaker 1: as a castle. He has boxes of left flip flops
Speaker 1: and right flip flops, and these are divided further into
Speaker 1: flip flops made from foam and plastic and leather and cork.
Speaker 1: He has boxes of swimming shorts, ranging from the tiniest
Speaker 1: scraps of material used by shrimps to those so enormous
Speaker 1: they can be worn by a whale. He has sunglasses
Speaker 1: and sun hats, towels and tents, books and lunch boxes,
Speaker 1: all the stuff creatures take to the beach Michelle has
Speaker 1: tucked away under his table, waiting to be reunited with
Speaker 1: its owner.
Speaker 2: There's a special section.
Speaker 1: For things that have been left for a very long time.
Speaker 1: Michelle will hand these out in those emergency moments when
Speaker 1: a special little something makes someone feel a whole lot better,
Speaker 1: like the time a seal fell on her bucket and
Speaker 1: spade and broke them, or when a seagul forgot to
Speaker 1: bring his sunscreen along, And now he's going to help
Speaker 1: a little hermit crab who has turned up at his stall.
Speaker 1: I'm Cloudier, she announces, please to meet you. Cloudia is
Speaker 1: being very formal and proper because she has something very
Speaker 1: important to ask. Please to meet you, too, says Michel,
Speaker 1: And how can I help you?
Speaker 2: Little one?
Speaker 1: Well, I was surfing in the waves. I was doing
Speaker 1: so well, and then I made a bit of a mistake,
Speaker 1: and I humbled.
Speaker 3: And and and.
Speaker 1: The hermaid crab suddenly looked very sad. Indeed, Michele came
Speaker 1: out from behind his table and put his flipper around her.
Speaker 1: Come on, I'm here to help, he assured her. What
Speaker 1: happened in the waves? I lost my shell, she wailed.
Speaker 3: See I can't go back and see Mam and Dad
Speaker 3: without my shell, and my brothers for never stop teasing
Speaker 3: me about it.
Speaker 2: What am I going to do?
Speaker 1: Michel knew there had been something odd about the little
Speaker 1: creature standing in front of him, but he hadn't quite
Speaker 1: been able to put his flipper on it. As soon
Speaker 1: as she said it, it was obvious a missing shell. Goodness,
Speaker 1: Fortunately for you, Michel said, with a smile.
Speaker 2: I have a lot of shells back here. We'll find
Speaker 2: a perfect one for you.
Speaker 1: Claudia snif you can help, she said, definitely, said Michel,
Speaker 1: We'll find you the best shell you've ever seen. Just
Speaker 1: you wait, Cloudia managed to smile even better than my brothers.
Speaker 1: I promise even better than your brothers. Cloudier grinned, but said, Michel,
Speaker 1: you need to pretend you're someone else for a moment.
Speaker 1: Can you do that for me? Cloudia was all wide
Speaker 1: eyes and wondering. You're going to have to pretend your Goldilocks.
Speaker 1: We don't want to shell that's too small, and we
Speaker 1: definitely don't want to shell that's too big. We want
Speaker 1: a shell that's just right. Okay, so you be sure
Speaker 1: to tell me if it's too tight or too loose,
Speaker 1: and we'll keep going until we found the perfect shell
Speaker 1: for you. Cloudia giggled. She liked the idea of being Goldilocks.
Speaker 1: She curved her back and waited for mi shell to
Speaker 1: come out. With the first shell, Cloudier wiggled and wobbled
Speaker 1: and pushed and heaved her way into the shell, and finally.
Speaker 2: Said, with a gasp, it's too small.
Speaker 1: Michelle helped pull her out, heaving Cloudier's little crab claws
Speaker 1: until she's suddenly flew out of.
Speaker 2: The shell like a cork out of a bottle.
Speaker 1: She fell onto the sand with a thump and a bump.
Speaker 1: Michelle searched under his table and came out with a
Speaker 1: larger shell and handed that over Cloudier backed into the shell,
Speaker 1: almost disappearing entirely inside. Only her eyes poked out, and
Speaker 1: then they were gone too. It's too pig, came a
Speaker 1: voice echoing from inside the shell. Michelle saw it shake
Speaker 1: and jiggle, and realized Cloudier was trying to get out,
Speaker 1: so he leaned over and helped lift it from her.
Speaker 1: She blinked, her eyes dazzled by the sun again after
Speaker 1: the dark of the shell. They tried ten more shells,
Speaker 1: each one a little bit too small or a little
Speaker 1: bit too big, before Michele remembered that sometimes he stored
Speaker 1: the shells with the buckets. He rattled around under his
Speaker 1: table and emerged carrying a beautiful, shining shell. Inside it gleamed,
Speaker 1: streaked with rainbows on the shiny interior. On the outside,
Speaker 1: it curled and whirled to a single, glorious point with
Speaker 1: patterns that made it look like it should belong to
Speaker 1: a leopard. Cloudier's eyes opened wide. She had never in
Speaker 1: all her life seeing anything as beautiful as that shell.
Speaker 1: She crossed her claws and hoped and hoped that it
Speaker 1: would fit her. Michel placed it beside her, and Cloudier
Speaker 1: backed in, feeling how her sides just.
Speaker 2: Touched the shell.
Speaker 1: She stood up and felt its weight around her, and
Speaker 1: curled up inside to check she could sleep in there,
Speaker 1: and pulled out her claws and walked across the sand
Speaker 1: a little. It's the Goldilocks shell, she declared, eyes shining.
Speaker 1: Can I really have it?
Speaker 2: Can I? Michel was delighted.
Speaker 1: He watched as the little permit.
Speaker 2: Crabs scuttled off across.
Speaker 1: The sand, back to where her family waited on a
Speaker 1: picnic rug. Even from a distance, Michele could see how
Speaker 1: big Cloudier's brother's eyes became when he looked at the shell.
Speaker 1: Cloudier turned slowly and proudly, showing off her new home.
Speaker 1: He really did have a wonderful job, Michelle thought to himself,
Speaker 1: and smiled extra widely for the rest of the day
Speaker 1: as he reunited creatures with their missing spades and flip
Speaker 1: flops and sombreros and umbrellas. As the sun started to
Speaker 1: go down, the creatures began packing up their bags and
Speaker 1: disappearing home, swimming out to sea to their apartments in
Speaker 1: their coral reefs, or heading up the path to their
Speaker 1: penthouses high up on the cliffs. He was smiled at
Speaker 1: and thanked by all the animals who had been reunited
Speaker 1: with their belongings, and Cloudier even rushed over to give
Speaker 1: him a quick hug before she left. Michele lives down
Speaker 1: at Harmony Cove. So after he had taken an evening swim,
Speaker 1: floating in the sea and letting the waves push him
Speaker 1: this way and that, he came back to the beach
Speaker 1: and settled down next to his lost Property stand to
Speaker 1: dry his shell. He was almost completely content, except for
Speaker 1: one thing niggling at his mind. Have you ever had
Speaker 1: that You've been trying to fall asleep and there is
Speaker 1: one thing, It could be a tiny something and nothing,
Speaker 1: worrying away right at the back of your mind, and
Speaker 1: it means you can't fall asleep. The more you try
Speaker 1: to ignore it, the bigger it gets, until suddenly your
Speaker 1: entire mind is filled with this one small thing. That's
Speaker 1: what Michel was going through right now, and the reason
Speaker 1: he couldn't fall asleep. There was an item in his
Speaker 1: lost property box that had been there ever since he started,
Speaker 1: and he still had no idea what it was. He
Speaker 1: had been thinking about it for weeks, and somehow it
Speaker 1: had become a bigger and bigger and bigger problem.
Speaker 2: In his mind. Until now.
Speaker 1: He just knew he wouldn't be able to sleep until
Speaker 1: he knew exactly what it was. Michele sighed and stood up,
Speaker 1: wandering around to root about in the box and find
Speaker 1: the mysterious item. He pulled it out and set it
Speaker 1: on the table in front of him, eyeing it up
Speaker 1: for what felt like the millionth time. It was a
Speaker 1: small silver bar, about as long as his flipper, and
Speaker 1: there were lots and lots of holes in it.
Speaker 2: For a while he thought it might be a sea creature.
Speaker 1: Sleeping off a long swim, but he checked, and this
Speaker 1: silver bar didn't breathe or show any sign that it
Speaker 1: had ever been alive. Michelle wandered with it down to
Speaker 1: the sea, now quite calm since the moon had risen.
Speaker 1: The sea does that, you know, It calms down at
Speaker 1: the end of the day. However much the waves crash
Speaker 1: and churn against the cliffs during the day, it always.
Speaker 2: Seems to go calm at night.
Speaker 1: Michelle looked at the almost perfect reflection of the night
Speaker 1: sky in the waves, seeing the constellations in the shape
Speaker 1: the big whale and the swordfish and the running starfish.
Speaker 1: He placed the silver bar as gently as he could
Speaker 1: on the surface of the sea and then let go,
Speaker 1: waiting to see if it would float. For a moment,
Speaker 1: it did, and then it slipped into the dark water,
Speaker 1: heading down to the sandy seafloor, with a stream of
Speaker 1: bubbles rising to the surface as it fell. Michele quickly
Speaker 1: grabbed it and pulled it out again, heading back to
Speaker 1: the shore. So it doesn't float, he said to himself.
Speaker 1: That means it isn't a boat, and it isn't a
Speaker 1: sort of surfboard. Michele thought about all the sand castles
Speaker 1: he'd seen creatures build with the help of the buckets
Speaker 1: and spades, and he wondered if the silver bar was
Speaker 1: meant to help with that. He tried scooping sand into
Speaker 1: a bucket with it and didn't get very far at all.
Speaker 2: In fact, it was useless for that.
Speaker 1: Then he tried scooping sand into it, packing it into
Speaker 1: the small holes, but they were so small that when
Speaker 1: he dipped it up to pour out the castle, nothing
Speaker 1: really happened at all. He supposed it could be a
Speaker 1: very odd sort of lunch box, although he wasn't sure
Speaker 1: what you might cram into each of those tiny holes.
Speaker 1: The silver bar looked a bit of a mess, all
Speaker 1: covered with sand, and he thought he should probably look
Speaker 1: after it in case whoever owned it came back to
Speaker 1: find it someday. So he wandered back down to the
Speaker 1: sea and shook it around in the water until all
Speaker 1: the sand had come loose, and then he took it
Speaker 1: back to the beach with him. Droplets of water gleamed
Speaker 1: in the holes, and he shook the silver bar to
Speaker 1: get them out, and as he shook it, air rushed
Speaker 1: in and out of the holes, and the silver bar
Speaker 1: made a noise. In fact, it made lots of noises.
Speaker 1: Michelle stopped. He peered inside to see if something was
Speaker 1: living in there, but all he could see was black.
Speaker 1: He shook the silver bar again and it made another
Speaker 1: series of odd noises. How strange, he thought to himself.
Speaker 1: Then he remembered how he could blow across the tops
Speaker 1: of the empty drink's bottles, and how they all made
Speaker 1: a different sound. Slowly, he lifted the silver bar to
Speaker 1: his mouth and he blew. The noise and sounds that
Speaker 1: came out of it startled him so much he dropped
Speaker 1: it on the sand, and then he had to go
Speaker 1: through the process of washing and drying it all over again.
Speaker 1: This time he was ready. Michel lifted it to his
Speaker 1: mouth and blew. He moved his mouth along the silver
Speaker 1: bar and blew into some different holes, and they made
Speaker 1: different noises. After a while, he worked out that each
Speaker 1: of the holes made a different noise. Michelle started at
Speaker 1: one end of the silver bar and breathed out hard,
Speaker 1: working his way up to the other end. The notes
Speaker 1: got higher and higher in pitch with each hole. It
Speaker 1: was almost as if he thought each hole had been
Speaker 1: carefully crafted to make a very particular noise. Just as
Speaker 1: he was beginning to think this odd little silver bar
Speaker 1: might be some sort of musical instrument, a seagull poked
Speaker 1: his head around the cliff edge.
Speaker 2: Hi.
Speaker 1: The sea girl called Michelle turned hello, he answered back,
Speaker 1: a little uncertainly. You didn't get many visitors at night.
Speaker 1: In fact, harmony cove was entirely his when it was dark,
Speaker 1: and you rather like that if truth be told, I say,
Speaker 1: said the sea girl, I think you've got my friend's harmonica. There,
Speaker 1: I've got your friends, what asked Michelle. The sea girl
Speaker 1: flew over and landed next to the sea turtle. He's harmonica,
Speaker 1: sure as feathers is feathers that's Pete's harmonica. He leaned
Speaker 1: over as if to take it from the sea turtle.
Speaker 1: Michelle held it back. If it really does belong to Pete,
Speaker 1: this harmonica, then I should be the one to return
Speaker 1: it to him. I am, after all, in charge of
Speaker 1: lost property, he said. The seagull shrugged, fine by me,
Speaker 1: Come he lives around here, and the seagull disappeared back
Speaker 1: where he had come from. Michelle shuffled after him, the
Speaker 1: harmonica in his mouth. As he climbed across knobbly rocks
Speaker 1: and slithered across sheets of seaweed. He kept panting hard
Speaker 1: into the harmonica, and he gave out little puffs of
Speaker 1: music each time he breathed out.
Speaker 2: The seagull hopped.
Speaker 1: Along, easily, flying over the awkward bits and waiting patiently
Speaker 1: for Michele to catch up. When Michele thought they'd gone
Speaker 1: so far they would surely be in a new country soon,
Speaker 1: he saw the shapes of a hundred sea lions silhouetted
Speaker 1: against the sky. The sea gull flew over and landed
Speaker 1: on one, whispering something into his ear, and the sea
Speaker 1: lion turned and waddled over to Michel Listen or chap
Speaker 1: squawky here says you have my harmonica?
Speaker 3: Is that so?
Speaker 1: Michel was as cautious as ever. He'd hidden the silver
Speaker 1: bar beneath his flipper. I might have it, he said,
Speaker 1: Describe it to me please, Oh, certainly, certainly, said the
Speaker 1: sea lion. I'd say. It's about as long as your flipper. Silver,
Speaker 1: ten little holes in it, says blues on the top
Speaker 1: of it in swirling twirling letters. Few scratches on the undercarriage.
Speaker 1: I'm afraid it's a bit hard to keep a harmonica
Speaker 1: in tiptop shape out on these rocks. Michele turned and
Speaker 1: checked the silver bar, ten holes, blues written in swirling
Speaker 1: twirling letters, and yes, he was right, a few little
Speaker 1: scratches on the underside, turned back to the sea li
Speaker 1: iron and held it out. The sea Lion's eyes lit up,
Speaker 1: and he clapped his flippers together in delight. By jove,
Speaker 1: that's it, You, sir, are a gentleman, he said happily.
Speaker 1: Michele handed it over and was about to leave when
Speaker 1: he had a thought. Excuse me, he said, a little shyly. Pete,
Speaker 1: isn't it The sea lion nodded. Do you know how
Speaker 1: to make real music. With that, Pete, some of the
Speaker 1: nearby sea lions laughed a little. Pete glared at them
Speaker 1: to be quiet. I do play a little Would you
Speaker 1: like to hear something? Michelle nodded eagerly for you any time,
Speaker 1: Eh need time, And with that, the sea lion drew
Speaker 1: the harmonica to his mouth and breathed out. At first,
Speaker 1: he played a song so lively and busy that Michel
Speaker 1: couldn't help but tap his flippers in time to the music,
Speaker 1: watching as the sea lions twirled around to the sounds
Speaker 1: of the sea shanty. When Pete finished, they all sat
Speaker 1: back and clapped their flippers loudly, barking their approval and
Speaker 1: calling for an encore. And Pete leaned back against a
Speaker 1: rock and closed his eyes once more, putting the harmonica
Speaker 1: to his lips. This time, he played a slow and
Speaker 1: beautiful tune. It sounded like the sea and the waves
Speaker 1: all at once. Michele closed his eyes and as he listened,
Speaker 1: he saw mermaids float through his mind. He saw dolphins
Speaker 1: drifting through the tides and wails leaning into the waves.
Speaker 1: He saw sea gulls floating high up on the thermals,
Speaker 1: and starfish sleeping on the sands, and that night and
Speaker 1: for many nights after, Michelee didn't sleep by himself in
Speaker 1: Harmony Cove. He slept beside the sea lions and fell
Speaker 1: asleep to the music of the harmonica, drifting away on
Speaker 1: dreams of long summer days and starry moonlight nights