Today, let's listen to our sister show - Koala Shine! We'll adventure to New York City, where Rita the rat and a raccoon named Rollo are playing with their boomerang. Unfortunately, they throw it too hard and it gets stuck on the top of the Empire State Building! Will they ever get it down? Listen in to find out!
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Narrator 🎙 Kelly Macbride
Author ✍️ Luke Prendergast
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:00
Speaker 1: Hey Kohala kids, and welcome to this bonus daytime episode
00:00:04
Speaker 1: from my friend Kelly and her daytime show Koala Shine.
00:00:08
Speaker 1: In today's fun field Adventure, we'll be heading to New
00:00:12
Speaker 1: York City where we'll meet the rat and raccoon duo
00:00:16
Speaker 1: Rita and Rollo. All is going great until they get
00:00:19
Speaker 1: their boomerang stuck on the massive Empire State building.
00:00:23
Speaker 2: But how will they get it down?
00:00:25
Speaker 1: You are going to love this episode.
00:00:28
Speaker 2: Enjoy Khala Shine.
00:00:38
Speaker 3: Hey Kohala kids, and welcome to our brand new show
00:00:42
Speaker 3: Koala Shine. I'm Kelly, and I'll be reading you daytime
00:00:46
Speaker 3: stories and giving you facts and ideas that will blow
00:00:49
Speaker 3: your mind. Now we better get our jet packs ready,
00:00:54
Speaker 3: as today we're going to explore the big Apple, not
00:00:58
Speaker 3: the shiny red one in the fruit bowl, but the city,
00:01:01
Speaker 3: New York City, to be precise. Now, within the bright
00:01:06
Speaker 3: lights of New York City live more people than in
00:01:09
Speaker 3: any other city in the US. Do you want to
00:01:12
Speaker 3: have a guess at just how many people that is?
00:01:16
Speaker 4: Go on, have a go?
00:01:19
Speaker 5: The correct answer is.
00:01:22
Speaker 3: Eight million people. Can you believe it? That's over one
00:01:27
Speaker 3: hundred and twenty giant football stadiums full of people.
00:01:32
Speaker 4: Goodness, me. It sounds busy.
00:01:35
Speaker 3: Now, a lot of New York City is built on
00:01:37
Speaker 3: just one little island called Manhattan. How did the city
00:01:41
Speaker 3: planners build enough places for all of those people on
00:01:44
Speaker 3: a tiny little island. Well, they built upwards. They built
00:01:50
Speaker 3: skyscrapers like the Empire State Building. For example, if eighty
00:01:56
Speaker 3: eight giraffes stood one on top of each other's head,
00:01:59
Speaker 3: the one at the top still wouldn't be able to
00:02:01
Speaker 3: pluck a leaf from the top of the Empire State Building.
00:02:04
Speaker 3: I mean, yikes, it's making me dizzy just thinking about it.
00:02:09
Speaker 3: The reason I'm telling you this is because it's time
00:02:12
Speaker 3: to head off to meet a couple of little critters
00:02:14
Speaker 3: who live in New York City. Sometimes the creatures in
00:02:18
Speaker 3: the city can be hard to find because they're so
00:02:21
Speaker 3: good at hiding in all the nooks and crannies and
00:02:23
Speaker 3: shady spots in the rumbled tumble of buildings. But I
00:02:27
Speaker 3: know just where to find these two critters. They live
00:02:31
Speaker 3: just up that narrow, grubby looking alleyway with its metal
00:02:34
Speaker 3: grills and the smell of pizza wafting round from the
00:02:37
Speaker 3: restaurant around the corner. In fact, they live in that
00:02:41
Speaker 3: dustbin or trash can, as the Americans say, just over there,
00:02:46
Speaker 3: shall we see if.
00:02:46
Speaker 4: They'll come out. Let's give the dustbin lid a tap Ah.
00:02:55
Speaker 5: There they are, Let's give them a little wave.
00:02:59
Speaker 3: That's Rita the rat with her ink, black fur and
00:03:02
Speaker 3: her sparkling eyes. There's no one who knows the secrets
00:03:06
Speaker 3: of New York City better than Rita. She's the smartest
00:03:10
Speaker 3: street rat out there. And that one there with the
00:03:14
Speaker 3: pointy nose and the black and silver stripes all up
00:03:16
Speaker 3: his bushy tail, that's Rita's best friend, Rollo the raccoon.
00:03:22
Speaker 3: Rollo's real good at sniffing out a tasty meal, and
00:03:26
Speaker 3: his eyesight is so good he can see in the dark.
00:03:31
Speaker 5: Hi Rita, Hi Rollo.
00:03:34
Speaker 3: Rita and Rollo have been the best of pals for
00:03:36
Speaker 3: many years. There's nothing they like more than to get
00:03:39
Speaker 3: up to all kinds of mischief together around the city.
00:03:43
Speaker 3: They like to clamber up the drain pipes and leap
00:03:45
Speaker 3: from roof to roof. They like to sift through the
00:03:48
Speaker 3: bins for any toys that have been accidentally tossed out,
00:03:52
Speaker 3: and they like to play tricks on their other critter
00:03:54
Speaker 3: friends by sneaking into their dens when they're out and
00:03:57
Speaker 3: shouting boo when they come home. It really is a
00:04:00
Speaker 3: lot of fun. But they're absolute, one hundred percent favorite
00:04:05
Speaker 3: thing to do and the whole wide city is to
00:04:08
Speaker 3: go out and play with their boomerang with his special
00:04:13
Speaker 3: sea in the dark eyes. Rollo spotted the boomerang line
00:04:16
Speaker 3: in a dark corner one night, and Rita is very
00:04:19
Speaker 3: glad he did. It's the best toy in the whole world.
00:04:23
Speaker 3: It's made of wood and shaped in a special curve
00:04:26
Speaker 3: so that when you throw it it flies through the
00:04:28
Speaker 3: air in a big sweep and returns to you so
00:04:31
Speaker 3: that you can catch it.
00:04:34
Speaker 4: Returned.
00:04:34
Speaker 3: Rolloh like to take it everywhere. They take it to
00:04:38
Speaker 3: the park and throw it. They take it up to
00:04:41
Speaker 3: people's roofs and throw it. They even throw it in
00:04:44
Speaker 3: their little alley and whenever they throw it they like
00:04:47
Speaker 3: to sing there banging boomerang song. Our boomerang is super neat.
00:04:54
Speaker 3: When you throw it full whack, it whizzes away through
00:04:57
Speaker 3: the air and then it comes straight back. Today, Rita
00:05:03
Speaker 3: and Rollo are heading out to play with their boomerang.
00:05:06
Speaker 3: They leave their alleyway and then cross the main road
00:05:09
Speaker 3: with great care, making sure to wait for the flashing
00:05:12
Speaker 3: man to turn white and the traffic to stop before crossing.
00:05:17
Speaker 3: Then they head to a familiar square of grassy park
00:05:20
Speaker 3: that sits below the soaring tower of the Empire State Building.
00:05:24
Speaker 3: You go voiced, says Rollo, handing the boomerang to Rita.
00:05:30
Speaker 3: Rollo and Rita always likes to have a competition of
00:05:33
Speaker 3: who can throw the boomerang the furthest and Rollo. Even
00:05:37
Speaker 3: though Rollo is being polite, he also likes Rita to
00:05:40
Speaker 3: go first so that he can see what he needs
00:05:42
Speaker 3: to beat Sneaky Rollo. Rita takes the boomerang and with
00:05:48
Speaker 3: a swish of her tail, hurls it into the air.
00:05:52
Speaker 4: Whush it goes.
00:05:54
Speaker 3: It travels up high into the air above the racing
00:05:57
Speaker 3: cars before turning and falling back to worth. Rita catches
00:06:02
Speaker 3: it neatly in her claw. Our boomerang is super neat.
00:06:07
Speaker 3: If you throw it full whack, it whizzes a weight
00:06:10
Speaker 3: with the year and then it comes straight back. Nice
00:06:15
Speaker 3: one rider, Rollo shouts. He gives his rat Pala clap
00:06:20
Speaker 3: on the back. Then Rollo himself takes the boomerang, gives
00:06:25
Speaker 3: a twitch of his pointy nose and tosses it into
00:06:27
Speaker 3: the sky.
00:06:29
Speaker 4: Whosh off.
00:06:31
Speaker 3: It goes way up high, even further than Rita's soaring,
00:06:36
Speaker 3: turning and hurtling back down.
00:06:39
Speaker 4: With a woohoo. Rollo catches it.
00:06:43
Speaker 5: Our boomerang is super neat.
00:06:46
Speaker 3: When it gets thrown full whack, it whizzes a weight
00:06:49
Speaker 3: with the year and then it comes straight back, but
00:06:53
Speaker 3: this time only Rollo sings the song enthusiastically. Rita half
00:06:58
Speaker 3: sings it because she is proud of Rollo's throw, but
00:07:02
Speaker 3: she's also scowling a little because she does not like
00:07:05
Speaker 3: to be beaten. Give me another girl, she says, and
00:07:11
Speaker 3: Rollo hands at the boomerang. Rita takes a few steps backwards.
00:07:16
Speaker 3: She's preparing to take a running throw. She tenses her
00:07:20
Speaker 3: muscles and she looks up to the sky. Then she
00:07:23
Speaker 3: leaps forward one, two, three and launches the boomerang into
00:07:29
Speaker 3: the sky. Covering their eyes with their paws against the
00:07:33
Speaker 3: bright glare of the sun. Rita and Rollo watch the
00:07:36
Speaker 3: boomerang go whoa. Rollo whistles, that really is a good one, reader.
00:07:43
Speaker 3: The boomerang is flying through the air in the direction
00:07:46
Speaker 3: of the Empire state, building up, up up. It goes
00:07:51
Speaker 3: much higher than either Rollo or Rita can remember it
00:07:53
Speaker 3: going before, up up, up, and then well, it disappears.
00:08:02
Speaker 3: Rita and Rollo can't see it anymore. They wait for
00:08:06
Speaker 3: a few seconds, feeling bamboozled. They expect at any moment
00:08:11
Speaker 3: that the boomerang will appear in the sky, finding its
00:08:14
Speaker 3: way back to them, but it doesn't. They scratch their heads.
00:08:21
Speaker 3: Rita swishes her tail a couple of times, then, feeling
00:08:25
Speaker 3: suddenly terribly guilty, she bursts out into tears.
00:08:30
Speaker 5: Oh Ralo, I'm sorry.
00:08:32
Speaker 4: Cries the poor little rat. I've thrown it.
00:08:35
Speaker 5: Too hard and now it's lost forever.
00:08:39
Speaker 3: Rollo has to admit that he feels very sad too.
00:08:43
Speaker 3: It does seem like the boomerang has gone and isn't
00:08:45
Speaker 3: coming back, But he doesn't want his pal Rita to
00:08:49
Speaker 3: feel too bad, so he puts an arm around her
00:08:51
Speaker 3: back and tells her it's okay. They'll find another one.
00:08:56
Speaker 3: Rita sniffs a few times. Rollo looks up at the
00:08:59
Speaker 3: sky where the boomerang disappeared. Oh, boomerang, he thinks, wistfully.
00:09:06
Speaker 2: Gone forever.
00:09:09
Speaker 4: But then Rollo sees something.
00:09:11
Speaker 3: He squints his little eyes. Can it really be? At first,
00:09:17
Speaker 3: he thinks it might be the boomerang. But no, it's
00:09:20
Speaker 3: definitely not the boomerang. It's much bigger than that. A
00:09:25
Speaker 3: dark mark in the sky is getting bigger and bigger,
00:09:28
Speaker 3: and it's coming at them at breakneck speed. In fact,
00:09:32
Speaker 3: he's never seen anything so fast, Reader murmurs Rollo, as
00:09:38
Speaker 3: a ball of fear begins to not up in his tummy.
00:09:42
Speaker 5: What they think coming towards us?
00:09:45
Speaker 2: I think I think it's gonna hit us.
00:09:49
Speaker 3: And then the dark flying thing stops and in front
00:09:52
Speaker 3: of them, hovering in the air is a sharp beaked,
00:09:55
Speaker 3: yellow footed bird. Excuse me, she says, in a voice
00:10:01
Speaker 3: like a very disgruntled school teacher. Does that Bendley stick
00:10:05
Speaker 3: in the sky belong to you too?
00:10:08
Speaker 4: Rita can't help it. Her eyes light up with hope.
00:10:12
Speaker 5: The boomerang? Oh is that what you call it?
00:10:15
Speaker 4: A boomerang?
00:10:17
Speaker 5: Well, whatever it is, it almost knocked me off my perch. Rollo,
00:10:22
Speaker 5: who is still a little bit scared.
00:10:24
Speaker 3: Peeks out from behind the hand he's used to cover
00:10:26
Speaker 3: his eyes.
00:10:28
Speaker 5: And uh, where is your perch?
00:10:31
Speaker 4: He asks?
00:10:33
Speaker 5: I'm ping the peicrine falcon. I'm even faster than a cheetah.
00:10:38
Speaker 5: My nurst on top of the Empire State Building, race me,
00:10:42
Speaker 5: and I'll beat you, Ping finishes, speaking her chest puffed
00:10:47
Speaker 5: up with pride. But Rita and Rollo are looking up
00:10:51
Speaker 5: at the Empire State Building in a state of shock
00:10:53
Speaker 5: and wonder. A little bit of Rita's mind is secretly
00:10:57
Speaker 5: thinking how awesome it is that she's managed to throw.
00:11:00
Speaker 3: The boomerang all the way up there. But both of
00:11:04
Speaker 3: them are wondering how on earth they'll get their favorite
00:11:06
Speaker 3: toy back down. Will says Ping, ruffling her feathers. I
00:11:12
Speaker 3: suppose I can go fetch it for you if you
00:11:15
Speaker 3: promise me that you won't throw it so hard and
00:11:17
Speaker 3: almost knock me out of the sky again. The city
00:11:21
Speaker 3: critters clap their paws together. Can you really, they ask, Well,
00:11:27
Speaker 3: says Ping, You.
00:11:29
Speaker 5: Two won't be able to fly up there, will you?
00:11:32
Speaker 3: And with that, she takes off like a bullet. She
00:11:35
Speaker 3: is so quick that Rita and Rollo barely see her go.
00:11:39
Speaker 3: One moment she's there, and the next she's just a
00:11:42
Speaker 3: tiny black dot.
00:11:43
Speaker 4: In the sky.
00:11:46
Speaker 3: Rita and Rollo wait on tenter hooks, anxious to see
00:11:49
Speaker 3: whether the pegrine falcon will return. Soon enough, they see
00:11:54
Speaker 3: a black dot reappear in the sky, and then Ping
00:11:57
Speaker 3: is with them again, but they notice, with a wave
00:12:01
Speaker 3: of disappointment that there's no sign of the boomerang. Well,
00:12:06
Speaker 3: it's stuck, Ping tells them, stuck.
00:12:10
Speaker 5: They cry, that's right, stuck. It's swedged into a tight
00:12:15
Speaker 5: crevice right at the top of the building. And I
00:12:18
Speaker 5: might be a speedy flyer, but my beak is neither
00:12:20
Speaker 5: strong enough nor dexterous enough for that kind of tomfoolery.
00:12:24
Speaker 5: And she clicks her beak twice as though to prove
00:12:27
Speaker 5: her point. Rita and Rolloh feel quite despondent.
00:12:31
Speaker 4: Indeed, what will we do? They ask each other.
00:12:36
Speaker 3: Try as they might, they cannot come up with any ideas.
00:12:41
Speaker 3: Not even all of Rita's street smart nor a twitch
00:12:44
Speaker 3: of Rollo's super sensitive nose can sniff out a cunning solution.
00:12:50
Speaker 3: But as they're about to give up completely, Pink chirrups
00:12:53
Speaker 3: up again. Oh, for feather's sake, she says, I suppose
00:12:58
Speaker 3: there is one way. Suddenly, Rita and Rollo are listening attentively,
00:13:05
Speaker 3: if one of you were to fly on my back,
00:13:07
Speaker 3: you could come and release your toy from where it's trapped.
00:13:12
Speaker 3: Rita and Rollo exchange glances. No no, no, they both
00:13:17
Speaker 3: begin immediately. There is no way they're flying all the
00:13:21
Speaker 3: way up there on the back of a bird. What
00:13:23
Speaker 3: if they fall off and tumble through the sky. It
00:13:27
Speaker 3: has to be you, says Rollo, Why me, reads her replies,
00:13:34
Speaker 3: you're smaller, but you're stronger.
00:13:38
Speaker 5: But you're the one who lost it in the first place.
00:13:42
Speaker 3: Well there's no arguing with that. Looking nervously at Ping,
00:13:47
Speaker 3: who is preening her feathers, and then up at the tower,
00:13:51
Speaker 3: which looks to be a billion miles up in the sky,
00:13:54
Speaker 3: Rita takes a deep breath. She steals herself.
00:14:00
Speaker 5: Time to be brave, she thinks, with a strange mix
00:14:05
Speaker 5: of admiration and concern. Rollo watches as Rita climbs onto
00:14:09
Speaker 5: Ping's back. She looks a little.
00:14:11
Speaker 3: Nervous, but she grits her teeth and tucks her little
00:14:15
Speaker 3: claws into the falcon's feathers. Hold on, tied, Ping says,
00:14:21
Speaker 3: and just like that, they're gone.
00:14:24
Speaker 2: Whosh.
00:14:26
Speaker 3: Rollo has never seen anything so fast. He waits, biting
00:14:31
Speaker 3: on his claws and watching the sky to see what
00:14:33
Speaker 3: might happen next. While Rollah is waiting, Rita, the rat
00:14:41
Speaker 3: is having a rollicking.
00:14:42
Speaker 4: Time at first she was scared.
00:14:45
Speaker 3: The peregrine falcon flew so fast that the world whizzed
00:14:49
Speaker 3: past in a wild whoshing blur. But then the fear
00:14:52
Speaker 3: dropped away, and now all Rita feels is the thrill
00:14:56
Speaker 3: of flight. All of New York spread up beneath her,
00:15:01
Speaker 3: the skyscrapers look like tiny little pins. She even lets
00:15:05
Speaker 3: go of Ping's feathers and cries you who, before wobbling
00:15:10
Speaker 3: a little and holding on tight again, Just as Ping
00:15:14
Speaker 3: has said, the boomerang is stuck. Rita tries tugging at
00:15:18
Speaker 3: it with her little claws, but it's no use. Then
00:15:22
Speaker 3: ping lens are helping beak, and they tug and tug
00:15:26
Speaker 3: the boomerang together.
00:15:27
Speaker 4: Still no luck.
00:15:30
Speaker 5: There's nothing else.
00:15:31
Speaker 3: For it, Rita says, at last, and gritting her teeth
00:15:35
Speaker 3: bravely again, she clambers down Ping's body. With one hand
00:15:40
Speaker 3: she grips the boomerang, and with the other she grips
00:15:44
Speaker 3: Ping's bright yellow foot.
00:15:46
Speaker 5: Now, peer, she says, fly, fly, fly, with all you might.
00:15:53
Speaker 3: Ping doesn't need telling twice. With a flap of her
00:15:56
Speaker 3: lustrous wings, she takes off, and for a moment they
00:16:00
Speaker 3: hang there as if frozen. Rita stretched out between the
00:16:04
Speaker 3: stuck boomerang and the flapping falcon. And then suddenly, when
00:16:09
Speaker 3: it feels like she couldn't stretch anymore, there's a pop
00:16:13
Speaker 3: and the boomerang comes free. Down below, Rollo is still
00:16:18
Speaker 3: waiting nervously. One minute passes, then two is Tommy begins
00:16:25
Speaker 3: to crawl like there are thousands of anxious little bugs
00:16:28
Speaker 3: in there. Three minutes, and then in the sky he
00:16:33
Speaker 3: sees it, a black dot approaching faster and faster. There's ping,
00:16:40
Speaker 3: and on her back Rita, and in Rita's triumphant hand,
00:16:45
Speaker 3: spinning in circles through the air like a trophy.
00:16:48
Speaker 4: The boomerang.
00:16:50
Speaker 3: Rita, you did it, Rollo cries, throwing his arms around her.
00:16:55
Speaker 3: You're so brave, I am, Rita with a big grin
00:17:02
Speaker 3: that I couldn't have done it without ping. The three
00:17:05
Speaker 3: of them gaze happily at the trusty, lost and found
00:17:08
Speaker 3: beloved boomerang, which lies on the floor between them. Hey ping,
00:17:14
Speaker 3: Rollo says, picking it up.
00:17:16
Speaker 5: I got an idea, want to have a game.
00:17:20
Speaker 3: Our boomerang is super neat. When you throw at full whack,
00:17:24
Speaker 3: it whizzes away for the year, and then it comes
00:17:27
Speaker 3: straight back. And that is where we shall leave them.
00:17:34
Speaker 3: Rita and Rollo and Ping are New York City crizzies.
00:17:38
Speaker 3: Suffice to say, the three of them are still close
00:17:41
Speaker 3: friends even to this day. And if you're very lucky
00:17:45
Speaker 3: and find yourself on a very special patch of grass
00:17:47
Speaker 3: in the shadow of the Empire State Building, maybe, just
00:17:51
Speaker 3: maybe you'll spot them all playing together with their boomerang.
00:17:56
Speaker 3: Who well, I am relieved Rollo and Rita got their
00:17:59
Speaker 3: boomer hang back.
00:18:01
Speaker 5: If only we all had a peicrine falcon to retrieve.
00:18:03
Speaker 4: Our lost toys. Eh.
00:18:05
Speaker 3: Have you ever lost something important to you only to
00:18:08
Speaker 3: find it pop up in the strangest of places.
00:18:12
Speaker 4: One time I lost my keys and found them sitting
00:18:15
Speaker 4: in the fridge. Silly me.
00:18:18
Speaker 3: Let me know via the link in the show notes.
00:18:20
Speaker 3: Until next time, you Kuala kids, keep on shining.
00:18:35
Speaker 2: You will shine