Potato and Beans Meet the Nowhere Treasure Hunters 😸 🌟 Bedtime Stories For Kids

[00:00:11] Hello and welcome back to Koala Moon, a podcast of original children's bedtime stories and meditations designed to make bedtimes a dream. Welcome, welcome you lovely lot into the Coco Club tonight. Coco has just handed me the list and a globe so I'm looking up where you are.

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[00:00:54] I always say it, but it means the world to me, to the writers, to everybody back there at Sleep HQ because we love what we do and we wouldn't be able to do it without your support, your ongoing support over the years. So thanks as always. Now tonight's story is a special one. We're going to meet some new characters. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start at the beginning.

[00:01:20] Tonight's story begins one quiet evening in the middle of nowhere. And we know who lives there. The sky is turning lilac and the koala moon is just beginning to rise. We're going to join Potato as she finds herself facing a small but important problem. A birthday surprise for beans has gone missing in the desert. But help is closer than she thinks.

[00:01:47] From next door at the Higgledy Piggledy Ranch come two neighbours who we're only just beginning to know. Flick, a bright-eyed little fox with a cowboy hat and a knowing smile. And Jumble, her gentle big-hearted donkey companion, who notices more than he lets on. Together, they call themselves the Nowhere Treasure Hunters.

[00:02:11] And somehow, they seem to understand the desert in a way that feels just a little bit magical. As they set off across the soft, shifting sands, following faint clues beneath the fading light, Potato begins to wonder. Are Flick and Jumble simply helpful neighbours? Or might there be more adventures waiting with them?

[00:02:36] Because in the koala kingdom, new friends often bring the start of something special. And with Flick and Jumble right next door, there are surely many adventures ahead. And if we're lucky, we might even get to go along. So keep an eye out for our exciting new four-part series featuring these intrepid explorers. Before we begin, here's a quick ad break. Then we'll start tonight's bedtime story.

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[00:04:19] You'll get full access to our ad-free bedtime stories, so your child can settle in without interruptions, alongside familiar favourites like Coco, Hector and Sunny, and Potato and Beans. There's plenty to explore, too, including exclusive premium series like Cappy and Tito, along with our newest stories, Flick and Jumble, all part of a library that's already supported over 40 million bedtimes.

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[00:05:13] As I begin, Potato and Beans Meet the Nowhere Treasure Hunters. By Luke Prendergast. Seeing as it was a desert, the middle of nowhere didn't boast the greatest selection of shops. There was a little convenience store called The Bear Essentials, run by a friendly sloth bear called Jeeves.

[00:05:41] But you could never put too much faith in there ever being anything on the shelves. There was Sandy the Skunk's soap shop, if you were ever in need of a new lavender-scented bar. And, in a pinch, you could go over to the Higgledy-Piggledy Ranch just down the road and ask the brood of hens there for a box of freshly laid eggs. But if you needed anything even slightly out of the ordinary, you'd have to look further afield.

[00:06:08] That's why, when it came to getting her best pal and business partner Beans a present for her birthday, Potato consulted the Evergreen Department Store Catalogue, which they kept on the shelf in the diner. It was a ginormous volume. The Evergreen Department Store in Sleepy Forest had everything you could ever desire, and more.

[00:06:33] They had thousand-piece puzzles, music boxes that played your favourite song. They had clothes for every kind of weather and hundreds of different kinds of notebooks. They had ceramic mugs and board games, and bubble baths, and build-your-own-model airplanes. Potato leafed through page after page, humming and hawing and stroking her chin,

[00:07:01] wondering whether she could get Beans this item as a present or that. At last, she turned a page and saw it. She said to herself with a pleased purr, That's what I'll get, Beans. It's perfect. She rang up the Evergreen Department Store and put in her order.

[00:07:24] The kindly otter on the other end of the line informed her that delivery to the middle of nowhere would take two days. She counted two days on her claws. Well, wasn't that good luck? The gift would arrive precisely the day before Beans' birthday, just in time. She thanked the Evergreen Otter and put down the phone. For the next couple of days, Potato felt rather pleased with herself.

[00:07:54] She skated around the diner with a certain pizzazz and a gleaming white smile. This was the first time she'd managed to organise a present for Beans that would actually arrive in time for her birthday. Truth be told, usually Potato was a bit of a scatty cat. Her mind was like a bubbling kettle, full of dozens of creative ideas,

[00:08:20] like new designs for the diner menus that came to her in a dream, or an experimental recipe to serve the diner guests. All that creativity meant that the practical things sometimes fell by the wayside. She often forgot an important appointment, or lost track of the time, or couldn't remember where she'd left her favourite hat. Kitty chaos was what Beans called it.

[00:08:49] Absolute kitty chaos. But now, it seemed Potato had turned over a new leaf. She was a scatty cat no more. On the eve of Beans' birthday, Potato was forever glancing out of the wide diner windows to see if the delivery was arriving. Who were you waiting for? Beans would ask her. But Potato would only tap her nose secretively.

[00:09:19] None of your business, she'd say with a smile. At last, there was a toot of a horn from outside. I'll get it, Potato said quickly, and skated on her wheels out of the diner door. Outside, it was early evening. The sky was a soft lilac colour, with silvery clouds like brushstrokes, and even the sand had taken on a purplish hue, as though it were reflecting the sky.

[00:09:49] Potato's green eyes sparkled in the twilight. In front of the diner, a raccoon in a leather jacket had just stepped off a cranky old motorbike. He took off his helmet. Hello, Munchie, Potato said to her old friend. I didn't know you delivered packages as well as delivering pizza. You know me, Potato, replied Munchie.

[00:10:18] I like to keep busy, and doing deliveries means I get to see the whole of the koala kingdom. A raccoon can't sniff at that. On the back of Munchie's bike stood a tall teetering column of cardboard boxes, all different sizes and all of them standing on top of each other. The tower looked so delicately stacked that Potato worried that it might tip over then and there.

[00:10:49] However did Munchie ride his motorbike without them all falling off? Munchie squinted up at the tower of boxes. Then he looked at a list on a blue clipboard he carried. He looked up again at the tower of boxes, then back at the clipboard, before turning to Potato with a rather guilty look on his face. Munchie looked at the tower of boxes. Oh dear, Potato, he said.

[00:11:17] Your package seems to have fallen off along the way. I've been zigging back and forth across the desert, and it must have toppled off without my noticing. Munchie gnawed on the nails of one poor. I'm so sorry. I'll have to go back into the desert to search for it, but...

[00:11:42] Oh, I have all these other parcels that need delivering this evening. And he glanced nervously at the tower of packages once more. Potato did not want her friend Munchie to feel guilty about what was obviously an honest mistake. And nor did she want him to be delayed delivering all of his other parcels. So she told him he wasn't to worry.

[00:12:09] She could get the Evergreen department store to send the package out again. Munchie gave her a look of appreciation, apologised again and got back on his motorbike. Potato watched him pootle off, the tower of boxes wibbling and wobbling, then skated slowly back into the diner. She was feeling a little morose. After all, her chance at becoming a put-together,

[00:12:37] on-time, organised kind of cat had been foiled. Beans' birthday present would be late for another year. The thought made Potato feel so glum, looking down at the floor, that she didn't notice that two young creatures had overheard everything that had gone on. Unseen, a tiny, sand-coloured fox with huge ears

[00:13:05] and a sleepy-looking, plodding donkey followed her quietly into the diner. Is everything okay? Beans asked back at the long, shining counter. And before Potato could think to be secretive, she said, No, I'm annoyed, because the package I ordered got lost somewhere out in the desert.

[00:13:31] Beans' splodgy, white-and-brown face furrowed into a frown. Package? Package, she said. What package? Oops. Potato would have to be careful. She didn't want to reveal that there was a present arriving for Beans, even if it was going to turn up late. Um, she said. Oh, you know, just something for the diner.

[00:13:58] And she gave a big, innocent smile. Beans' frown deepened. After all, she was the organised one of the pair of them. If anything needed ordering for the diner, she was usually the one to do it. What something for the diner? She asked. It came as a relief to Potato that she didn't have to answer that question,

[00:14:26] for just then there came a tap on her shoulder, and she turned around to see the tiny fox and the big brown donkey standing right behind her. The fox was dressed up like a cowboy, with a red handkerchief tied around her neck and a cowboy hat on her head, out of the top of which poked her ginormous ears. The donkey wore a slightly worn-down-looking saddle and a sweet smile on his face.

[00:14:57] Of course, Potato and Beans knew who they were. This pair of best pals lived right next door to the diner on the Higgledy Piggledy Ranch. Hello, Flick, Beans said to the big-eared fox. Hello, Jumble, to the donkey. Can we help you? Oh, no, said Flick, the tiny fox, with a quick twinkle in her eye. We're here to help you.

[00:15:26] We couldn't help but hear you had a package lost in the desert. Is that right, Potato? Potato nodded. Well, you're in luck, Flick said with a grin. We're the nowhere treasure hunters. No one knows the middle of nowhere like we do. Why, we know it like the back of our paw. Or hoof, interjected Jumble.

[00:15:54] Right, said Flick. Or hoof. The point is, if it's lost in the desert, we're the ones who can find it. Why, we found all sorts of treasure in the desert. Jumble nodded in agreement. Oh, yes, we have, he said. Like bent forks and tin cans and gold, Flick said rather quickly. Jumble looked at her quizzically.

[00:16:24] Gold? Yes, Flick said, giving him a wink and a light nudge in the side. You remember that big pile of gold we found, Jumble? Jumble blinked. Gold? Flick's smile tightened and she nudged him again, just a little harder this time. Oh, yes, that gold, Jumble said quickly. Flick beamed

[00:16:52] as if this settled the matter entirely. Jumble, however, had the look of someone who knew there had never been any gold at all but thought it best to agree anyway. The donkey carried on staring at her with his mouth open for a few seconds before suddenly catching her drift and giving a toothy smile. Oh, yes, gold

[00:17:19] and once we found a ball of tumbleweed too, he added. I named it Jumbleweed. We're friends now. Right, Flick said. She looked at Potato, her big dark eyes twinkling with hope. So, would you like us to help you find your last package? Potato was not entirely convinced that the nowhere treasure hunters

[00:17:47] had ever found gold in the desert, but she was glad nonetheless that Flick and Jumble had offered to help. Yes, please, she said. Flick fist pumped the air. Excellent, she said. Now, first off, what can you tell me about this parcel? Potato glanced nervously at Beans. What could she say without giving the surprise away?

[00:18:18] Well, she said, raising her paws, it's about yay big and this size and... And what's in it? Flick asked. Potato bit her tongue. She glanced at Beans again, then leaned in very close to Flick's large sensitive ears and whispered as quietly as she could. It's a secret. Flick blinked at her twice.

[00:18:47] Then her eyes went big and she nodded. She tapped her nose twice as if to say mum's the word. Now Beans, who was looking curiously at all of them, let out a little purr. You go and help them find this mysterious parcel, Potato, she said. I'll hold down the diner. And so it was that just a minute later, Potato was outside the diner

[00:19:17] with Flick and Jumble, the nowhere treasure hunters. Flick hoisted herself up onto Jumble's back. She looked tiny in the saddle. Would you like to get up too? Jumble asked. I'm plenty strong enough for you both. But Potato declined his offer. She much preferred prowling across the sands on her own four paws. To show this, she took a couple of bounds

[00:19:46] out into the desert. But the wheels of her skates sunk straight into the sand and she was unable to move. Oops! She always forgot that her roller skates were for indoors. She tugged the wheels out of the sand, slipped them off, and left them next to the diner door. That was better. On her paws, she could pad so softly on the sand, it was as though she were walking on water.

[00:20:15] Whereas Jumble's heavy hoof falls sent little clouds of sand billowing around his legs. The sky was mauve as they made their way through the middle of nowhere. Luckily, they knew which direction to go, for Munchie's motorbike wheels had left a winding line in the sand. But the problem with lines in the sand was that it didn't take much of a breeze to blow them away.

[00:20:44] And before long, the line had disappeared. Never fear, said Flick as she began to rummage around in one of the knapsacks tied to the side of Jumble's saddle. Eventually, she pulled out a long and rather rusty-looking metal stick with a panel on the end. She flicked a switch and it let out a fuzzy beep. This is our magical treasure detector, she told Potato.

[00:21:15] It can seek out what you're looking for for miles and miles away, probably even from space. To Potato, it looked like a crumbly old metal detector and from its frail beeping, a broken one at that. But she didn't say anything. She was just happy that she had some help looking for the present. Come on, Jumble, said Flick from high up on top of him. Off we go,

[00:21:45] that way. But Jumble was distracted, looking at a dark green cactus covered in orange spines. On top grew a bright purple flower. Mmm, Jumble sighed. That looks tasty. Oh no, said Flick. Remember what happened last time you tried to eat a cactus? Jumble nodded and gave his nose

[00:22:15] a rub with a hoof, as though remembering the spines that got stuck there. And soon enough, they were plodding on through the sand, away from the cactus. From on top of Jumble's back, Flick scanned the landscape with her magical treasure detector, while Potato slipped softly over the shifting sands. The dunes looked like huge humpback whales

[00:22:42] sleeping side by side. Soon, the detector brought them upon a strange lump in the sand. Aha, said Flick. I knew we'd find it. Potato brushed the sand away from the strange lump, but it was only an old watering can that had been abandoned long ago. For just a second, Flick looked a little crestfallen.

[00:23:12] But then, she brightened up and said, Never fear, we'll find it soon. Flick's big ears twitched with excitement when the magical treasure detector brought them to another lump in the sand. But when Jumble nudged it with his nose, the lump dissolved and flew away. It was just a tiny sand sculpture formed in the desert and now it was gone. So,

[00:23:41] said Jumble as they plodded on through the middle of nowhere, can you tell us about what this package is now? Oh, yes, said Potato and she told them all about how she had ordered a surprise birthday present for her friend Beans, but that it got lost in the desert. She was particularly disappointed because it was the one time she'd actually been organized enough to have a present arrive

[00:24:11] in time. Usually, you see, she was the disorganized one. Jumble let out a funny donkey chuckle. Oh, that sounds just like me and Flick, he said. Potato gazed up with him, the purple sky glowing behind his fuzzy head. It does? she asked. Oh, yes, replied Jumble.

[00:24:41] Flick's the organized one out of us two. She plans all our hunting expeditions. I'm too easily distracted and daydreamy and I get spooked by the smallest things which makes my legs get all twisted up in a jumble. There'd be no nowhere treasure hunters without Flick. Flick's big eyes were glistening. She leant down and wrapped

[00:25:10] her tiny arms as far as she could around Jumble's neck. There'd be no nowhere treasure hunters without you either, Jumble, she said. Who'd get us safely around the desert? At the sight of these two friends appreciating each other, Potato couldn't help but smile. Then the detector started beeping again. They followed it over a dune,

[00:25:39] down a bank and past another tall green cactus and Jumble stopped in his tracks. Oh, come on, Jumble. Flick said. We can't get distracted by your cactus again. But Jumble just pointed his nose high at the top of the cactus where, next to the purple flower, a cardboard box was caught on an orange cactus

[00:26:09] spine. Oh, said Potato in surprise. It's my parcel. Well done, Jumble, said Flick. I knew we'd find it, but how do we get it down? Well, that was where being a cat came in handy. Potato flowed up the cactus like water, her nimble feet avoiding the spikes with ease.

[00:26:38] At the top, she pulled the package free and carried it gingerly back down. At last, the package was safe. Thank you so much, she said to Flick and Jumble. I would never have found it without you. You are truly two remarkable treasure hunters. The looks on their faces when she said that were as happy as pie.

[00:27:08] Then Flick looked up at the darkening sky, where already little glimmering stars could be seen. It'll be dark soon, she said. We better get home. And so they retraced their way back through the middle of nowhere, clambering up and down the sandy dunes, passing many a cactus. A gentle breeze lifted the sands and made

[00:27:38] them swirl dreamily around their feet, so that sometimes it looked as though they weren't walking at all, but floating upon an ocean of sand. At last, up ahead, they saw the red neon sign announcing that they had made it back to Potato and Bean's diner. They paused outside, and the nowhere treasure hunters waved goodbye.

[00:28:07] Potato said thank you once more, and Jumble told her that she was more than welcome. If she or Beans were ever to need some treasure hunting talents again, they knew exactly where to find them. Catch you around, Flick said, and then she and Jumble were gone, disappearing into the night, back off to their home at the Higgledy Piggledy Ranch.

[00:28:38] Clutching the parcel in her paws, Potato opened the diner door and stepped inside. It was empty now. All the customers had gone home. Beans was just finishing wiping off the red leather seats in the booths, but when she heard the door open, she looked up and smiled. Ah, the curious cat returns with her

[00:29:07] mysterious parcel, Beans said. Are you going to tell me what it is yet, or will this remain a secret forever? Actually, Beans, Potato said, I'm not going to tell you what it is, but I will show you. She padded over to her friend and held out the parcel. Happy birthday, Beans, or should I say,

[00:29:37] happy early birthday. Beans' amber eyes opened wide with surprise. For me, she said, and you're giving it to me before my birthday? Wow wee, thank you, Potato. And Beans gave Potato a big hug. Am I allowed to open it now? she asked. Potato nodded.

[00:30:08] Yes, in fact, I think you should. Potato unfolded the flaps of the cardboard box and took out a present wrapped in green paper, decorated with koalas. Carefully, she tore open the wrapping took out the present. Oh, Potato, Beans said. It's a cosy onesie. A cosy

[00:30:37] onesie with a cat's head. Potato grinned and nodded. It's a brown cat onesie. That way, she pointed out, looking down at her own brown fur, you can be just like me. Beans laughed. Well, I will have to get you a white splodgy onesie for your birthday, she said. That way, we can dress up as each other

[00:31:07] and make everyone really rather confused. Then Beans let out a big yawn. Oh, I'm tired, and tomorrow's going to be a big day. What do you say we hit the hay? I think that sounds like a great idea, Potato said, but only if you wear your new onesie. Beans

[00:31:37] grinned. Deal. Beans put on her new brown onesie and she and Potato stood next to each other in front of the bathroom mirror, giggling at how similar they looked now. They brushed their fur until it was lustrous and tangle free. Then they brushed their teeth and went back out into the diner. They switched off the main lights so that the only light in the room

[00:32:07] was the silvery glow from the koala moon, who was now hanging high in the sky over the middle of nowhere. They climbed into two neat cat baskets and tucked themselves under the soft blankets. There was nothing Potato and Beans like more than curling up and sleeping under the glow of the koala moon. Hey Potato, Bean

[00:32:37] said. Did Flick and Jumble help you find the parcel in the end? They sure did, Potato replied. You know, I have a feeling those two might get up to some rather magical adventures, the best got a feeling. Then she pulled the blanket up under her chin,

[00:33:07] gave a big cat yawn, and laid her head down on her paws. Through the windows they could see the brilliant twinkling stars, glittering like a bag of diamonds had been spilled over the sky. And there, in the middle, was the koala moon, smiling down on them, making sure that they slept safe, and their dreams were filled

[00:33:37] with joy. Potato felt her eyes drifting closed, she felt sleep coming to her, but before she fell asleep she whispered, happy pot- Thank you, potato, came the whispered reply. And just like that, with the glow of the koala

[00:34:06] moon wrapping around them like a blanket, potato and beans fell into a deep and peaceful sleep.