In tonight's bedtime story for kids, we join a little boy named Elliot, who is on the hunt for the perfect pet. Not a normal pet though - instead of going to the pet shop, he's headed to the zoo. Relax, get sleepy, and let’s begin!
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The No1 kids bedtime stories & sleep meditations podcast that helps children sleep like a dream. Hosted by the world's biggest fan of bedtime stories, Abbe Opher! All episodes are safe for babies, children and really big kids 0 to 100, so settle down tonight and get sleepy with the world's greatest bedtime stories & sleep meditations for kids.
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Narrator 🎙️ Abbe Opher
Author 🖋️ Jane Thomas
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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:10
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to Koala Moon, a podcast of
00:00:14
Speaker 1: original children's bedtime stories and meditations designed to make bedtime
00:00:20
Speaker 1: a dream. Well, who Sunny's just run up to me
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Speaker 1: with an epic list of shout outs today and some
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00:00:31
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00:00:38
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00:00:42
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00:00:57
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00:01:05
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00:01:11
Speaker 1: you recall the brilliant Read Along Hector and Sunny book
00:01:14
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00:01:18
Speaker 1: only for Cocoa clubbers, but Sonny and Hector were very
00:01:21
Speaker 1: good at convincing us to be generous this Christmas time
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00:01:27
Speaker 1: Christmasy treat. We all know that there's a bit more
00:01:30
Speaker 1: time to rest and relax during the Christmas holidays when
00:01:33
Speaker 1: grandparents and family often come to stay. So if an
00:01:36
Speaker 1: adult wants to download it to their iPad or phone
00:01:40
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00:01:42
Speaker 1: effects buttons, just follow the link in the show notes.
00:01:46
Speaker 1: Merry Christmas. We'll go back to tonight's story. Now, let's
00:01:51
Speaker 1: hop into bed and get nice and relaxed. Breathe out
00:01:57
Speaker 1: and as you breathe in, maybe stretch and move around
00:02:01
Speaker 1: and then a sigh as you breathe out again. Lovely,
00:02:08
Speaker 1: I get really comfy. We're soon going to meet a
00:02:12
Speaker 1: little boy named Elliott who is on the lookout for
00:02:15
Speaker 1: the perfect pet. He wants something a little more unique
00:02:20
Speaker 1: than a cat, a dog, grab it, or hamster, so
00:02:24
Speaker 1: he heads to the zoo to look for an alternative.
00:02:28
Speaker 1: Do you think he'll succeed in his mission to find
00:02:30
Speaker 1: the best pet ever? Let's find out. This is the
00:02:35
Speaker 1: Search for the Best Pet Ever by Jane Thomas. We
00:02:46
Speaker 1: think it's time, said Elliott Elmwood's parents one damp and
00:02:50
Speaker 1: gray Saturday morning, when the world seemed to suggest it
00:02:54
Speaker 1: would never stop raining, and nothing would ever be lovely again.
00:03:00
Speaker 1: Eliot's whole body quivered with excitement. Could it really be true?
00:03:05
Speaker 1: He looked at his mother's face and over to his
00:03:08
Speaker 1: father's face, and both were smiling down at him, nodding
00:03:12
Speaker 1: their heads. Look how well you've looked after your little
00:03:17
Speaker 1: rose bush, said Elliot's mother. It's looking absolutely beautiful. If
00:03:24
Speaker 1: you can keep a plant alive for so long, it's
00:03:27
Speaker 1: surely time to get your first ever pet. Elliot looked
00:03:33
Speaker 1: across at Robert and grinned. He named the rose bush
00:03:37
Speaker 1: after his father's suggestion, not really understanding why a plant
00:03:41
Speaker 1: named Robert was quite so hilarious, But his father had
00:03:44
Speaker 1: laughed and laughed when he'd agreed to it. His mother
00:03:48
Speaker 1: had rolled her eyes and refused to refer to the
00:03:51
Speaker 1: rose bush as Robert. And so the three of them
00:03:55
Speaker 1: poured on their waterproof coats and waterproof trousers they're willing
00:03:59
Speaker 1: to boots, and grabbed their umbrellas from the stand in
00:04:02
Speaker 1: the hall. With a lot of rustling of waterproof material,
00:04:06
Speaker 1: they left the little house they called home and headed
00:04:09
Speaker 1: out into the rain. Eliot's mother walked along, twirling her
00:04:14
Speaker 1: umbrella over her shoulder, holding Eliot's father's hand. With his
00:04:20
Speaker 1: free hand, Eliot's father held his umbrella and fended off
00:04:23
Speaker 1: a thousand imaginary dragons and foes as they headed along
00:04:27
Speaker 1: the path, and Eliot turned his umbrella upside down and
00:04:32
Speaker 1: floated it in the giant puddles, watching the wind make
00:04:36
Speaker 1: it skim across the surface, and racing to the other
00:04:39
Speaker 1: side to gather it up and carry it along to
00:04:42
Speaker 1: the next puddle. So in this way, which is, if
00:04:46
Speaker 1: you think about it, quite an energetic way of walking.
00:04:49
Speaker 1: They followed the path through the woods and along the
00:04:52
Speaker 1: stream and out out until the stream became a river.
00:04:57
Speaker 1: The river flowed by fields, where the sheep grew heavier
00:05:01
Speaker 1: and heavier as their wool soaked up more and more water,
00:05:06
Speaker 1: and cows picked their way carefully between the puddles in
00:05:09
Speaker 1: search of the finest, freshest blades of grass. A family
00:05:14
Speaker 1: of swans paddled slowly upstream, heads down against the driving
00:05:19
Speaker 1: rain and pushing their way firmly against the current as
00:05:23
Speaker 1: they headed towards their favorite fishing ground. It took a
00:05:28
Speaker 1: full half an hour of walking and puddle jumping, an
00:05:31
Speaker 1: umbrella twirling, and dragon sleighing to reach the huge blue
00:05:36
Speaker 1: gates of the zoo, but it went by in a
00:05:38
Speaker 1: heartbeat for Elliot because he knew, for the first time
00:05:43
Speaker 1: ever that on the other side of those gates waited
00:05:47
Speaker 1: his very first pet. He had no idea which animal
00:05:52
Speaker 1: he would choose, because he'd barely ever believed this day
00:05:55
Speaker 1: would come, so had given it remarkably little thought. Eliot
00:06:00
Speaker 1: hopped from one leg to the other as he waited
00:06:03
Speaker 1: for his father to pay for their tickets. He tried
00:06:07
Speaker 1: peering past the entranceway to see which animals they would
00:06:10
Speaker 1: meet first, but he couldn't quite make out what the
00:06:14
Speaker 1: sign said. He took his glasses off and rubbed the
00:06:18
Speaker 1: rain drops from them, putting them back on to find
00:06:21
Speaker 1: a much less blurry world and a sign that promised
00:06:25
Speaker 1: it would send him first of all, to Africa. He
00:06:29
Speaker 1: immediately imagined walking a lion on a lead in his
00:06:33
Speaker 1: local park, and Eliot's heart gave a little hop of excitement. Right,
00:06:41
Speaker 1: said his father. At last, tickets in hand and ready
00:06:44
Speaker 1: to be fed into the little slot in the ticket barrier,
00:06:47
Speaker 1: to the animals, we go. Elliot's mother went first, getting
00:06:53
Speaker 1: her umbrella tangled up in the barrier and needing a
00:06:56
Speaker 1: full two minutes to break it free, a full too
00:06:59
Speaker 1: min minutes during which Eliot thought he might explode with impatience.
00:07:05
Speaker 1: Eliot went next, the head of his coat catching in
00:07:09
Speaker 1: the same barrier that had snarled up his mother's umbrella,
00:07:12
Speaker 1: and he had to stand there and wait while his
00:07:14
Speaker 1: father reached over and rescued him from the trap. The
00:07:18
Speaker 1: barrier had set, and Elliot's father went last, glaring at
00:07:23
Speaker 1: the barrier as if to say he would accept no
00:07:27
Speaker 1: nonsense from the contraption, popping his ticket in and marching
00:07:32
Speaker 1: through with no problems at all. He gave a little
00:07:35
Speaker 1: celebratory smile and called a satisfied ha at the barrier
00:07:40
Speaker 1: over his shoulder, lunging at one final imaginary dragon as
00:07:45
Speaker 1: he walked away from it. Elliot's mother was fluttering a
00:07:50
Speaker 1: map and trying to establish the best route around the zoo,
00:07:55
Speaker 1: but Eliot had spotted something and grabbing her hand towards
00:08:01
Speaker 1: an animal that excited him more than anything else ever
00:08:05
Speaker 1: possibly could. This was his dream animal. He knew in
00:08:10
Speaker 1: a moment, this was the perfect pet. This would change
00:08:15
Speaker 1: his life forever. Aren't you absolutely sure, darling, fluttered his mother.
00:08:25
Speaker 1: He's awfully beautiful. I'll give you that, but really, where
00:08:30
Speaker 1: would we keep him? My dearest, darlingest, most delightful boy.
00:08:35
Speaker 1: We may need to think this through. His mother was
00:08:39
Speaker 1: prone to flights of fancy and being slightly dramatic, and
00:08:43
Speaker 1: speaking in such over the top ways impossible, muttered his father.
00:08:51
Speaker 1: For his father was prone to talking in individual words,
00:08:54
Speaker 1: if at all possible, and expressing himself with grunts and
00:08:58
Speaker 1: a single raised eye ralph, possibly because after many years
00:09:03
Speaker 1: with Elliott's mother, he'd learned he could only get a
00:09:05
Speaker 1: single word into the conversation anyway. The elephant in front
00:09:10
Speaker 1: of them trumpeted loudly, reaching forwards with its long trunk
00:09:15
Speaker 1: to play with Eliot's hair. He sniffed all around Eliot's
00:09:20
Speaker 1: face and tickled him under his chin. But he's wonderful,
00:09:26
Speaker 1: said Eliot, getting the giggles as the elephant's trunk found
00:09:29
Speaker 1: his tummy. He's absolutely, definitely, completely the perfect pet. Eliot's
00:09:39
Speaker 1: parents exchanged a look. They would have to work in
00:09:43
Speaker 1: unison to convince Eliot that the elephant was far and
00:09:47
Speaker 1: away from being the pet which should accompany them in
00:09:50
Speaker 1: their tiny terraced house. Dum, said his father. At last,
00:09:56
Speaker 1: the single word hanging in the air for a moment
00:09:58
Speaker 1: before his mother picked up the idea. Yes, dear dung,
00:10:04
Speaker 1: elephants do produce rather a lot of it, don't they.
00:10:09
Speaker 1: Look This sign says they can create up to a
00:10:13
Speaker 1: hundred kilos of dung o day. I mean to say, Darling,
00:10:18
Speaker 1: although it's terribly good for the roses, I'm not sure
00:10:21
Speaker 1: we can quite accommodate a hundred kilos of elephant dung
00:10:26
Speaker 1: every single day. Elliot reluctantly conceded they might have a point.
00:10:35
Speaker 1: He wasn't quite sure what a hundred kilos of dung
00:10:37
Speaker 1: look like, but he knew he weighed twenty five kilos.
00:10:42
Speaker 1: The thought of having to organize the equivalent of four
00:10:46
Speaker 1: times his body weight in dung every single day possibly
00:10:50
Speaker 1: made the elephants a slightly less perfect pet after all.
00:10:56
Speaker 1: Reluctantly and a little sadly, he patted the elephant's trunk
00:11:01
Speaker 1: by way of saying goodbye. The three of them followed
00:11:07
Speaker 1: the arrows and passed by many other enclosures. Elliot looked
00:11:12
Speaker 1: at hippos and rhinos, hyaenas and giraffes, but something inside
00:11:19
Speaker 1: him said that no, these probably weren't what he was after.
00:11:24
Speaker 1: He worried for a moment that he would never find
00:11:27
Speaker 1: the perfect pet, And then there it was, lying beneath
00:11:32
Speaker 1: the tree, looking him straight in the eyes. There, he
00:11:39
Speaker 1: said to his parents, pointing across the field, under the
00:11:44
Speaker 1: oak tree, here is my absolutely definitely completely perfect pet.
00:11:53
Speaker 1: And I don't think you can say otherwise. Oh my,
00:11:59
Speaker 1: said his mother. Nope, said his father. Elliott sighed, go on, then,
00:12:07
Speaker 1: he said, tell me, tell me what is wrong with
00:12:12
Speaker 1: having a lion as a pet. Well, dear, said his mother,
00:12:19
Speaker 1: desperately skimming the sign for some information about the lion.
00:12:23
Speaker 1: She breathed a sigh of relief as she found what
00:12:26
Speaker 1: she needed. I imagine, my darling boy, that you want
00:12:31
Speaker 1: to spend as much time as possible playing with your pet,
00:12:34
Speaker 1: don't you. But lions, dearest boy, will sleep for nearly
00:12:40
Speaker 1: twenty hours a day, and if they've had a big meal,
00:12:44
Speaker 1: they may very well sleep for the entire twenty four hours. Obviously,
00:12:51
Speaker 1: if it wasn't for all the sleeping, a lion would
00:12:54
Speaker 1: make a perfect pet. Indeed, she trailed off and left
00:12:59
Speaker 1: her husband takeover. Ridiculous, he said, raising an eyebrow. Elliot
00:13:08
Speaker 1: sighed he had to admit they had a point. He
00:13:13
Speaker 1: loved the idea of spending every waking moment with his
00:13:16
Speaker 1: future pet, playing games and becoming the very best of friends.
00:13:22
Speaker 1: Feeling a little sad, he waved goodbye to the lion
00:13:26
Speaker 1: when they set off through the zoo, And so the
00:13:29
Speaker 1: three trundled on, passing by flamingoes posing gracefully on one leg,
00:13:35
Speaker 1: and armadillos who rolled themselves up into balls and rolled
00:13:40
Speaker 1: down slopes, and seals who showed off by balancing balls
00:13:45
Speaker 1: on the tips of their whiskered noses. It was when
00:13:50
Speaker 1: they reached the North American section of the zoo that
00:13:53
Speaker 1: Elliot saw the animal that he was sure would make
00:13:56
Speaker 1: the perfect pet. His stomach gave a lit little flutter
00:14:00
Speaker 1: of excitement as he imagined running through the woods with
00:14:04
Speaker 1: it and snuggling up to it at night. He stopped
00:14:08
Speaker 1: in the middle of the path and announced to his
00:14:11
Speaker 1: parents that this time he really had found, absolutely, definitely,
00:14:17
Speaker 1: completely the perfect pet. Elliot put his hands on his
00:14:23
Speaker 1: hips and dared them to find a reason to disagree.
00:14:28
Speaker 1: His mother and father stood and looked into the enclosure,
00:14:33
Speaker 1: opening and closing their mouths like goldfish. They desperately skimmed
00:14:39
Speaker 1: the sign, looking for a solid argument. Finally, his father
00:14:45
Speaker 1: found it nocturnal, he said. Elliot's mother clapped her hands
00:14:52
Speaker 1: with delight and relief. There, dear see, it says quite
00:14:57
Speaker 1: clearly grisly bear a nocturnal in the early spring and summer. Now, Darling,
00:15:05
Speaker 1: I can quite see that her grizzly bear would really
00:15:09
Speaker 1: make her her wonderful bet. Indeed, but isn't it such
00:15:14
Speaker 1: a shame that they're only awake at night for half
00:15:17
Speaker 1: of the year. The bear looked at Eliott's mother and yawned.
00:15:24
Speaker 1: He stretched his enormous paws, scratching himself, then stood up
00:15:30
Speaker 1: to his full nine foot height and let out a roar.
00:15:37
Speaker 1: Goodness fluttered. Eliott's mother ridiculous, announced Elliott's father. Elliot just sighed.
00:15:49
Speaker 1: The grizzly bear did seem a little big and more
00:15:52
Speaker 1: than a little noisy, and maybe he wouldn't be the
00:15:56
Speaker 1: perfect animal to snuggle up with at night, given that
00:15:59
Speaker 1: he'd want to be out hunting instead. Reluctantly, he accepted
00:16:05
Speaker 1: that this was not his perfect pet. Elliot was beginning
00:16:11
Speaker 1: to think he'd be stuck with Robert Plant the Rose
00:16:14
Speaker 1: for the rest of his life. His mother and father
00:16:18
Speaker 1: noticed him looking a little crestfallen, and skillfully steered him
00:16:22
Speaker 1: in the direction of the zoo's cafe, coaxing a smile
00:16:26
Speaker 1: out of him by buying a frankly enormous slice of
00:16:30
Speaker 1: chocolate cake and setting it down in front of him.
00:16:35
Speaker 1: Elliot was determined to stay a little bit sad, but
00:16:39
Speaker 1: it's incredibly difficult to be sorry for yourself when a
00:16:43
Speaker 1: slice of cake appears the size of your own head
00:16:46
Speaker 1: and it's all for you. By the time he'd licked
00:16:51
Speaker 1: the last of the creamy frosting off his fingers, he
00:16:54
Speaker 1: was ready to head out into the zoo again and
00:16:57
Speaker 1: start up the search once more. Maybe you should consider
00:17:04
Speaker 1: something a little more well conventional, darling, said his mother.
00:17:12
Speaker 1: You know, dearest boy, there's a lot to be said
00:17:15
Speaker 1: for hamsters and guinea pigs and rabbits, quite agreed his father,
00:17:22
Speaker 1: giving a brisk nod. Elliot had played with his friend's
00:17:26
Speaker 1: pets many times, and seen hamsters spinning round in little wheels,
00:17:31
Speaker 1: and watching guinea pigs making nests out of egg boxes,
00:17:35
Speaker 1: and stroked rabbits and admired their long soft ears. They
00:17:41
Speaker 1: definitely seemed like worthy, sensible pets. But he knew in
00:17:46
Speaker 1: his heart of hearts that he wanted something different. He
00:17:51
Speaker 1: wanted a pet that announced to the world that he,
00:17:54
Speaker 1: Elliot Elmwood, was out of the ordinary, and he could
00:17:59
Speaker 1: hardly do that if he went into school on Monday
00:18:02
Speaker 1: and told people he was now the proud owner of
00:18:05
Speaker 1: a goldfish. Elephants were out, lions were out, even grizzly
00:18:13
Speaker 1: bears were out. Ellitting his mother and his father moved
00:18:18
Speaker 1: on to the aquatic area of the zoo. Elliot walked
00:18:22
Speaker 1: past fat seals lazing on rocks, saw crocodiles lurking on
00:18:27
Speaker 1: the edge of pools, and in the distance could see
00:18:31
Speaker 1: penguins waddling around. Importantly, finally, in the middle of a
00:18:36
Speaker 1: vast tank, he saw the perfect pet. There, he said, proudly,
00:18:45
Speaker 1: pointing out at the creature in the water. You can't
00:18:49
Speaker 1: deny that is absolutely, definitely, completely the perfect pet. His
00:18:58
Speaker 1: parents looked at the dolphin dancing through the ripples on
00:19:02
Speaker 1: the water, and for a moment their hearts leapt at
00:19:06
Speaker 1: the thought of having such a pet. But they were
00:19:10
Speaker 1: ultimately sensible people and well aware of the confines of
00:19:15
Speaker 1: their small terraced home, and knew that, unfortunately, a dolphin
00:19:20
Speaker 1: would not be coming home with them to day. Listen, dear,
00:19:26
Speaker 1: said his mother, as soothingly as possible. Although the dolphin is,
00:19:31
Speaker 1: of course a terribly beautiful creature, I'm not quite sure
00:19:37
Speaker 1: it is the perfect pet after all. Look, this sign
00:19:42
Speaker 1: says that in the wild they have almost a hundred
00:19:46
Speaker 1: square kilometers of sea that they'll call home. And that's
00:19:51
Speaker 1: a lot, my darling boy, that's an awful lot of sea.
00:19:56
Speaker 1: How much sea? Is that exactly? She said to her husband.
00:20:02
Speaker 1: Eight thousand soccer pitches, His father said promptly, for as
00:20:07
Speaker 1: well as being a man of very few words, he
00:20:10
Speaker 1: was also something of a math's whizz, and had rapidly
00:20:14
Speaker 1: worked out how to express a hundred square kilometers in
00:20:18
Speaker 1: a way his son might possibly understand. That does sound
00:20:24
Speaker 1: like an awful lot, Elliot said, in a small, sad,
00:20:28
Speaker 1: little voice. He mentally hung up the hoops he'd been
00:20:33
Speaker 1: imagining and forced himself to stop thinking how fun it
00:20:37
Speaker 1: would be to ride on the back of a dolphin
00:20:39
Speaker 1: every day after school. If he was going to get
00:20:43
Speaker 1: the perfect pet, he was going to be the perfect owner,
00:20:48
Speaker 1: and that meant ensuring the animal was as happy as possible.
00:20:54
Speaker 1: As lovely a thought as it was a dolphin wouldn't
00:20:57
Speaker 1: be happy in his paddling pool. They'd now spent many
00:21:02
Speaker 1: hours walking through the zoo in search of the perfect pet,
00:21:07
Speaker 1: and all three of them were starting to lose hope.
00:21:11
Speaker 1: As they came towards the final area, Eliot read aloud
00:21:16
Speaker 1: the sign rescue an animal. To day, he read, Look,
00:21:22
Speaker 1: there's a special place for rescuing animals. Maybe we'll find
00:21:27
Speaker 1: one in there. He pulled at his mother's hand and
00:21:31
Speaker 1: she trotted after him, his father following close behind. As
00:21:37
Speaker 1: they were about to enter the center, the rain finally
00:21:41
Speaker 1: stopped and the sun peered out from behind a cloud.
00:21:45
Speaker 1: A huge rainbow spread across the sky. It's a sign,
00:21:52
Speaker 1: said Eliot's mother. Look at that, darling. It's definitely a
00:21:58
Speaker 1: sign that something how wonderful is going to happen in
00:22:02
Speaker 1: the animal rescue center. Impossible, murmured Eliot's father, as he
00:22:09
Speaker 1: too thought that it was very odd indeed, that the
00:22:12
Speaker 1: rain had stopped at just that moment and such a
00:22:16
Speaker 1: glorious rainbow had appeared at just that time. They walked
00:22:22
Speaker 1: into the center and Eliot's face lit up as he
00:22:26
Speaker 1: saw colorful birds fluttering their wings and kittens rolling around
00:22:31
Speaker 1: on cushions and sleeping hedgehogs rolled up safe and warm.
00:22:38
Speaker 1: He walked past each one, imagining what life would be
00:22:42
Speaker 1: like with that animal in his world, and kept tearing
00:22:46
Speaker 1: himself away until he stood in front of a large
00:22:50
Speaker 1: glass tank and knew somewhere deep inside that this was
00:22:56
Speaker 1: his perfect pet. He announced to his parents, there is
00:23:05
Speaker 1: my absolutely, definitely completely perfect bed. A tiny creature with
00:23:16
Speaker 1: the cutest smile and bright blinking eyes looked back at him.
00:23:22
Speaker 1: Eliot's father pressed his hand against the tank, and the
00:23:26
Speaker 1: creature swam up alongside. It was almost exactly the length
00:23:32
Speaker 1: from pinky finger to thumb. Eliot's mother pressed her hand
00:23:38
Speaker 1: against the glass, too, and Eliot saw that the creature's
00:23:43
Speaker 1: six fluffy little branches growing from its head with the
00:23:47
Speaker 1: same color as her bright pink nail polish. Isn't he wonderful?
00:23:55
Speaker 1: Said Eliot? Isn't he adorable? Said elliot mother. Incredible, said
00:24:04
Speaker 1: Eliot's father. The axe a Lottle smiled and paddled his
00:24:09
Speaker 1: little legs. The six fluffy little branches, which were actually
00:24:14
Speaker 1: gills and not branches at all, floating around his head
00:24:18
Speaker 1: as if they were dancing in delight. Can we keep him,
00:24:23
Speaker 1: asked Eliot, I think he's made for you, darling, said
00:24:29
Speaker 1: Elliott's mother. Definitely, said Eliot's father, who picked up the
00:24:35
Speaker 1: tank and walked with it across to the till. Eliot
00:24:39
Speaker 1: and his mother rushed through the shelves, picking up everything
00:24:44
Speaker 1: from a miniature stone castle to a beautiful green seaweed
00:24:48
Speaker 1: forest to add to the tank and give the Axe
00:24:51
Speaker 1: a Lottle something to explore. I knew the rainbow meant
00:24:57
Speaker 1: something wonderful was going to happen, said Elliott's mother, as
00:25:01
Speaker 1: they stepped outside into the sunshine and started their walk home,
00:25:07
Speaker 1: Eliot's father proudly carrying the tank and pretending for all
00:25:13
Speaker 1: he was worth that it really wasn't very heavy at all.
00:25:18
Speaker 1: When they reached home, Elliot cleared off a corner of
00:25:21
Speaker 1: the table in his bedroom, and the Axe a Lottle
00:25:25
Speaker 1: and his tank were put carefully in place. It stood
00:25:29
Speaker 1: next to the rose bush that Eliot had so carefully
00:25:33
Speaker 1: tended for so long. But what shall I call him?
00:25:40
Speaker 1: Asked Eliot, suddenly struck with the absolute importance of getting
00:25:45
Speaker 1: the name just right. How about something like Ace, suggested
00:25:53
Speaker 1: his mother. Ace the Axe a Lottle. It has a
00:25:57
Speaker 1: nice rint to it, don't you think. Elliot wasn't so sure.
00:26:03
Speaker 1: It wasn't quite right Archie, he tried, Arthur, Alex. None
00:26:12
Speaker 1: of them worked. The axel Lottle smiled at him and blinked,
00:26:17
Speaker 1: waiting to be named. Eliot's father cleared his throat, Axel,
00:26:25
Speaker 1: he said. The axel Lottle nodded. Eliot leaned towards the
00:26:31
Speaker 1: tank and tried the same name again. Axel, he said,
00:26:37
Speaker 1: and softly tapped the glass. The little axel Lottle swam
00:26:42
Speaker 1: swiftly over pink gills, waving softly as he swept through
00:26:47
Speaker 1: the water. You're right, he said, that's his name. Eliot's
00:26:55
Speaker 1: mother rolled her eyes at his father. I know what
00:27:00
Speaker 1: you've done there, she said, looked at the little creature
00:27:04
Speaker 1: named Axel that stood alongside a rose. His father shrugged
00:27:10
Speaker 1: and smiled, enjoying the little joke. Eliot had no idea
00:27:16
Speaker 1: what they were talking about, but was absolutely, definitely, completely
00:27:22
Speaker 1: happy as he snuggled down into bed that night, with
00:27:25
Speaker 1: the soft glow of the water tank lighting the far
00:27:29
Speaker 1: corner of the room. Axel had taken himself inside the
00:27:34
Speaker 1: castle to sleep, dragging in some of the softer pieces
00:27:39
Speaker 1: of seaweed to join him, and Eliot pretended that he
00:27:43
Speaker 1: too was lying inside the walls of a castle in
00:27:47
Speaker 1: the softest floating bed, and he drifted gently into dreams
00:27:55
Speaker 1: that were filled with wonderful days, learning everything that would
00:27:59
Speaker 1: make her so happy. Determined to be the best pet
00:28:04
Speaker 1: owner the world had ever seen, he dreamed of dolphins
00:28:10
Speaker 1: and elephants and flamingos balancing on one leg, and hedgehogs
00:28:16
Speaker 1: rolled up into tight little balls, and made a wish
00:28:21
Speaker 1: on the brightest star that everyone would know a day
00:28:26
Speaker 1: as wonderful as this. The coming st