Summer Reads #2

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Welcome once again to a pain in the glass podcast.
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This is your host, Bill Shearhart, chartered professional coach with Coaches of Canada, coming to you from my home once again in Grand Bend, Ontario, Canada, on the ancestral land of the kettle and Stony Point First Nations.
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This is not just another episode, this is the second in a summer series that I've entitled Summer Reads.
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This is Summer Reads number two.
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It is a narration of a wonderful young people's novel story, not terribly long.
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It is entitled Tuck Everlasting.
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Last week we started it with the prologue in chapters one, two, and three, so we pick it up this week, obviously, with chapters four, five, and six.
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So please continue.
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Joy Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt.
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Chapter 4.
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At sunset of that same long day, a stranger came strolling up the road from the village and paused at the foster's gate.
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Winnie was once again in the yard, this time intent on catching fireflies, and at first she didn't notice him.
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But after a few moments of watching her, he called out Good evening.
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He was remarkably tall and narrow, this stranger standing there.
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His long chin faded off into a thin, apologetic beard, but his suit was a jaunty yellow that seemed to glow a little in the fading light.
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A black hat had dangled from one hand, and as Winnie came toward him he passed the other through his dry grey hair, settling smoothly.
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Well now, he said in a slight voice, out for fireflies, are you?
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Yes, said Winnie.
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A lovely thing to do on a summer evening, said the man richly.
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A lovely entertainment.
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I used to do it myself when I was your age.
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But of course, that was a very long time ago.
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He laughed, gesturing in self deprecation with long, thin fingers.
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His tall body moved continuously, a foot tapped, a shoulder twitched, and it moved in angles rather jerkily.
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But at the same time he had a kind of grace like a well handled marionette.
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Indeed, he seemed almost to hang suspended there in the twilight.
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But Winnie, though she was half charmed, was suddenly reminded of the stiff black ribbons they had hung on the door of the cottage for her grandfather's funeral.
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She frowned and looked at the man more closely.
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But his smile seemed perfectly alright, quite agreeable and friendly.
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Is this your house?
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asked the man, folding his arms now and leaning against the gate.
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Yes, said Winnie.
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Do you want to see my father?
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Well, perhaps in a bit, said the man.
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But I'd like to talk to you first.
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Have you and your family lived here long?
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Oh yes, said Winnie.
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We've lived here forever.
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Forever, the man echoed thoughtfully.
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It was not a question, but Winnie decided to explain anyway.
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Well, not forever, of course, but as long as there've been any people here.
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My grandmother was born here.
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She says this was all trees once, just one big forest everywhere around, but it's mostly all cut down now except for the wood.
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I see, said the man, pulling at his beard.
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So of course you know everyone and everything that goes on.
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Well, not especially, said Winnie.
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At least I don't.
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Why?
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The man lifted his eyebrows.
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Oh, he said, I'm looking for someone, a family.
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I don't know anybody much, said Winnie, with a shrug, but my father might.
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You could ask him.
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I believe I shall, said the man, I believe I shall.
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At this moment the cottage door opened, and in the lamp glow that spilled across the grass, Winnie's grandmother appeared.
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Winnifred, who are you talking to about there?
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It's a man, granny, she called back.
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He says he's looking for someone.
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What's that?
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said the old woman.
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She picked up her skirts and came down to the path to the gate.
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What do you say he wants?
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The man on the other side of the fence bowed slightly.
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Good evening, madam, he said.
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How delightful to see you looking so fit.
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And why shouldn't I be fit?
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she retorted, peering at him through the fading light.
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His yellow suit seemed to surprise her, and she squinted suspiciously.
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We haven't met that I can recall.
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Who are you?
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And who are you looking for?
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The man answered neither of these questions.
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Instead he said This young lady tells me you've lived here for a very long time, so I thought you would probably know everyone who comes and goes.
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The old woman shook her head.
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I don't know everyone, she said, nor do I want to.
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And I don't stand out in the dark discussing such a thing with strangers.
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Neither does Winifred, so and then she paused, for through the twilight, sounds of crickets and sighing trees, a faint surprising wisp of music came floating to them, and all three turned toward it, toward the wood.
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It was a tinkling little melody, and in a few moments it stopped.
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My stars, said Winnie's grandmother, her eyes round, I do believe it's come again after all these years.
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She pressed her wrinkled hands together, forgetting the man in the yellow suit.
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Did you hear that, Winifred?
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That's it.
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That's the elf music I told you about.
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Why, it's been ages since I heard it last, and this is the first time you've ever heard it, isn't it?
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Wait till we tell your father.
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And she seized Winifred's hand and turned to go back to the cottage.
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Wait, said the man at the gate.
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He had stiffened and his voice was eager.
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You've heard that music before, you say?
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But before she could get an answer, it began again and they all stopped to listen.
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This time it tinkled its way faintly through the little melody three times before it faded.
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Sounds like a music box, said Winnie, when it was over.
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Nonsense, it's Elves, crowed her grandmother excitedly, and then she said to the man at the gate, you'll have to excuse us now.
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She shook the gate latch under his nose to make sure it was locked, and then taking Winnie by the hand once more, she marched up the path into the cottage, shutting the door firmly behind her.
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But the man in the yellow suit stood tapping his foot in the road for a long time all alone, looking at the wood.
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The last stains of sunset had melted away, and the twilight died too as he stood there, though its remnants clung reluctantly to everything that was pale in color.
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Pebbles, the dusty road, the figure of the man himself, turning them blue and blurry.
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Then the moon rose.
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The man came to himself and sighed.
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His expression was one of intense satisfaction.
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He put on his hat, and in the moonlight his long fingers were graceful and very white.
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Then he turned and disappeared down the shadowy road, and as he went he whistled very softly the tinkling little melody from the wood.
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Chapter five Winnie woke early next morning.
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The sun was only just opening its own eye on the eastern horizon, and the cottage was full of silence.
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But she realized that sometime during the night she had made up her mind she would not run away today.
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Where will I go anyway?
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she asked herself.
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There's nowhere else I really want to be.
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But in another part of her head, the dark part where her oldest fears were housed, she knew there was another sort of reason for staying at home.
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She was afraid to go away alone.
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It was one thing to talk about being by yourself, doing important things, but quite another when the opportunity actually arose.
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The characters in the story she read always seemed to go off without a thought or a care.
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But in real life, well, the world was a dangerous place.
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People were always telling her so, and she would not be able to manage without protection.
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They were always telling her that as well.
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No one ever said precisely what it was that she would not be able to manage, but she did not need to ask.
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Her own imagination supplied the horrors.
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Still, it was galling, this having to admit she was afraid, and when she remembered the toad, she felt even more disenheartened.
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What if the toad should be out by the fence again today?
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What if he should laugh at her secretly and think she was a coward?
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Well, anyway, she could at least slip out.
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Right now she decided to go into the wood to see if she could discover what had really made the music the night before.
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That would be something anyway.
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She did not allow herself to consider the idea that making a difference in the world might require a bolder venture.
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She merely told herself consolingly, of course, while I'm in the wood, if I decide never to come back, well then that will be that.
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She was able to believe in this because she needed to, and believing was her own true promising friend once more.
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It was another heavy morning, already hot and breathless.
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But in the wood the air was cooler and smelled agreeably damp.
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Winnie had been no more than two slow minutes walking timidly under the interlacing branches when she wondered why she had never come before.
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Why it's nice, she thought, with great surprise.
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The wood was full of light, entirely different from the light she was used to.
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It was green and amber and alive, quivering in splotches on the padded ground, fanning into sturdy stripes between the tree trunks.
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There were little flowers she did not recognize, white and palest blue, and endless tangled vines, and here and there a fallen log, half rotted but soft with patches of sweet green velvet moss.
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And there were creatures everywhere.
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The air fairly hummed with their daybreak activity, beetles and birds and squirrels and ants and countless other things unseen, all gentle and self absorbed, and not in the least alarming.
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There was even, she saw with satisfaction, the toad.
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It was squatting on a low stump, and she might not even have noticed it, for it looked more like a mushroom than a living creature sitting there.
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And she became abreast of it, however, and it blinked, and the movement gave it away.
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See, she exclaimed, I told you there'd be first thing in the morning.
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The toad blinked again and nodded, or perhaps it was only swallowing a fly, but then it nudged itself off the edge of the stump and vanished in the underbrush.
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It must have been watching for me, said Winnie to herself, and was very glad that she had come.
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She wandered for a long time, looking at everything, listening to everything, proud to forget the right, pruned world outside, humming a little now, trying to remember the pattern of the melody she had heard the night before.
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And then, up ahead, in a place where the light seemed brighter and the ground somewhat more open, something moved.
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Winnie stopped abruptly and crouched down.
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If it's really elves, she thought, I can have a look at them.
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And though her instinct was to turn and run, she was pleased to discover that her curiosity was stronger.
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She began to creep forward.
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She would go just close enough, she told herself, just close enough to see, and then she would turn and run.
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But when she came near, up behind the sheltering tree trunk and peered around it, her mouth dropped open and all thoughts of running away melted.
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There was a clearing directly in front of her, at the center of which an enormous tree thrust up, its thick roots trumpling the ground ten feet around in every direction.
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Sitting relaxed with his back against the trunk was a boy, almost a man, and he seemed so glorious to Winnie that she lost her heart all at once.
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He was thin and sunburned, this wonderful boy, with a thick mop of curly brown hair, and he wore his battered trousers and loose grubby shirt with a much self assurance as if they were silk and satin.
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A pair of green suspenders, more decorative than useful, gave the finishing touch.
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For he was shoeless, and there was a twig tucked between the toes of one foot.
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He waved the twig idly as he sat there, his face turned up to gaze at the branches far above him.
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The golden morning light seemed to glow all around him, while brighter patches fell, now on his lean brown hands, now on his hair and face, as the leaves stirred above his head.
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Then he rubbed an ear carelessly, yawned and stretched.
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Shifting his position, he turned his attention to a little pile of pebbles next to him.
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As when he watched, scarcely breathing, he moved the pile carefully to one side, pebble by pebble.
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Beneath the pile the ground was shiny wet.
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The boy lifted a final stone, and when he saw a low squirt of water arcing up and returning, like a fountain into the ground.
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He bent and put his lips to the spurt, drinking noiseless noiselessly, and then he sat up again and drew his shirt sleeve across his mouth.
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As he did this he turned his face in her direction, and their eyes met.
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For a long moment they looked at each other in silence, the boy with his arm still raised to his mouth.
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Neither of them moved.
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At last his arm fell to his side.
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You may as well come out, he said, with a frown.
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When he stood up, embarrassed and because of that, somewhat resentful.
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I didn't mean to watch you, she protested as she stepped into the clearing.
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I didn't know anyone would be here.
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The boy eyed her as she came forward.
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What are you doing here?
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he asked her sternly.
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It's my wood, said Winnie, surprised by the question.
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I can come here whenever I want to.
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At least I was never here before, but I could have come any time.
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Oh, said the boy, relaxing a little.
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You're one of the fosters, then.
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I'm Winnie, she said.
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Who are you?
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I'm Jesse Tuck, he answered.
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How do?
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And he put out a hand.
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Winnie took his hand, staring at him.
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He was even more beautiful up close.
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Do you live nearby?
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she managed at last, letting go of his hand reluctantly.
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I never saw you before.
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Do you come here a lot?
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No one's supposed to.
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It's our wood.
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Then she added quickly, it's all right though if you come.
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I mean, it's all right with me.
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The boy grinned.
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No, I I don't live nearby, and no, I don't come here often.
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Just passing through.
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And thanks.
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I'm glad it's all right with you.
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That's good, said Winnie, irreverently.
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She stepped back and sat down primly a short distance from him.
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How old are you anyway?
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she asked, squinting at him.
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There was a pause.
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At last he said, Well, why do you want to know?
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I just wondered, said Winnie.
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All right.
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I'm one hundred and four years old, he told her solemnly.
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No, I mean really, she persisted.
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Well then he said, if you must know, I'm seventeen.
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Seventeen?
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That's right.
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Oh, said Winnie hopelessly.
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Seventeen that that's old.
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I have no idea, he agreed with a nod.
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Winnie had the feeling he was laughing at her, but decided it was a nice kind of laughing.
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Are you married?
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she asked him next.
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This time he laughed out loud.
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No, I'm not married.
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Are you?
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Well now it was Winnie's turn to laugh.
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Of course not, she said.
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I'm only ten, but I'll be eleven pretty soon.
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And then you'll get married, he suggested.
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Winnie laughed again, her head on one side, admiring him.
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And then she pointed to the spurt of water.
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Is that good to drink?
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she asked.
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I'm thirsty.
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Jessie Tuck's face was instantly serious.
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Oh that uh no, it's not, he said quickly.
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You mustn't drink from it.
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Comes right out of the ground.
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Probably pretty dirty.
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And he began to pile the pebbles over it again.
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But you drank some, Winnie reminded him.
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Oh, did you see that?
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He looked at her anxiously.
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Well, me, I'll drink anything.
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I mean I'm used to it.
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It wouldn't be good for you, though.
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Why not?
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asked Winnie.
00:20:22.240 --> 00:20:23.440
She stood up.
00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:26.240
It's mine anyway, if it's in the wood.
00:20:26.480 --> 00:20:27.440
I want some.
00:20:27.839 --> 00:20:30.160
I'm about dry as dust.
00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:35.359
And she went to where he sat and knelt down beside the pile of pebbles.
00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:42.880
Believe me, Winnie Foster, said Jessie, it would be terrible for you if you drank any of this water.
00:20:43.200 --> 00:20:44.799
Just terrible.
00:20:45.119 --> 00:20:46.559
I can't let you.
00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:50.880
Well, I still don't see why not, said Winnie, plaintively.
00:20:51.119 --> 00:20:53.279
I'm getting thirstier every minute.
00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:57.200
If it didn't hurt you, well it won't hurt me.
00:20:57.440 --> 00:21:00.720
If my papa was here, he'd let me have some.
00:21:01.359 --> 00:21:03.440
You're not going to tell him about it, are you?
00:21:03.680 --> 00:21:05.039
I said Jesse.
00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:09.119
His face had gone very pale under its sunburn.
00:21:09.440 --> 00:21:13.279
He stood up and put a barefoot firmly on the pile of pebbles.
00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:16.400
I knew this would happen sooner or later.
00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:18.960
Now what am I going to do?
00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:25.200
As he said this there was a crashing sound among the trees, and a voice called Jesse.
00:21:26.079 --> 00:21:30.079
Thank goodness, said Jesse, blowing out his cheeks in relief.
00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:32.160
Here comes Ma and Miles.
00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:34.640
They'll know what to do.
00:21:35.680 --> 00:21:46.400
And sure enough, a big, comfortable looking woman appeared, leading a fat old horse, and at her side was a young man almost as beautiful as Jesse.
00:21:46.880 --> 00:21:51.359
It was May Tuck with her other son, Jesse's older brother.
00:21:51.599 --> 00:22:02.160
And at once, when she saw the two of them, Jesse with his foot on a pile of pebbles, and Winnie on her knees beside him, She seemed to understand.
00:22:02.559 --> 00:22:10.160
Her hand flew to her bosom, grasping at the old brooch that fastened her shawl, and her face went bleak.
00:22:10.799 --> 00:22:14.000
Well, boy, she said, here it is.
00:22:14.880 --> 00:22:18.799
The worst is happening at last.
00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:25.359
Chapter six.
00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:32.240
Afterward, when she thought about it, it seemed to Winnie that the next few minutes were only a blur.
00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:56.880
First she was kneeling on the ground, insisting on a drink from the spring, and the next thing she knew, she was seized and swung through the air, open mouthed, and found herself straddling the bouncing back of the fat old horse, with Miles and Jessie trotting along on either side, while May ran puffing ahead, dragging on the bridle.
00:22:57.440 --> 00:23:09.359
Wittney had often been haunted by visions of what it'd be like to be kidnapped, but none of her visions had been like this, with her kidnappers just as alarmed as she was herself.
00:23:09.599 --> 00:23:23.759
She had always pictured a troop of burly men with long black mustaches who would tumble her into a blanket and bear her off like a sock of potatoes while she pleaded for mercy.
00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:32.400
But instead, it was they, Naytuck, Miles and Jessie, who were pleading.
00:23:32.880 --> 00:23:38.160
Please, child, dear, dear child, don't you be scared.
00:23:38.640 --> 00:23:43.440
This was May trying to run and call back over her shoulder at the same time.
00:23:43.839 --> 00:23:46.799
We won't harm you for the world.
00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:56.160
If you'd yelled or anything, this was Jessie, someone might have heard you, and that's too risky.
00:23:56.640 --> 00:24:02.960
And Miles said, We'll explain it soon when we're far enough away.
00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:20.160
While Winnie herself was speechless, she clung to the saddle and gave herself up to the astonishing fact that, though her heart was pounding and her backbone felt like a pipe full of cold running water, her head was fiercely calm.
00:24:20.559 --> 00:24:27.440
Disconnected thoughts presented themselves one by one, as if they had been waiting their turn in line.
00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:30.960
So this is what it's like to ride a horse.
00:24:31.279 --> 00:24:33.839
I was going to run away today anyway.
00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:37.519
What will they say when I'm not there for breakfast?
00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:40.319
I wish the toad could see me now.
00:24:40.640 --> 00:24:42.880
That woman is worried about me.
00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:45.759
Miles is taller than Jessie.
00:24:45.920 --> 00:24:50.480
I'd better duck if I want this next branch to knock me off.
00:24:51.599 --> 00:24:56.880
They had come to the edge of the wood now, with no sign of slowing their rapid jog.
00:24:58.960 --> 00:25:11.440
The road where it angled across the meadow was just ahead, dazzling white in the open sunlight, and there, standing on the road was the man from the night before.
00:25:11.839 --> 00:25:16.720
The man in the yellow suit, his black hat on his head.
00:25:17.119 --> 00:25:26.000
Discovering him, seeing his surprise, and presented at once with choices, Winnie's mind perversely went blank.
00:25:26.400 --> 00:25:33.519
Instead of crying out for help, she merely goggled at him as they fled past the spot where he stood.
00:25:33.839 --> 00:25:42.000
May Tuck was the only one who spoke, and the most she could offer was teaching our little girl how to ride.
00:25:42.559 --> 00:25:49.119
Only then did it come to Winnie that she ought to shout out, wave her arms, do something.
00:25:49.759 --> 00:25:59.839
But the man had fallen away behind by that time, and she was afraid to let go of the saddle, afraid to turn around, lest she fall off the horse.
00:26:00.079 --> 00:26:03.200
In another moment it was just simply too late.
00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:09.920
They had sped up the hill and down its other side, and the opportunity was lost.
00:26:10.880 --> 00:26:22.160
After another few minutes, the road led them to a place where, off to the left, a shallow stream looped near with willows and sheltering scrubby bushes.
00:26:22.480 --> 00:26:23.920
Stop, cried May.
00:26:24.160 --> 00:26:25.359
We'll stop here.
00:26:25.920 --> 00:26:34.000
Miles and Jessie grabbed at the horse's harness, and he pulled up abruptly, nearly toppling Winnie off over his neck.
00:26:34.319 --> 00:26:38.720
Lift the poor child down, May grasped her chest heaving.
00:26:38.960 --> 00:26:44.640
We'll go catch our breath by the water and try to put things straight before we go on.
00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:51.680
But the explanation, once they had stumbled to the banks of the stream, came hard.
00:26:52.000 --> 00:27:00.720
May seemed embarrassed, and Miles and Jessie fidgeted, glancing at one another somewhat uneasily.
00:27:02.480 --> 00:27:05.200
No one knew exactly how to begin.
00:27:05.519 --> 00:27:17.839
For her part, Winnie, now that the running was over, began to comprehend exactly what was happening, and with the comprehension her throat closed and her mouth went dry as paper.
00:27:19.920 --> 00:27:21.680
This was no vision.
00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:22.960
This was real.
00:27:23.759 --> 00:27:26.000
Strangers were taking her away.
00:27:26.240 --> 00:27:27.759
They might do anything.
00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:30.480
She might never see her mother again.
00:27:30.960 --> 00:27:43.440
And then, thinking of her mother, she saw herself as small, weak and helpless, and she began to cry, suddenly crushed as much by outrage as by shock.
00:27:44.400 --> 00:27:47.599
May Tuck's round face wrinkled in dismay.
00:27:47.920 --> 00:27:52.079
Dear Lord, don't cry, please don't cry, child, she implored.
00:27:52.319 --> 00:27:55.200
We're not bad people, truly, we're not.
00:27:55.599 --> 00:27:57.440
We had to bring you away.
00:27:57.599 --> 00:27:59.519
You'll see why in a minute.
00:27:59.759 --> 00:28:02.160
And we'll take you back as soon as we can.
00:28:02.400 --> 00:28:04.160
Tomorrow, I promise.
00:28:05.279 --> 00:28:09.519
When May said tomorrow, Winnie sobs turned to wails.
00:28:09.839 --> 00:28:14.799
Tomorrow it was right being told she would be kept away forever.
00:28:15.039 --> 00:28:16.799
She wanted to go home now.
00:28:17.039 --> 00:28:22.000
At once, rushed back to the safety of the fence and her mother's voice from the window.
00:28:22.319 --> 00:28:28.720
May reached out to her, but she twisted away, her hands over her face and gave herself up to weeping.
00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:31.200
This is awful, said Jessie.
00:28:31.440 --> 00:28:33.119
Can't you do something, Ma?
00:28:33.599 --> 00:28:35.200
The poor little Tad?
00:28:36.559 --> 00:28:40.319
We ought to have had some better plan for this, said Myles.
00:28:41.440 --> 00:28:44.559
Well, that's the truth, said May, helplessly.
00:28:44.799 --> 00:28:51.759
The dear lord knows there's been time enough to think of one, and it had to happen sooner or later.
00:28:52.480 --> 00:28:56.799
We've been plain bone lucky it hasn't happened before now.
00:28:57.119 --> 00:29:00.160
But I never expected it'd be a child.
00:29:00.640 --> 00:29:10.799
She reached distractedly into the pocket of her skirt and took out the music box and without thinking, twisted the winding key with trembling fingers.
00:29:11.599 --> 00:29:16.559
When the tinkling little melody began, Winnie's sobbing slowed.
00:29:16.960 --> 00:29:22.160
She stood by the stream, her hands still over her face and listened.
00:29:22.559 --> 00:29:27.119
Yes, it was the same music she had heard the night before.
00:29:27.519 --> 00:29:29.599
Somehow it calmed her.
00:29:29.920 --> 00:29:34.960
It was like a ribbon trying to her to familiar things.
00:29:36.480 --> 00:29:42.000
She thought, when I get home, I'll tell granny it wasn't elf music at all.
00:29:42.240 --> 00:29:46.960
She wiped her face as well as she could with her wet hands and turned to May.
00:29:47.200 --> 00:29:52.319
That's the music I heard last night, she managed between recovering snuffles.
00:29:52.640 --> 00:29:56.559
When I was out in my yard, my granny said it was elves.
00:29:57.359 --> 00:30:01.599
Dear me no, said May, peering at her hopelessly.
00:30:01.839 --> 00:30:04.160
It's only my music box.
00:30:04.640 --> 00:30:07.440
I didn't suppose anyone could hear it.
00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:09.279
She held it out to Winnie.
00:30:09.920 --> 00:30:12.160
Do you want to take a look at it?
00:30:12.559 --> 00:30:17.759
It's pretty, said Winnie, taking the little box and turning it over in her hands.
00:30:18.079 --> 00:30:22.880
The winding key was still revolving, but more and more slowly.
00:30:23.200 --> 00:30:25.440
The melody faltered.
00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:31.519
Another few widely spaced notes plinked, and then it stopped.
00:30:31.920 --> 00:30:35.759
Wind it up if you want to, said May, clockwise.
00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:37.920
Winnie turned the key.
00:30:38.160 --> 00:30:48.319
It clicked faintly, and then, after several more turns, the music began to play again, brisk from its fresh winding, and merry.
00:30:49.119 --> 00:30:52.960
No one who owned a thing like this could be too disagreeable.
00:30:53.279 --> 00:30:59.440
Winnie examined the painted roses and lilies of the valley and smiled in spite of herself.
00:30:59.680 --> 00:31:03.039
It's pretty, she repeated, handing it back to May.
00:31:03.440 --> 00:31:06.079
The music box had relaxed them all.
00:31:06.400 --> 00:31:18.960
Miles dragged a handkerchief from a back pocket and mopped at his face, and May sank down heavily on a rock, pulling off the blue straw hat and fanning herself with it.
00:31:19.519 --> 00:31:22.160
Look here, Minnie Foster, said Jessie.
00:31:22.400 --> 00:31:24.799
We're friends, we really are.
00:31:25.599 --> 00:31:27.839
But you've got to help us.
00:31:28.079 --> 00:31:33.039
Come sit down, and we'll try to tell you why.
00:31:37.920 --> 00:31:42.799
Well, the story the plot thickens.
00:31:44.079 --> 00:31:48.480
Winnie's about to find out why the tucks are different.
00:31:48.720 --> 00:31:58.240
Remember, May Tuck was going to the village of Tregap, as she did every ten years to visit her two sons.
00:31:58.559 --> 00:32:02.000
That alone is mysterious.
00:32:02.400 --> 00:32:12.799
So next week we'll pick it up with uh chapters uh seven, eight, and nine, and you will hear the story.
00:32:13.279 --> 00:32:31.680
But before I leave you today, uh about uh Wednesday of next week, uh I'm publishing this on Saturday, uh, July the 18th, and I'm gonna publish another episode of the podcast that has nothing to do with Tuck Everlasting.
00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:40.960
I've decided uh to uh share some sound bites as we progress our way through the summer, and I'm gonna call it the Sounds of Summer.
00:32:41.119 --> 00:32:51.599
And it's going to come out on Wednesdays, perhaps not necessarily every Wednesday, but this Wednesday for sure, whatever that date is going to be.
00:32:51.839 --> 00:32:58.400
So if you are accustomed to getting the episodes and you're wondering, well, what happened to Tuck Everlasting?
00:32:58.640 --> 00:33:07.599
Well, uh it's it's still going to continue next week, as I said, with uh chapters 7, 8, and 9, and we hear the story.
00:33:07.920 --> 00:33:26.720
But you will have some sound bites to get you thinking, and one soundbite in particular, and I won't bury the lee, right now in North America, especially in my province in northern Ontario, it is wildfire season.
00:33:27.599 --> 00:33:33.599
And those wildfires, of course, have affected the environment and the and the purity of the air.
00:33:33.839 --> 00:33:46.559
And if the it's so eerie to look up expecting to see summertime blue and seeing orange, and you know the sun's up there, but it can't penetrate through the uh the smoke.
00:33:46.720 --> 00:33:52.720
And of course, our friends in the northern states are feeling the same effect.
00:33:52.799 --> 00:33:59.680
And one of the sound bites is going to explain the whole situation about wildfires.
00:33:59.759 --> 00:34:02.559
Uh, and I have some other sound bites as well.
00:34:02.799 --> 00:34:06.880
So hopefully you'll look forward to uh the sounds of summer.
00:34:07.119 --> 00:34:10.639
And the first one will be, as I said, this Wednesday.
00:34:10.800 --> 00:34:24.400
So wherever you are, uh take care and uh listen to the reports about the uh the smoke and and heed the advice uh that the local authorities will provide for you.
00:34:24.559 --> 00:34:36.079
So until next time, stay safe, my friends, and we'll see you through the magic of podcasting on Wednesday.