Thursday means the Visitor's Table, and the visitor's chair is filled. Lobster Bob comes home to the Trading Post with a Land Tour card: the Sahara Desert, the Erg Chebbi dunes and the camel treks.
Lobster Bob gives your hero the whole wonder in three true things. The Sahara is the largest hot desert on Earth, stretching across the top of Africa from the Atlantic to the Red Sea. Most of it is not sand at all, but at Erg Chebbi the sand wins, with dunes around one hundred and fifty metres tall that the wind moves grain by grain. And the camel's hump is not full of water. It is full of fat, a packed larder for weeks of walking.
Then the cross-type duel, two rounds. Sgt. Peck deals Auntie Ellie's critical thinking card from Tuesday and calls a sea slot against a desert. Round one to Hero HQ. Then Lobster Bob reads his own card before he calls, skips the fair call because it would lose, and takes round two with the Land Track. Same two cards, different call, different winner. That is the skill.
Auntie Ellie keeps the part worth keeping: he did not call the big number because it was big. He called it because he looked first.
Pvt. Ace brings the Ace Mode version. Same mission. Your way.
Your mission tonight: ages 4 to 6, find Africa on a map, lay your finger flat across the top of it, and tell a grown-up what a camel really keeps in its hump. Ages 7 and up, retell all three desert facts, then draw your own camel and decide its opinion about the correct speed.
Boots on, radios crackling, orders received, the scrubbing squad is standing by. Ready for real-world missions, adventure, and fun. And there is one hero they cannot start without. You. Report for duty. Heroes start here.
SPEAKER_05
Hero HQ calling all heroes. This is Uncle Jamie. Fall in heroes. Today's mission is about to begin. Thursday, heroes, and Thursday means the visitor's table. Sergeant Peck has the post.
SPEAKER_00
Thank you, Commander. Heroes! Welcome to the trading post. And the visitor's chair is filled because Thursday is the day our traveling member comes home to the table. Lobster Bob, Scenic Tours Guide, our civilian specialist. Today's card is the Sahara Desert, a land tour card, the Urd Chevy Dunes, and the Camel Treks. And it is a common and everyday hero of the pack. On the front, a line of camels walking the crest of a dune, the color of honey, and at the foot of the card, the passport stamp. Lobster Bob, the table is yours.
SPEAKER_04
Hola, mijo! Lobster Bob here. Thank you, Sergeant. The Sahara. I will give you the whole wonder in three true things. One, it is the largest hot desert on earth, nearly as big as the whole United States, and it stretches across the top of Africa from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to the Red Sea. Two, most of it is not even sand. Only about a quarter of the Sahara is dunes. The rest is rock, gravel, and mountains. But at Erg Chebi Micho, the sand wins. Erg means a sea of sand. The tallest dunes there stand around 150 meters, and the wind moves them slowly, grain by grain, so the desert you visit is never quite the desert you left. 3. The camel's hump. It is not full of water, it is full of fat. A packed larder the camel can live on for weeks, and when the sand blows, a camel can close its own nostrils. The card says the camel has opinions about the correct speed. It is right, Michel. Those opinions are not negotiable.
SPEAKER_00
A desert nearly the size of a country made mostly of rock, and the ships that cross it carry their lunch on their backs. Heroes, that goes on the clipboard. And now, heroes, the reason Thursday exists. You know the slot match rule. You call the slot not the name. And whatever lives in that spot on the other card answers. I am dealing Auntie Ellie's card from Tuesday. The critical thinking card you already know. Lobster Bob holds the desert. Round one, I am the caller and I call slot two. On Auntie Ellie's card, slot two is health 65.
SPEAKER_04
And on mine, slot two is the sea track, Mijo. 20. A desert card was never going to win a sequel. 65 beats 20. Round one to Hero HQ!
SPEAKER_00
Ha ha! Round two! And the caller passes to the visitor!
SPEAKER_04
Then, watch closely, Mijo. Slot five, the mission score, is on every card, and it is the fairest call there is. But I looked at my card first. My mission score says 56, and Addie Ellie's says 63. So today the fair call would lose me the table. So I call slot one instead the land track eighty.
SPEAKER_00
And Auntie Ellie's card answers slot one. Education 38! 80 beats 38. The desert takes the round. And the table stands at one round each. Hear what just happened, heroes. Same two cards, different call, different winner. That is the skill. And a new page for the clipboard. The visitor read his own card before he called. Slot 5 is the fairest call there is. And fair does not mean it always wins. Know your card, then call.
SPEAKER_02
And that is the part worth keeping, heroes. Lobster Bob did not call the big number because it was big. He called it because he had looked first. At his card, at the other card, at what the moment asked. On Tuesday, we called that critical thinking step by step. Today, you watched it win around.
SPEAKER_00
Trade wisdom for the week, heroes! A tin you are proud of! Not the fullest tin at the table, not the shiniest, the tin where every card means something to you. That is the whole game. Heroes, your mission straight from the card! If you are four, five, or six, tonight find Africa on a map or a globe. Lay your finger flat across the very top of it, all the way across. And that is the Sahara Found. Then tell a grown-up what a camel really keeps in its hump. If you are seven or older, retell all three desert facts in your own words to someone at home. Because most grown ups think the hump is full of water, and now you know better than they do. Then draw your own camel, give it a name, and decide its opinion about the correct speed.
SPEAKER_03
If a whole camel feels like a lot to draw, draw just the hump and tell the fat fact while you draw it. That counts. Start to finish. Same mission. Your way.
SPEAKER_04
The desert is very big, Mijo. And the camo crosses it anyway. One unhurried step at a time. Walk your missions the same way.
SPEAKER_00
Mission done? Tell a grown-up and tick Thursday's box on your squad mission chart. Free at ScrubbingSquadPodcast.com. Back to HQ.
SPEAKER_05
Heroes, this is Uncle Jamie. Mission accepted.
SPEAKER_02
Little missions. Big heroes. Heroes start here.
SPEAKER_01
Thank you for listening to the Scrubbing Squad Hero Missions Podcast. For free episode downloads, visit ScrubbingSquad Podcast.com. Scrubbing Squad and Lobster Bob Scenic Tours are the property of Mike J. Midgley. Operated under license by Scrubbing Squad Limited. All rights reserved. Reproduction or adaptation of this podcast in whole or in part is strictly prohibited without written permission.
