Hello, and welcome to bedtime stories with me rara. Okay. Well, today I'm gonna be reading to you chapter three from the pesky kids, but before we get into that, I do have an announcement to make the second book in the nanny PIGN series, nanny Piggins and the wicked plan. Um, I recorded it as an audio book for penguin, so it's, it went on sale, uh, yesterday on the 1st of March. So please do check that out, download it from wherever you get your audio books from. I use audible, but I know there's lots of shops and, uh, download services where you can get audio, your books. So please do by that, it would be fantastic because I would really love to be able to record the whole series. And they've let me do the first two now. So I've only got seven books to go. It would be very cool. If we could have audio books of all of those. Okay. Having said all that. Now let's get into today's episode of the podcast. Here we go. Chapter three, dad, wherever car won was it was a long car ride to get there. Finn had asked why they couldn't take a helicopter and professor Mayard had characteristically just laughed. She said, helicopters were only for fictional SPS like James Bond. Real spies had to use choir to means of transport. So they all afternoon and into the night the minivan had snacks, but they were health, food bars and fruit. So while the children didn't starve, they weren't happy. Eventually they all found the least uncomfortable positions in their seats and drifted off to sleep lull by the sound of the engine and pumpkins gentle snores. If during the long night, the van did bump over anything and jolt them awake. There was nothing to see. It was pitch black outside. There were no streetlights. All they could see was the long country roads stretching out ahead of them. As far as the glow of the headlights could show, they soon drifted back to sleep again. Wakey, wakey, the children were woken by the irritating cheerfulness of professor Mayard. They grumbled and groaned as they stretched and sat upright. It was early morning looking out the window. They could see they were bumping along a long dirt driveway. A line of trees, either side. Where are we asked Joe home said, professor Mayard fin sniffed. He didn't want to cry the, but he had just remembered that their real home had been blown up yesterday and that their mother was in prison at an undisclosed location. Admittedly, she'd never been the most motherly of mothers and now it turned out she'd been lying to them all their lives because she was a super dangerous spy, but she'd always been cheerful and available for hugs. Finn would've quite liked a hug at this moment. Dad lives here said April peering out at the beautiful rolling lawn and tall desiduous trees, drooping with a thick canopy of impossibly green leaves. He does indeed set professor Mayard all these years. I've imagined him living in a tree house in paua new Guinea said April. I'm sure he could build you a tree house at professor Mayard. He certainly got a lot of trees. I don't. He's good at tinkering with things. The van bumped around a bend in the driveway and upper head. They could see a house. It was an old ramshackle farm house with two stories and a ver Miranda wrapped all the way around the outs side. It desperately needed painting. There was an odd assortment of junk abandoned everywhere. And the corrugated iron roof looked alarmingly rusty, but even with all those faults, it somehow looked elegant, a tired and genial home surrounded by so much abundantly healthy vegetation. In contrast of the abandoned rusty machinery of indeterminate, the flower beds were overflowing with beautiful arrangements of decorative flowers, bees and butterflies darted in and out of the exotic flowers. Is he glad with coming as Joe at 16, he was used to adults letting him down, but he still felt nervous. Hoping it wouldn't happen. I'm sure he will be said, professor Maynard, you haven't told him we're coming. Have you said fin? Oh, no said professor may not. Your father is a wonderful kindhearted fellow, but you don't know him as well as I do. I'm sure he will be delighted to see you. He is however, the teeniest bit terrified of me. If he knew I was coming, he might have made a run for it. The van hold up in front of the house and the children got out pumpkin bounded forward to pee on a lovely display of flower in Daphne professor. Mayard stro straight up to the front door, the children following her at a cautious distance. The professor wrapped loudly with the knocker is that a methane generator as Finn looking at an unusually shaped piece of machinery sitting by the front door, the probably said, professor, Mayard given it a quick glance. Your dad does love his little toys. Professor Mayard wrapped on the door again. Suddenly they heard a loud clutter, a thud scuffling noises and the sound of someone plead to be let go. Pumpkin started barking, excitedly sensing violence in the air, but April picked him a up. She wanted a hug and she was much more comfortable clutching her dog than a person. Ah, that'll be him said professor Maynard, walking along the veranda to see down the side of the house. Eric, the driver had a man in a painful looking wrist lock and was half dragging him around to the front of the house as Eric and his captive drew closer. The children got their look at their father in 11 years. It was disappointing for a start. Their dad was 11 years older than they remembered him being. He had a long, badly trim, beard, wild combed hair, and the sort of screwed up wrinkly face. You only get, if you worry a lot and never use moisturizer, the children could have forgiven most of their because they weren't expecting him to be handsome. But being teenagers, they were acutely conscious of when an adult is embarrassing. And in this, the first glimpse of their father in so many years, he was wearing a long scruffy dressing gown that clearly showed his naked ankles and Harry cows. It was not a dignified look. Ah, Harold cried, professor Maynard completely ignoring the fact that her driver still had him in a wrist lock so wonderful to see you. You're looking well. What do you want with me? Moan their father, please. Don't say I have to, to be brave. I just haven't got it in me. Nothing of the kind said professor Maynard, I've got a marvelous surprise for you. I've brought you, your children. All you have to do is parent them. Dad peered a professor Maynard. He didn't have his glasses on, but now he looked closer. He noticed three indistinct shapes on Theran that near her. He used his free hand to reach into his dressing gown pocket, retrieve his glasses and awkwardly put them on his face. He wouldn't have described them as children. Three SU teenagers were glaring rarely back at him, a girl and two boys, a dad. I do have a girl and two boys are these. Then he was whispering. He spent so much time dealing with plants that he was used to whispering to himself. Yes, that's right. Said professor Maynard. I'm glad you caught up so quickly. I'm afraid. Birth has got herself in a spot of bother over in collective controlled territory. So you're gonna have to step up and look after them. They're gonna live with me, dad in wonder his face drained of all color, thin sniffed and stuck his bottom lip out. Joe mentally started running through all the things he would have to do. If dad refused to look after them and he had to be in charge, he'd have to drop out of school, get a job, rent a house. Have you got a problem with that? Asked April a hint of menace in her voice. She was already angry with her mother for secretly being incredibly exciting behind her back. And she was quite ready to take her anger out on the one parent who was actually there. No. Who said dad shaking his head. So his beard quid it's wonderful. Then he burst into tears, Joe, Finn and April glance at each other, never known a grown up to Christ so easily. Their mother was never weepy. Although in hindsight, this may have been because she was a ruthless international operative. Eric, be dear said, professor, Mayard go and make Mr. Pesky a nice cup of tea. Eric carried off to perform this task with the same urgency with which he had passed. Professor Maynard, the bomb that had blown up the children's house the previous day, half an hour later, after several cups of tea, dad was still struggling to get ahold of himself. Professor Maynard had explained the situation numerous times and patted him bracingly on the back. So often that his shoulder was beginning to bruise. Eric had carried the children's suitcases in and Joe Finn and April had HUD upstairs to argue of who was gonna get the best bedroom. It turned out to be a surprisingly short argument. They usually devoted a lot of energy into arguing about everything thoroughly, but on searching the house they found there were four bedrooms, one their father was using and the other three had no distinguishing merits. They were all full of junk. The only thing the children had to consider when choosing which room they wanted was which pile of junk was gonna terrify them. The least when they woke up in the middle of the night or which pile of junk, they were least likely to trip over on the way to the bathroom. In the end, Joe got the largest room because it had taxi Ader animals everywhere being the oldest, it was considered. He would be the least likely to have nightmares. April got the room that had a wash basin because she was a girl. And therefore the most inclined to wash April was a feminist in every regard, except when it came to maintaining sexist stereotypes like boys not washing enough, although to be fair, she did have evidence to support this belief. Having lived with two boys, her entire life, Finn got the room that overlooked the driveway because he owned a telescope, which the agents had managed to pack for him. He was gonna enjoy spying on people approaching the house on the whole. The bedrooms were depressing and dusty, but they were separate rooms. So the children were at least pleased. They would each have their door to slam dramatically. When they were fighting, they went back downstairs to explore the rest of the house. When they returned to the kitchen, they were surprised to find their father on his own and clutching an empty mug in his hands. Shaking slightly. Where's the professor asked Joe, oh, she's gone. So dad just like that said April, didn't say goodbye. Typical. She didn't particularly like professor Mayard the whole blowing up their house thing was a lot to get past. No, she doesn't often do that. So dad, they all looked at each other. Dad seemed almost as frightened of his children as he did of professor Mayard pumpkin yanked. One of dad's slippers right off his foot and was old and warned and looked like it smelled gross. Pumpkin was delighted with his new chew toy. Would you like me to make some breakfast? Ask Joe? Oh yes. Said dad, we should eat maintaining traditional customs is important. Joe opened the food cupboard. There wasn't much to see only a lot of tin food and several enormous boxes of fiber breakfast, cereal brown. It is then said, Joe, grabbing a box and looking about for bowls, a movement in the backyard caught Fin's eye. He went over to the French doors to have a look. Am I having a hallucination asked fin? Or is there a teenage girl right in a horse in your backyard, they all turned to look at the window. The garden at the back of the house was even more impressive than the garden at the front. Huge exquisitely maintained flower beds fanned out between interwoven pathways. It was laid out more like a garden at versa side than a backyard and countering about weaving among the rainbow of blooms was an imaculate turned out Chestnut stallion rid by a staggeringly, be beautiful dark skin girl with long black hair that swept out behind her in the breeze. Every time she urged a horse forward to jump over another flower bed. Oh yes. That's Loretta Vina said dad, she lives next door. The children watched as Loretta's horse misjudged a leap and crashed through a magnificent display of DAS. Loretta threw back ahead and laughed before urging her horse forward. Again, this time to half leap and half crashed through a trellis of sweet peas. Is she allowed to wreck your garden? Like that asked Joe? Well, I've asked her not to confess dad, but she's always so polite and lovely about it. She does come over here fairly often, particularly when there's a show jumping competition she's practicing for, but she's a Vandal exclaimed, April. A very good looking Vandal said Finn, Joe turned to look at Finn. He was shocked. Finn had no ever noticed a girl before Finn got defensive. What? It's just an empirical fact and we'll leave it there for this week. That's it for now until next time. Goodbye.