Hello, and welcome to bedtime stories with me. ARAT okay. So last time on the podcast, we finished the book, the pesky kids, the mystery of the squashed cockroach. So today I'm gonna start on the next book in the pesky kid series, which is the pesky kids bear in the woods. I may have misspoken last time and said that the next book was stuck in the mud. It's not it's bear in the woods. So that's what we're gonna start reading. I get confused about the titles of my own books. I actually, in my mind think of this one as the pesky kids, the green book, because the cover is in anyway. Uh, what else do I need to tell you? Well, if you follow me on Instagram, you will have seen that this week I went into my publisher. I went into penguin in Sydney. I had to go to Sydney to pick up my kids. So while I was there, I dropped by the publisher and I dropped off the proof pages for my next book. That's coming out in August, which is called astonishingly good stories and astonishingly good stories is the follow up to shockingly good stories, which came out last year. And both those books are collections of stories that have featured on the podcast. There'll be like the fairy tales or the Greek myths or the tall tales with Tammy. So, um, that's exciting. That's coming out in August and other news from the publishing front. Uh, cuz I talked to my publisher a couple of times this week and I was asking her about audio books cuz you fans at home message me and ask about the audio books all the time. And she said, well, we made the decision that there will be a nanny Piggins audio book recorded later this year. So that'll be the third book in the series. Cause the first two are already out. So the audio book will be nanny Piggins a and the runaway lion or as I think of it, nanny Piggins the yellow one. Uh, so yeah, they'll get me to record that in September, October. And that will be out in time for the Christmas holidays, which will be perfect for anyone who wants to listen to it on a road trip. Um, I think that's about it. Next thing I gotta do is start work on Friday barns 11 and I don't remember what I said, the title for that would be, but it's gonna be set in Paris. So in my mind, that's Friday barns set in Paris. All right. So that's enough boring housekeeping. Let's get into the beginning of the pesky kids bear in the woods. So today I'm gonna read to you the prologue As Dr. BA feels slowly woke up. She knew something was wrong. Even without opening her eyes. It was so quiet. The house was never quiet. If her children, Joe, Finn and April were awake, they were always fighting or the dog was barking or both her brain was struggling to wake up enough to make sense of it. There was a reason her children were a bad reason. It had something to do with why the mattress she was lying on was so uncomfortable and why the room felt damp and cold. Then her brain remembered she wasn't at home. She was in a prison cell somewhere in Eastern Europe, everything had gone terribly wrong. A sick hollow feeling of unutterable sadness swept over her. She may never hear her children squabbling again, just then there was an electronic buzz. The lock to her cell door clicked open and a guard entered. Dr. Banfield didn't even bother looking up. The guard brought in a tray of breakfast food as he had done every day of the weeks she'd been in there. Dr. Banfield opened her eyes as the guard bent forward to lay the tray on the ground. He seemed like a nice young man. Really? He couldn't have been much more than 27 or 28 years old. He hadn't been serving long enough to become jaded and cruel yet. It would be a shame to have to break his arm, but she was gonna do it anyway. Before the tray even touched the concrete, Dr. Banfield's hand shot out, grabbed the guard's wrist and twisted it. Cruelly, tearing the ligaments in his elbow and snapping his UL while simultaneously hooking her leg around, kicking him hard in the back of the head. He was knocked out cold in less than two seconds and the door was still unlocked. Dr. Banfield took off running. She raced down the hallway to the guard's office. There was no one in there. She used the path she'd stolen from the guard's belt to get through the double security doors, then rushed over to the control panel and hit override to unlock the doors to the corridor. Dr. Banfield took off again, sprinting down three flights of stairs and towards the kitchens where there were kitchens, there was always access for delivery trucks. It was the weakest point of any prison. If she made it there, it was her best chance of getting out. Dr. Bamfield pushed on running faster. She was deceptively quick for a frumpy middle aged woman. She was gonna make it only 100 meters to go. Then suddenly she was struck by lightning. At least that's what it felt like a surge of electricity shot through her and her legs buckled. She toppled forward and crumpled face down on the ground. She laid there gasp in for breath. Heavy footsteps slowly approached a steel capped. Boot was roughly wedged under her shoulder and she was kicked over. Dr. Banfield had looked up into the cruel face of the prison. Governor you weren't thinking of leaving us. Were you Dr. Banfield said the governor in a thick accent, not when we have so much to talk about and that's the end. Okay. Well that was the prologue and it was very short. So it's cruel to leave it there. So let's get into chapter one where we left off as Ingrid drove them home. The pesky kids felt almost like a regular family as regular, as a family with a traumatized father and a mysteriously absent mother could feel, even dad had stopped manically, fidgeting so much. I'm just glad this cockroach craziness is over, said fin. Now things can go back to normal. They can't go back to normal snapped April, because nothing here ever was normal. To start with everything here is weird and all the people are bonkers. Yeah, but that's normal for Kara won said, Joe, I'm gonna have a cup of tea and spend the afternoon separating. My daffodil bulb said, dad, father dead cried. Ingrid. They didn't have to speak Swedish to figure out what she was looking at up ahead. A huge cloud of black smoke billowed above the trees directly over their house. Ingrid floored the accelerator and they flew up the driveway skid into a halt on the gravel as they came around the last bend. Oh no. Oh no, no. Well dad, the house was on fire flames licked out from an upstairs window. The pesky kids were horror struck. This is a nightmare. MeMed Finn. It was the second time they'd seen their home in flames in one who would do this to us asked Joe, no one had a clever reply. Ingrid lept outta the car and sprinted up the front steps. The locked front door barely slowed her down. She kicked it open without breaking stride and disappeared into the house. Ingrid cried dad. He turned back to his children. I'm pretty sure that's not safe. Someone should go after her. The kids just looked at him. Dad was the adult. Sure. He was scruffy and permanently bewildered, but he was technically in charge. If anyone was gonna do anything crazy heroic, it was really up to him. Then Joe had a brainwave proving that he might be blonde and Brawny, but he could have good ideas too. Your irrigation system, he Staed dad glance at his watch. Yes, it is time to water the bulbs, but that can wait. I think we should deal with the burning house first. No, I mean we can use the irrigation system to put out the fire said, Joe let's do. It said April. She liked any idea that involved action. April Jo hurried over to different flower beds and pulled up the sprinkler heads. Fin rushed to the tap and turned the water on April, had her sprinkler head face in the wrong way. And she was blasted in the face by the high pressure water. It knocked her blue cap off her head and flattened her usually chaotic curly brown hair, pumpkin barked excitedly. He wanted to be splashed to you. Did that on purpose yelled April, you are the one holding. It said fin Pally. It's just an unexpected bonus for me that you're silly enough to point at your own face. You'd never have guessed that fin was actually 11 months older than April because he was shorter. And the way his cap fell down over his ears made him look very young, but he could be as SAR, sticking, insulting someone five times his age, Joe trained his jet on the upstairs window. Hal, this said April handed her sprinkler to dad. He pointed it at the flames above them as April scrambled up the veranda railing and onto the corrugated iron roof awing pass it up. She urged dad handed April the sprinkler and she was able to douse the flames up close. Suddenly the window smashed open as a flaming computer came sailing through the air. It was quite spectacular, almost beautiful. The electronic box glided in a parabolic arc over the garden beds, flame and smoke billow in behind it. It's gonna hit pumpkin cried April, but the small dog had the good sense to bound out of the way. Before the flaming computer smashed into the middle of the lawn with a loud crunch, wow said fin. They looked up at the window, Ingrid leaned out through the black and frame. The flames were doused, but smoke and steam continued to waft off the chard. Timber Ingrid had sort on her a in arms, but she still looked like a NDIC goddess with her long blonde hair and lean athletic physique. El knew April blasted during the face with the sprinkler Ford. Good do claimed Ingrid. Sorry said April, just making sure there weren't any embers on you. It turned out that the fire had not been that bad. When they went upstairs to look, they saw that the bla had not spread beyond Joe's bedroom. The only thing burnt was Joe's desktop computer and the wall behind it with a computer line out on the lawn and the curtains taken down. Most of the remaining damage was done by the water from April and Joe's over enthusiastic efforts to control the blaze. How does the computer catch fire ask Joe looking around the wreck of his bedroom. If you set fire to it yourself to hide what you've got on the hard drive accused April as she glare to Joe, I wouldn't set fire to my own bedroom said, Joe, that's just stupid. Well, you're not exactly Albert Einstein. I, you said April, it could have been an electrical. Mal fun said fin. Puring at the power socket, an electricity surge or dust in the mainframe. Where did you even get a computer from? Anyway, asked April. I found it said Joe, it was with the junk under my bed. I thought it'd be handy. You wanted to play computer games. Didn't you said fin. He knew his brother. Well, and Joe enjoyed the mindlessness escapism into a digital virtual reality as much as any 16 year old boy, to be fair when your actual reality was as difficult as Joe's, it would be silly not to. Well, there isn't much else to do in Cara, Joe. Ya can India AUMA bar can throw at do lo brand said Ingrid, everyone turned to look at her. She does realize we don't speak Swedish rights at April. Ingrid was very brave bursted into the house and throwing the computer out, said, dad, the fire could have been much worse. Ingrid was their next door neighbors op pair looking after the staggeringly beautiful and sociopathic Loretta Vista. One a was hard enough putting our fires at the neighbor's house was definitely above and beyond in pair's normal duties, brave or stupid said April turned into glare, Ingrid or Duma. As you say in Swedish, Ingrid looked uncomfortable. When did you learn some Swedish? As Finn? On our first day here said April, she called us, do do my bar on don't. You remember no said Finn. I paid attention said April still glaring at Ingrid. Ingrid looks suspiciously back and forth. Thank you for your help. Ingrid said dad politely Ingrid nodded. While everyone was looking at her, she held up her finger to get their attention. Then pointed at something on the floor, ti har. And Lero what she saying. Last April, Finn walked over and peered at the thing she was pointing at. It was a small empty tin. There was so much junk clutter in the bedrooms in dad's house. It was hard to notice any one thing in, but fin could see why this small tin had caught Ingrid's interest. It's a can of lighter fluid for starting fire said fin. As he picked it up and looked at it, it's empty. Someone broke in and set fire to the computer asked Joe, why else would this be on the floor? Reason fin. But the front was lock said, dad, how did they get in? I've got a better question. Set. April turn into glat Ingrid. How did she know? We should look at this tin. If she can't read English, distinct looked said Ingrid MI mean sniffing and waft in a smell towards her nose. I think she's saying she could smell. It said, dad, do you think we could fix the computer? Ask Joe peering out the window at the black and shell steaming in the middle of the lawn. It depends said Finn, if you wanna use it as a big paperweight, then yes, I can do that. But that computer is never playing Teris again. It was too old for Tetra said, Joe, it only had P you've gotta try and fix. It said April. It was on fire. Then got heard out of a second story window and doused with water said, fin, I'm not a miracle worker. I can take a look that said, dad, I know a bit about computers really said fin skeptically. It's just systems engineering said, dad, it's all logical, but you are not said April. You should still try said Finn. There might be a clue on there about why some nut bar would wanna break into our house and set fire to it. We don't know any nut bar said, Joe, we know Loretta said April. She does do odd things to entertain herself. A great dad. She's all right, said, Joe, April rolled her eyes. You only say that because you are in love with her Joe blushed. He was terrified of Loretta. So he hoped he wasn't in love with her, but she had kissed him on the cheek once. And that had made his Lauren intestines feel very peculiar. Joe and Loretta sit in a tree toted, April in a sing song, voice. K I S S I N G that rhyme doesn't even make any sense. Snap. Fin, why would anyone climb into a tree to kiss it? Can't be safe. What if you had an inner ear infection? When you close your eyes to kiss, you'd fall out of the tree. Now Finn was ready in the face from delivering this impasioned speech. He was secretly in love with Loretta, but thankfully due to his family's total emotional insensitivity, no one had noticed yet. Well, we just left Loretta in town said, Joe, it can have been her. Perhaps. She has an identical twin sister. We don't know about said April. She's weird enough to keep a sibling locked in the cell. Well, I need a computer for school. So Joe, I've got an assignment on Cumulus clouds. Yeah. Rights at April that's code. Isn't it code dust. Dad. Why is Joe using codes? He's a teenage boy said April. He really wants a computer so he can look at eighties. I do not said Joe. He found women and girls terrifying both in real life. And in two dimensional images, I have an assignment for geography. Dad reached him into his pocket. You can buy a new one. He opened his wallet and took out a thick wa of notes inside with a thousand dollars cover it. Joe's eyes GA, April and Finn was stunned into silence. Yeah, that ought to do it said Joe, and we'll leave it there. Okay. That's it for now until next time. Goodbye.