Spock's Sleepy Adventure

0:00Get Sleepy is a production of Samba Studios. To listen to our three, access our entire catalog of episodes and support the show directly. Check out our premium feed by going to GetSleepy.com slash support. Now, a quick word from our sponsors. The new LinkedIn hire and grow can't undo your last hire. The human post-poner. They were the master of one phrase. I'll circle back on that, but three months later, you are the one doing all their work and wondering how big that circle is. But LinkedIn Hiring Pro can take the hiring load off your plate. By automating the hiring busy work from the initial job post to scheduling interviews. Higher write the first time with LinkedIn Hiring Pro. Post a free job today at LinkedIn.com slash quality. College football is back. So Hilton called and meet the superstition concierge to make your fan rituals a reality. Need a room to match your lucky number? We got you.

1:00Want to make sure our team doesn't wash your lucky jersey? Oh, that smells lucky. Hilton's unmatched hospitality can keep up with any superstition. Even a marching bandwink up call at 555 and 55 seconds. Hit it! When you need a team that will do whatever it takes on game day, it matters where you stay. Hilton, for this day. Good evening and welcome to Get Sleepy. Where we listen, we relax and we get sleepy. My name's Thomas and I'm your host. I'm delighted to say that TK is back to read for us tonight. And this one was beautifully written by Leila Keary. We'll be joining the adventures of a small dog who finds his way home with the help of new friends he meets along the way.

2:02So settle yourself comfortably into bed appreciating the luxury of this quiet calming place that you return to each night. And as you begin to slow your breathing, see if you can just pay attention to the points of contact between your body and the bed below. Where do you feel the weight of your body pressing into the mattress? Let that support allow your muscles to completely relax, giving in to the pull of rest. Each breath in nourishes your entire body.

3:07And each exhale lets you sink further into the cozy embrace of your bed. Little by little you continue wandering along this gentle path towards sleep. Where there is no rush, no responsibility, and no reason to worry or to think about anything in particular. You can just listen along to our story as TK gently describes the scenes, inviting the dreamy sensations of sleep to wash over you slowly but surely. Now it's time to join Spock in the little town he calls home.

4:14This is where our story begins. Spock was a small mixed-breed dog with a waggy tail, expressive eyebrows, and very pointy ears. He belonged to a great family. There was a dad and two kids, and they all loved Spock. They took him for walks to the dog park to play with his dog friends and gave him lots of hugs and kisses.

5:22Sometimes the kids went somewhere called Mom's house, and Spock would get a little sad. He would look for them all over the house. When he couldn't find them, he would curl up on his bed and give a big sigh. Tuck his tail tightly around his body, there he is pointy nose into his fluff and go to sleep. It was one particular day when the kids were at Mom's house that Spock had his big adventure. Dad let Spock into the backyard like he did every morning. But today, when Spock was sniffing hard at all the smells that had accumulated overnight, he bumped the gate.

6:31And it opened a little bit. This had never happened before. Spock nudged the gate again, and it opened even more. He could fit through. Spock thought maybe he could go find the kids and bring them home. He wagged his tail at this happy thought. He knew Dad would be happy too if they all came in the front door together. Spock put his nose to the ground and sniffed his way out of the backyard. It didn't take long for Spock to pick up a scent. But it wasn't the kids that he sniffed out.

7:32It was a pickup truck filled with other dogs. This was an exciting distraction. Spock loved other dogs, and he loved trucks. The other dogs were excited to see him too, and barked at him to get in the truck. Spock was a good jumper. He jumped right into the back of the big truck, and everyone started sniffing busily. He become acquainted. Spock thoroughly checked out each of his new friends. One was a yappy Scottish terrier. He was small like Spock, and had a lot to say.

8:34Then there was an athletic Chirainu. He wasn't as loud as the Scotty. It was going to take a little longer for him and Spock to be best friends. The third dog was a fancy poodle. Her black curly coat was very attractive, and she had a sparkly collar. There was a big bloodhound who seemed a little grumpy, but Spock knew that was all for show. The last one was a border collie, who was clearly the pack leader. He was friendly and welcoming though. Spock could tell they'd get a long grate.

9:35They were all so focused on getting to know each other, that Spock didn't realize until it was too late. That the pack's human had returned, started the truck, and was driving away with Spock still in the back. At first, Spock was a little worried, but then he remembered that when the kids went to mom's house, they left in a car. So maybe riding in the truck would help him find them faster. He and the other dogs leaned their heads over the side of the truck bed, and let their ears flap in the wind. The rush of smells, eating their noses, was a delight.

10:41Every now and then, a bug at Cardin's someone's mouth, they didn't mind though. It was like a treat from the sky. As they traveled along, the landscape changed. Houses got farther and farther apart from each other. Soon there were hardly any houses at all. It was mostly big fields, with some patches of trees. Some fields had large animals in them eating grass. Spock and his friends barked at the animals as they passed, but the animals ignored them and just kept eating grass.

11:41After a while, the truck turned onto a smaller road that led to a house. The pack's human got out of the truck and came around to open the tailgate. He was surprised to have an extra dog and tried to catch Spock to look at his collar. But Spock was too fast. He jumped out of the truck and ran into a nearby field. His dog friends all followed him because chasing something was their favorite game. The dogs ran through the field at full speed, tongues out and big smiles on all their faces.

12:43They crossed the field quickly and on the other side was a small woodsy area. They stopped among the trees, panting heavily. After they caught their breath, Spock heard the sound of water running and realized how thirsty he was. He sniffed his way toward the water sound and soon found a small shallow creek. The rest of the pack had followed him and they were all so happy to find water that they immediately jumped into the creek. The dogs drank their fill and felt much better.

13:43Spock noticed something moving in the water. He watched the darting shadow carefully and tried touching it with his ball. But the thing quickly swam away. He stuck his face in the water to see if he could sniff it but that didn't work out very well. Spock quickly raised his head and sneezed because water went up his nose. Spock saw more of the shadows in the water. He barked because he was frustrated. He wanted to sniff these things to find out what they were under the water and wouldn't hold still. Spock's dog friends also noticed the swimming things and they also tried sticking their faces in the water to get a closer look.

14:54None of them succeeded either. Soon the dogs gave up and left the creek to see what else they could sniff out. The wazheria was very small. It was just the creek and a narrow strip of trees on either side separating two fields. But it was nice and quiet there. Trees helped absorb sound and the quality of the light filtering through leaves was relaxing. The dogs appreciated these things but they were still dogs. Their focus was on all the smells.

15:56Spock was a town dog but there are certain smells that are the same no matter where you are. He sniffed rabbits that had hopped through the area less than an hour before. He tracked a squirrel that had just retrieved a nut from the ground and scampored up the nearest tree trunk. He caught a whiff of a skunk and remembered that he really needed to stay away from that spell if he didn't want another round of awful baths. As the dogs got close to the far side of the narrow wazheria, Spock sniffed something extra interesting and the rest of the dog soon caught the smell too.

17:02They were so busy following that wonderful smell that they almost bumped into the creature they had been tracking. In front of them was a deer calmly chewing some leaves and gazing down at them. She seemed as curious about them as they were about her. Spock was a little concerned because the deer was so much bigger than him. He slowly approached her sniffing the air as he got closer. She bent her head down towards Spock's face and they touched noses briefly. He had made a new friend.

18:03Spock was so excited and his little tail wagged fast enough to create a breeze. The rest of the dog back crept close to and sniffed the deer thoroughly. She sniffed each intern. Then she flicked her tail and made her way silently back into the wazheria, headed toward the creek. Spock and his dog friends didn't want to go that way. They left the wazheria and crossed the next field. Spock hoped he would find the kid soon and they could all go home together.

19:04As they reached the edge of the field, the dogs could see another house. Spock heard kids voices and his tail started wagging all by itself. Maybe he'd found them. He ran to the house to get a closer look. When he got there though, he saw it wasn't his kids after all. But they were still kids and Spock could tell they were fun. He ran up to them to see high. The two children had been playing a game, but they stopped as soon as they saw Spock and the other dogs. They had to pet all the friendly dog faces and get dog gussies.

20:11The kids laughed as the dogs surrounded them with wagging tails and eager noses. The children had been playing with a stick and a ball. Those are two things dogs love. Soon the border collie grabbed the ball, zoomed in circles with it and dropped it in front of the kids. He stared hard at the ball, hoping they would know what he wanted. Luckily, dog body language is easily understood by most humans and one of the kids picked up the ball and threw it as far as she could across the yard.

21:12All the dogs dashed after the ball, eager to be the first one to catch it and bring it back for another throw. The border collie was the fastest, but Spock was close behind. They reached it at almost the same time and bumped their heads together trying to grab it. The ball kept rolling and the poodle was able to get it. She trotted back, bouncing lightly on her feet, the way poodles do and dropped the ball in front of the children. They played fetch a few more times with different dogs getting the ball first each time.

22:15After a while, the dogs were ready for another drink of water. The kids could see they were all panting hard and one of them went to get the hose. The other child turned the faucet on and the dogs crowded around the end of the hose, lapping up the water as it sprayed out the end. While they were drinking that cool, cool water, a grown-up came out of the house. She called to the children asking where all those dogs came from. The kids pointed toward the field and the woman said she was calling the neighbor to let him know where his dogs were.

23:17When she went back in, Spock decided he needed to get going if he wanted to find his own kids and make it home before nighttime. Spock heard a noise, looked around and saw a car driving on a road nearby. Roads take people places. So that's probably how he could find the kids, he thought. He headed in that direction and the rest of the pack came along to help. The friends trotted along the road with Spock and the leave. The other dogs started to get anxious though. It was almost dinner time and they needed to get back to their human.

24:24After a few minutes, they heard an engine behind them and there was their truck with their person inside. He called out to the dogs and everyone, except Spock, ran to the truck with wagging tails. The person loaded all his dogs into the back and the head tried to coax Spock over with a treat. Spock wagged at the man who seemed very nice, but he could tell the person wanted to catch him. If that happened, Spock would never find his kids and get home. The man crept closer. He said soothing words and held out a treat for Spock sniffed.

25:28It smelled good and Spock wanted that treat. When the man got close, he caught Spock by the collar, but Spock slipped his head right out of that collar and ran into the field next to the road. Without his dog friends, it wasn't as much fun running through the field, but Spock knew he needed to find his kids. He didn't want the man to try catching him again, so Spock stayed in the field, close enough to the road, and he could see cars as they passed, but far enough to feel hidden.

26:28Spock trotted a long nose to the ground. If his kids were nearby, he was determined to sniff them out. Spock's nose was extremely busy for the next hour. He refused to be distracted by the smell of bunnies, or the crow yelling at him from the top of the scare crow's head. He was not going to be sidetracked by the family of ducks crossing the road. He barely glanced at the goats on the other side of the fence, nagging him. After a while though, Spock started to get a little worried once again.

27:30What if he couldn't find the kids? And what if he wasn't able to get back home? He lifted his nose from the ground, and noticed the light was changing. It was starting to get dark. He whined a little and thought, maybe he should go back to his dog friends for help. Then Spock's nose started to twitch, and his tail started wagging all by itself. He caught a happy smell. It was the kids. Spock looked around and saw a car coming down the road.

28:32It was Dad's car, and the kids had their heads out the windows, yelling Spock's name over and over again. Spock was so happy that his whole body started wagging. Spock dashed out of the field straight toward the car. The kids and Dad saw him, and everyone started yelling and waving. Dad stopped the car, and they all scrambled out. Spock ran into the biggest and best group hug of his life, and he made sure everyone got plenty of kisses. The whole family got back into the car, with Spock in the back seat with the kids.

29:39They put his collar back on him, and Spock wondered how they got it. Then Dad drove to the house with a dog back lift. They all got out of the car, and Spock was able to show off his great-giz to his new dog friends, while Dad shook hands with the pack's human. Now, it was time to go home. Spock was exhausted from his big adventure. He relaxed in the back seat, draped over both kids' legs. One kid scratched his ears slowly and softly, and the other gave him good belly rubs.

30:51The kids spoke quietly to Spock, telling him how much they had worried about him, and how happy they were to have him back safe again. Spock saw his clothes, and he sighed in contentment. He was exactly where he wanted to be, surrounded by his family.