Paws & Tales

Ned: Kay, Stacy. I'm helping out today, so I'll direct you whenever you're ready.

Stacy: Hey everyone, Stacy here from Paws and Tales. We've had kids from all over the country send in their announcer recordings, and they're heard every day on the program. But we haven't heard one from you!

Ned: Yeah, yeah, really good, Stacy, but this time with a little more pathos, please.

Stacy: Oh, Ned.

Joel: Keep going, Stacy.

Stacy: Just head on over to pawsandtales.org and pop into the clubhouse to get one of the announcer scripts.

Ned: Yeah, that's a good start, Stacy, but I need some more sparkle, please. Give me more sparkle!

Stacy: I don't even know what that means. Record yourself on your parent's phone and send it into us so we can get your voice heard around the world. That's pawsandtales.org. This is so exciting!

Ned: Well, let's think about your motivation on this.

Joel: Nice, Stacy. Good job. Stopping tape.

Ned: Wait, I'm directing this! Do not stop tape, Joel! Do not stop that tape!

Insight for Living: Welcome to the world of Paws and Tales. Wild mountain can be a pretty dangerous place. If you stay on the trails and stick with me, there's adventure to be had there too. Insight for Living is proud to present Paws and Tales.

Howdy and welcome to Wildwood. We are well into the summer months now. The temperature is going up, and hard as it is to believe, all the kids in town are secretly starting to look forward to going back to school.

This afternoon, CJ and Papa Chuck are on the road to make another delivery to another town deep in the heart of Wild Mountain.

CJ: Okay, next trip, I'm bringing a pillow to sit on.

Insight for Living: Not a bad idea. This was supposed to be a shortcut. I've never been through here before. I had no idea the road would be this bad. Hang on!

CJ: That didn't sound good.

Insight for Living: Wasn't. Go ahead and get out, CJ. I've got to change a flat tire. Catch!

CJ: How can you have lived all your life in these mountains and never been on this road before?

Insight for Living: It's a big mountain range, CJ.

CJ: It's weird here. There's no birds, not even any bugs. Pretty bad when a place is so crummy that bugs don't even come around. You should see this ravine. It's like a desert surrounded by mountains.

Insight for Living: Stay off the edge, CJ.

CJ: I'll be careful. I wish I could fly. If I could fly, I'd only land to eat and sleep.

Insight for Living: While CJ was standing on the edge of the sandy slope, pretending to fly, the sand under his boot moved. Before he had any idea what was happening, CJ was sliding down that sandy slope like he was sledding down a snowy hill.

CJ: Whoa! Papa Chuck!

Insight for Living: CJ!

CJ: Yeah!

Insight for Living: That sandy slope just kept going and going. There was nothing either of them could do but just wait and see where CJ stopped. That cub went all the way to the bottom of the ravine. You okay?

CJ: I'm fine! I didn't think I'd ever stop! I'm coming up! This isn't going to work. The sand just slides away. I'll never get up this way.

Insight for Living: I don't see any other way out, do you?

CJ: No! Cliffs all around! Do you have a rope in the truck?

Insight for Living: I do, but it's not nearly long enough. I'll have to go back to town and get more. A lot more.

CJ: Well, how long will that take?

Insight for Living: I don't know. A couple of hours. Any other ideas?

CJ: I guess not!

Insight for Living: You going to be okay down there?

CJ: Oh, yeah! I might be bored out of my mind, but I'll be okay!

Insight for Living: Here, I'll send the canteen down. I'll be back as soon as I can.

CJ: Okay! Got it!

Insight for Living: Back in town, Tiffany Rockler, the daughter of Mr. Rockler, the richest man in town, is doing what she has always done every day since she moved to Wildwood. She is checking for mail at the post office.

Now sure, the mail would be delivered to the hotel where she lives, but for the kind of letter Tiffany's waiting for, that would just be too long to wait.

Mr. Mendelson: Afternoon, Miss Tiffany.

Tiffany Rockler: Good afternoon, Mr. Mendelson. Anything today?

Mr. Mendelson: Well, let me take a look here. How many of these letters have you gotten since you've come to Wildwood?

Tiffany Rockler: Two, just two.

Mr. Mendelson: Well, I'm sorry to say that now it's three.

Tiffany Rockler: I've got one! Oh, really?

Mr. Mendelson: Here you are, dearie. Enjoy.

Tiffany Rockler: Thank you! Now remember.

Mr. Mendelson: No one will ever hear about it from me. It's still our little secret.

Tiffany Rockler: Thank you, thank you so much, Mr. Mendelson.

Mr. Mendelson: Poor child. Hope it's good news.

Insight for Living: Tiffany ran out of the post office with that letter pressed to her heart. She shot down the alley and found an old crate to sit on and examined the envelope like it was a piece of fine art.

Tiffany Rockler: She's in Morocco. Maybe we will live in Morocco. This is it. I know it. Now I will get out of this dirty little town. Tiffany, dearest, how are you? I'm fine, still tired but getting my strength back steadily.

Insight for Living: As Tiffany read the letter, she first suspected and then even before she finished it, she knew it was not the letter she had hoped for.

Tiffany Rockler: I'm having ever such a difficult time getting settled here in the city. As much as I want to send for you, things are still in such a state of disarray, it would not be fair to bring you over now.

Insight for Living: If Tiffany had had a building fall on her, it would not have hurt her as much. The fragile heart of this little cub was broken.

Tiffany Rockler: Mama! I want to be with you! Why can't I be with you? I am trapped. I am alone.

Marsha: Tiffany? Oh, my. Are you all right?

Tiffany Rockler: Marsha, leave me alone! Stop! Don't leave. No, I'm not all right. Finally, today, I get a letter from her, and she won't send for me.

Marsha: Who won't?

Tiffany Rockler: My mother! Oh, Marsha. I miss her so bad.

Marsha: I know you do. It's okay.

Tiffany Rockler: We used to get up early in the morning and we would have tea on the veranda, just talking. Nothing terribly important, girl talk. Sometimes on special days, she would make the most wonderful cookies.

Marsha: Really? What kind?

Tiffany Rockler: A special kind. You've never heard of them. Chocolate crinkles.

Marsha: With powdered sugar sprinkled on the top?

Tiffany Rockler: You've had them?

Marsha: My mom and I make them too on special days. We love them.

Tiffany Rockler: I do too! I do too! Oh, I would give anything to taste one right now.

Marsha: Tiffany, we have something in common.

Tiffany Rockler: I guess we do.

Marsha: You know, when my heart breaks, the best thing for me to do is to get together with my friends and share with them how I feel. And sometimes we go on a walk and look at the mountains and ocean and to see the beauty of it all. It helps me to know.

Tiffany Rockler: She won't send for me. I'm alone. I am completely alone. It'll be months now, maybe another year, and I will have to stay here in this wretched little backwater train stop. How's that for sharing my feelings? Don't you feel better now? No!

Insight for Living: Well, old CJ has been trying to make the best of a bad situation. He's tried to make a sandcastle, but it was so dry the sand wouldn't stay where he put it.

CJ: Oh, brother. This is nuts. I hate this place.

Insight for Living: In exasperation, CJ spun around and sat on top of his failed sandcastle. As he did, he saw eyes, lots of eyes, staring at him from behind the rocks. Oh, boy. This is not good. This is not good at all.

Alexia: Hi, I'm Alexia from Arizona and I love listening to Paws and Tales when I'm getting ready for bed. Oh, and my parents listen too!

Stacy: Hey everyone, Stacy here from Paws and Tales. We've had kids from all over the country send in their announcer recordings and they are heard every day on the program. But we haven't heard one from you.

Just head on over to pawsandtales.org and pop into the clubhouse to get one of the announcer scripts. Record yourself on your parent's phone and send it into us so we can get your voice heard around the world. That's pawsandtales.org. This is so exciting!

Insight for Living: The eyes belong to a bunch of the raggediest bunch of creatures you've ever seen. They very slowly came out from behind the rocks. They were about twice the size of a raccoon, but they are not raccoons.

They look sick and gaunt, and to tell you the truth, they look like bones with too much skin on them. The other distinguishing thing about them is that each and every one of them had a round clay pot about the size of a pie plate hanging around their necks from a string.

CJ: Are you dangerous?

Mortimer: Me? No. Are you?

CJ: Goodness, no. How did you get here?

Mortimer: I fell. Came sliding down from the road up there.

Albert: There's a road up there?

Mortimer: Yeah. One of those shortcuts you'd be better off not taking at all. How do you get out of here?

Albert: We've never been out of here.

Mortimer: Ever?

Albert: Ever. We've been here for generations. There is no way out.

Mortimer: Well, there will be in a couple of hours. Papa Chuck, my friend, is coming back with a long rope and we can all climb out.

Albert: Climb out? No, we can't do that.

Mortimer: Why not?

Guest (Male): Albert, it's 2:00.

Albert: Finally, it's 2:00.

Mortimer: What happens at 2:00?

Albert: It's time to drink water.

Mortimer: Why do you drink water at 2:00?

Albert: It helps to ration it out.

Mortimer: So you don't have much water.

Albert: We don't. So we only drink at 9:00, 2:00, and 9:00 at night. That was good. Very good.

Mortimer: You're done? You couldn't have had more than a sip.

Albert: It's all we have.

Mortimer: Well, here. Have some of mine.

Albert: What is that?

Mortimer: It's a canteen of water.

Albert: Is it full?

Mortimer: It sure is. Here, have some.

Albert: I've never seen anything like this.

Guest (Male): I would like a drink. Mortimer! Mortimer!

Albert: It's okay. Here, hold out your jug.

Guest (Male): Okay. It's crystal clear. Oh, my! Oh, my! It isn't bitter or dirty. I would like a drink! Beyonce! Can I have some, please?

Mortimer: There's plenty for everyone!

Insight for Living: Tiffany has found her way home and into her very large bed. Her father's staff then did what they always do when Tiffany feels poorly. They sent for a doctor. Not Doc Low, mind you, a specialist from Frontera.

Guest (Female): Well, Tiffany, you don't seem to have a fever.

Tiffany Rockler: I told you that myself.

Guest (Female): Everything—temperature, heart rate, skin color—everything seems normal. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with you.

Tiffany Rockler: How can you say that? How can you stand there and tell me that I am fine? Every patient I have ever had. Did you go to medical school? I am not like every patient you've ever had. I'm not like any patient you've ever had.

I am a Rockler. I am a category unto myself. You must be a fool. There most definitely is something wrong with me, and if you don't think so, then you're fired.

Guest (Female): I stand corrected. There is clearly something wrong with you.

Tiffany Rockler: I should say so!

Guest (Female): Keep this compress on your forehead and try to get some rest. I'll be back shortly.

Tiffany Rockler: Idiot! I can't rest. I am ill. I have a broken heart. How can I ever rest? I may never rest again.

Tiffany Rockler: What is going on?

Ned: Ah, you must be Tiffany Rockler. I'm the doctor.

Tiffany Rockler: I didn't think you'd be here till tomorrow. Are you the specialist?

Ned: I should say so. And today the specialist is having a two-for-one special. If I take out your tonsils, I'll take out your appendix for free!

Tiffany Rockler: What?

Ned: It was just a joke, sweetheart.

Tiffany Rockler: What was your name again?

Ned: Oh, yes. I'm Dr. Manchester-Sin-Vich. Sit back. You look terrible.

Tiffany Rockler: Yes, yes, I do. No one else thinks so, but I do.

Ned: What do they know? I'm a doctor and I think you look terrible. I can say it with authority because I spent many years training at the doctor place.

Tiffany Rockler: Medical school?

Ned: Medical school, of course! Medical school. How could I— I'm going to need to give you some tests.

Tiffany Rockler: The nurse took my temperature.

Ned: A thermometer is fine for some things, but not for what you have.

Tiffany Rockler: What is that?

Ned: This is a soul-om-eter. Place this in here over your heart.

Tiffany Rockler: What does a soul-om-eter do?

Ned: Now sit very still while I look in deep into— oh, my goodness! This is terrible!

Tiffany Rockler: What?

Ned: My socks don't match! Oh, hate it when I do that.

Tiffany Rockler: What kind of a doctor are you?

Ned: Oh, my goodness, my dear. Your soul! I've never seen anything like it before.

Tiffany Rockler: What is it?

Ned: I have never in my years of practice seen such a high level. My dear, you have Foolish Pride Syndrome.

Tiffany Rockler: What?

Ned: It would seem that you've been gorging on shallow praise, possibly for years. Do you pressure or intimidate others into saying nice things about yourself?

Tiffany Rockler: No. Almost never. Maybe.

Ned: Put this strap around your head. Good. Hold it there.

Tiffany Rockler: What will this do?

Ned: Just as I thought. Would you look at this dial? Amazing! Amazing!

Tiffany Rockler: What is it?

Ned: You've got a terribly low level, and of course that's what would have to happen with the Foolish Pride Syndrome.

Tiffany Rockler: What?

Ned: You have almost no love levels.

Tiffany Rockler: That's not true! I have a lot of love. I love my mother and my father.

Ned: Of course you do, sweetheart, but this test tells us how much love you have coming in. The Foolish Pride Syndrome is blocking the inflow of love. The very thing you need most, you're not getting. You're not letting others love you.

Tiffany Rockler: But I—

Ned: Oh, this is bad. This is the worst I've seen, worst I ever heard of. Hey, I wonder if this could get me into a medical journal. This could be big!

Tiffany Rockler: Do you have medicine for me?

Ned: Why? Are you not well?

Tiffany Rockler: I have Foolish Pride Syndrome and low love levels!

Ned: Yes, yes, of course. All that to say that your soul is very sick. You don't need medicine for that.

Tiffany Rockler: You said it is serious.

Ned: I'd say it's critical, but medicine won't do you any good for this. It's quite simple, really. God has a lot of healing planned for you because, as I mentioned before, you really are a mess.

Tiffany Rockler: Okay, I got that.

Ned: Yes, well, you need to have some things healed first before deep healing can begin. The first thing God wants to heal you of is loneliness.

Tiffany Rockler: Yes, I could use some of that.

Ned: Well, for that to be healed, you need to give up your foolish pride.

Tiffany Rockler: Okay, how? How do I get that fixed?

Ned: You don't fix it. You get rid of it. Let it go, sweetheart. Quit protecting yourself by being mean all the time. Let others get to know who you truly are. You need to find a friend or friends that you can tell your thoughts and fears to.

Tiffany Rockler: I can't do that.

Ned: Why not?

Tiffany Rockler: If people really knew who I was on the inside, they would not like me.

Ned: Sweetheart, that's happening anyway, isn't it?

Tiffany Rockler: But it's on my terms! It's just safer to just be mean.

Ned: That's why your soul is shriveling up inside. Some will decide they don't like you, but some will. God has a gift here for you, but you have to take it. He has good friends out there just waiting. I know he does.

Tiffany Rockler: Do you really know?

Ned: Of course I know. I'm a doctor. I think I know everything. You have to be open with your friends and let them know you. God will use them to be the start of your healing.

To not accept this gift from God would be—what's the medical term?—nuts! You'd have to be nuts not to accept this healing. You cannot get better until you humble yourself and let others know you.

Tiffany Rockler: I need to let others know me?

Ned: Your foolish pride is making you sick. It's a prison you've made for yourself. It feels safe, but God has better for you. He has freedom for you, healing. You must get rid of this foolish pride. You must at all costs, no matter how scary it may feel, you must let it go.

Marsha: Tiffany? Are you asleep?

Tiffany Rockler: What? You! What you? What are we talking about? I just had the strangest—

Marsha: Well, I just wanted to see how you were doing and I wanted to invite you over to my house tonight for a cookie party. The whole club will be there. Well, it's nothing fancy like you're used to, but we'll bake chocolate crinkles and sugar cookies and we'll just have fun. You know, just friends.

Tiffany Rockler: Really? What do you all just— what do you do at one of these little get-togethers?

Marsha: Well, we just, you know, play and bake and eat and tell stories and talk. You know, normal stuff.

Tiffany Rockler: I've never been to a party like that. What will I talk about?

Marsha: Well, like what you did today and what you like and what you think about school and church and stuff. You know, just be yourself.

Tiffany Rockler: What do I wear?

Marsha: Just normal play stuff, Marsha. Oh, yeah. An old pair of overalls.

Tiffany Rockler: Overalls? Or whatever you want. Yeah. Okay. I guess that's what I need to do. Yeah, humble myself, be myself. In overalls, no less. I'd be happy to come to your cookie party.

Albert: I have never tasted anything so good! Wonderful! I can't remember the last time I wasn't thirsty.

Mortimer: You're kidding.

Albert: Well, we best get back to the falls.

Mortimer: The falls? You have a waterfall?

Albert: Yes. It is our source of water. Hope Falls. We've counted on it generation after generation. You can put some water back in your canteen. Follow me.

Insight for Living: Well, CJ followed that little group of creatures to the source of their very survival, Hope Falls.

Mortimer: This is it? This is Hope Falls?

Albert: Yes, it is. Here, let me run some water back into your canteen.

Mortimer: It seems kind of brown.

Albert: Yes, this time of year it gets like that. It's bitter at first, but you get used to it.

Mortimer: You all need to climb out with me. About a mile south is a lake and you can drink all you want and swim and even splash around till you're tired. Then you can nap on the grass, wake up, and start all over.

Albert: What's a lake? What's swim? Anybody ever heard of a lake before?

Mortimer: You just have to believe me! This is not the way you have to live. Any time now, a rope will come down and you can all come up with me.

Guest (Male): We've never left Hope Falls. It is the only thing we can trust. we must drink every few hours or we will die.

Mortimer: You won't die because there is a lake up there! I don't want to be rude or anything, but you all seem like you are not very healthy. You haven't had enough to drink. Ever! And your Hope Falls, it's a dirty little trickle of bitter water.

Guest (Male): Don't you say that! Get off our water!

Insight for Living: CJ, here comes the rope! Oh, my! Oh, my!

Haley: Hi, I'm Haley from Georgia. One of the many reasons I love Paws and Tales is Ned the Beaver. He just cracks me up.

Ned: We have some parents with me today that would love to tell you what they think about the fun, the biblical teaching, and the music of Paws and Tales. Go right ahead, please.

Guest (Female): Well, I love—

Ned: Closer to the microphone, please.

Guest (Female): Oh, sorry. I love that Paws and Tales is fun for kids and parent. I kind of expect my kids learn from the episodes, but so do we.

Ned: I love that! Now, don't miss an episode of Paws and Tales right here on this amazing station.

Insight for Living: CJ, are you down there?

Mortimer: I'm here, Papa Chuck! I've got some others that will be coming up too.

Guest (Male): No, there is not! No one is going with you! Maybe we should send someone to see.

Guest (Male): No! I will not send anyone to their death!

Mortimer: You're not thinking about this clearly. There is a whole world out there—trees, grass-covered hills, lakes and streams. You think it is safe to stay here, but this place, even your Hope Falls, is a prison.

Guest (Male): How dare you! Hope Falls has kept us alive for generations. How dare you call it a prison.

Albert: Albert, think about it. There's evidence that he's telling the truth. He had more water and better water than any of us has ever seen. He gave it all to us knowing he could just get more from his lake. And look at him. He's big and healthy and has clearly had enough water to drink for a very long time.

The only thing that would keep us down here is our fear. According to this creature, this strange creature, whatever he is, just what are you anyway?

Mortimer: What am I? Well, I'm a bear cub. A brown bear cub.

Guest (Male): We are brown bears too.

Mortimer: You're kidding!

Guest (Male): Don't listen to him. He's lying.

Mortimer: I am not.

Albert: Look at us! We're sick and shriveled and we should look like him. We have a good thing in front of us, and why are we hesitating? Because we're afraid!

Guest (Male): What are you doing?

Albert: I'm going up!

Mortimer: Good for you! You can't leave Hope Falls.

Albert: It's going to be a hard climb, but I'm right behind you. I won't let you fall.

Guest (Male): Stop that bear! My water jug is getting in the way. I can't make it.

Mortimer: You don't need it anymore! Get rid of it! You have to let it go!

Guest (Male): Let it go! Oh! Look out! I'm fine! Hey! Hey!

Gooze: Mmm. These are delicious. Why have I never had one of these before?

Marsha: More. I need more crinkles.

Gooze: Chocolate crinkles! Whoa! I love the sugar cookies, but I adore the chocolate crinkles. What's better, to love or to adore? Oh, I can put a sugar cookie between two chocolate crinkles to make the best cookie in the entire universe! Gooze, you crack me up.

Ned: So, finish, CJ. Then what happened?

Mortimer: Well, they splashed around for hours until they were exhausted. Now they're trying to talk the others into coming out of the ravine.

Ned: You mean some wouldn't come out?

Mortimer: I know it sounds crazy. Some of them are so afraid they would rather live with a crummy safe thing instead of have a great new thing.

Ned: That's like not wanting to get out of prison.

Mortimer: I know. That's what I said.

Gooze: So, where's Tiffany?

Marsha: That's just what I was thinking. I thought this party was for her.

Ned: Well, it's supposed to be. I guess she had something come up.

Gooze: Dumb question time!

Ned: Oh, all right. Dumb question time.

Marsha: Okay, Gooze. What is it this time?

Gooze: What is the happiest memory you have where cookies were involved?

Ned: Cookies? Okay, I'll go first.

Insight for Living: Well, Tiffany's cookie party was a resounding success. They laughed, ate chocolate crinkles, and got to know each other a little better than before. But because she was just too afraid to humble herself and come, they did it all without Tiffany, the one who needed it the most.

To order a copy of today's program, "Let It Go, Let It Go, Let It Go," just log on to pawsandtales.org. "Let It Go, Let It Go, Let It Go" was written and directed by David Carl. The song "Let It Go" was written by Sandy Howell and Mark Edward Lewis. Music was by Tim Hosman, and our sound designer was Eric Basil. Paws and Tales is an Insight for Living production and a proud supporter of Keys for Kids Radio.