Are you ready to meditate?
With Corrie,
Make sure that you're in your bed and everything is just right.
Settle down and get comfortable.
Try and stay as still as you can as you listen to the story so you can relax your body and let go of your busy day.
Leo was bouncing on a trampoline.
Every time he bounced down,
Popcorn flew up in the air and he jumped around trying to catch it.
The whole bottom of the trampoline,
The part that you jump on,
Was covered in popcorn.
Buttery,
Salty,
Sweet popcorn.
He was jumping over and over and over again and every time he'd get a big mouthful of popcorn and then land and the popcorn would fly back up once again.
Tucker was watching him do it.
He'd been watching him for a few minutes.
He rubbed his eyes with one of his paws.
He couldn't quite believe what he was watching.
Leo being brave.
Leo bouncing on a trampoline.
Leo eating popcorn.
All of the things that Leo was doing was not Leo's normal behavior.
But at the same time,
Tucker liked it.
Leo,
What are you doing?
Can I get on?
Can I get on?
Tucker jumped up on the trampoline and started bouncing with Leo.
Leo said,
It's the best popcorn ever.
In between his munching away and bouncing and catching it and munching and bouncing and catching it.
Tucker joined in munching,
Bouncing,
Catching it,
Munching,
Bouncing,
Catching it.
Leo was right.
It was really good popcorn.
They did this for about three or four minutes and then they both jumped down off the trampoline.
Leo said,
You're not going to believe what I can see.
Tucker said,
What is it Leo?
What'd you see?
Leo pointed with one of his paws.
It was a house.
It was a bright orange house.
And then when Tucker looked closer,
It was a house made of carrots.
Carrots.
Oh,
Leo,
My favorite.
Tucker started bounding over towards the house that was made of carrots.
And Leo followed closely behind.
When they got there,
They dived on the house.
The first thing that they dived on was the front door.
It was made of carrots.
The entire house was made of carrots.
Munch,
Munch,
Munch,
Munch,
Munch.
Oh my goodness gracious.
This is like the bestest house ever.
Oh,
Leo,
We love carrots.
Leo said,
I love carrots.
They're the best.
Leo was munching away on a window on the side of the house.
Tucker had almost finished the front door.
And then when he went inside of the house,
Everything inside of the house was made of carrots.
It's like carrot heaven,
Said Tucker.
Oh my goodness.
Oh,
There's a cooker made of carrots.
Oh my goodness.
Oh my goodness.
There's a chair made of carrots.
Leo,
This table's made of carrots.
Tucker was frantically running around,
Chewing on everything just to give it a double take,
To give it a double try.
I mean,
Is it really all carrots?
This cannot be real.
Leo followed him closely behind,
Tasting everything.
It was true.
It was all made of carrots.
Tucker then started to get suspicious.
I don't understand it,
Leo.
I don't know where we are.
I don't understand where in the entire world would have a house made of carrots,
Leo said.
Don't stress about it,
Tucker.
Just enjoy it.
Tucker again got very suspicious.
Leo,
Not stressing.
Something's not quite right.
Leo stresses about everything.
In fact,
Leo would have had so many hives by now.
His whole skin would have come out in hives.
He would have been scratching and complaining,
Saying he wanted to go home.
But he wasn't.
He was currently too busy chewing a hole in the back wall of the house.
Leo stopped for a moment,
Swallowed his mouthful of carrots and peered through the hole that he created in the back of the carrot house.
Tucker walked over and looked through the hole as well.
Leo said,
Do you see what I see?
Tucker said,
Oh,
I see it,
Leo.
Oh,
Yes,
I do.
Oh,
Yes,
I see it,
Leo.
They both broke through the wall of the carrot house and went running as fast as they could over to what looked like a paddling pool.
But the paddling pool was full of tuna.
Tuna?
Tinned tuna?
Tucker looked at Leo and high fived him.
Leo high fived him back.
Tuna.
Tuna was Tucker's most favourite thing in the entire world.
He jumped in the paddling pool,
Covered himself in tuna and was frantically licking in circles all around as if he was trying to eat the whole thing all at once.
Leo dived in there with him and they were both and they were both sliding and slipping all over the place.
It was tuna in oil,
Tucker said.
Oh,
Leo,
I think I've gone to heaven.
I mean,
I thought I was in heaven when I was eating that carrot house because carrots are one of my particular favourites.
But Leo,
Tuna in oil?
Oh,
You know what it's like when mummy opens a tin of tuna.
We both can smell it like 10,
000 miles away.
And this is like this is like tuna Mecca.
This is like heaven on tuna.
Tuna heaven.
This is this is like I think I have actually died and gone to heaven,
Leo.
Oh,
Gee,
This is so delicious.
Leo was covered in tuna and tuna oil.
He looked at Tucker and said,
I don't think we've died,
Tucker,
Because I can taste this tuna and it's delicious.
I've never seen as much tuna.
I've never eaten as much tuna.
Normally,
We only get a little bit of the oil that mum puts on the floor for us.
This is like my birthday.
It's like my birthday,
Every holiday that anyone ever has.
It's like Valentine.
It's like New Year's Day.
It's like Christmas Eve.
It's like I don't know,
All of them,
Tucker said.
Leo,
We must have done something really good.
I was listening right to this thing,
This podcast,
And it was talking about karma.
And karma,
Karma,
Was it karma?
I think it was karma.
At first,
I thought they said common.
And I was like,
I know someone called common.
I met her one time at the dog park,
But it wasn't common.
It was karma.
And they were talking about it.
And apparently karma is like this thing where if you do nice things,
Nice things happen.
If you do bad things,
Bad things happen.
And I was figuring out that it's like a result of your actions.
So,
Leo,
We must have been doing something really good because we got a carrot house and now we've got a tuna paddling pool.
I mean,
We must have been like,
I don't know,
Like one of the nicest people in the world to get these many nice things,
Leo said.
Oh,
Well,
We are nice.
I mean,
We are good dogs,
Right?
Tucker said,
Oh,
I'm a good doggy.
And you're a good doggy.
You're a little bit sensitive sometimes,
But you're a really good doggy,
Leo,
And you wouldn't hurt a flea.
Well,
I would.
I'd actually eat the fleas because I've had fleas before and I was scratching and chewing and chewing and I was eating them.
And you have to have like a lot of fleas in your mouth before you can actually taste them.
They taste a little bit like bark of a tree.
Yeah.
Anyway,
I thought they were nice.
But,
But,
Anyway,
I'm distracted.
What I was saying was,
Karma.
It's karma.
It's come to us and it's happening right now.
It's happening right now.
Leo stopped very suddenly as if he was going to say something about karma.
He wasn't.
He'd spotted something behind Tucker.
He just moved his head and nodded it as if to say,
Look over there,
Tucker.
Tucker knew what he was doing.
Tucker turned around and looked over where Leo was nodding his head and staring in that direction.
Tucker saw a slide.
A slide.
He likes slides.
He always thought that when he watched kids at the park playing on slides,
It looked like so much fun.
A slide.
A slide,
He said out loud.
Both of them started running towards the slide as fast as they could.
And when they got there,
Tucker rolled on the ground.
At first,
Leo thought he was trying to get all the tuna chunks off his fur.
He wasn't.
He was rolling around on the ground in sheer delight.
And then Leo noticed why.
The slide was made from salmon.
Leo!
I don't believe it!
What's the odds?
Leo,
It's salmon?
Number one!
Not number one.
I mean,
Tuna's like favourites.
But salmon?
Salmon's like gold.
Salmon's like.
.
.
Salmon just makes me cry.
It's so delicious.
They both climbed up the slide,
Took turns on the slide,
Sliding down,
Eating salmon as they went,
Gnawing on the side of the slide,
All the way down the slide.
Both of them.
Salmon slide!
Said Tucker.
Leo said,
I think this is my favourite so far.
I think this is definitely my favourite so far.
The fun ride ride and salmon at the same time.
I mean,
I thought the paddling pool was pretty cool,
But actually being able to go down the slide and have so much fun.
And this slide is super high and super tall and you go down super fast.
And then like gnawing on the salmon part of the slide as you go down.
It's like the best.
Tucker noticed that Leo was very different.
He was so excited about life.
So excited about everything that he was experiencing.
He didn't seem to be anxious,
Nervous,
Worried.
He didn't seem to be shy,
Withdrawn.
He didn't seem to be any of the things that he normally is in his characteristics.
He was outgoing.
He was fun.
He was adventurous.
And he wasn't having one single allergic reaction.
Even though Tucker noticed the sheer joy of where they were and what they were experiencing was bigger.
So it kept overriding his concerns.
They went down the salmon slide and ate so much salmon that I'm surprised they could barely stand up after all the carrots and all the tuna and now all the salmon.
These dogs were full as ticks.
They had to lay down for a minute at the bottom of the slide and just have a little break.
Tucker said,
Oh,
I'm so full.
I could burst.
I feel so full.
I don't think I've ever been this full.
I mean,
I would try and be this,
Mind you,
There was that one time when I sneaked in the spare room and I ate everybody's chocolate presents for Christmas.
I was really full that time.
And I'm surprised I didn't get sick.
But I didn't remember.
Leo said,
I know your digestive system is just amazing.
Tucker said,
Leo,
What's that?
Leo looked at what Tucker was looking at off in the distance.
It looked like a bouncy house.
Bouncy house.
Leo.
I don't think I could bounce.
I think I'll be sick.
It's a bouncy house,
Leo.
Oh,
I'm so excited.
Come on,
Leo.
We have to do it.
We have to get up and we have to go do it.
We have to do it.
Tucker had always wanted to go in a bouncy house.
It was like his favorite thing to watch.
He liked to watch kids on slides.
But kids on a bouncy house was the best.
They tried to run over to the bouncy house,
But they couldn't.
So they slowed down and walked together.
And when they got closer,
They realized that the bouncy house was made of chew toys.
Chew toy bouncy house.
Chew toy bouncy house.
Leo bit one of the chew toys and it squeaked.
He got little tears in his eyes as if he couldn't be any happier.
Tucker looked at him and said,
Leo,
Leo,
It squeaks.
Leo wiped his little tears away and said,
I know,
Tucker,
I think this is heaven.
They started to jump all over the bouncy house and chew on as many different parts of it as possible.
And the squeaks were really,
Really good squeaks.
They were loud squeaks and there were different types of squeaks depending on where you bit,
Which made it even better.
They squeaked and squeaked and bounced and bounced and squeaked and bounced and squeaked and bounced and squeaked and squeaked and bounced and bounced and bounced until they couldn't squeak or bounce no more.
They both laid down inside of the bouncy house.
Leo closed his eyes and he was gone fast asleep instantly.
Tucker tried to keep his eyes open.
He wanted to make this moment last.
He didn't want this perfect place to disappear or change in any shape or form.
But his eyelids were so heavy and he tried to keep them open.
He really did try and keep his eyes open,
But his eyelids got heavier and heavier until eventually they closed and they did not open again.
He was asleep,
Sleeping the most deepest,
Beautifulest sleep.
He was so content and so happy and full.
It seemed like days and days and days before Leo and Tucker opened their eyes.
When they opened their eyes,
They were laid on their dog beds in the living room.
Leo got up to go pee outside and Tucker went and followed him while they were outside,
Tucker said.
What an amazing place,
Leo.
Leo looked at him and said,
What are you talking about,
Tucker?
Tucker said.
Oh no,
Leo.
No,
The carrot house,
The tuna paddling pool,
The bouncy house,
The salmon slide,
Leo.
Leo said,
Don't know what you're talking about,
Tucker.
Tucker said.
Oh no,
It's a dream.
Wow,
It was a dream.
It was such a good dream,
Leo.
It was such a good dream.
Oh,
I hope I have that dream again.
I really do.
Let me tell you all about it.
Tucker followed Leo in the house and told him all about his dream and just the thought of it made Leo come out in hives.
But it did sound like a fun place.
One day,
Maybe Leo would be brave enough to go there.
