Are you ready to meditate with Kori?
Lie down in your bed and get really comfortable.
Make sure that you're wearing your comfy pajamas so that you can relax your body in your bed.
Turn the lights down low.
Start to let your mind slow down.
And hopefully as you listen to the story,
You'll fall fast asleep.
Tucker and Leo were with Gabby,
Charlie,
Adeline and Tyler in the hospital waiting room.
Just before this,
They'd had the best game of football.
They'd been playing a game of football at the park and they'd been having a really good time.
Tucker and Leo were in the game also and they kept kicking the ball to each other and to the kids.
And they'd been having a lot of fun until somehow,
No one could figure out why or how it happened,
But Gabby had kicked a stone,
A very big stone,
And ended up thinking that she might have broke her big toe.
They'd immediately got the kids' parents involved and the kids' parents had took them to the hospital and Tucker and Leo were sat waiting in the waiting room.
They were at the ER and if you've ever been in an ER waiting room,
You'll know it's pretty darn crazy.
There's all sorts of things going on.
And normally,
You're sat there for a really,
Really long time waiting until someone sees you.
Tucker and Leo had never been to the ER before.
Tucker was very,
Very excited.
He couldn't shut up.
Leo,
On the other hand,
Was horrified.
There were people with masks on,
Coughing a lot.
There were people bleeding.
There was one little girl over on the other corner of the room,
Vomiting into a plastic bag and Leo was just,
Oh my goodness.
He looked at Gabby and said,
Oh gosh,
This is awful.
I don't think I can do it.
I think,
I think,
I think I feel a bit faint.
I feel very faint.
Tucker said,
Oh Leo,
Leo,
It's okay.
It's just people with all different things going on and it's just okay.
It's alright.
Look at that lady over there.
She looks like she's holding her eyeball in.
Leo looked at the lady.
She was holding one of her hands over one of her eyes and it looked a bit bloody underneath.
She was holding a big white towel to her eye and it didn't look very white anymore and it was a bit bloody and messy.
And Leo poked in his mouth.
Tucker said,
Well,
I'm not joking.
I mean,
That really obviously is happening to that lady over there,
But I don't think she's going to lose her eyeball,
Leo.
I think her eyeball will be fine where it is.
Leo did it again,
As if he was going to be sick.
Gabby said,
Leo looked at Gabby and said,
How's your toe doing?
Gabby said,
Leo looked down at her toe.
Gabby had took her socks and her shoes off.
And her big toe was all black and bruised looking and very,
Very swollen.
Leo poked again.
Gabby said,
Maybe you should go outside with Charlie and Adeline or something.
They'll take you outside for a bit.
Charlie said,
Yeah,
Sure.
Come on,
Leo.
Let's go get some fresh air.
So Charlie and Adeline took Leo outside.
Tyler was sat on the other side of Gabby.
Tyler said,
We were having a really good game of football until you went and did that.
Tucker said,
I know,
I know,
Tyler.
What did Gabby have to go kick a silly stone for?
I mean,
Gabby,
Come on.
Couldn't you tell it wasn't the football?
Tucker being Tucker was quite loud.
Tucker trying to be quiet was pretty useless.
Gabby said,
You can't be loud in a waiting room,
Tucker.
You have to be quiet because you have to be conscious of everyone else around you.
Tucker looked around and noticed that no one was really being that loud.
They were talking amongst themselves quite quietly.
Or they were just sat staring into space,
Not saying anything.
Tucker said,
You have to be quiet.
You have to be quiet.
Why do you have to be quiet?
We're waiting.
This is not a library.
This is a waiting room.
Gabby said,
Yeah,
But you have to be quiet.
It's rude to be loud because this is a shared space.
Tyler said,
Yeah,
That's a good way of saying it.
It's a shared space.
Any time you're in a shared space,
You have to be conscious of other people that you're sharing it with.
It's like if I put my phone on now and I started listening to something really loud,
Like loud music,
That would be rude,
Tucker,
Because maybe not everyone wants to listen to loud music as they wait here in the ER.
Ooh,
Said Tucker.
Oh,
I get it.
I get it.
I get it.
Well,
What if I what if what if I asked some people if they wanted me to be entertaining for them?
Because this place I've noticed is very depressing.
I mean,
Look around.
Everybody looks a little bit disturbed in some way,
One way or another.
Look at that little boy over there.
That little boy over there.
He looks as pale as a ghost.
I was going to go over to him and say,
Have you watched Casper?
Have you seen Casper?
But then I thought,
Well,
Maybe maybe he hasn't seen Casper.
Maybe he doesn't know me.
And then I thought,
Well,
Maybe if he's as white as a ghost,
He tastes like vanilla ice cream.
And I was going to be like,
Oh,
Is it OK if I just have a little lick of your face?
Because your face looks like just like vanilla ice cream.
But then I thought,
Well,
Maybe what if he's sick?
What if he's got some kind of virus or something?
And then I go lick his face and then I get a virus instead of chocolate ice cream or white chocolate ice cream or vanilla ice cream or coconut white coconut ice cream or fresh cream.
Oh yes,
Fresh cream or like white powdered sugar or white marshmallow maybe or something white.
What if it's just a virus?
Tyler said he wouldn't be going over to anyone asking them if he could lick them in this place because it's probably not a very healthy place to be licking people.
Good point.
Good point,
Said Tucker.
So what do we do then?
What do we do with our time?
Gabby said,
You have to try and be a bit more quiet,
Tucker.
Tucker said,
I don't know how to be quiet,
Gabby.
I'm just being Tucker.
Tucker started chasing his tail.
What if I do this for a while?
What if I do this?
Well,
It's entertaining for a little bit,
But then it's not.
Tucker stopped spinning around and stopped chasing his tail.
Now what do we do?
What do we do now?
Wait a minute.
Now what do we do?
Tucker tried to be quiet.
Gabby started laughing.
When Gabby laughed,
She moved her foot and that made her wince.
She said,
Oh,
Sorry,
Sorry,
Sorry,
Sorry,
Sorry.
See,
It's like I think these people in this place just need to be entertained.
I think they'd be so much happier,
Especially that lady over there with her eyeball falling out.
She'd probably like to see something nice with her one other eye that's available.
Gabby said,
Oh,
Tucker.
Look,
Let's just try and play a quiet game.
A quiet game?
Oh,
I like quiet games.
What quiet games do you know,
Gabby?
What quiet games do you know,
Tyler?
Tyler said that they could play rock,
Paper,
Scissors.
They spent about 10 minutes trying to teach Tucker how to play rock,
Paper,
Scissors.
But he was having a really hard time doing all the different shapes with his paw.
So they gave up on that.
Tyler suggested that they play I Spy for a while.
So they did that for a little bit.
Tyler and Gabby were stuck for ages.
Tucker said something beginning with V.
It begins with V.
It begins with V.
Something beginning with V.
They were looking all over the ER waiting room.
Velcro.
They were getting pretty desperate.
Gabby said,
Vortex.
Nope.
Nope.
Nope.
Nope.
Nope.
Tucker kept saying.
Tyler eventually said,
I give up.
Tucker said,
Vomit.
Tyler said,
Oh,
Actually,
That was a good one.
Gabby felt very sick.
That was gross,
Tucker.
Gross.
But it begins with a V,
Said Tucker.
After a while,
Leo came back in from outside with Charlie and Adeline.
He sat back down.
He'd only been in there about five minutes and he said,
I think I'm allergic to the smell of this place.
It smells like a mixture of fear,
Boo-boos and cleaning products.
And it's just,
It's just,
It's just gross.
Leo had to go back outside.
This time,
Tyler took Leo outside.
He also took Tucker with him.
Tyler took Tucker and Leo for a walk on the grass across the street outside of the ER.
I don't think I like ERs at all.
You have to be quiet in there,
Leo.
Tyler was telling me that you have to respect everyone else's space.
And it was very difficult,
Especially with people's eyeballs falling out.
Leo once again shuddered and vomited just a little bit in his mouth.
Will you stop talking about people's eyeballs falling out,
Said Leo.
Tucker said,
Well,
We don't actually know that that's what's happened.
Maybe she got something stuck in her eyeball.
Maybe her eyeball is still in there somewhere.
Maybe it's just rolling around like it normally does in her head.
Or maybe it's not.
Maybe it's,
Oh,
What if maybe it's frozen somewhere outside in the snow?
Or maybe it's lost in the toilet.
Leo interrupted Tucker.
Tucker,
Seriously,
Change the subject.
Tucker started laughing.
OK,
Leo,
Well,
Let me tell you about that one child that I spotted in there.
And they were so pale,
So pale,
Leo.
They looked like vanilla ice cream.
And that got me thinking.
Maybe it's vanilla ice cream that they taste like.
Maybe it's marshmallow that they taste like.
Maybe it's coconut.
Maybe it's ground coconut.
Maybe it's,
Leo said,
Mashed potatoes.
Oh,
Yes,
Yes,
Yes,
Yes,
Yes.
Maybe it's mashed potatoes that they taste like.
Maybe it's vanilla milkshake.
Tyler said,
Maybe it's meringue.
Tucker said,
Ooh,
Good one,
Tyler.
I like me a bit of meringue.
Especially vanilla meringue.
Like that child's face was all pale.
It was so pale.
It was like a snow.
It was like snow cone.
Ooh,
A snow cone,
That's it.
A lemony snow cone.
That could have been what they taste like.
They were still walking around and around outside,
Thinking of all the things that were white that had different flavours.
It was a very long day.
It took about four hours before anyone saw Gabby about her big toe.
Luckily,
Gabby had not broken her big toe.
She'd just sprained it and bruised it very badly.
Not that you can do very much for a broken big toe.
You just have to kind of deal with it and let it heal itself.
Eventually,
They all got to go home.
That night,
Laid in bed,
Leo said he felt very vulnerable,
Very open and very,
Very,
Very uncomfortable with the whole thing.
He really didn't like the ER.
Tucker said he didn't like the waiting room at all.
I've decided waiting rooms are not my favourite place to be,
Especially if you're supposed to be quiet,
Especially if you're not supposed to have any fun.
No one wanted to have any fun,
Leo.
Leo said.
Tucker,
In one way or another,
Everyone wasn't feeling very well.
It's the ER.
That's why people go there,
To get better.
They either feel sick or they've had an accident or they're injured or something's going on.
Exactly,
Leo.
Waiting rooms,
They can keep themselves to themselves because I do not like them.
Very much not.
Very,
Very,
Very much not.
Definitely not.
After a while,
Leo and Tucker got sleepier and sleepier.
They let the day go.
They let all of the things that they'd seen go.
They hoped that everyone would get better,
Especially their friend Gabby and her toe.
And then eventually,
They fell fast asleep.
The end.
