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The Cat, the Professor, and the Rolling Tarp
Visit the “A Bedtime Story” show website to submit your story ideas for a future episode!
Constance the curious cat lived atop a windy hill in a lighthouse that hadn't seen a ship in fifty years. Her biggest fascination was the weather, especially the rare sight of a rolling rainbow—a full, brilliant arc that inexplicably rolled like a hoop across the valley before vanishing. She knew it had to be tied to Professor Fitzwilliam, a slightly mad inventor, who lived in a brightly painted submarine moored in a nearby meadow.
One Tuesday, a particularly vibrant rainbow rolled right past her window, knocked over her favorite potted basil plant, and kept rolling toward the Professor's submarine. Constance grabbed her telescope and scampered down the hill.
She found Professor Fitzwilliam, a small man with a perpetually surprised expression and a coat made entirely of shiny foil, wrestling with a long, iridescent strip of fabric extending from a small chimney on his vessel.
"Professor!" Constance called. "Is that… the rainbow?"
Fitzwilliam sighed, mopping his brow with a silk handkerchief. "It's my 'Instant Color-Stripe-and-Sunbeam-Dispenser,' Constance. I'm having a small technical issue."
He explained that the device worked by shooting a giant, brightly dyed canvas parachute up into the atmosphere, letting the sun reflect off it, and then reeling it back in. The problem? The canvas had become too colorful. It was coated in ten layers of paint, glitter, and a highly reflective taffeta.
"It's heavier than I anticipated," the Professor admitted, pointing to a small electric winch that was smoking slightly. "It's not just a rainbow, my dear, it's a massive, over-dyed, rolling tarp that I can't quite get to stop."
Constance, being a practical cat, simply found the garden hose. "Perhaps," she suggested, "if we get some of the ten coats of paint off, it will be lighter?"
Professor Fitzwilliam's face lit up. "Brilliant! Water! I should have thought of a simple solution instead of a complex one involving magnetic reversals!"
Together, they hosed down the gigantic, rolling, canvas rainbow until it was a manageable, much paler yellow. The professor promised to stick to watercolor paint next time, and Constance went home to retrieve her slightly squashed basil plant.
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By Matthew MitchellVisit the “A Bedtime Story” show website to submit your story ideas for a future episode!
Constance the curious cat lived atop a windy hill in a lighthouse that hadn't seen a ship in fifty years. Her biggest fascination was the weather, especially the rare sight of a rolling rainbow—a full, brilliant arc that inexplicably rolled like a hoop across the valley before vanishing. She knew it had to be tied to Professor Fitzwilliam, a slightly mad inventor, who lived in a brightly painted submarine moored in a nearby meadow.
One Tuesday, a particularly vibrant rainbow rolled right past her window, knocked over her favorite potted basil plant, and kept rolling toward the Professor's submarine. Constance grabbed her telescope and scampered down the hill.
She found Professor Fitzwilliam, a small man with a perpetually surprised expression and a coat made entirely of shiny foil, wrestling with a long, iridescent strip of fabric extending from a small chimney on his vessel.
"Professor!" Constance called. "Is that… the rainbow?"
Fitzwilliam sighed, mopping his brow with a silk handkerchief. "It's my 'Instant Color-Stripe-and-Sunbeam-Dispenser,' Constance. I'm having a small technical issue."
He explained that the device worked by shooting a giant, brightly dyed canvas parachute up into the atmosphere, letting the sun reflect off it, and then reeling it back in. The problem? The canvas had become too colorful. It was coated in ten layers of paint, glitter, and a highly reflective taffeta.
"It's heavier than I anticipated," the Professor admitted, pointing to a small electric winch that was smoking slightly. "It's not just a rainbow, my dear, it's a massive, over-dyed, rolling tarp that I can't quite get to stop."
Constance, being a practical cat, simply found the garden hose. "Perhaps," she suggested, "if we get some of the ten coats of paint off, it will be lighter?"
Professor Fitzwilliam's face lit up. "Brilliant! Water! I should have thought of a simple solution instead of a complex one involving magnetic reversals!"
Together, they hosed down the gigantic, rolling, canvas rainbow until it was a manageable, much paler yellow. The professor promised to stick to watercolor paint next time, and Constance went home to retrieve her slightly squashed basil plant.