Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - Tabitha's Night Out

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Starting point is 00:02:09 My name's Thomas, and I'm your host. Thank you so much for listening. Tonight Heather will be reading to us, and we'll follow a black cat named Tabitha, as she roams her neighborhood on Halloween. From youthful trick or treaters to jackalantin displays, to neighbours gathering around the fire for hot cider, all of the most delightful autumn experiences will be there to enjoy. And don't worry, Tabitha's nighttime journey is just a sleepy one. There won't be any scares in our story.

Starting point is 00:03:01 Don't forget there are plenty of ways you can keep updated with everything going on at Get Sleepy. You can follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and even TikTok. Just search our handle, get sleepy pod to find us on any of those platforms. But if you really want to be ahead of the game and find out what's coming up each week on the show, the best way to do this is to subscribe to our free weekly newsletter. I send it out every Monday and it previews all the episodes for the week ahead. If you'd like to join the mailing list just go to GetSleepy.com and enter your email address where it says, join our newsletter on the website's homepage. So, I hope you're feeling contentedly cosy and comfortable in bed. If you need to shuffle or reposition a little, feel free to do so.

Starting point is 00:04:09 position a little, feel free to do so. Perhaps it might also help you to take a nice big stretch, just allowing your muscles to relax even further. Whatever takes you deeper into relaxation and rest, follow it without resistance. Enjoy the natural pool of sleep. Your body knows what to do. It knows how to rest. So simply allow it to happen without even thinking about it. You've got plenty of time to listen along to our story while you settle into the peace and quiet of the night. So with your eyes closed and your breathing steady and relaxed, I'll make way for Heather I'll make way for Heather so she can tell our story. Imagine a glowing moon shining bright in a darkening sky. The festive smell of spices and cider is in the air,

Starting point is 00:05:49 and the neighborhood hum of Halloween night is building. This is where our story begins. The entire neighborhood was in agreement. It was a splendid night for Halloween. The crisp autumn air was filled with the earthy scent of fallen leaves and wood smoke. There was just enough of a chill or cozy sweaters to be worn, and for blankets to be brought out into the porch. The October Breeze is blue ever so slightly, making the trees whisper all at once, as if they were sharing secrets with one another. Tabitha perched on the wide front steps of the house, watching the street. The deep golden hue of the setting sun shown on her glossy black coat and her whiskers

Starting point is 00:07:19 were twitching with concentration. She was closely monitoring a bold black crow sitting on the fence at the edge of the yard. The bird stared at her with little concern, cocking its head to the side, and regarding her with a glittering eye, the crow was almost as large as she was. Her tail switched boldly, and she shifted from foot to foot, waiting for the huge black bird to make another move. This was her territory, and she would not tolerate interlobers. Just then the front door swung open, interrupting the standoff. The offending crow fled, sailing upward and disappearing into the gnarled branches of a nearby

Starting point is 00:08:29 oak. There were many places for a bird to roost on an old three-lined street such as this one. Tabitha turned to see which human had brutally interrupted her porch vigil. It was a small boy. He was giggling and running past with a sticky caramel apple in one hand. hand. The other little fist held a white sheet, which he was now dragging across the planks of the porch. William, a woman's voice called through the window. Come back here right Now, you'll get sticky caramel all over your ghost costume. Tabitha turned to look in the direction where William had disappeared, crunching recklessly through the ankle-deep leaves. He had gone around the back of the house. She heard the woman walking across the hardwood floors and opening the back door in search

Starting point is 00:09:52 of her mischievous son. Tabitha turned her attention to a man across the street who was placing luminaries down the entire length of his front walk. Every few paces he would set down a white bag filled one quarter of the way with sand. Then he would carefully anchor a fat white candle inside. As the sun set faded into murky twilight, he walked the length of the sidewalk, lighting each one in turn. Like small spirits emerging from the earth, the luminaries sprang to life and glowed. They flickered cleverly from the confines of their four white walls, casting in a Therial light into the deepening gloom of the evening. Behind him, a woman was doing something interesting on the porch. She carried tall sheeps of cornstalks tied with orange and brown ribbons. These were being positioned around the entrance to the house.

Starting point is 00:11:32 Tabitha knew from past Halloween that there would soon be an unending stream of small people All people going up and down those stairs, while the door opened and closed, and opened and closed. This odd human ritual always seemed to happen when the knights grew chilly. Her humans wouldn't notice if she prowled the neighborhood a little longer this evening. Darkness fell quickly at this time of year. Tabitha's senses were almost fully alive when the world was preparing for this inevitable

Starting point is 00:12:24 hibernation. Late October was when it was cool enough to roam around in the evening. Her black coat was enough protection from the chilly temperatures to keep her warm and limber. Regardless of the season, night time was when she made her rounds of the front walk and slipped through a small cat-sized gap in the picket fence. A squirrel shattered at her from a nearby sugar maple tree. But she paid it no mind. She wanted to visit the neighbors and see what their dog was up to. She paused and sat squarely in front of the grand Victorian house next door.

Starting point is 00:13:45 Its turrets soared upward into the darkening sky, backlit by a nearly full moon. Candles flickered in each and every window, and the porch was decorated with a merry-looking skeleton and a couple of hay-bales. Tabitha walked shamelessly across the yard and installed herself directly on the porch facing the front entrance. the front entrance. In moments, a small poodle appeared, nose pressed against the glass dorm door, tail wagging madly. She knew the dog was barking up a storm inside the house, but she could hardly hear it. Delighted by the poodles annoyance, she casually looked away, signaling that she could not care less.

Starting point is 00:14:59 Then demonstrating that she was free to leave, and he was not. She turned and retreated down the walk, and then slid smugly through the hedge into the next neighbor's garden. Seeing that there was a gaggle of humans on the porch at this home, Tabitha moved silently through the bushes and kept out of sight. It was a group of the big people, two were rocking on a porch swing with a big plaid blanket covering them. them. Three others were scattered about, sitting on chairs and on the steps to the house. There was a table set up with a hot water dispenser and an unmistakable scent of apples and cinnamon floated through the air. The people were talking in low voices and laughing quietly about something.

Starting point is 00:16:12 The adult conversation paused when three small humans arrived carrying bags and plastic buckets. One of the children was dressed as a witch with a traditional tall, pointy black hat. She was wearing a black dress and looked every inch of the part, except for the bright pink sneakers peeking out from the hem of her dark ropes. Next to her was a smaller boy dressed as a pirate. He had a gathered white shirt and a pair of black pants on with a large red scarf that looked like it may have been borrowed from his mother's closet. His felt hat had a skull and crossbones on it. The only flaw in his costume was his eye patch, which had proved to be more trouble than it was worth.

Starting point is 00:17:26 It seemed that he needed to be able to see to avoid tripping on the uneven sidewalk in the dark. Accompanying the witch in the pirate was a very young girl wearing black cat ears and a tail. She had a pink nose and whiskers painted on her round face. Tabitha gazed at her with cat-like disdain. The three children approached the adults on the porch and chorased, trick or treat. At this, the man sitting on the steps picked up a nearby bowl and held it out for the

Starting point is 00:18:16 rag-tag crew. Happy Halloween, eerie-plied. He replied, the children huddled around the bowl, politely taking only one or two pieces of candy each. Then they waved and made their way back down the walk, comparing notes about which treats they had selected. The girl dressed as a cat, accidentally stepped on her own tail, but managed not to detach it. Then the three little companions

Starting point is 00:18:59 vanished into the night, on their way to another house. Tabitha trotted out of the night, on their way to another house. Tabitha trotted out of the ledge and followed the flags don't pass out the front gate and back to the sidewalk. Looking up and down the street, she could now see small shapes moving everywhere in the gloom. Happy exclamations and slamming doors echoed through the night as more and more children appeared in their costumes. Taking advantage of her natural dark camouflage, Tabitha slipped further into the shadows and continued her patrol of the neighborhood. Slipping across the way, she surveyed the other side of the street. The people who lived in the colonial style house

Starting point is 00:20:07 had lined their front steps with a huge assortment of different jackal lanterns, which were now winking and grinning at passers-by with their jagged smiles and animated eyes. Tall and thin, short and plump, and sometimes charmingly lopsided, the pumpkins welcomed each trick or treater with mischievous delight. while Tabitha regarded the collection of jackalantins from a short distance. She was alerted to a movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head just in time to see a fluffy ginger cat tail disappear around the side of the house. Tabitha was not aware of any upstart ginger cat that was living on her street,

Starting point is 00:21:20 and she knew she must investigate. and she knew she must investigate. Slinging quietly to the corner of the house, she ducked under the bushes and followed the garden bed to the back. The mysterious ginger cache was nowhere inside, but a large, cheerful blaze was dancing in the fire pit. Multiple adult humans were sitting around it with mugs in their hands, chatting and laughing. Tabitha stayed in the shadows, scanning the entire yard for the offending feline. It was no use, the fluffy orange visitor had moved on.

Starting point is 00:22:19 Leaving the people at the backyard fire pit behind, Tabitha melted through the hedgerow to the next house, where there was something exciting happening on the back deck. Some adults and larger children were standing around a big tub of water, and one of them was repeatedly plunging his face in and giggling. Tab of the shuttered the idea of getting her face wet, what could be the purpose of this

Starting point is 00:23:00 perplexing behavior. An adult handed the boy a towel, he wiped his face off and said, you try it. As tabathe watched, the girl her face out of the water with a victorious cry. There was an apple in her teeth. All the people on the deck clapped and someone handed her a towel to. I've never won at bobbing for apples before, she said, after taking the apple out of her mouth. Tapatha looked on, confused, and then decided these humans were very odd. She turned and walked around the dark edge of the yard to the front of this house, where she could see through the window that more hubbub was happening inside. Wanting to get a closer look, Tabitha silently leapt onto the front steps, and then jumped into an empty window box that was hanging from

Starting point is 00:24:38 the sash of one of the four large front windows. Where there had once been petunias, there was now a convenient dirt service for her to sit upon. The wind ruffled her fur as she put her pink nose to the glass. to the glass. Inside, people were milling about. She could see a large table covered in bowls and plates of treats. There were enormous chocolate chip cookies, cupcakes and brownies laid everywhere. At the end, a cut glass punch bowl sat surrounded by little cups. It was filled with something red and busy. Adults stood here and there, sipping drinks and eating sweets. In the living room, a large group of children sat on the floor in various costumes. One was dressed as a fuzzy bumblebee. Another was a princess with a crown that was ever so slightly out of place on her head.

Starting point is 00:26:10 To her right was a child dressed as a fairy. A friend nearby was dressed feeling a bit overexcited and kept poking him in the back with a sparkly wand. On the other side of the bear was a girl dressed as a firefighter who could hardly see out from under her large hat. Standing in front of this gaggle of small party goers was a man wearing a wizard's cape. He was gesturing dramatically and appeared to be telling a story to the children. Another adult walked over to the light switch and made the room darker and then shown a flashlight on the wall.

Starting point is 00:27:20 The man in the wizard cape raised his hand and made some shadow animals in the flashlight beam. At this, several children clapped with delight and laughed. Tabitha noticed that the bear was getting tired, despite being surrounded by all that noise. Even though his very neighbor was poking him with the sparkly wand, he had toppled himself over and looked like his eyelids were heavy. The hour was getting a bit late for the small humans to still be active. There was a movement behind Tabatha, and she'd turned to see what it was. Again, she spotted the ginger cat she'd been following. He was sitting boldly in the middle of the front walk, staring at her with yellow green eyes, turning casually as if he

Starting point is 00:28:37 didn't care what she did. The orange cat sauntered straight down the middle of the path toward the road. Having seen enough of the party inside, Tabitha hopped out of the flower bed and followed him. He turned and walked down the sidewalk in the general direction of Tabitha's house, vanishing again into the shadows. Tabitha quickened her pace, but she could not see where he had gone. Again, this unfamiliar cat had eluded her. Again, this unfamiliar cat had eluded her. The wind was picking up a bit, and it whizzled mysteriously through the dry branches of the shrubs, as she made her way through the piles of debris on the ground. Fewer trick or treaters were on the street now, although the fun was clearly not over.

Starting point is 00:29:49 Tabitha was feeling nipped about losing sight of the orange cat and decided she was ready to return to her own yard, staying with within the protective shadows of the fences and garden borders. She zigzagged across the gardens of the neighborhood with the chilly autumn wind spinning up little whirling columns of leaves behind her. Silently, she crept along the sidewalk, encountering fewer and fewer people. The humans were beginning to desert the in the jackal lanterns. Here and there, a face would go dark, while another lived as he five or ten more minutes of flickering light. As she neared her house, tap at the notice that the adults next door had abandoned their porch swing and the brightly lit rooms inside.

Starting point is 00:31:27 Trick or treat, they said, with a bit less boldness than those who had peered earlier in the evening. The man inside dropped a fistful of candy in each of their bags. He cleaned us out, he said, with a smile. Happy Halloween! The two children thanked him and walked slowly back to the gate. Waving to each other, they parted and disappeared into separate houses nearby. Their adventures for the evening concluded. As Tabitha watched, the man across the street from her home emerged from his house and went up

Starting point is 00:32:22 and down his walk. He stopped at each luminary carefully picking up the remainder of the stubby white candle inside and extinguishing it. One by one, bit by bit, the glowing white squares winked out. Then, he walked onto the porch, took a last look up and down the street, and disappeared into his house. The porch light went out, and more lights inside switched on. Tabitha strolled through the cat-size gap in her own picket fence, and headed to the back of the house, where she knew her cat door would allow her to let herself inside. would allow her to let herself inside.

Starting point is 00:33:32 The yard was very dark now, since the moon had been covered by clouds. The wind was whipping at the last of the leaves that were still clinging to their branches in the night sky. As she turned toward the door, she was surprised to see that the orange cat was there. Sitting right on her very own deck in front of her own door, this big ginger cat was just looking at her. Tabitha froze, feeling all her hair's rise. Then the cat stood up and slowly walked toward her, moving smoothly and confidently. He came right up to her and extended his nose to her and sniffed politely. As if it satisfied that she was a friend, he turned and melted away into the recesses of the garden.

Starting point is 00:34:46 Tabitha saw just a flick of his fluffy, striped tail, and the cat was gone. As if he had been no more than a ghost. Tabitha stood a few minutes more, sniffing at the brisk night air and a subtle Halloween smells. Grey clouds scuttled restlessly across the sky, further dimming the moonlight. A squirrel chattered restlessly from the tree tops, and owl hooded as if to say, your day is done, now it is my time. At this moment, Tabitha knew that she was finished patrolling the neighborhood. What she wanted was her cozy bed and the

Starting point is 00:35:49 homie welcomed on the other side of the cat door. Leaving the mystery of the orange cat in the moonlight and the owl and the festivities behind. She slipped through the flap at the back of the house and into the warm kitchen where there was always a light on over the sink. The house was very quiet except for the murmuring of the adults upstairs. She was pleased to have found the living room to herself.

Starting point is 00:36:37 Tabitha walked to her cozy cat bed on velvet paws, making not a sound. Turning around three times on the cushiony softness of her nest, she settled down and gave herself a cursory bath. The warm air from the nearby radiator soothed her, she could feel sleep approaching. Tabitha closed her eyes and settled her chin on her satiny paws. She thought about her evening's adventures. While visions of jack-o-lanterns and blowing leaves drifted through her consciousness, she was vaguely aware that the adults upstairs had finally finished their conversation. Soon the house was completely silent except for the ticking of the clock. Tabitha yawned widely and thanked further into her bed, sighing with contentment.

Starting point is 00:38:05 She thought to herself that she would have to track down that mysterious orange cat tomorrow. After all, he had no business splitting through her neighborhood as if he were a spirit. Then with a sea of flickering Halloween lights on her mind, Tabitha sank blissfully into ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... you ... you ... ... ... ... you you you

Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - Tabitha's Night Out

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