Ryers Readers - The runaway dinner

Episode Date: July 31, 2024

**Thank you for your understanding while I am away! Here is an exclusive Patreon episode from the Ryers Readers Patreon! I hope to be back to our regular scheduled programming in September!**

Let's do this! A big hug and a high-five to all the Ryers rock stars and red carpet celebrities. Before we get into the story, do you want to know a fun fact? Did you know that French fries are believed to be from Belgium, not France? The term French is referring to the way the potato is cut, not where French fries were created. Pretty. Cool, huh? Okay, story time.

Today we have a super special Reyers Reader's Reader's request from five-year-old Archie in Australia. Archie would like to hear The Runaway Dinner by Alan Allberg. I hope you enjoy this story, Archie. Let's do this! Now here's a story for you. Full of such fun and exciting stuff, you. You will surely love it. And the best part is, it's all true. There was once a boy.

Banjo, his name was, yes. Banjo Cannon. Well, he was a little boy. This boy lived in a house, slept in a bed, wore all the usual sorts of clothes, socks and scarves and such, loved his cat named Mildred, and his mom and dad named Milded. Mr. and Mrs. And every day, summer or winter, rain or shine, had a sausage for his dinner. On his own little plate with his own little knife and fork and salt chaker and ketchup

at his own little table with his own little chair. Yes, a sausage. A sausage for his dinner. Now, here's the exciting part, the unbelievable part, though it is all true. One sunny summer's day, just as Banjo with his knife in one hand and his fork in the other, was leaning forward and smiling happily at the thought of eating his dinner? The sausage, Melvin, his name was, jumped. Yes, jumped right off the plate. and ran away. Well then, of course, as you might expect,

the fork ran after the sausage, the knife ran after the fork, the plate ran after the knife and the little table and the little chair ran after the plate. And Banjo, that hungry little boy, ran after them all.

Actually, if you want the whole truth, he ran after a few others as well. You see, Banjo did not only have a sausage on his plate. That would be silly, wouldn't it? Just a sausage, one measly little sausage for a hungry boy's dinner? No. Banjo also had three fat peas, four baby carrots, and a handful of fries. Yes, and the thing is, of course, they were all on the plate as well.

And when Melvin ran off, they, as you might expect, followed him. The peas, as it happened, were all boys, Peter, Percival, and Paul, and the carrots, all girls, Caroline, Clara, Camilla, and Christabel. As for the fries, well, they were really too many to name all of them,

though, being French, of course, they had names like Francois and Fifi and so forth. So that's it. The absolute truth, the complete picture, see? Here they are, the whole lot of them, not forgetting Mildred the cat and Mr. and Mrs. And Bruce, the next-door neighbor's dog, nearly did forget him, though he was chasing Mildred actually, all racing down the road. Well, the first thing that happened was the carrots. All four of them escaped by hiding in a paper bag.

chased Mildred up a tree. And a pigeon ate, Percival. Melvin, meanwhile, was running strongly on his two little legs. He came to a crosswalk, waited for the walklight, crossed the road, and ran into the park. The next thing that happened was Mr. and Mrs. bought three ice creams. A couple of the French fries escaped by sailing away in a toy boat. Au revoir.

A duck ate Paul. Banjo, meanwhile, was running strongly on his two little legs, and the chair and the table were both running strongly on their four little legs. Actually, that's not entirely true. The little chair in particular was quite out of breath. He had to stop and rest for a while. Only then an old lady came along and sat on him. She was out of breath too.

So then, of course, the little chair was stuck there for a time. Melvin, meanwhile, was still racing away, with the knife and the fork close behind and the little plate and Mr. and Mrs. and so forth. Presently, a picnicking family spotted the fork and the knife too and grabbed them. At the same time, a boiled egg named Billy Saw. what was going on and in the confusion ran off himself a couple of little girls who were

skipping on the grass spotted the plate and grabbed her she was a girl plate Saskia her name was and started using her as a frisbee which as it turned out the little plate much enjoyed well now there was a pond in the park that's where the toy boat was sailing and Melvin ran around it. And there was a baseball field, and Melvin ran around that. The rest of the French fries stopped here and sat down to watch the baseball game, actually, and nobody noticed them. By this time, the sunny summer's day was coming to an end, and almost everybody was out of breath. Melvin, that sturdy little sausage, slowed to a stroll, to a dwind, and finally, and

stopped altogether. Whereupon along came banjo, that hungry little boy and, oh dear, ate him! Well, nearly. He would have done, he really would. Only just along came his hot and bothered, poor old mom. No, no! She cried, don't eat that! Meaning Melvin.

Don't eat that, it's been on the ground. on the ground. The next thing that happened was Melvin seized his chance, ran off again, and hid in the long grass, where, as it turned out, at that very moment, the baseball, named Marlin, was also hiding. Meanwhile, the athletic little table urged on by the salt shaker and ketchup was still racing along. His style was much admired by a number of park benches. On the other hand, Peter, the last of the peas, remember him, had well and truly disappeared. It was a mystery. He had to be there somewhere, yes. Take a look around if you'd like, see if you can spot him.

It was a sunny summer's evening. Home went banjo, carried high on the shoulders of his poor old dad and his poor old mom. Bruce, the next door neighbor's dog, went home to, and down the tree came Mildred. So there we are. That's the story. Full of such fun, don't you agree? And exciting stuff, yes. Of course, poor little banjo is still hungry, hungrier than ever, in fact. Luckily, help is at hand. You see, Every day or evening, rain or shine, summer or winter. After his dinner, Banjo has a plum pie for his dessert. In his own little bowl, with his own little spoon, and his own little pitcher of cream.

Yes, a plum pie. A plum pie named Joyce on this particular occasion. For his dessert. So that's all right, isn't it? The end. Don't forget to stick around to see if you can answer today's paying attention question. Before you go, do you think you can answer today's paying attention question? How many peas were eaten in the story?

If your answer was two, you did it! Great job! you sure were paying attention. I hope you enjoyed that story. I wonder what we're gonna read next. Bye, Archie!