Today we’ll be reading a story called That Time I Didn’t Listen. Do you ever have those moments where someone warns you about something, but you kind of want to find out for yourself? Or maybe you don’t quite believe them? This is a story about moments like those, and what our storyteller learned from them.A Carefully Built Pretend podcast is written and produced by Melissa Oliveri - http://www.melissaoliveri.comSupport Melissa on Patreon - http://www.patreon.com/melissaoliveriMelissa on Instagram: @the.mop.podMelissa on Twitter: @melissaoliveriAll music by Cannelle - http://www.cannellemusic.comMusic and Stories brought to you by Things with Wings Productions and Phaeton Starling Publishing.FULL TRANSCRIPT:Pssst! Over here!Take my hand, I’ll take you to a Pretend Land!Are you ready?1 -2 -3, Wheeeeeeeeee!Welcome to A Carefully Built Pretend. My name is Melissa, and I’m so glad you’re here!Today we’ll be reading a story called That Time I Didn’t Listen. Do you ever have those moments where someone warns you about something, but you kind of want to find out for yourself? Or maybe you don’t quite believe them? This is a story about moments like those, and what our storyteller learned from them.Are you ready? Here we go!The first time I didn’t listen I was making Rice Krispie Squares with my mom. We put a pot on the stove and melted some butter, then added some marshmallows to it and melted those too, then we mixed in the cereal, and it was a big gooey, sticky, sweet mess. My mom took the pot off the stove. I turned to look at the burner, it was a pretty, bright orange colour. “Don’t touch the hot stove, you’ll get hurt,” said my mom. “It’s so pretty,” I thought “I’ll only touch it a little bit,” I thought. I reached out my forefinger and placed it down on the bright orange burner. “Owwie owwie!” I shouted, popping my finger into my mouth as the burning pain shot up my arm. I took my finger out of my mouth and looked down at it. My skin was bright red and a big ol’ blister was forming. Even the Rice Krispie Treats didn’t make me feel better. I told myself next time my mother warned me about something I would listen.The next time I didn’t listen I was chewing bubble gum. I love bubble gum. Well, I used to love bubble gum. I would chew it and chew it, then I would pull some of it out of my mouth and twirl it around my finger and my father would say “One of these days you’re going to get bubble gum in your hair!” and I would roll my eyes and twirl my gum around my finger some more then pop it back in my mouth and keep chewing. One day I was at school chewing my gum and twirling it around my finger when the boy sitting behind me let out a loud sneeze - ATCHOO! I was startled and quickly turned my head around to look at him. Before I knew it, I had bubble gum in my hair. I pulled and pulled on it but no matter what I did it was stuck. I ran to the restrooms and tried to clean it off with water and a paper towel, but it was stuck. I put a hat on to hide the gum in my hair for the rest of the day. When I got home my father took one look at me and said “I told you so!”. He then got the scissors and cut the gum out of my hair. I looked very silly for a few weeks until my hair grew back. I told myself that next time my father warned me about something I would listen.The next time I didn’t listen I was pushing the shopping cart around the store while Grandpa and I were doing groceries. I was only a little bit taller than the shopping cart; my eyes were just above the handle. After a while I got a bit bored, and hungry, so I licked the handle of the shopping cart. “Oh dear,” said my grandpa, “shopping carts are covered in germs, you really shouldn’t do that.” I rolled my eyes and thought “What does he know? I don’t see any germs!” and kept licking the shopping cart handle with defiance. A few days later I woke up feeling very icky. “I think you caught a bug!” said my mom as she was looking at the thermometer. I missed my best friend’s birthday party because I was stuck in bed with a fever and a sore throat. I told myself, next time Grandpa warned me about something I would listen.The next time I didn’t listen we were on family vacation and staying at a hotel. The hotel had big, long, straight hallways with gray and beige carpeting. The hallways looked like racetracks, and I went racing down them every time we left our room. “You really shouldn’t run down the hallways, it’s disruptive for the other guests and you could fall and get hurt,” said my older sister. “She’s just jealous because I’m faster than her,” I thought as I flew down the hallways at top speed. I zoomed past the elevators, the vending machine, the door to the pool... the room numbers were all a blur as I raced by. Out of the blue, I tripped on my own feet and fell to the ground, my face rubbing against the carpet as I crash-landed in the hallway. I sat ...
