Call Helicorgis!!

Summary

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Story Pirates Podcast: "Call Helicorgis!!" (July 23, 2026)

Host: Story Pirates, led by Lee Overtree
Theme: Madcap inventions, wild imagination, and hilarious stories—written by kids and brought to life with humor and music.

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Episode Overview

This episode of Story Pirates spotlights stories created by children, including the main feature—Silas’s wacky tale of "Helicorgis" (yes, that's helicopter-corgi hybrids!). It also celebrates ongoing creativity through the Summer Story Challenge leaderboard, and showcases more imaginative stories from young writers: "The Foodiverse" (by Zoe Rose), "The Never Ending Milk Carton" (by Lucas), and "The Alien Rattlesnakes" (by Juliana and Benjamin). The cast reacts with their signature mix of comedy, thoughtful commentary, and enthusiasm for kid-powered creativity.

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1. Summer Story Challenge Leaderboard Update

(00:07–01:43)

• Host Lee Overtree delivers an energetic rundown of top individuals and groups in the Summer Story Challenge, shouting out participants from around the world.
• Encourages all listeners to submit stories, assuring:

  “Even if you don’t make the leaderboard, everyone who participates gets a certificate at the end of the summer.” (01:38, Lee)

• Friendly reminder for grown-ups to check out participation links and details in the show notes.

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2. Featured Story: "Call Helicorgis!!" by Silas, Age 10

(03:06–10:54)

Plot Recap

• Dr. Apple Pencil Pie, a former finance worker turned "mad scientist," is striving for a successful experiment. Supported by his overachieving wife Meredith and his loyal corgi, Scraggles, he's searching for scientific inspiration.
• In an accidental fusion of DNA and helicopter blades, he creates Helicorgis—adorable flying corgi puppies.
• After some chaos (and wrecked failed inventions: reverse bath, reverse watch, etc.), Dr. Apple Pencil Pie decides to mass-produce Helicorgis, setting his cloning machine to 1 trillion.
• Meredith, upstairs negotiating world peace and rocking out in a band, is... less enthused by the sheer volume:

  “I think 1 trillion Helicorgis is simply too many Helicorgis to take care of. Also, how is this a job?” (08:02, Meredith)

• A failed marketing attempt ("Are you hungry and need fast food delivered by a loyal dog with steel blades? Call Helicorgis!") ends in no sales—until Weirdo Wendell (local car dealer of infomercial fame) appears, buys the whole lot, and gets whisked away by the new canine fleet.
• The story ends on a celebratory (if somewhat mystified) note, driving home themes of perseverance, teamwork, and loving yourself—even through failures.

Memorable Quotes

• On inspiration:

  “Why can’t science just be easy?” (03:35, Dr. Apple Pencil Pie)

• On failed inventions:

  “Not my reverse bath! The bath that makes you dirty. My reverse watch! The watch that makes you late.” (05:54, Dr. Apple Pencil Pie)

• On resilience:

  “Sometimes we fail in life, but the only way to never fail is to never try.” (09:22, Meredith)

• On spousal support:

  “I love you because of who you are. Failures and all. You created Helicorgis!” (09:41, Meredith)

Standout Moments

• Chaotic arm-waving brainstorm leads to DNA-hybridizing accident. (05:05–05:31)
• Sell-off ad pitch ("Call 555-5-555-5555!") (08:44–09:01)
• Weirdo Wendell getting picked up and flown away by a trillion Helicorgis. (10:42–10:46)

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3. Story Discussions & StoryLove Segment

(12:38–27:45)

A. "The Foodiverse" by Zoe Rose, Age 9

(13:03–18:16)

• Story premise: 12-year-old Sophia discovers a universe where "you are what you eat," turns into a carrot, and builds an intergalactic food tour business.
• Lee and Peter riff on the imagination, the concept of universal travel as a kid, and the cleverness of a five-star review system involving literal stars.
• Notable Quote:

  “The reason I chose 12 is because she’s a kid but also old enough to travel the universe.” (13:10, Lee/reading Zoe’s story)

B. "The Never Ending Milk Carton" by Lucas, Age 9

(18:23–22:22)

• Story premise: Tommy the Beaver’s innocent grocery run ends with infinite milk flooding his house, town, and all of Canada—thanks to a mislabeled "Infinity Milk."
• Discussion highlights:
  • Incorporation of Greek mythology (Hera, god(dess) of cows?!).
  • The humor of calamity escalating from a simple desire for milk and cookies to continent-wide disaster.
• Notable Quote:

  “I really should pay attention to the labels on the milk I buy.” (19:32, Tommy the Beaver)

C. "The Alien Rattlesnakes" by Juliana & Benjamin, Age 8

(22:53–27:10)

• Story premise: News anchors Sarah Smiley and Simpson Gimson bring short, suspenseful segments about rattlesnakes—until a friendly alien rattlesnake lands just to say hi.
• Hosts muse on the different ways "Snake News" could operate (full show vs. quick segment) and riff on animal naming conventions (rat snakes and dogfish).
• Notable Quote:

  “It’s an alien rat(sic) snake. Run!” (23:57, Reporter/Weirdo Wendell)

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4. Host Banter & Creative Encouragement

(27:50–28:54)

• Lee and Peter continue their lively rapport, ending the episode by encouraging listeners to “turn on those imaginations and start writing stories, because being creative is its own reward.”
• Reminder to check out the leaderboard and join the Summer Story Challenge.

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5. Memorable End Credits & Bonus: Weirdest Snacks Leaderboard

• Playful, irreverent credits recognize the team and contributors.
• Tongue-in-cheek contest:
  • Dr. Apple Pencil Pie:

    “Peter wins.” (30:43, Dr. Apple Pencil Pie)

  • Peter is declared undefeated in the “weirdest snacks eaten” contest (deep fried olives, old string cheese, pâté, etc.).

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Important Timestamps

• 00:07 — Summer Story Challenge update
• 03:06 — Introduction of Silas and "Call Helicorgis!!"
• 05:31–08:04 — Helicorgis creation/cloning chaos
• 08:44–09:01 — Infomercial ad for Helicorgis
• 09:22 — Lesson about embracing failure
• 10:18 — Weirdo Wendell appears
• 12:38 — StoryLove segment opens
• 13:03 — "The Foodiverse" story
• 18:23 — "Never Ending Milk Carton" story
• 22:53 — "Alien Rattlesnakes" story
• 27:50–28:54 — Encouragement to kids and writers

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Episode Takeaways

• Creativity and resilience run all through the episode—failures are part of the journey. As Meredith says:

  “Sometimes we fail in life, but the only way to never fail is to never try.” (09:22)

• Every story is celebrated, from the high-flying madness of Helicorgis to the surreal worlds of food and milk, to the charming local news about alien snakes.
• The Story Pirates’ comedic, supportive spirit shows in their analysis, jokes, and the way they lift up every young storyteller.

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For Parents and Kids

• Submit your stories via storypirates.com/leaderboard
• Every participant gets a certificate
• Keep writing, keep imagining, and maybe next episode, your story will be transformed by the Story Pirates!

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Final Quote

“Being creative is its own reward.” (28:51, Lee Overtree)

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Summary by Story Pirates Podcast Summarizer

Transcript

[Silas]

Foreign.

[Lee Overtree]

Hey, Story Pirates podcast listeners. Lee here. Welcome back to Story Pirate Summer. It's time for a summer story challenge leaderboard update. We have a stunner this week with Ethan in Washington coming out of nowhere and jumping into first place with good old Tabitha in Arizona. Drop into second. In third, we have Gus in Canada. Brooklyn in Pennsylvania is in fourth. And fifth place is a tie between Acadia in Massachusetts and Curt in Pennsylvania. In places six through 10, we've got Maya from Colorado, Rafi in Rhode Island, Nora in Massachusetts, Adrian in Georgia, Evie in Canada, Ziva in Arizona, Alessandro in Spain, Alya in California, and Emory in Indiana.

[Weirdo Wendell]

Woo.

[Lee Overtree]

You guys are doing some incredible work on the group leaderboard. We, of course, have Zev and Rubin in first, Anthea, Richard, Elliot in second, and in third place, Zach, Ben, Vivian, Violet. They're riding their hearts out. Followed by Robin and Jude in Connecticut, Sawyer, Brady and Landon in New Jersey, Georges and Arthur in Canada, Arabella and Emmett in the Philippines, and Aja and Mason in Oregon. My friends, this is still anyone's game. Fire up your imaginations and who knows, maybe next week you'll be on the leaderboard. You can see the leaderboard right [e-mail] leaderboard. Remember that even if you don't make the leaderboard, everyone who participates gets a certificate at the end of the summer.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

And story.

[Lee Overtree]

Love telling you about how much we loved your stories. We want to read as many stories as we can. We'll be updating the leaderboard every week, and I'll be shouting out more kids here on the podcast Grown Ups. You can find links to the leaderboard and find out how to get your kids involved in the summer story challenge in the show. Notes for today's episode. Okay, on to today's new episode after a few more words for the Grown Ups.

[Weirdo Wendell]

Wow,

[Silas]

I love Story Pirates. It just filled me up with joy.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

My mom loves the jokes.

[Silas]

Yo, yo. Oh, my. Check. It made me very proud about my writing. Yeah, we're just getting, like, really deep into, like, I want to say, philosophy. I definitely think I can be more creative now. I'm the champion. The Story Pirates.

[Lee Overtree]

It's the Story Pirates podcast. Have you ever wondered what would happen if you combined helicopters and Corgis? Does that say Corgis? Like Corgi's the little dogs and helicopters? Yeah, me neither. But today's new author has. Here they are to introduce their story.

[Silas]

Hi, my name is Silas. I'm 10 years old and I live in North Carolina. This is my story called hello, Corgis.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

Yes, a little dash of this, plug that in there, turn these little knobs and science. Darn, another failure. Why can't science just be easy?

[Meredith]

Sweetheart, is everything alright? I heard the sound of science failing.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

Ah, yes, Meredith, my lovely wife. Just another failed experiment.

[Meredith]

Oh, darling, I know you've struggled to find your feet ever since you left a bustling career in finance to become a mad scientist.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

I thought if I became a mad scientist, I would feel more fulfilled. I just never thought it would be this hard.

[Meredith]

I'm sure you'll figure it out. Look at all the great science stuff you have in your lab. You've got beakers, microscopes and helicopter blades.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

That was for my helicopter. That spread good sense. You know, the smellicopter.

[Meredith]

Right.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

But it was another failure.

[Meredith]

Well, darling, I'm off to work as a rocket scientist who also plays guitar in a hit band. Try not to be too hard on yourself.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

I love you, Meredith.

[Meredith]

I love you, Dr. Apple Pencil Pie. Oh, and don't forget to walk Scraggles.

[Silas]

Yep.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

All right. Apple pencil pie. We have to get down to business and do some real mad science.

[Silas]

Yep. Yep.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

Ah, yes. Scraggles, my faithful Corgi.

[Silas]

Yip. Yip.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

What do you want? You want a treat?

[Silas]

Yep. Yep.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

Graggles, I don't understand you. It's impossible for me to know what you want unless you can talk.

[Silas]

Yep. Yep.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

That's it. I'll create talking Corgis.

[Lee Overtree]

Yep, yep, yep.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

Okay, Scraggles, I'll just need a little of your DNA. See it?

[Silas]

Yep.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

Now lay down.

[Silas]

Yip.

[Weirdo Wendell]

Now give DNA.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

Wonderful. I'll place that DNA carefully on this table right next to my helicopter blades. But how do I get from there to having a talking Corgi? Think apple pencil pie. Think. Ah. Maybe I'll think of something if I do my brainstorming exercise where I wave my arms wildly in the air. Here I go.

[Weirdo Wendell]

Oh, no.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

I've knocked the Corgi DNA onto the helicopter blades. Wait, what's happening?

[Silas]

Yip.

[Weirdo Wendell]

Yip.

[Silas]

Yip. Yip.

[Weirdo Wendell]

Yip. Yip.

[Silas]

Yip.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

Scraggles, look. The helicopter blades grew a Corgi underneath. It's become a Hella corky. Corgi is flying around the room. Get down, Scraggles. The Hella Corgi is out of control.

[Peter McNerney]

Yip.

[Weirdo Wendell]

Yip. Yip.

[Meredith]

Yip.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

It's knocking over my failed old inventions. Not my reverse bath. The bath that makes you dirty. My reverse watch. The watch that makes you late.

[Silas]

Ah.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

My reverse eraser. It's a pencil. Bad Helicorgi.

[Weirdo Wendell]

Bad

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

Oh, I'm sorry. Hela Corgi. Why, you just got created a few moments ago, and you're a dog with helicopter blades you don't know how to control. You're not a monster. Why, you're a sweet dog. What do you think, Scraggles?

[Silas]

Yep.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

Yep, you're right. I should sell all my lab equipment except the cloning machine to make hella corgis as my full time job. Here I go. All right. I've sold everything except my cloning machine. And with that money, I've bought all the supplies to make hella corgis. Now I just need a hair from Scraggles. Good dog, Scraggles. And a sliver of metal from the helicopter blade. I just put this in my cloning machine and set the knob to one. Yep, yep, you're right, Scraggles. I'll need a few more. I'll set it to two.

[Silas]

Yep.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

Hmm. Probably still not enough. I'll set it to 1 trillion. Here we go.

[Meredith]

What's going on in here? I'm upstairs with the diplomats negotiating world peace and the whole house is shaking.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

Well, you know how I sold everything we have in order to go all in on my Helicorgi's cloning machine?

[Meredith]

No.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

Oh, right. I forgot to tell you. Oh, it's working.

[Silas]

Are those. Hello, Corgis.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

There's so many good times. Every Hella Corgis, please. I have dreams.

[Meredith]

Ooh.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

Okay, one at a time.

[Meredith]

Darling, you know I love you, But I think 1 trillion Helicorgis is simply too many helicorgis to take care of. Also, how is this a job?

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

Don't worry, Meredith. I know just what to do. I'll sell the Helicorgis. I just need to make an ad. Hello there. I'm Dr. Apple Pencil Pie with an exciting offer. Are you hungry and need fast food delivered to your door? Do you need transportation and weigh under 65 pounds? Or maybe you just want help making friends. Why not buy a Helicorgi? A Helicorgi combines all the sweet, enduring love of a loyal dog with the rock and roll hard steel of a Blackhawk helicop. There goes one now. Off to save the day. Don't believe me? Just listen to this satisfied customer.

[Meredith]

I thought I did not need a Helicorgi. Now I have two, and it's good.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

See what I mean? Just call 555-5-555-5555 and get your Helicorgi today.

[Meredith]

Sweetheart, you've been sitting by the phone for days and no one's called. Maybe it's time to move on.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

I really thought people would want to buy Helicorgis. I guess it's just another failed invention from your failure of a husband.

[Meredith]

Yep.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

Ah, my sweet scraggles. Thanks for being there for me in my lowest moment.

[Meredith]

Alright, that's enough of that. I won't have you sitting around feeling sorry for yourself. Sometimes we fail in life, but the only way to never fail is to never try.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

But you've never failed at anything.

[Meredith]

Well, I'm incredibly special and cool. I love you because of who you are. Failures and all you created hello, Corgis. And whether or not people want them, I'm proud of you.

[Weirdo Wendell]

Really?

[Meredith]

Of course, it may just be time

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

to move on, but maybe if I just make a few more Helicorgies. A ding dong? Who could that be?

[Lee Overtree]

Hello.

[Weirdo Wendell]

Howdy. I'm Weirdo Wendell.

[Meredith]

Oh, wow. From Weirdo Wendell's car dealership.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

I've seen your ads. Our prices are so low, the owner must be a weirdo.

[Weirdo Wendell]

That's right. I heard you had a whole mess of small dogs that fly around with helicopter blades.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

I do.

[Weirdo Wendell]

I need something to spread my advertising flyers all throughout the tri state area. And I think a helicorgi is just the thing.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

Well, how many do you need?

[Weirdo Wendell]

1. Well, actually 2. You know what? Just to be safe, make it 3.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

What about a trillion sold? Go Helicorgies. Go to your new owner.

[Weirdo Wendell]

They're picking me up and flying me away.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

Wow, Meredith, we sold all the helicorgies.

[Meredith]

Did he give you money?

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

I did it. I change the world.

[Meredith]

How does this change the end?

[Silas]

We'll be right back after a few words for the grown ups.

[Lee Overtree]

Hey, grown ups. Today's episode is sponsored by Ollie. Back to school season is here. Packed backpacks, packed lunches, and packed schedules are officially back. Luckily, this episode is sponsored by Ollie, your back to school wellness partner. It feels like summer just started, but I guess that's how it goes. The kids that I know are excited about starting a new school year. New teachers, new friends, new classrooms, maybe even a new school. So getting plenty of rest is really important. And I know some kids that use Story Pirates podcast to fall asleep. But if that's not quite working for you, Ollie, Kids sleep helps little dreamers wind down with a gentle blend of melatonin, l theanine and botanicals for restful sleep. Translation, an easy way to put those school night negotiations to bed. And for the grown ups, Ollie, sleep helps you fall asleep, stay asleep and wake up Feeling refreshed because as you know, the morning mayhem comes early. Visit ollie.com and stock up on back to school must haves today. That's o l l y.com these statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Welcome back to StoryLove, where we take stories written by kids and we talk about them. Peter, did you know that at Story Pirates we get a lot of of stories?

[Peter McNerney]

I didn't know that. Just kidding. I did.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

Well.

[Lee Overtree]

And you might know that this summer we've got the Summer Story challenge going on where we're challenging kids to send us as many stories as they can and they can even show up on the leaderboard, get a pizza party with yours truly, etc. Etc.

[Peter McNerney]

I would do a lot of things for a pizza.

[Lee Overtree]

Let's get into our first story. This one is from Zoe Rose, a nine year old from Mississippi. And Zoe Rose's story is called the Food Iverse. Once upon a time, there was a girl who was only 12 years old. The reason I chose 12 is because she's a kid. But she's also old enough to travel the universe and her name was Sophia. Sophia loved traveling the universe. One day when she was traveling, she saw a universe she'd never seen or heard before. When she entered, she saw a warning sign that said, warning, you are what you eat. Sophia decided to test this there by trying one of its many foods. She started by trying a yummy carrot. It took about 10 minutes. So at first Sofia thought what a silly sign. But then she felt a change in her body. She slowly started to transform into a carrot. Soon she had fully transformed into a carrot. At first she was like, what's happening? But soon she realized, you are what you eat. It turned out she only stayed that way for a couple of minutes. But it did inspire her to start a tour stop where anybody could become what they eat. It was a total success and she decided she would name it foodiverse. Whenever it got a five star rating, it would magically add a new food and it got a lot of five star ratings. But instead of doing it like us, they would give each other real life stars. The end. Or is it now? Peter, yes, that was an amazing story and I want to hear your thoughts. But I have to point out this was obviously submitted as part of our story contest for good Mythical morning. The prompt being write a story about you are what you eat and what an amazing entry this is.

[Peter McNerney]

There's so Many rules of the world. Things that I think are so clever and funny and makes me want to know more. Starting at the end, in this universe, you go, oh, I loved it. Five stars. Here's five gigantic burning balls of gas to say, you're the best.

[Lee Overtree]

I also love in this story how she says the reason that she chose a 12 year old protagonist is because then she could still be a kid, but also old enough to travel the universe.

[Peter McNerney]

That's what I said. You gotta hit 12 before I let you leave this universe and explore other ones. I think that's reasonable.

[Lee Overtree]

At some point that is going to be the case. I mean, space travel, let's be, let's be frank. Like we're still in our infancy, but there's a good chance that someone who's growing up today, space travel could be like very normal by the time they grow up.

[Peter McNerney]

Are you thinking, you know, like it's the cryogenic frozen version where they freeze you and send you away and then you wake up, or straight up teleportation, digitize you and send you at the speed of light?

[Lee Overtree]

If I'm thinking, actually practically, I'm not imagining that we're into cryo or light speed travel yet. I'm really just talking about like going to Mars.

[Peter McNerney]

Okay. That's a six month journey.

[Lee Overtree]

That's right.

[Peter McNerney]

Pretty good.

[Lee Overtree]

And you know what you can do with six months? You can listen to a lot of podcast episodes.

[Peter McNerney]

Yeah. And learn to crochet. That's what I would do.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

Yeah.

[Lee Overtree]

Or unlearn how to crochet.

[Peter McNerney]

Oh, that is enough time to forget how to crochet.

[Meredith]

Yeah.

[Lee Overtree]

You had to act. You have to work hard at it, though, to forget how to crochet.

[Peter McNerney]

Because you wake up in the morning and be like, ah, all right, let me grab my crochet. No, no, don't.

[Lee Overtree]

Yes, exactly.

[Peter McNerney]

Now the entire universe, this whole foodiverse, people, you are what you eat. And how does she, you know, man, how does she stop people from sneaking into the universe and just using the power?

[Lee Overtree]

Oh, that's a good question. Let me look back at the text and see. Exactly. So she started a tour stop where anybody could become what they eat. So what that means to me is that she's running like intergalactic space tours and she creates a rest stop by the universe. So she's not stopping anyone from going and doing their own thing in the foodiverse, but she is creating a tourist. Tourist friendly, you know, stop where people can come in, get, go to the welcome center, have a free cup of Coffee, get some brochures and then, you know, spend some cash.

[Peter McNerney]

You know, if I was going to turn into some food, I would like a little guidance because it would make me nervous.

[Lee Overtree]

Absolutely. I mean, you want to know what to avoid, right? Like there's got to be foods that if you're going to turn into them, it's a bad idea.

[Peter McNerney]

I just had a scary thought. What if I. I eat some potato chips and I turn into potato chips and I go, that's. This is cool. But I want to turn back into a human. What would I have to do?

[Lee Overtree]

You just wait. It says in the story, it turned out she only stayed like that for a couple minutes.

[Peter McNerney]

Like I forgot that detail.

[Lee Overtree]

Yeah. So there might be like a different time span depending on the food. You know, like maybe you metabolize it differently.

[Peter McNerney]

Interesting.

[Lee Overtree]

Depending on what the food. Another reason why you need a guide and why this tour stop is a great idea.

[Peter McNerney]

I clearly need a guide because I forgot all the details.

[Lee Overtree]

Well, Zoe Rose, thank you for being our guide to the foodiverse. Incredible story. Peter, would you read us our next one?

[Peter McNerney]

Yes, Lee. This next story comes to us from a 9 year old from Canada named Lucas. Lucas's story is called the Never Ending Milk Carton. Ah, what a good day for me, Tommy the Beaver. The only thing that would make this day better is. Is milk and cookies better. Go to the fridge. What? No milk?

[Meredith]

No.

[Peter McNerney]

Why has this curse come upon me?

[Weirdo Wendell]

Why?

[Peter McNerney]

Hera.

[Silas]

Why?

[Peter McNerney]

Hera is the official God of the cows. I will just go to the store. At the store. Hmm. Where is the milk section? Oh, there it is. Just going to grab it. Now all I need is is to get cookies. Now where is the cookie section? There it is. Now I need is to go home 20 minutes later. Ah, here I am at my house. Just going to pour this milk into this cup.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

Oh shoot.

[Peter McNerney]

I dropped it. What? It is still pouring. Still the milk is up to my knees. What does this milk say on the front? Infinity milk.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

What?

[Peter McNerney]

I really should pay attention to the labels on the milk I buy. No, it is up to my waist now. I better go warn everyone. Here I am outside. Better tell the police. I will call their number on the rotary phone. Let's just file the number. 5555-555555-55555-5559. Hello, this is the police. How can I help? Hi. I bought a milk carton that said infinity on it. And now half of my house is filled with milk. Now my backyard is filled with milk. My. My whole town is filled with milk. And now all of Canada is filled with milk.

[Weirdo Wendell]

Ah.

[Peter McNerney]

I should really check the label on that milk.

[Meredith]

The end.

[Lee Overtree]

There is so much going on in this story. I have to first talk about Hera, the God of the cows. Hera, if I remember correctly, is the wife of Zeus. Is that correct?

[Peter McNerney]

Yes, she is the goddess of many things. Okay, I don't recall in this moment.

[Lee Overtree]

Is cows one of the things that she's actually a God of?

[Peter McNerney]

I would be surprised if she was specifically, but she might be the God of, you know, life, or this sounds to me.

[Lee Overtree]

I don't know, the God of life. This doesn't mean, like, the sort of thing you would pretend to know for sure, though, Peter.

[Peter McNerney]

Well, I started to, and I tried to admit that I don't really know.

[Lee Overtree]

Okay, well, I love that that that detail is just kind of shoehorned right in there, and then we never really come back to it. However, I think that Hera has cursed Tommy the beaver because that's what these guys are doing, right? Like, they are vindictive. They're always coming down and being like, no, you can't go home, Odysseus, or whatever.

[Peter McNerney]

Yeah. So they're just bored and they toy with us.

[Lee Overtree]

That's right. That's right.

[Peter McNerney]

Yeah. But although, maybe is Tommy the Beaver overreacting a little bit when there's no milk and cookies and he says, no, with maybe 50 O's.

[Lee Overtree]

Yeah, that's a lot of O's.

[Peter McNerney]

Why hast thou curse come upon me? Why, Hera? Why?

[Lee Overtree]

Right, exactly. Hera's like, are you. You woke me up for this?

[Peter McNerney]

Oh, I'll get. And then she goes, oh, I'll give you milk.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

All right.

[Peter McNerney]

More milk than you know what to do with.

[Lee Overtree]

I love that. And then finally, there's a detail at the end where we learn that this is all taking place in Canada, which was a surprise to me until I remembered the story. Pirate story. How the beaver. Is it how the beaver went to Canada.

[Peter McNerney]

How the beaver came to Canada.

[Lee Overtree]

How the beaver came to Canada. So we there. It's storyboards lore already that beavers in Canada are, you know, one in the same.

[Peter McNerney]

I have a much simpler explanation for that.

[Lee Overtree]

Yeah, you do?

[Peter McNerney]

Yeah. Lucas lives in Canada.

[Lee Overtree]

Oh, you mean the world isn't just wherever I am?

[Peter McNerney]

Well, it is everyone. Don't tell Lee. It's not. It's better for everyone if he keeps thinking that.

[Lee Overtree]

Is it better for everyone?

[Peter McNerney]

You heard that?

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

Oh, yeah.

[Lee Overtree]

Lucas, incredible story, my friend. Great work. Okay, we got one more here for You, Peter. This one is from two kids in Pennsylvania named Juliana and Benjamin. And this is the alien rattlesnakes. Hello, folks. My name is Sarah Smiley and this is Simpson Gimson. And we are reporting about rattlesnakes on Snake News. Rattlesnakes are named rattlesnakes because they make a rattling sound when they hiss. If you go close to a rattlesnake, it might bite you. That's all for today on Snake News. Wow, that was a short report. You're right, dad. That was a short report. It's time for bed anyways. Good night, son. Maybe we can watch the next Snake News report in the morning. Hello again, folks. Today we are reporting a UFOs that we saw fall from the sky. We are examining and seems to be seeing weird looking creatures that look like a rattlesnakes but have one eye and two antennas. And instead of hissing, it's talking. It's an alien rat snake.

[Weirdo Wendell]

Run.

[Lee Overtree]

That's all for today on Snake News. We need to help, son. You're right, dad. Let's go. We made it. What's going on? Well, the aliens rattlesnake told me and Simpson that he just wanted to say that he loves Snake News and watches it every day and wanted to see us report the news and he just wanted to say hi. Oh, well, you might want to tell people that watch the news that it's a good idea. The end.

[Peter McNerney]

I love this, Lee. I. I love it. At the very end, the dad and son are who. Who bond over watching Snake News. At the end, an alien rattlesnake. That's all for. So the reporters say it's an alien rattlesnake. That's all for Snake News. And they end their segment in the middle of the most exciting thing that's ever happened in Snake News. And what they didn't report and they didn't show is that they then go, oh, hey, nice to meet you. Oh, you're friendly. And they let everyone panic because they stopped the news report right at the scary part.

[Lee Overtree]

Oh yeah. They didn't find out the truth until afterwards.

[Peter McNerney]

Yeah. And this dad and son show up and they're like, oh, no, it's cool. And I was like, why didn't you put that part on the news?

[Lee Overtree]

Well, I'll tell you why. Because it's a short report, Right? Like they don't have these correspondents, Sarah Smiley and Simpson Gimson. They don't have the ability to just extend the segment because they want to.

[Peter McNerney]

Oh, so you. So you're saying rattlesnake News is not its own show. It's like the local news. At the end of each broadcast, you give like 30 seconds to snake News.

[Lee Overtree]

It's a. It's called a report. They say, wow, that was a short report. It's just a. You know, it's just a little check in on Snake News. I can only assume, because I believe in Sarah Smiley and Simpson Gimson, that the next episode is going to be about what they learned about the rattlesnake.

[Peter McNerney]

When I first read this, I took it as welcome to Snake News. Like it's. It's its own channel, it's its own full show. And they go today on. On rat. On Snake News. Rattlesnakes, watch out. That might bite you. Oh, boy. It's a short one today. All right, well, now here's 40 minutes of dead air.

[Lee Overtree]

That might also be true. They might only have budget for a short show. Even though they own the network.

[Peter McNerney]

It's just not. There's not always a full day's worth of Snake News.

[Lee Overtree]

You know what else is interesting, even though it's a typo, that it says it's an alien rat snake. Do you know there are snakes called rat snakes, Peter?

[Peter McNerney]

No.

[Lee Overtree]

I look at lots of pictures of snakes because for me, looking at a picture of a snake is like drinking a cup of coffee. I just love the feeling it gives me. It gives me like a rush. I look at them and do you,

[Peter McNerney]

like, wake up and you're like, all right, let me wake a look at a picture of a snake?

[Lee Overtree]

Yes, exactly. And then I'm just raring to go for the day. But, you know, as a result, I know a lot about snakes, and I know there are lots of different kinds of rat snakes. They're incredibly common and they're called. They seem to be like sort of like the go to generic name for snakes. They're like, here's the. Here's the North American rat snake. Here's the Southwest rat snake. Like, they're all just rat snakes.

[Peter McNerney]

I think it's funny when there's a lot of animals that are named after other animals. You're like, oh, that's a dogfish. We're like, well, it's like another animal that'd be sort of sad to be like, oh, that, you know, that's a zebra clam.

[Lee Overtree]

But you know what? The dogfish isn't called a dogfish because it eats dogs, whereas the rat snake is called the rat snake because it does eat rodents.

[Peter McNerney]

Okay. I was wondering where you were going with that I was like, do you know that a dogfish is not called a dogfish because it eats dogs? No, I did not think that at all.

[Lee Overtree]

Well, we've learned a lot. You know, this was almost as informative as an episode of Snake News.

[Peter McNerney]

Oh, it's true. Maybe that'll be my summer job.

[Lee Overtree]

Although why would it be yours and not mine? Because I'm the one that knows about snakes.

[Peter McNerney]

I'm calling them first snake.

[Lee Overtree]

Oh, well, I guess that's it for today. Benjamin and Juliana, thank you so much for your incredible story. And thanks to everyone who's sending us stories for the Story Pirates Summer story Challenge. There is still time to get on the leaderboard and to read today's stories. Just head to storypirates.com Lee, I'm back.

[Peter McNerney]

They are not hiring.

[Lee Overtree]

Oh, man. That's it for today's episode. Thanks to Silas. And don't forget to check out the summer story challenge [e-mail] leaderboard and check back every week to see how everyone's doing. Most of all, turn on those imaginations and start writing some stories, because being creative is its own reward. Creator club members, we'll see you next Monday for an exclusive bonus episode. And everyone else, we'll be back next week with another one as well. Until then, stay creative and stay kind.

[Silas]

Bye.

[Lee Overtree]

The Story Pirates podcast is a production of Story Pirate Studios, executive produced by Lee Overtree and and Benjamin Salka. Co executive producers are Holly and Rizwan Kasim, Manya, Lissi, Aaron Moore, Murray Sampson, Jack Schaefer and Jacob Vaughn. This episode was produced by Sam Baer, Peter McNerney, Brittany Stahl and Leo Retreat Recording sound design and mixing by Sam Baer at the Relic Room in New York City. Additional production by Brett Toobin. Theme song by Bobby Lord. Music musical scoring by Eric Erson and Jack Mitchell. Our head writer is Peter McNerney. Staff writers are Megan O' Neill and Alexis Simpson. Call Helicorgies was adapted by Sam Rogel. Episode artwork by Camilla Franklin. This episode features performances by Max Bank, Nicole Beckwith, langston Darby, Peter McNerney and Sam Rokow. And now it's time for an update on the leaderboard for weirdest snacks eaten. In first place, of course, we have Peter with deep fried olives. In second place, we also have Peter with old string cheese. In third place, we've got Peter with pate. Okay, not that weird. But in fourth place, you know what? These are all just Peter. No one else can compete with him. You know what, everybody? I'm canceling the weirdest snacks eaten contest. It's over.

[Dr. Apple Pencil Pie]

Peter wins.