Ellie The Autistic Duck: Original Bedtime Story

An original bedtime story, exploring some of what it is like to be autistic, through storytelling about a duck. Ellie, an autistic duck, energetically squeaks at trees in a meadow. She often doesn't understand other ducks. She embarks on an inflatable raft adventure, tumbling over a waterfall into a lake where she meets Frank, a snorkeling turtle. Together, they investigate a glistening object on a barn door, leading them to discover Yoyo, a snoring pigeon, inside. After a picnic and chat, they seek help from Kevin the condor to ascend the waterfall. Ellie later daydreams about a crystal cave and drifts into sleep.

Transcript

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close and allow yourself to begin to relax and As you begin to comfortably drift to sleep.

I'm just going to tell this sleep story in the background And I don't know whether you'll drift to sleep Faster to the sound of my words or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words as you drift to sleep I'm just going to tell the story about Ellie the autistic duck and Ellie as an autistic duck Used to enjoy running around the meadow Squeaking at every single tree they'd run up to a tree and squeak at it and then run away again and Other ducks wondered what on earth Ellie was doing To them Ellie's behavior was confusing But to Ellie her behavior made complete sense That she understood That to help the trees grow and be healthy You needed to run up to them and squeak at them And she couldn't explain what she means But she knew that it was a thing and one day After squeaking at the trees Ellie went to the stream that traveled through the meadow and the other ducks Didn't know really how to interact with Ellie but Ellie would Enjoy playing on her own She would like some others to play with from time to time But she had things she liked doing herself and Sometimes would become so absorbed in what she likes That she'd completely forget that nobody was playing with her and she climbed on to an inflatable raft and sat backwards on the end of that raft almost lying down on the raft With her legs hanging over the back and she kicked her legs while tilting her head back so she could see the world upside down and the water was above her and the sky was below her and she kicked and steered by changing kicking stronger with one leg or the other and Straightening up by kicking the same with both legs And she traveled on that raft towards the waterfall and decided she was curious about something she could spy glinting and glistening beyond the waterfall and So the raft whizzed its way down the waterfall sploshing at the bottom following this stream Heading around towards the lake and as the raft arrived at the lake Ellie jumped back into the raft upright and the raft Started floating slower and slower Till it almost came to a halt in the middle of the lake And while it was in the middle of the lake,

It was just turning incredibly slowly and Ellie looked around for that glinting glistening thing And while she looked around She saw Frank the snorkeling turtle pop its head up it took the snorkel out of its mouth and excitedly Greeted Ellie and Asked what Ellie is doing down here in the lake That normally Ellie's up there swimming backwards and forwards and around in the stream or running around in that meadow and Ellie said that she saw a glinting glistening thing down here.

She wanted to come and investigate And so Frank said that sounds like a fun thing to do So Ellie jumped in the water and Frank and Ellie swam to the shore And Ellie just left that boat floating in the middle of the water and at the shore Ellie waddled up on shore squeaking at the trees as she went and Frank took the snorkel off his head and put a little red ribbon around his head and Ellie asked why the red ribbon and Frank said it reminds me That I need to collect my snorkel when I get back to the lake and The two of them went off towards that sparkling and as they neared the sparkling they noticed that it looked like it was a sparkling on the front of a door to a barn and Ellie and Frank looked at each other Looked back at the door and wondered Which one of them should open the door?

And they could hear a noise coming from inside the barn And they didn't know if it was something scary or something kind and Ellie was saying what if it's something scary?

What if there's a giant penguin in there?

And Frank said penguins aren't scary and Ellie said they are They're confusing.

They're birds that Swim better than me But can't fly but fly underwater and can leap miles out of the water and they see everything black and white and Frank said no penguins are kind little creatures and Ellie said I know some that are very big and some that are little and what if it's one of the big ones in there and Frank said that low rumble coming from in there That almost snoring sound What if it's an elephant?

They're big and scary and Ellie said elephants aren't big and scary She was named after one Elephants remember everything they're friendly they look after others They're not big and scary They may be big but they're not scary and Frank said that they are scary Elephants are like walking boulders That they could knock anything down They could knock down trees.

They could knock down houses that they are big and scary and Ellie said I think that We're making ourselves worry We're thinking that something bad could be there and we're creating things that we think are bad But we don't know what's there yet.

We have to think logically about this What do we know?

We know there's a noise Sounds like snoring and it's coming from a barn We know that we've never seen these things around here before So it probably isn't a large elephant or a giant penguin Let's just investigate and find out what it is and Frank says after you Nelly carefully leans forward and opens the barn door with a creak and Inside the barn Ellie sees this little pigeon resting on some hay snoring away kicking its legs from time to time seemingly deep asleep in a dream and Ellie and Frank look at each other and smile because this pigeon definitely isn't scary and the pigeon hears the noise and wakes up with a stretch and turns to see its two visitors and Ellie asks who are you and The pigeon says that their name is yo-yo they think They may not be sure.

Yes,

It is.

Of course it is,

But it may not be but it definitely is they say and Ellie and Frank look at each other again and Ellie wonders is there treasure here and asks yo-yo and yo-yo says no,

There's no treasure the only thing in here is a doorway to the sky and Ellie asks,

What do you mean and yo-yo says,

How do you think I get in?

There's a doorway to the sky and Yo-yo looks up and there's a door in the ceiling of the barn That comes right in to the barn and yo-yo flies off flies through that door and flies back again Says see there's a doorway to the sky I've never opened that door that you've been through and yo-yo asks.

Why did you come here?

Why'd you disturb my sleep?

This barn is usually quiet and Ellie says that there was a glistening Sparkling thing on the barn door that attracted her all the way here but now there appears to be nothing here worth being attracted to and Yo-yo thought That sounded mean But didn't sound like it was meant to have been mean and Frank said that while they're all here Why don't they just?

Rest And hang around here and explore around here Maybe have something to eat a little picnic would be nice and so the three of them sat down and started having a picnic and so the three of them gathered up some food and sat down and had a picnic and Ellie told about thinking that maybe a scary penguin was in the barn and Frank told about thinking that The snoring might have been a scary elephant again,

Yo-yo wondered Whether this was being mean Being compared to the snore of an elephant But felt that the chances are Frank isn't intending to be mean and so the three of them spoke and enjoyed their picnic and after the picnic yo-yo said that they wanted to Head back to sleep and Frank said that he'll head back to the water back to that lake so the three of them went back to where they came from,

But when Frank and Ellie arrived at the lake Ellie suddenly realized that she's gonna have to somehow get that inflatable boat back up the waterfall To where it came from and Frank said that they wouldn't be able to help get it back up there But that they probably knew someone that could and Frank let out three unusual noises from his mouth and Ellie was startled by these noises And while Frank made these noises,

He was gazing up at the sky and after a few moments there was a loud flapping noise and Kevin the condor Landed in front of them and Kevin said all right Frank you rang and Frank explained the situation And Kevin the condor said that they're strong enough and big enough to be able to hold a bit of string tied to the front of that inflatable raft and can take off and fly along and Pull that raft up to the stream at the top above the waterfall But they don't think that they'd be able to pull it up there safely with Ellie on board so Ellie would have to find her own way up and Ellie agrees to this and Kevin Grabbed some string attached to the front of the inflatable raft takes off and Flies dragging that across the lake And bouncing it up the waterfall and dragging it across the stream at the top of the waterfall Away from the waterfalls edge and pulls it over near the bank Lands down on the bank walks around a small tree Weaving that string around the tree to hold the inflatable raft in place And it took Kevin no time at all to do this while Ellie was still hopping along and trying to walk and waddle along and Hadn't even reached the base of the waterfall and Kevin came to the top of the waterfall And was calling down to Ellie jokingly saying to Ellie to hurry up and Ellie carefully walked and waddled up the side of the waterfall up to the top bank and Frank watched on with amusement Then suddenly remembered as he noticed the bow on his head Then he needed to get his snorkel and he went and got his snorkel swapped the bow for the snorkel and slid into the water and dived under the water and Ellie walked along the edge of the bank Squeaking at the different trees and the condor wondered what Ellie was doing But Kevin felt that it wasn't important That it was right for Ellie and Said goodbye and took off and Ellie went over to that inflatable raft untied the string Climbed into the raft and Paddled back all the way back to where she came from And she placed that raft Where it needed to be stored And went back into the meadow to enjoy walking around in the meadow Then found somewhere to rest down in the meadow Feeling the warmth of the Sun Drying out her feathers So comfortably so calmly As she gently drifted into the most pleasant Relaxed reverie Exploring the experience that she'd had those who she'd met While she drifted in this reverie she couldn't get out of her mind that twinkling sparkling Thing that was on the barn door that she really wished was something she could hold and touch and Look at over and over again And while drifting in a reverie thinking about this Ellie started imagining That she was walking through a crystal cave Where there was twinkling and sparkling all around her Where she could rub her forehead against the smoothness of a crystal where she could tap a crystal with her beak and Hear the resonance and the tone created with each tap where she could see the regular shapes of each crystal and She wished that it was a crystal cave like this That she had found That she had never been to such a place But the geometry the shapes the smoothness the dulled sound the calmness of the environment the twinkling sparkling Of light bouncing around among the crystals Just brought her a deep sense of peace and calm As she spent that time in her mind Relaxing Then after a while She opened her eyes And she went about her business squeaking at the different trees Then one of the trees in a breeze Seemed to have its branches rubbed together creating a squeak in reply And the other ducks were surprised by this that a tree seemed to talk back to Ellie and Ellie said that she told them she was communicating with the trees and After talking with the trees for a while Ellie settled down as the Sun was setting And she wondered what adventures she would go on tomorrow And where she would explore and she drifted and floated so peacefully so comfortably asleep Sleeping so well all night long