By Michael Brett The latest update from Egg Island, home to that greedy, time-traveling bird, Tick Tock Turkey, features Blobert, who on the face of it, is quite ordinary as blobs go. Like many blobs he is quite hard to see because he is often just to the left of himself. This particular blob happens to be a fabulous cook. His latest creation is a Very Filling Pudding, but it’s not quite filling enough to satisfy a gobbling Turkey.

Read by Natasha Gostwick Duration 22 minutes

This story is named after a very special recipe created by an ingenious chef called Blobert. It’s a story from Egg Island, the home of that famous time travelling bird, Tick Tock Turkey. And it’s called The Endless Pudding.

It was a hot afternoon on Egg Island. Future Dog had decided that it was time that Tick Tock Turkey should try to get on better with another of the island’s inhabitants – Blobert. Tick Tock Turkey didn’t know Blobert very well, but he had made it clear that he had a very disapproving view of blobs. Future Dog had brought Blobert down to the beach so that his two best friends could have a chance to get to know each other.

If you want to know what Blobert looks like, imagine a blob: that’s Blobert. Blobs are not easy to see, and Tick Tock Turkey’s main problem with Blobert was all the effort it took to look at him. Before they could be better friends, Tick Tock Turkey would have to learn to look at blobs without going cross-eyed. Blobert, who is a rather talented cook, had prepared a surprise for Tick Tock Turkey, but he wasn’t allowed to have it until he had tried to be friendly. Tick Tock Turkey had been trying to look at Blobert for nearly an hour, without much success.

‘Blobert,’ said Tick Tock Turkey, throwing his wings up in frustration, ‘why do you have to be so weird! Stand still! There you are. No, gone again. It’s giving me a headache.’

‘Sorry,’ said Blobert. ‘I know you’re trying. But I’m not weird, really. In fact I’m quite normal. As blobs go, I’m a very ordinary blob.’

‘Where’s he gone now? Blobert? I can hear you, but you’ve disappeared again.’

Future Dog, who had mastered the art of seeing Blobert, nodded sympathetically: ‘There is a knack to it,’ she said. ‘I’ve spent more time with Blobert than you, Tick Tock Turkey, and with practice I’ve managed to get the hang of it. But it wasn’t easy – I had to make a real effort.’

‘Why bother?’ said Tick Tock Turkey. ‘I’m sorry Blobert, but if you were meant to be seen then it wouldn’t be such hard work, would it? You don’t see anyone struggling to see me, now do you? Everyone always knows where I am.’

‘Yes, they really do,’ sighed Future Dog.

‘I’ve tried to see you Blobert, but it makes my eyes go funny. Can I have my surprise now?’

‘Not yet,’ said Future Dog.

‘I get this a lot, being a blob,’ said Blobert. ‘The secret is not to try too hard. Don’t squint – relax your eyes. The thing is, I tend to be just slightly to the left of where I am.’

Tick Tock Turkey scrunched up his face: ‘Slightly to the left of where you are? That’s stupid!’

‘Yes,’ said Blobert, ‘it sounds silly, but that’s the way it is. I’m always slightly to the left of where I am. It can make me seem fuzzy. It’s a nightmare for photographs. People try their best, but they always end up with a picture of a tree or an empty beach. When you look very closely, there’s a blurry part at the edge of the picture. That’s me. I’ve been lopped off the side. It’s very annoying. Actually, I’ve never seen myself, so even I’m not sure what I look like.’

Tick Tock Turkey flapped his wings again: ‘If you want to know what you look like, then do what everybody else does – use a mirror, you silly blob!’

‘Be nice,’ said Future Dog.

‘I’ve tried a mirror,’ said Blobert. ‘But it’s the same with my reflection. I stand in the proper place, right in front of it, but my reflection is always too far to the left for me to see. It’s rather sad, not knowing what you look like. But then I’m a blob, so I probably look more or less like a blob. And everyone knows a blob when they see one. Except me, I suppose.’

‘And me,’ said Tick Tock Turkey, ‘so I can’t help you there. I don’t know where to look. Can I have my surprise now?’

‘One last try, Tick Tock Turkey’ said Blobert. ‘How many fingers am I holding up?’

Tick Tock Turkey concentrated very, very hard. His eyes stared and he clamped his beak shut tight with the effort.

‘Um… I see… I can see…’

‘Oh sorry,’ said Blobert, ‘I’m over here. You’re looking the wrong way.’

‘This is ridiculous!’ gobbled Tick Tock Turkey. ‘You’re having a laugh! Just give me the surprise now!’

He looked harder. ‘Hang on… hang on… Yes! I can see three fingers! Three big, fuzzy, blobby fingers! That’s right, isn’t it Blobert?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Blobert. ‘I can’t see either.’

Tick Tock Turkey squawked. ‘You stupid… I mean, Future Dog – how many fingers is Blobert holding up?’

Future Dog peered over her sunglasses, just to double-check, then smiled. ‘Well done, Tick Tock Turkey!’ she said. ‘It is three!’

‘About time,’ said Tick Tock Turkey. ‘I’m getting too dizzy for this. Now give me the surprise. And it had better be a good one.’

‘It is,’ said Blobert. ‘Come this way.’

Tick Tock Turkey flapped his wings: ‘He’s only gone and vanished again. Which way did he go?’

‘Over here,’ said Future Dog.

Tick Tock Turkey followed them. And there, in a small, shady clearing at the edge of the jungle, sitting on a cool rock, was a large pudding.

Tick Tock Turkey’s beak fell open. ‘Oh yes!’ he said, ‘a pudding! What kind of pudding is it?’

‘This,’ said Blobert, ‘is called a Very Filling Pudding. It’s been cooling here for an hour since I finished cooking it.’

‘A Very Filling Pudding!’ said Tick Tock Turkey, ‘I like the sound of that!’

‘And it tastes even better than it sounds,’ said Blobert. ‘Not only does it taste very good, it also leaves you feeling replete.’

‘What the egg is “replete”?’ asked Tick Tock Turkey. ‘I hope it’s not some kind of tummy ache. I can’t stand tummy aches.’

‘No, said Future Dog, ‘the word “replete” is a polite way of saying that you’ve eaten enough and that you’re nicely full. But you’re not stuffed! It’s rude to say that you’re stuffed if someone gives you food.’

Tick Tock Turkey shook his head. ‘Well I don’t see the sense of that. What’s the point of eating if you don’t want to get stuffed? And even if you are completely stuffed, it’s not a problem, because there’s still always room for pudding. That’s one of the basic rules of eating. There is always room for pudding. Everyone knows that.’

‘Well, try some,’ said Blobert, ‘it is your surprise, after all.’

Blobert cut the pudding into three equal pieces.

Tick Tock Turkey licked his beak, picked up one of the pieces of pudding and shoved it into his mouth. He chewed happily. ‘Interesting,’ he said, through a mouthful of pudding. Then he took a second piece and stuck it in his mouth. ‘Lovely flavour, um, a delicate combination of tastes. A firm texture, nicely done, Chef.’ Then Tick Tock Turkey quickly gobbled the last piece, swallowing it without even chewing.

Future Dog and Blobert looked at the rock, which was now empty apart from a few crumbs.

Tick Tock Turkey quickly ate the crumbs as well, licking his beak happily. ‘Fair do’s, Blobert,’ he said. ‘That is not a bad pudding at all. I’ll give you that. Nice job, Blob! A bit moreish, though, isn’t it?’

Future Dog folded her arms, very disappointed. ‘Tick Tock Turkey,’ she said, ‘you ate the whole thing!’

‘It didn’t mean to sound ungrateful,’ said Tick Tock Turkey. ‘Thank you very much for the pudding, Blobert, it was very tasty. I am replete.’

‘My goodness,’ said Blobert. ‘You had the entire pudding. You should feel completely stuffed.’

‘To be honest,’ said Tick Tock Turkey, patting his grumbling tummy, ‘I don’t feel anywhere near replete. That was just a taster as far as I’m concerned. I need a truckload of that stuff – I’m a growing bird. Come on, Blobert, have you got any more cooked up? I’ve got a right hunger.’

‘I only made one,’ said Blobert, ‘and that was for all three of us. I really think you’ve had enough. A Very Filling Pudding is surprisingly filling. Usually a spoonful is plenty. Are you sure you feel alright?’

‘Forget that rubbish, Blobster,’ said Tick Tock Turkey, ‘a little never goes a long way with me! The usual rules don’t apply to this turkey – I’m still ravenous!’

‘I think Blobert’s right,’ said Future Dog. ‘You should have a rest. I’ve tasted Very Filling Pudding before and it can weigh very heavily on the stomach. Perhaps it just takes longer for you to feel full.’

‘That’s for sure,’ said Tick Tock Turkey. ‘But I’ve got the taste for it now. How long will it take to make another?’

‘Oh, I really don’t think you should have any more,’ said Blobert. ‘Anyway, it would take hours to make, and I’m afraid I’ve arranged to go climbing on Egg Mountain this afternoon, so I’ll be too busy. I might have a spare hour or two tomorrow morning.’

Tick Tock Turkey looked thoughtfully at the time watch strapped to his wing. ‘Hmm,’ he said, ‘I could always…’

‘No you don’t!’ said Future Dog.

‘What?’ said Tick Tock Turkey.

‘I know what you’re thinking,’ said Future Dog. ‘You’re thinking of using the watch to zoom into the future and have some more pudding tomorrow when Blobert’s cooked it!’

‘No I wasn’t,’ said Tick Tock Turkey.

And, in fact, although he could be a very silly bird, Tick Tock Turkey was thinking of something much cleverer than that.

He gobbled excitedly: ‘Yes! I’ve got an utterly brilliant plan. And I promise I won’t eat any other puddings. You’re both right. I know that one pudding is more than enough.’

He held one wing high in the air. ‘It’s time to use the time watch – I’ll see you two later! Well, I probably won’t be able to see you, Blobert, no offense, but you know what I mean.’

‘Don’t you dare eat any more puddings!’ said Future Dog.

With a quick fiddle on the watch button, Tick Tock Turkey whooshed away in a cloud of sparks.

He found himself standing in exactly the same place, beside the rock in the small, shady clearing. And the Very Filling Pudding was there! He had traveled back in time one quarter of an hour.

He could hear some voices not far away, down on the beach. It sounded like a dog was trying to teach a very grumpy turkey how to look at a blob. Tick Tock Turkey realised that it was him – with Future Dog and Blobert. He wanted to laugh out loud, but he kept quiet. Now he could eat the pudding again, by eating it before! And he still wouldn’t have had more than one pudding, because it was the same one.

Without any delay, he gobbled the pudding in one, two, three mouthfuls

‘Lovely,’ he said, quietly, and patted his tummy.

‘I don’t feel quite so hungry now,’ he said to himself, I suppose I should head back – I mean forward – to when I left. But I could manage a bit more. Perhaps I could have just one more mouthful…’

Tick Tock Turkey twiddled the watch, and whoosh! – he was in the same place again, but another quarter of an hour earlier. And the pudding was there again, all in one piece!

He could hear Future Dog down on the beach, explaining to the other Tick Tock Turkey how he should try to see Blobert, and that if he did he could have a surprise. The other Tick Tock Turkey didn’t know what the surprise was going to be – but this Tick Tock Turkey had already had two surprise puddings, and he was about to take a bite out of a third! He tried not to laugh again. He tasted the pudding. It was still warm from the stove, and a bit sticky. But it was absolutely delicious. Tick Tock Turkey couldn’t resist another taste and, before long, and with a bit of effort, he had eaten the whole lot. Again!

‘Same again!’ he said, and without delay, he whooshed back another quarter of an hour – three quarters of an hour in total – and gobbled down yet another Very Filling Pudding. This one didn’t go down so easily and he had to take his time, but finally it was all gone. He sat down and leaned against the rock.

‘Well,’ he said to himself. ‘I’ve got to admit, this Very Filling Pudding is finally starting to feel very filling. My tummy’s definitely full now. I should probably head back. I suppose this is what it feels like to be replete!’

He began to adjust the watch so that he could zoom forward to the future, to when he left Future Dog and Blobert.

‘But it seems such a waste,’ he said. ‘I know that if I go back in time again then there’ll be another delicious pudding. And that one’s going to be fresh out of Blobert’s stove. I’d love to know what it tastes like hot!’

So Tick Tock Turkey adjusted the time watch yet again, and whoosh! The pudding was steaming on the rock, and he could hear Blobert walking away from the clearing and saying hello to Future Dog on the beach. It was a whole hour earlier.

He slowly got to his feet, feeling extremely heavy, and rather tired, and leaned towards the pudding. He opened his beak to take a bite, but found that he felt a little ill.

‘Oh no,’ he said, ‘that’s not like me. Pull yourself together, Tick Tock Turkey – don’t let this lovely hot pudding go to waste!’

But no matter how much he tried, the more he thought about the steaming, hot pudding, then the more he started to feel sick, and full up. In fact, he wasn’t just full up; he was fuller than he had ever felt before.

‘My tummy hurts,’ he said. ‘I feel so heavy, and queasy. I can’t stand up.’

By now, Tick Tock Turkey was finding it very hard even to move, and with one final effort he managed to reach across his swollen tummy and adjust the time watch so that it would take him back to where he started, and away from this horrible, sickly pudding. He pushed the button.

SHOOWH!

‘He’s back,’ said Blobert.

Future Dog and Blobert looked down at Tick Tock Turkey, who was lying on the ground, holding his tummy and moaning.

‘I think,’ said Future Dog, ‘that the Very Filling Pudding has finally made you very full!’

‘“Full” is not the word,’ groaned Tick Tock Turkey. ‘I’m super-stuffed!’

‘It’s more polite to say “replete”,’ said Blobert, who – if you’re lucky enough to be able to see blobs – was smiling. ‘But this time you’re right: this Tick Tock Turkey is super-stuffed indeed!’

And that was the story of the Endless Pudding by Michael Brett.

Of all the animals on Egg Island, none of them thought about food more than Tick Tock Turkey. He once made the Best Sandwich Ever, but you have to take Tick Tock Turkey’s word for that – no one else got to taste it. The Best Sandwich Ever disappeared and then reappeared, which was very strange. And once, Tick Tock Turkey was so desperate to eat that he invented a brand new meal that comes in between breakfast and brunch; in the process he managed to create a mysterious egg out of thin air.

Now, why do all these odd things happen to Tick Tock Turkey? The answer is simple: Tick Tock Turkey, and his friend Future Dog, can travel in time, and it usually results in a lot of confusion.

Read by Natasha. Duration 22.55

Wherever you go in the world, and whether you are in the future or the past – not to mention the present – the number one food on everyone’s list is chocolate. White, dark, milky, with nuts, with caramel, any way you like it, chocolate is the best. And Egg Island is fortunate enough to have the world’s only Chocolate Tree. It’s made out of solid chocolate, with hot chocolate sauce in its centre, and it grows chocolate fruit all year round, as long as it has plenty of sun and shade and water.

Tick Tock Turkey had spent the best part of the day in the jungle, steadily gobbling his way through all of the chocolatey bits and pieces beneath the Chocolate Tree. He’d started with the juicy chocolate berries, which were so big and swollen with sugary goodness that they had fallen like chestnuts to the ground. Once they were all gone, he’d set about eating all of the chocolate leaves that had dried and curled in the sun before wafting gently on the breeze to fall in the shade of the tree. When they were finished, he munched the chocolate twigs that lay strewn about the jungle floor. The chocolate twigs didn’t taste anywhere near as nice as the berries, or the leaves. The twigs were dry and bitter. But they were still chocolate. Tick Tock Turkey decided they shouldn’t be wasted. Besides, he wasn’t full yet.

After a long time, and a considerable amount of gobbling, Tick Tock Turkey sat heavily at the bottom of the tree. His belly was packed with chocolate, and his beak and wings were covered in brown chocolate sauce.

‘Oh dear,’ he said, rubbing his tummy. ‘I feel queasy now. I must be full up. Future Dog says it’s important to eat enough, but never too much. I should stop for a rest, to let the food go down.’ He lay back in the sun, and licked some chocolate from his beak. ‘Okay – that’s enough rest. On with the chocolate!’

Tick Tock Turkey jumped to his feet and looked eagerly around him.

‘Oh no,’ he said. ‘It can’t all be gone!’

He strutted around the Chocolate Tree looking hard at the ground for more chocolate bits. ‘There must be something. A little bit of chocolate berry? A twig? A leaf? Maybe a piece of bark that’s fallen off?’

But there was nothing more to eat.

Tick Tock Turkey sighed and shrugged. Then his eyes wandered up to the Chocolate Tree. There had been plenty of rain and sun in the past few days, and the tree had a decent crop of chocolate berries and even some big, stripy, chocolate bananamatoes dangling from its branches.

Tick Tock Turkey’s eyes grew large and his tongue wagged. ‘They look so juicy and sweet,’ he said. ‘But Future Dog told me off for picking things straight from the tree. She said if I keep on taking chocolate sauce from the trunk for my sandwiches, and eating all the fruit without letting some fall to the ground, that eventually the Chocolate Tree won’t grow anymore, and there’ll be no more chocolate on Egg Island Ever. And that wouldn’t do.’

He looked sadly at the tree. ‘But I’m so hungry. In fact, if I don’t eat something soon, I might faint or get sick. And no one would want that. I’m sorry Mister Chocolate Tree – but this is a medical emergency and I need some bananamatoes right now! Doctor’s orders!’

With a loud flap of his wings and a flurry of feathers, Tick Tock Turkey hopped into the branches and started gobbling the fruit. He stuffed a few berries into his beak and then got to work on a particularly large bananamato.

‘TICK TOCK TURKEY!’ came an angry voice from below. ‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING?’

Tick Tock Turkey froze. It was Future Dog, and she looked absolutely furious.

Tick Tock Turkey hopped down from the tree and hung his head. ‘I was just, um, checking how the fruit was getting on. They’re growing very well.’

‘Were you now?’ said Future Dog. ‘And how do you explain all the chocolate on your beak? And that half eaten bananamato you’re hiding behind your back?’

‘Oh, Future Dog,’ said Tick Tock Turkey. ‘I was just so hungry, I felt ill, and I had to have a tiny nibble. It won’t do any harm.’

Future Dog folded her paws crossly. ‘Tick Tock Turkey, you probably felt ill because you’ve eaten too much! What did I tell you about the Chocolate Tree? It’s very precious and you have to be extremely careful with it.’

‘I’m sorry,’ said Tick Tock Turkey. ‘I won’t do it again. But it’s just soo tasty…’

‘And that’s why it’s so special,’ said Future Dog. ‘Now let’s go down to the beach, and maybe you can get some exercise and work off some of that fatty chocolate.’

‘Exercise?’ said Tick Tock Turkey, ‘bor-ing. What’s that you’ve got in your hand?’

Future Dog held up a small musical instrument with strings. ‘This is a banjo. I’m teaching Blobert how to play.’

‘Blobert!’ sniffed Tick Tock Turkey, ‘that stupid blob.’

‘Don’t be rude about people who aren’t here,’ said Future Dog. ‘Blobert is actually a very good player.’

‘Fair enough,’ said Tick Tock Turkey. ‘But I can’t imagine how he plucks the strings with those blobby fingers.’

‘That’s enough,’ said Future Dog. ‘I’m going to play volleyball. If you aren’t coming, then at least try to stay out of trouble. And no more chocolate today!’

Future Dog strolled off through the jungle towards the beach.

Tick Tock Turkey watched her go.

And then Tick Tock Turkey did something very naughty.

‘If I can’t eat any more chocolate today,’ he said, ‘then I can eat some more yesterday. There’s nothing for it – I’m going to use the time watch!’

He fiddled with the button on his watch.

There was a fizz and sizzle of sparkling lights around him, a loud WHOOSH!, and everything was still again.

Tick Tock Turkey looked around. The jungle appeared more or less as it should. The trees were the same, although perhaps a little smaller. He could see Egg Mountain very clearly in the middle of the island – tall and grey against the cloudy sky. The view of the mountain wasn’t usually so clear. He could also see a big turkey statue nearby. This statue was usually covered in moss and vines, but now it looked clean and bright and new. Its edges were sharp. He could hear strange drums beating somewhere deep in the jungle.

‘Very odd,’ he said, with a shiver. ‘Anyway, let’s have some of those delicious bananamatoes!’

But the Chocolate Tree wasn’t there.

There was a big gap in the jungle where the tree should be.

‘What?’ said Tick Tock Turkey. ‘Where’s it gone? It’s such a huge tree! And it was there just now. I mean, it was there tomorrow, where – I mean when – I just was. What?’

The tree was nowhere to be seen.

Tick Tock Turkey waddled up to the exact spot where the trunk of the Chocolate Tree used to sprout from the earth. He peered down, squinting, and poking at the ground with his feet.

‘Where could it be?’ he said.

Tick Tock Turkey noticed something peeping through the soil. It was a tiny brown shoot. He sniffed it. Definitely chocolatey! He pulled at the shoot with his beak and, gradually, out came a long, thick, sugary chocolate root. By the time it was all of the way out of the ground it was as tall as Tick Tock Turkey himself.

‘Eureka!’ cried Tick Tock Turkey. He took a bite. It was quite simply the sweetest, chocolatiest, most delicious thing he had ever eaten.

‘I’m in chocolate heaven!’ he said, and, with a few enormous gobbles, he finished the root.

He let out an enormous burp.

‘That was spectacular,’ he said, patting his swollen tummy. ‘I’d better get back before Future Dog misses me.’ He fiddled with the time watch again. ‘I’ll try to go back to just after I left, then no one will suspect a thing!’

He pushed the button, and, with a loud SHOOWH!, he was back in the jungle clearing of today.

‘What have you been doing?’ asked Future Dog, who was standing there waiting, tapping her paw on the ground.

‘Oh, hello,’ said Tick Tock Turkey, taken aback, ‘I was just, um, trying out the time watch. I think I’ve got the hang of it now, thank you.’

‘Well,’ said Future Dog, ‘I came back to check on you, and I was very surprised to see what’s happened to the Chocolate Tree.’

‘I didn’t do anything!’ gobbled Tick Tock Turkey. ‘You said no more chocolate today and I haven’t had anymore chocolate today. I didn’t touch the Chocolate Tree again today!’

Future Dog shook her head. ‘Then how do you explain that?’ and she pointed at the tree.

That is, Future Dog pointed to where the tree should have been. But there was no tree there.

‘Not again,’ said Tick Tock Turkey, ‘it’s got a habit of doing that.’

‘Oh, Tick Tock Turkey,’ sighed Future Dog, ‘what have you done?’

Tick Tock Turkey flapped his wings and gobbled his story in a rush: ‘You said no more chocolate today but you never said no more chocolate yesterday so I went back in time to yesterday to have more chocolate but there was no Chocolate Tree there so I ate a chocolate root instead and then I came forward in time to today and there’s no Chocolate Tree here either!’ He took a deep breath. ‘So I don’t see how it’s my fault.’

‘We all love chocolate,’ said Future Dog, ‘but you want to have it all to yourself. That way everyone misses out in the end – even you. Now show me exactly what you did with the watch, and let’s see if we can tidy up this mess. Otherwise there’ll never be any chocolate on Egg Island ever again.’

‘No one would have any chocolate ever again?’ cried Tick Tock Turkey. ‘I never meant for that. I just wanted a bit of chocolate for myself. Future Dog, we’ve got to save the tree!’ He held up the time watch: ‘I wound the watch back to here – yesterday. That’s about right, isn’t it?’

Future Dog looked at the watch dial and then slapped her forehead with her paw. ‘Tick Tock Turkey! You went back hundreds of years! To when Egg Island was still a part of the land of Turkeytopia!’

‘Gosh!’ said Tick Tock Turkey. ‘That explains why everything looked so different.’

‘The root that you ate must have been the root of the one and only Chocolate Tree when it was just a sapling!’

‘So that’s why it tasted so incredibly delicious!’ he licked his beak at the memory.

Future Dog frowned.

‘Sorry,’ said Tick Tock Turkey, ‘I’m very sorry I ate it.’

‘Okay,’ said Future Dog, ‘so we need to go back a few moments earlier than you did last time, and stop you before you eat the root.’

Tick Tock Turkey flapped his wings. ‘Eh? We, that is, you and me – are going to go back in time and stop… me? Oh my head, that is confusing.’

‘Come on,’ said Future Dog. She fiddled with the button on the time watch, grabbed hold of Tick Tock Turkey’s wing, and with a WHOOSH! they were in the ancient land of Turkeytopia.

The green jungle was around them, throbbing with the sound of drums.

‘Who’s making the music?’ asked Tick Tock Turkey. ‘It’s got a funky beat.’

‘Those are the wild turkey tribes,’ said Future Dog. ‘Some of them must be your great, great grandparents!’

‘Wow,’ said Tick Tock Turkey. ‘I should pop round for tea.’

‘Oh no, that would cause all kinds of confusion,’ said Future Dog, ‘and things are confused enough already. After all – you’re about to meet yourself!’

There was a loud WHOOSH!, and there, stepping out of a cloud of sparks nearby, was another Tick Tock Turkey.

‘What?’ said Tick Tock Turkey.

‘What?’ said the other Tick Tock Turkey.

‘This should be interesting,’ said Future Dog.

‘Who the egg do you think you are?’ said the other Tick Tock Turkey.

‘I’m Tick Tock Turkey, you silly bird!’ said Tick Tock Turkey.

‘You’re having a laugh,’ said the other Tick Tock Turkey. ‘Tell him, Future Dog.’

‘I’m staying out of this,’ said Future Dog.

‘You’re too scruffy to be me!’ said Tick Tock Turkey.

‘And you’re too silly to be me!’ said the other Tick Tock Turkey. ‘This is doing my head in. What are you doing here, Future Dog? I thought you were playing volleyball.’

‘What are you doing here?’ said Tick Tock Turkey. ‘You haven’t come to steal some chocolate by any chance?’

‘Oh this is just too weird,’ said the other Tick Tock Turkey. ‘I’m having a nasty dream from too much chocolate. I won’t be doing that again! I’m off.’

And with that, the other Tick Tock Turkey pushed the button on his time watch and vanished with a loud SHOOWH!

‘I thought that would sort itself out,’ said Future Dog. ‘Well done, Tick Tock Turkey.’

‘Um, thanks,’ said Tick Tock Turkey. ‘That was the strangest thing that has ever, ever happened.’

‘Yes, it was rather strange,’ said Future Dog.

‘I don’t understand how that other me was so scruffy and silly. And rude! I’m not like that at all.’

‘Hmm,’ said Future Dog.

‘And where’s he gone?’ asked Tick Tock Turkey. ‘I don’t like to think there’s another me out there. What if I bump into me again? It’s so confusing.’

‘Yes, it is rather complicated. But I wouldn’t worry about it right now. Let’s go back to where we started and see if the Chocolate Tree is alright.’

‘Okey doke,’ said Tick Tock Turkey, still very puzzled.

Future Dog pushed the button on the time watch and held tightly onto Tick Tock Turkey’s wing. With a SHOOWH! they found themselves back in the jungle clearing of today. Vines and moss covered the ancient turkey statue, and there in front of them the Chocolate Tree stood tall and brown, laden with bananamatoes and berries, looking healthier and taller than ever before.

‘Well,’ said Future Dog, ‘that’s a good result. The tree looks wonderful!’

‘Yes it does!’ said Tick Tock Turkey. ‘Big and delicious. Let’s eat some chocolate to celebrate!’

‘Oh dear,’ said Future Dog. ‘Haven’t you learned your lesson?’

‘Lighten up, misery guts!’ said Tick Tock Turkey. ‘It was a joke. There’d never be any fun around here if it wasn’t for me – the one and only Tick Tock Turkey.’

‘That’s true,’ said Future Dog. ‘The one and only Tick Tock Turkey – apart from the other Tick Tock Turkey!’

Tick Tock Turkey shook his head. ‘That stupid bird!’ .

By Michael Brett. Continuing the adventures of the scruffy time-traveling turkey (see The Disappearing Sandwich).

We return to Egg Island to answer the age-old question: which came first, the turkey or the egg? Future Dog and Jen Penguin solve the case of the mysterious egg, while Tick Tock Turkey goes in search of sea worms for his Lunchfast.

Read by Natasha. Duration 25 mintues

On a sunny but rather cool morning on Egg Island, Tick Tock Turkey was thinking about food, as usual. He flapped up and down the beach, squawking and muttering and looking crossly at the sundial, where the long thin shadow of a stone egg pointed out the time. Not far away, in the pleasant shade of a gently curving palm-tree, Future Dog quietly got on with her morning yoga, carefully balancing on her hind legs and tail, breathing deeply.

‘I can’t believe it’s only an hour since breakfast,’ said Tick Tock Turkey. ‘I’m so hungry, I know that can’t be the real time. My tummy says it’s definitely lunchtime, so that stupid sundial must be broken.’

Future Dog, who was very familiar with Tick Tock Turkey’s impatience, laughed.

‘Are you laughing at me?’ squawked Tick Tock Turkey. ‘The cheek. I’m about to starve to death because of a broken sundial and you think it’s funny.’

‘I’m not laughing because you’re hungry…’ Future Dog peered over her sunglasses. ‘Starving is never a laughing matter. Not when it’s real, anyway. I laughed because the sundial can’t be broken.’

Tick Tock Turkey flapped his feathers. ‘What do you mean? That sundial is slow! It’s not working! It’s wound down! Someone needs to wind it up! In fact, I don’t remember anyone winding it up ever. Or changing the battery, or anything.’

Future Dog eased into her next yoga position. She balanced on her head with her legs stretched out wide, her tail wagging elegantly from side to side. ‘Tick Tock Turkey,’ she said, calmly, ‘do you know how a sundial works?’

Tick Tock Turkey gobbled, a little offended. ‘Do I know how a sundial works? Do I? Well everyone knows how a sundial works don’t they? The big dark hand points to the time. It goes round, and you know what time it is. And that is how a sundial works.’

Future Dog carefully lowered herself from her headstand, stood up, let out a deep breath and said, ‘Tick Tock Turkey – the sun is bright and makes the shadow, the sun moves through the sky as the world turns around, and the shadow pteoints to different places as the day goes on. It doesn’t need to be wound up, it doesn’t need a battery, and it works as long as the sun keeps on rising and setting and moving across the sky. And that’s it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have yoga to do!’

With that, Future Dog rolled up her yoga mat and walked away up the beach.

‘Alright, keep your fur on,’ said Tick Tock Turkey. ‘I know about the sun. Everybody knows about the sun. And if this sundial is so brilliant then how come it stops working in cloudy weather? It’s a cheap one if you ask me. If Egg Island ever floats past a clock shop, we should get a new one.’

Future Dog paused for a moment, as if she was about to say something, but then carried on walking. She found a shady spot beneath a big turkey statue, unrolled her yoga mat in the sand, and carried on with her exercises.

‘Alright,’ said Tick Tock Turkey to himself, ‘so it’s not lunchtime yet. And it’s only an hour after breakfast, so it’s too early for brunch. No bother – I’ll have lunchfast. It’s never too early for lunchfast.’

Tick Tock Turkey scratched his tummy feathers with his wing and licked his beak with his tongue. ‘What do I fancy to eat? Hmm. Worms. Well, I had worms for breakfast. So that wouldn’t do. It’s not on to have the same meal twice. But I love worms so much. Hang on – those were earthworms that I ate earlier. There’s nothing to stop me having a different kind of worms for lunchfast. How about seaworms? Yes. I haven’t had seaworms for ages. That’ll do nicely!’

Tick Tock Turkey scrambled up the beach to his small nest by the edge of the jungle, pulled on his swimming trunks, and ran back down to the shore, gobbling and squawking excitedly at the thought of all those delicious, salty seaworms.

He was just about to dive into the frothy waves when he remembered something. ‘Oh yes,’ he said, ‘I mustn’t going swimming with the time watch on.’ He unbuckled the strap of his time-travelling watch and placed it carefully on a stone in the sand. ‘Future Dog says it’s not waterproof. She’d go mad if it got broken. Broken like that stupid sundial!’

Tick Tock Turkey chuckled, but not too loud – he didn’t want to spoil grumpy Future Dog’s yoga. ‘I should be careful anyway,’ he said, ‘after all, it is the only time watch in the world.’

Then Tick Tock Turkey took a deep breath and dived in.

He gave an enormous squawk, and jumped straight back out onto the beach. He stood there, his eyes popping out of his head, shivering, clicking his beak, with his feathers dripping cold seawater onto the hot sand.

‘W-what t-the egg?’ he gobbled. ‘It’s f-f-f-f-freezing!’

Future Dog heard Tick Tock Turkey’s cries right across the beach, and she casually strolled down to see what he was up to.

‘F-f-f-Future D-Dog,’ said Tick Tock Turkey, his beak looking a little bluer than usual, ‘t-the w-water’s so c-cold. I’ve n-never kn-nown it s-so c-c-cold!’

‘Hmm,’ said Future Dog. ‘I think Egg Island might be drifting southwards. Now we were already quite far south, if I remember correctly, so that would bring us into much colder water. That must be it.’

Future Dog looked out to sea and squinted through her sunglasses. ‘It also explains all those penguins swimming out there.’ She pointed to a few cheerful penguins splashing and diving not far from the beach. One of them was sitting on a little block of ice that floated in the water.

‘Penguins?’ said Tick Tock Turkey with a frown, ‘I didn’t spot them before.’

One of the penguins bobbed to the surface and waved. ‘Hey there!’ she called. ‘Welcome to the south! You two should come and try some of these seaworms, they’re delicious!’

Tick Tock Turkey was furious. ‘That is so not fair,’ he huffed. ‘Stupid penguins with their stupid warm coats that let them swim in freezing water. I hope the seaworms make them sick.’

‘That’s not nice,’ said Future Dog. ‘You know, Tick Tock Turkey, I went for a swim this morning before I started my yoga, and the water was lovely and warm then. We must have been much closer to the equator. It isn’t the penguins’ fault you missed out. And you know what they say – the early bird catches the seaworm!’ She smiled.

‘Very funny,’ said Tick Tock Turkey. ‘But I’m not having it! I’m not letting them have all the food. I’m not going to swim in cold water either. What to do?’ He scratched his head.

‘There’s nothing for it,’ he raised one wing high in the air, ‘I’m going to use the time watch!’

‘Here we go again,’ said Future Dog.

‘That’s right!’ said Tick Tock Turkey. ‘I’m going to go back in time, to when the water was still warm, and I’m going to gobble up all the salty seaworms I can find before those pesky penguins turn up.’

Future Dog sighed. ‘Very well. I suppose a turkey’s got to do what a turkey’s got to do. Just be careful. I’m going to play tennis with Blobert, so I won’t be around to help if you get into trouble.’

Tick Tock Turkey squawked. ‘Trouble? It’ll be easypeasy. And you’re playing tennis with Blobert? He’s just a blob. He can’t play tennis.’

‘I’m giving him lessons,’ said Future Dog. ‘Anyway, just use the time watch carefully – don’t get it wet. We’ll see you later for lunch.’

‘Don’t hold your breath,’ said Tick Tock Turkey, fastening the watch on his wing, ‘I plan to have so much lunchfast I won’t be needing lunch. Not tea either, or dinner, or pudding or supper, or even bedtime bickies. I’m going to stuff myself enough for the whole day.’

As Future Dog wandered off to find Blobert for their tennis lesson, she heard behind her a very loud WHOOSH. There went Tick Tock Turkey, zooming into the past in search of a feast. And Future Dog had seen it all before.

Later that day, after the tennis lesson, after lunch, when Blobert had blobbed off somewhere else to do whatever it is that blobs do, Tick Tock Turkey was nowhere to be seen, or heard.

Future Dog was worried. It seemed that Tick Tock Turkey had gone into the past, and not come back.

‘Oh dear,’ she said. ‘I shouldn’t have left him on his own.’ She felt sorry that she’d laughed at him. But then he was a very silly bird. And now he could be stuck in the past, perhaps forever!

Future Dog hurried down to the seashore where she had last seen Tick Tock Turkey. There was no sign of him. She shuddered. Poor Tick Tock Turkey could be anywhere, and anytime! If he was too clumsy with the time watch, he could have gone back much too far. He could be in a prehistoric world being frightened by dinosaurs! Or, in his excitement, he could have wound the watch the wrong way altogether and ended up far in the future! Future Dog knew all about the future, but poor Tick Tock Turkey wouldn’t have a clue!

The penguins were still splashing around in the cold sea, gobbling their seaworms, and performing trick dives off their miniature iceberg.

‘Help!’ called Future Dog. ‘Did any of you see my friend earlier – the turkey?’

One of the penguins swam in to the beach and waddled up the sand.

‘Hello, I’m Jen,’ she said. ‘The turkey did you say? You mean that scruffy-looking bird? Oh sure, he fiddled around with a watch and then he vanished, whoosh, into thin air. Just like that. We all thought it was the weirdest thing.’

‘And he didn’t come back?’ asked Future Dog.

‘Nuh uh,’ said Jen Penguin, flapping her flippery wings. ‘He never did.’

‘Oh no,’ said Future Dog.

‘But we found this,’ said Jen. She stood aside to show a large white egg nestled in the sand. ‘It’s an egg. We’ve been playing wingball with it in the water. It’s not a penguin egg. It’s the wrong shape. I think it’s an octopus egg. Len Penguin over there thinks it’s a snake egg, and Sven Penguin thinks it’s a dog egg. What do you think?’

Future Dog looked at the egg. It was quite fresh. ‘It’s certainly not a dog egg, thank you very much. We don’t lay eggs. But where could it have come from?’

‘Beats me,’ said Jen. ‘It wasn’t there, and then it was there. Weird.’

‘That is strange,’ said Future Dog.

‘Uh huh,’ said Jen. ‘Just like the turkey was there, and then he wasn’t there. Weird.’

‘Hmm,’ said Future Dog, thinking very hard.

‘It’s just like that old question,’ said Jen. ‘You know – what came first, the bird or the egg?’

‘Yes,’ said Future Dog, ‘it’s just like that. And in this case, the bird definitely came before the egg.’

‘Well,’ said Jen, ‘I don’t suppose you’d know about this, being a dog, but for us penguins, eggs and birds and eggs and birds tend to come one after another after another.’

‘I suppose that makes sense,’ said Future Dog, ‘but I can’t worry about that egg now. I need to find a way to get Tick Tock Turkey back!’

‘I couldn’t tell you how it all started, continued Jen, quite ignoring Future Dog’s concern. ‘I mean the very first bird or the very first egg. But from what my mum says, I know I began as an egg. You know, when I was little.’

’Eggs!’ said Future Dog, ‘That’s it!’ She slapped her forehead with her paw. ‘I think I know what happened!’

Jen Penguin flapped her flippers. ‘Go on, tell!’

‘Turkeys start as eggs – just like penguins,’ said Future Dog. ‘I thought my friend Tick Tock Turkey had gone back in time to this morning to eat seaworms, and never came back. And then this egg had appeared from nowhere. My conclusion is that Tick Tock Turkey never left!’

‘Nonsense,’ said the penguin. ‘You’re talking rubbish. This is why we penguins stay on the ice. Too much hot sun has driven you bonkers and you’ve gone dotty.’

‘Just bear with me,’ said Future Dog, ‘this sort of thing happens all the time round here. As I was saying, Tick Tock Turkey never left. He must have turned himself back into an egg.’

She pointed at the mysterious egg. ‘That is Tick Tock Turkey – before he was a chick. He hasn’t even hatched!’

Jen Penguin squinted at the egg, unconvinced. ‘Sounds daft to me,’ she said. ‘But just say it is true, then your turkey is going to have to grow up into a full grown bird all over again. What a drag!’

‘Tick Tock Turkey is trouble enough,’ said Future Dog. I can’t even imagine what bother a little Chick Tock Turkey could cause! Oh no. Poor Tick Tock Turkey is back in his egg and it’s all my fault. I never should have given him that watch in the first place!’

While they had been talking, the sun had been shining brightly on the egg in the sand. It had been getting warmer and warmer.

Then there was a quiet tap. Then again. Tap tap. And again. Tap tap tap. The tap tapping, so gentle at first, became louder and louder. Future Dog and Jen Penguin leaned in closely. They saw a small crack appearing in the shell. The crack got longer, and split into two cracks, and then three, until finally the shell chipped open and a tiny yellow beak poked through the hole.

The beak tapped at the edges of the hole and at last the shell cracked open. A very fluffy little turkey chick popped out onto the sand, chirping with a tiny voice.

‘It’s a boy!’ laughed Jen.

Future Dog looked down at Chick Tock Turkey and shook her head. ‘Dear me,’ she said.

Chick Tock Turkey waddled happily along the sand and pecked at Future Dog’s leg.

‘I think he likes you!’ said Jen.

‘But he’s just a baby,’ said Future Dog. ‘What a disaster.’

‘What’s that?’ Jen pointed her flipper to something lying in the broken eggshell.

Future Dog could just make out a red strap, and the dial of a watch. She barked in relief, ‘Thank goodness! It’s the time watch. We’ll have this fixed in no time!’

Future Dog took the time watch, fiddled with the button, and quickly strapped it onto Chick Tock Turkey’s little wing.

‘He must have put it on the wrong wing after his swim. That makes it work the other way – instead of travelling back in time, he made himself go backwards. Now keep clear – this is going to be noisy!’

Suddenly a cloud of sparks and light fizzed around the chick. There was a gust of wings and feathers and then a very loud SHOOWH!

And there stood Tick Tock Turkey, utterly befuddled.

‘What?!’ he squawked. ‘What happened? Where did I go? I dreamed I was inside a little warm room. Then it started bouncing around. Then there was a little crack of light. Then I was in an enormous sunny desert. And you, Future Dog, you were twenty feet tall. And there was a giant penguin! And other giant penguins swimming! And an enormous iceberg fifty feet high! What time is it? Where’s my lunchfast? My head! I’m so confused…’

‘I’ll explain it later,’ said Future Dog. I think you’re going to need a few more lessons on how to use the time watch.’

‘I was in such a hurry to get my seaworms,’ said Tick Tock Turkey, ‘I think I might have put it on the wrong wing.’

‘Well, it’s good to have you back,’ said Future Dog.

‘Even though you never left!’ said Jen Penguin.

‘Who are you?’ squawked Tick Tock Turkey.

‘I’m Jen Penguin. Now, if you’re such a big fan of seaworms that you’d turn yourself into an egg and back, then Len, Sven and I will catch you all the lunchfast you can eat! And you won’t have to go into the cold water.’

‘That’ll do nicely,’ said Tick Tock Turkey, and he sat back in the sand. ‘Serve it up!’

Read by Natasha Gostwick Duration 25 minutes.

By Michael Brett

This is a story about a very odd bird called Tick Tock Turkey, his friend Future Dog, and a sandwich that disappeared, mysteriously, into thin air….

Tick Tock Turkey and his friend Future Dog live on Egg Island, and float with thier home through time and space. Tick Tock Turkey concentrates his mind on the really important things in life – such as making the best sandwich ever – and when things don’t quite work out as he plans, all he has to do is turn back the hands of his very special watch.

This tale of a scruffy time-travelling turkey has been specially written for Storynory.

Read by Natasha. Duration 23 Minutes

This is a story about a very odd bird called Tick Tock Turkey, his friend Future Dog, and a sandwich that disappeared, mysteriously, into thin air.

Tick Tock Turkey is a brown feathery bird, a bit scruffy, and a bit clumsy. He has a special watch with a red button that he wears on one of his wings.

Future Dog – as you can probably guess – is a dog, and she comes from the future. She has black fur, blue and gold hair on her head, and wears dark sunglasses all the time. Even at night.

Tick Tock Turkey and Future Dog have an interesting talent. They can travel in time. They can go forward into the future, when thing haven’t happened yet, or backward into the past, when things have already happened. Time travel is quite complicated, so it’s a good idea to explain one or two things about it.

You’re probably thinking: ‘It isn’t possible to travel in time. It can’t be done!’ However hard you try, no matter what you do, it’s always right now. It’s never yesterday, and it’s never tomorrow. It is always today. You might say to yourself: ‘I can’t wait until tomorrow! It’s going to be so much more exciting than today!’ and then jump into bed and shut your eyes tight and make yourself go to sleep so that tomorrow comes quickly.

But what happens when you wake up? It’s not tomorrow at all. It’s just a different today. It’s always today, no matter what you do.

Just imagine that you could say to yourself: ‘I’m so bored with Monday. And Tuesday doesn’t look very exciting. Wednesday and Thursday look pretty dull. Now, I was planning to go out for ice cream on Friday, which will be much more fun. So: I’m going to push a button and make it Friday, right now. I’ll just zoom into the future and miss out all those boring days in between…’

So you push a button, and zap! It’s Friday! And there’s so much ice cream you can’t stop yourself even though you know you’re probably going to have a sore tummy and a headache.

Hang on. That doesn’t happen, does it? No one can push a button and zoom into the future.

But what if you could say to yourself: ‘I really enjoyed going to the beach last weekend. The sun was so hot and I got to lounge around for hours and swim in the sea and look for crabs in the rock pools and play football on the sand. But now it’s raining and miserable and I’m stuck indoors. So: I’m going to push a button and make it last weekend, right now. I’ll just zoom into the past and get away from this boring rainy day…’

So you push a button, and zap! It’s last weekend! And you can play and swim and eat ice lollies all day and then, when the day is over, you can zoom back to this morning and do it all over again!
Hang on. That doesn’t happen either, does it? No one can push a button and zoom into the past whenever they feel like it.

Well, that scruffy Tick Tock Turkey, and that flashy Future Dog, they can travel in time. They can go forward into the future, or backward into the past, using a special time-travelling watch.
Now, time travel isn’t always as much fun as it sounds. Sometimes time travel can cause plenty of bother. It’s complicated zooming back to yesterday, or zooming forward to tomorrow, and then zooming back to today and still remembering when it is and where you are. In fact, sometimes time travel can cause so much bother that it hardly seems worthwhile.

Tick Tock Turkey’s disappearing sandwich caused a lot of confusion. The story of Tick Tock Turkey’s sandwich is a good one to hear, if you want to know just how peculiar time travelling can be.
*

Tick Tock Turkey and Future Dog live in a strange place called Egg Island. Egg Island isn’t the biggest island in the world, but it’s not small either. It has a mountain in the middle, surrounded by a deep, dark jungle, and a bright sandy beach all the way around its shores.

Across the island there are hundreds of stone turkeys, tall statues with enormous stone eggs balanced on their heads, each carved from the mountain rock by clever turkeys long ago. Egg Island used to be part of the land of Turkeytopia, a whole country of birds. But now Egg Island drifts across the seas of the world, like an enormous boat with no sail.

Egg Island also does something mysterious. It doesn’t only drift across the seas, it also floats through time. It drifts forward into the future, and backward into the past, as the tide takes it. When Egg Island comes ashore, which it does every now and then, for a little while, there is no telling where, or when, it could be!

On one very misty morning on Egg Island, with the shadows of the big turkey statues growing ever shorter as the sun rose ever higher, with the strange animals in the jungle making ever stranger noises as it grew ever hotter, Tick Tock Turkey set about making the best sandwich ever.

Tick Tock Turkey didn’t just like sandwiches. Everybody likes sandwiches. Tick Tock Turkey thought that sandwiches were the best kind of food that had ever been invented. And this particular sandwich was going to be the single best sandwich that had ever been made. Ever.

Tick Tock Turkey took the business of making sandwiches very seriously, and everything had to be done just right. First of all, he cleared some space on a flat tree stump at the edge of the jungle by the beach. This would be his sandwich-making table. He scampered into the jungle and gathered up some thick crusty bread slices from the bread bushes beside one of the jungle lakes. On Egg Island, all kinds of food grow just like this. When it comes to the best sandwich ever made, only the flattest, crustiest, chunkiest pieces of bread will do. Tick Tock Turkey picked two of the crustiest and chunkiest.

He took an empty coconut shell and dipped it into the lake – which was made of warm butter – filled it up to the brim, and brought the bread and butter back to the table. Next, Tick Tock Turkey fetched some orange lettuce, some blue tomatoes and a big yellow onion. Things are sometimes unusual colours on Egg Island! When he had taken those things and put them on the table, he went back to the jungle and fetched a big wedge of purple cheese from the cheese tree, and some peppery mustard from the mustard swamp. Mustard was Tick Tock Turkey’s favourite.

He was getting extremely hungry now – his mouth was starting to water, and he couldn’t wait to put all the ingredients together. But he didn’t have everything he needed. Two more essential ingredients would give the sandwich that special something. Can you guess what they were?

That’s right – pink gravy, and hot chocolate sauce.

No sandwich is complete without pink gravy and hot chocolate sauce.

Tick Tock Turkey rummaged through the jungle vines until he found a nice, healthy gravy plant. He picked a pair of plump, pink gravy fruit. He climbed up a rocky slope to the huge, old chocolate tree, pecked into the trunk with his beak, and out oozed some thick, sugary chocolate. He filled up another coconut shell, carrying it to the beach on the end of his wing like a bucket, swishing little drops of hot brown chocolate behind him.

Finally, with all of the ingredients in front of him, Tick Tock Turkey was at last ready to begin making the best sandwich ever!

‘You’d better watch this, Future Dog,’ he called out across the beach, ‘this is going to be an absolutely incredible sandwich. Big and tasty. The best!’

All this time, Future Dog had been sitting on the beach nearby, lounging in the shade of a tall turkey statue, reading her book, and sipping from a cup of cool, delicious papaya fruit juice. Future Dog knew that Tick Tock Turkey was always up to some silly plan or another, trying to make sailboats from banana skins or trying to build beach houses with sand. And even though Tick Tock Turkey had been scampering backwards and forwards all morning, dashing into the jungle one minute, and dashing back onto the beach the next minute, gobbling and squawking excitedly with his wings laden with weird food,

Future Dog hadn’t been paying much attention. She’d seen it all before.

When the sandwich was done, with all the ingredients – including the pink gravy and chocolate sauce – packed inside the chunky slices of bread, Tick Tock Turkey decided that his sandwich looked absolutely delicious.

‘Have a look!’ he squawked. ‘Come on, Future Dog. Come here and have a look at my fantastic sandwich!’

Future Dog wasn’t in the mood. ‘Do I have to?’ she asked. ‘Only that smell of onions and mustard and gravy and chocolate all mixed together is wafting around and making me feel a bit queasy.’

Tick Tock Turkey scampered over to Future Dog and pulled the book from her paws.

‘Come on!’ he said. ‘Even if it’s not your favourite, I’m telling you it’s an amazing job – in fact, it’s a work of art, and you’d better look quick before I gobble it up!’

Future Dog shrugged: ‘Oh well, I suppose I should have a look,’ she said. ‘After all, you have been working very hard.’

Then, as they were about to look at Tick Tock Turkey’s sandwich, there was a sudden loud WHOOSH, quickly followed by a second loud WHOOSH. They jumped. In fact, the second WHOOSH wasn’t so much a WHOOSH as a WHOOSH backwards. A sort of SHOOWH.

‘What the egg was that?’ said Tick Tock Turkey.

‘I’m not sure,’ said Future Dog. ‘Although it did sound a bit familiar…’

‘Forget it,’ said Tick Tock Turkey, ‘I’m too hungry to care. It’s just some stupid island wind. Future Dog, here it is… the best sandwich ever!’

They looked over at the table to admire Tick Tock Turkey’s work.
But there was nothing there.

‘Whaat?!’ cried Tick Tock Turkey. ‘Where’s my sandwich? Where’s it gone? Whaat?!’ He flapped his wings until feathers fluttered to the sand. He ran around in a tiny circle.
Future Dog scratched her head. ‘Well, that is peculiar,’ she said. ‘But no one’s been here. It seems to have gone very quickly.’

‘Whaat?’ gobbled Tick Tock Turkey. ‘It was there a second ago! I only turned my back for an instant.

Whaat?’

‘And you didn’t see anyone else?’ asked Future Dog.

‘No one. Whaat?’

‘And you’re sure it was there?’

‘Of course it was there! It was big and huge and delicious and it smelled wonderful!’

Future Dog nodded. ‘Well, I don’t agree that it smelled wonderful, but it certainly stunk enough to have been there alright.’

Tick Tock Turkey fumed and squawked and ran around in another tiny circle.

Suddenly he stopped in his tracks, and stuck one wing up in the air.

‘There’s nothing for it,’ he said. ‘I’m going to use the Time Watch!’

‘The Time Watch?’ said Future Dog, ‘are you sure that’s really necessary? The sandwich can’t be far away. Even if someone has pinched it, they can’t have got far into the jungle and I’m sure we can catch them up.’

‘No,’ said Tick Tock Turkey, fiddling with the winder on the watch, ‘the only way to be absolutely sure
that I get my sandwich back in exactly the way I want it – and that means without anyone else having got their grubby hands on it or nibbled at it – is to go back in time to when it was there, and stop the thief before he makes his getaway!’

Future Dog scratched her chin. ‘Yes,’ she said thoughtfully, ‘I suppose that makes sense. You could turn the watch back a few minutes, pop through a time hole, and stop the thief in his tracks. Well, Tick Tock Turkey, for a very silly bird, that sounds like a clever plan.’

‘You bet,’ said Tick Tock Turkey. He stood by the empty table and twisted the winder on the watch so that the big hand turned backwards. Two minutes – to when the sandwich was still there.

He pushed the red button on the side of the watch… And WHOOSH! A time hole opened in front of him, like a hazy cloud of light and sparks, floating in the air.

‘I can see my sandwich!’ he squawked, peering through the hole. ‘And it looks delicious! And I can see myself talking to you, Future Dog, and I’m asking you to come and have a look at it! That means the thief will grab the sandwich any second now!’

‘And can you see the thief?’ asked Future Dog.

‘Not yet,’ said Tick Tock Turkey, ‘there doesn’t seem to be anyone else there. He must be hiding. But he’ll strike any second. I’m not taking any chances – I won’t let my sandwich get stolen twice!’
And with that, Tick Tock Turkey dived into the time hole. He vanished for a moment, and then, as quickly as he had gone, he reappeared, popping out with his sandwich safely between his wings. The hole shut behind him with a loud SHOOWH!

Tick Tock Turkey looked triumphant. ‘I’ve got my sandwich back! Yes! I’ve foiled the thief!’

‘Hang on,’ said Future Dog. ‘I thought those whooshing and shoowhing sounds we heard earlier were a bit familiar. It was a time hole opening and closing.’

Tick Tock Turkey shrugged. ‘Whatever. I’ve got it back – that’s the important thing.’
Future Dog sighed. ‘Well, Tick Tock Turkey, it means that means the thief who stole your sandwich was a time traveller, just like us.’

‘Doesn’t matter,’ said Tick Tock Turkey. ‘What’s important is that I’ve beaten the thief at his own game, and now the best sandwich ever is back!’
Future Dog slapped her forehead with her paw. ‘Oh dear,’ she said. ‘I think I know who took your sandwich.’

‘Nonsense,’ said Tick Tock Turkey. ‘I grabbed the sandwich before the thief got there, so we’ll never know.’

Future Dog sighed, ‘Well, I do know. You took the sandwich, Tick Tock Turkey.’
Tick Tock Turkey shook his head: ‘Whaat?’

‘You stole it from yourself!’

‘Whaat?’

‘The time traveller who stole your sandwich was you, from the future, coming back to get it!’

Tick Tock Turkey shook his head again, this time so hard that feathers flew off in all directions. ‘I’m so confused!’ he squawked.

‘It’s the only explanation,’ said Future Dog. ‘You stole your own sandwich from yourself. I’ve been time travelling for much longer than you, Tick Tock Turkey, and it’s the only possible explanation.’

‘Well, I reckon it’s just stupid,’ said Tick Tock Turkey, quite annoyed, ‘because why would I have gone back in time and taken it if someone hadn’t come and taken it into the future in the first place?’
Future Dog nodded thoughtfully. ‘It is rather complicated.’

Tick Tock Turkey squawked crossly. ‘I can’t believe that someone would come from the future and steal my sandwich. The cheek!’

He looked down at the big sandwich in front of him. ‘Oh,’ he said, frowning, ‘but I’ve still got the sandwich. Does that mean I’m the thief? Whaat? Ow. My head hurts from all this thinking.’

‘Cheer up,’ said Future Dog. ‘You can’t really steal from yourself, can you?’

‘I suppose not,’ said Tick Tock Turkey. ‘But I think I just did!’

‘Tuck in to your sandwich,’ said Future Dog. ‘After all, you’ve travelled in time to get it, and isn’t it supposed to be the best sandwich ever?’

Tick Tock Turkey shrugged, took an enormous bite from his sandwich, and started to gobble it down.
And aah… It was indeed. The best sandwich ever.