MFM Minisode 414

Speaker 1 This is exactly right.

Speaker 1 This podcast is sponsored by PayPal.

Speaker 2 Okay, let's talk holiday shopping.

Speaker 1 From now through December 8th, you can get 20% cash back when you pay in four with PayPal. No fees, no interest.

Speaker 5 This limited time offer is perfect for the Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals you've been eyeing.

Speaker 7 Save the offer in the app now.

Speaker 1 So, whether you're buying tickets to an improv show or a whodunit board game, PayPal helps you make the most of your money this holiday.

Speaker 7 Expires December 8th.

Speaker 11 See PayPal.com/slash promo terms subject to approval.

Speaker 1 Learn more at paypal.com/slash payin4, PayPal Inc. NMLS 910-457.

Speaker 13 Goodbye. Goodbye.

Speaker 1 No one brings out your inner monster like a bad neighbor.

Speaker 1 Claire Danes and Matthew Reese find that out for themselves in The Beast in Me, a new eight-episode drama from the team that brought you homeland.

Speaker 15 Danes plays Aggie Wiggs, a grieving writer.

Speaker 16 Reese plays Niall Jarvis, her new neighbor and possible murderer.

Speaker 1 But who's the monster and who's the bad neighbor? That's another story.

Speaker 16 It's a game of cat and mouse that sets them on a collision course with fatal consequences.

Speaker 1 The Beast and Me, now playing only on Netflix.

Speaker 18 You will not want to miss this.

Speaker 13 Goodbye. Goodbye.

Speaker 14 Your pet is your best friend, your therapist, and your unpaid intern.

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Speaker 25 Goodbye.

Speaker 26 Hello and welcome to my favorite murder.

Speaker 1 The mini soad.

Speaker 27 That's right.

Speaker 28 Stop arguing because it's real.

Speaker 30 We told you.

Speaker 1 We said we were going to do it.

Speaker 10 Listen, please listen.

Speaker 30 Give us the benefit of the doubt.

Speaker 12 Now go.

Speaker 24 Okay, now that we've just berated them.

Speaker 3 They like it.

Speaker 8 This is called Family Drama, Bloody Handprint.

Speaker 31 Hi.

Speaker 20 Day seven listener here and longtime dreamer of writing a hometown, but I never felt I had the right story.

Speaker 31 Wait, I don't know. Day seven?

Speaker 10 Episode seven or day seven, like seven days after we released the first episode?

Speaker 3 I don't know.

Speaker 1 It sounds like literally, I've been listening for seven days and I've dreamed of writing an email forever.

Speaker 35 Okay, we were both on the other sides of the.

Speaker 27 Okay.

Speaker 1 I don't think mine's right, though.

Speaker 36 I just think it's funny. That would be very funny.

Speaker 29 Today you asked for family drama, and I come from two large Catholic families and started thinking through all the family lore and shenanigans.

Speaker 39 Could I I tell you the story about dangling my little cousin down the second floor laundry chute?

Speaker 37 Oh.

Speaker 30 Or about the island my family used to own in Pittsburgh until they squandered away all of their money and it was seized by the government?

Speaker 9 Yeah.

Speaker 39 Nope. It has to be the bloody handprint on my grandparents' basement wall.

Speaker 27 Oh shit.

Speaker 4 When I was growing up, my grandparents lived in a split-level home, read lots of stairs, and the lowest level was a cement basement.

Speaker 20 I was down there one day, probably trying to find their grumpy cat, Mo,

Speaker 23 when I noticed something on one of the cement walls.

Speaker 8 I looked a little closer and thought it faintly looked like a brownish-colored handprint, obviously faded with time.

Speaker 36 Later that day in the car, I asked my dad, hey, is there a handprint on the basement wall at grandma's house?

Speaker 30 Oh yeah, that's from when your great-grandmother died.

Speaker 25 Uh, what?

Speaker 4 Yep, here's the story.

Speaker 44 My dad and his family of eight moved from Pittsburgh to Ohio when he was a kid, and his grandmother moved with them.

Speaker 39 It was a tight fit with everyone in the house, and my great-grandmother wasn't great with stairs or fully understanding where she was in the new house.

Speaker 9 She slept in the lower level.

Speaker 44 One night, she must have woken up and needed to go upstairs to the kitchen, but got confused and went to the cement basement stairs instead.

Speaker 7 She fell and hit her head.

Speaker 41 At some point, she touched her bloody head and then touched the wall, leaving the infamous bloody handprint.

Speaker 14 It is exactly, Yes, it is exactly what you fucking think it's going to be.

Speaker 1 Jesus Christ.

Speaker 9 I know.

Speaker 19 She did not die there on the floor, but she was not found until the morning and was taken to the hospital where she died later.

Speaker 1 That's just a straight-up track.

Speaker 24 Why are they doing this story is a question I'm asking myself right now.

Speaker 1 Let's see if they have a point. Let's see if we're going to get somewhere.

Speaker 10 I mean, the handprint remains to this day, I think, is the point that all our families are fucking morbid and weird, and we just go along with it like everything's fine.

Speaker 35 Right.

Speaker 1 What would have been the problem with going down and rinsing that handprint off?

Speaker 20 Rinsing, painting over it.

Speaker 42 Thanks for all you do and share.

Speaker 10 This podcast has dramatically impacted the way I see the world and myself. And though my husband is not a listener, he doesn't need to be because I literally retell him every single episode.

Speaker 11 Stay sexy and dig deep for those family stories because everyone's got them.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that's true. Beth.
Beth, good point.

Speaker 35 I think that's the point is like, everyone has a bloody handprint from their great-grandmother and the basement wall. Yeah.

Speaker 1 That for some reason no one is taking care of.

Speaker 29 Yeah, and that you have to ask about before they'll tell you about it.

Speaker 1 They'll let you, as a child, wander down into a darkened basement and discover it yourself.

Speaker 25 Right.

Speaker 1 And not be like, we want to keep that there as a remembrance or anything.

Speaker 38 It's just like, hey, go find it.

Speaker 10 It's the right of passage.

Speaker 26 Okay. You know, I'm going to stick.

Speaker 32 I am sticking with it.

Speaker 41 I am, what is it? Sticking by my.

Speaker 1 You're standing by it? I'm standing by it. Nice.
Stand by your email. yeah

Speaker 1 i mean i like it yeah it's very it's a very good point it is it's a little brene brown of like that idea that we're all supposed to be ashamed because we're not perfect right when in fact

Speaker 1 we all have we all have all these things yeah yeah okay

Speaker 1 the subject line of this email is you fucking debunked my hometown legend question mark exclamation point that says hi there k and g this is usually the part when someone says long time listener first time writer.

Speaker 1 However, I'm breaking the mold. I started listening to MFM in February 2024 and have been breezing through multiple episodes a day.

Speaker 1 Shout out to my friend Maria for getting me hooked and to Karen for recommending I skip the first 100 episodes.

Speaker 1 Why did you do that?

Speaker 12 I don't remember that.

Speaker 1 Because it was back when we were fucking just blabbing, saying all kinds of horrifying shit that now we're just like...

Speaker 30 There's so many episodes.

Speaker 1 There's so many episodes in the beginning it was just two gals recording a hang and having no idea what was happening that there was a fucking tidal wave

Speaker 29 but now we're doing rewind episodes so you can listen to those instead of going back to the first 100 you can listen to the rewind episodes sweet ass plugs there you go this was pre-rewind episodes sure and i was just giving people advice to skip stuff she wasn't wrong

Speaker 1 all right then this person writes i'll get there eventually now you don't have to well the rewind episodes

Speaker 1 okay in episode 843 karen covers the hammond india in a circus train break 43 for no not even close in episode 463 i don't there's no way i am that off that

Speaker 1 it's like what's my brain telling my mouth that it i said 843.

Speaker 23 this is our podcast and nothing has changed from the first 100 to

Speaker 36 now it's also the 100 actually not that different from what it it was in the beginning. You're just in the fourth 100.

Speaker 28 Right.

Speaker 1 Okay. In episode 453, Karen covers the Hammond, Indiana circus train crash and mentions showmen's rest at Woodlawn Cemetery, where the victims of the crash were buried.

Speaker 1 Woodlawn Cemetery is in my small hometown of Forest Park, Illinois. I've been considering

Speaker 1 writing in this hometown ever since I started listening, but the story I grew up hearing is a bit different.

Speaker 1 The town legend originally stated that the crash happened in Forest Park and that the only victims were four circus elephants.

Speaker 1 In Forest Home Cemetery in Forest Park, there are four large hills at each corner of the cemetery. The legend had it that the hills were actually the graves of those elephants.

Speaker 25 Oh.

Speaker 1 You're saying legend. I'm saying, was it your uncle who was just kind of like bored and telling you a story?

Speaker 36 Legendary uncle?

Speaker 43 So

Speaker 1 the most legendary uncle of Forest Park, Illinois?

Speaker 1 My new screenplay. The story seemed so far-fetched that even hearing it as a first grader, it never really made sense.

Speaker 1 I was thrilled to hear the real facts of the story in the latest spooky Halloween episode and felt an immense sense of pride knowing that there was at least some truth to our small town's legend.

Speaker 1 Forest Park is a blue-collar village just outside of Chicago that is only two square miles and is the home of three cemeteries.

Speaker 1 Part of the legend is that Forest Park held the world's record for the highest ratio of dead people to alive people. But I'll leave that to you, two experts, to debunk Daily City.

Speaker 12 Daily City, or Colma, right?

Speaker 1 Yeah. Which is the real

Speaker 1 funeral.

Speaker 35 I mean, all cemeteries.

Speaker 1 What if you got really competitive with Illinois, where we're like, um, I think that belongs to

Speaker 12 Culma.

Speaker 1 Okay, thank you both so much for being real as shit all the time.

Speaker 1 We can't help it.

Speaker 1 It's a crutch piece.

Speaker 1 You've inspired me to start therapy and become sober all in nine months of listening.

Speaker 12 Oh my God.

Speaker 32 It's taken me nine years and I'm fucking holding on one of those things.

Speaker 25 Also, this is bullshit.

Speaker 1 Like, this sounds like someone, it's like, write in this email to make them feel better.

Speaker 44 It's really changed my life.

Speaker 36 Double thumbs up.

Speaker 25 Yep.

Speaker 1 You are both very special to me, and I can't wait to see where the next year of listening takes me.

Speaker 1 And then it, parentheses, it says, more than likely, to the first 100 episodes.

Speaker 1 Stay sexy and check your hometown facts and dead to alive ratios. Raylyn She-Her.

Speaker 25 Raylin, I feel touched.

Speaker 29 I'm truly touched. I feel, that was touching.

Speaker 44 I feel touched.

Speaker 1 It's funny because we keep on making jokes, right, where we shouldn't

Speaker 1 when people are being touching with us.

Speaker 25 It's because we can't handle vulnerability.

Speaker 1 It doesn't feel great. Humor.

Speaker 37 Cover it all up with humor.

Speaker 1 This podcast is sponsored by PayPal.

Speaker 2 Okay, let's talk holiday shopping.

Speaker 1 From now through December 8th, you can get 20% cash back when you pay in four with PayPal. No fees, no interest.

Speaker 5 This limited time offer is perfect for the Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals you've been eyeing.

Speaker 7 Save the offer in the app now.

Speaker 1 So, whether you're buying tickets to an improv show or a whodunit board game, PayPal helps you make the most of your money this holiday.

Speaker 7 Expires December 8th.

Speaker 11 See paypal.com/slash promo terms subject to approval.

Speaker 1 Learn more at paypal.com/slash payin4, PayPal, Inc., NMLS 910-457.

Speaker 13 Goodbye. Goodbye.

Speaker 15 Don't miss Netflix's new series, The Beast in Me.

Speaker 1 It's a riveting psychological thriller from the team that brought you homeland.

Speaker 16 The Beast in Me follows acclaimed author, Aggie Wiggs, played by Claire Daines, who has withdrawn from public life after the tragic death of her young son.

Speaker 1 She's unable to write and is a ghost of her former self. But Aggie finds an unlikely subject for a new book when the house next door is bought by Niall Jarvis, played by Matthew Reese.

Speaker 16 Niall is a famed real estate mogul who was once the prime suspect in his wife's disappearance.

Speaker 1 Horrified and fascinated by this man, Aggie finds herself compulsively hunting for the truth, chasing his demons while fleeing her own.

Speaker 16 It's a game of cat and mouse that sets them on a collision course with fatal consequences.

Speaker 1 The beast and me now playing only on Netflix.

Speaker 18 You will not want to miss this.

Speaker 25 Goodbye. Goodbye.

Speaker 31 Okay, this one's called The Balloon Priest.

Speaker 7 Yep, you read that right.

Speaker 42 He would be friends with Lawn Chair Larry.

Speaker 44 It's the whole subject thing.

Speaker 8 Hi, Karen, Georgia, an MFM team.

Speaker 24 I have a hometown that will match Karen's story for Lawn Chair Larry, and it comes all the way from Brazil.

Speaker 32 Oh. The balloon priest.

Speaker 8 A tale equal parts inspiring, bizarre, and undeniably tragic.

Speaker 39 The year was 2008, and on April 20th, Father Adelier Antonio di Carli, or as he became known, the balloon priest, took flight from a city in the south of Brazil attached to 1,000 helium balloons.

Speaker 14 Father Adelier's mission wasn't just about grabbing attention.

Speaker 9 He had a purpose in mind.

Speaker 24 His goal was to raise funds for a rest area and chapel for truck drivers where they could take a break from the road, recharge, and find spiritual comfort.

Speaker 26 Sorry.

Speaker 43 That's so specific.

Speaker 36 I know. It's for like, maybe it's a cultural thing.
I don't know.

Speaker 1 It could be. And also, I know that truck drivers are exhausted all the time and actually probably really need that, but it's like usually orphaned children in a faraway area.

Speaker 27 Children are hungry.

Speaker 1 But how about let's think about the truck drivers?

Speaker 27 They're also hungry and tired.

Speaker 37 And they need a spiritual comfort.

Speaker 41 But to accomplish this, he decided to break the record for cluster ballooning and make it all the way to the state where his brother lived.

Speaker 10 It was both audacious and outrageous.

Speaker 29 People couldn't look away.

Speaker 16 Adelier even went through jungle survival courses, parachute training, and packed a GPS, parachute, and five days worth of food and water.

Speaker 12 On what?

Speaker 29 Are they about to sell us? I don't know.

Speaker 44 Packed on his back? I guess so.

Speaker 9 The only problem, he didn't know how to use the GPS.

Speaker 8 After taking off and reaching a dizzying 19,000 feet, and it says way higher than planned, he was heard frantically saying, quote, I need to figure out this GPS or no one will know where I am, end quote.

Speaker 41 It was a detail only our priest could overlook, but to his credit, he tried valiantly to reach the Coast Guard before his phone battery died.

Speaker 14 Unfortunately, by the time he called in his position, he was far off course, swept out over the ocean.

Speaker 33 Oh no.

Speaker 39 Despite efforts by the Navy, Air Force, and even a plane rented by his family, hope faded.

Speaker 9 Months later, in July 2008, the lower half of a body was found floating off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, 522 miles away from where he took flight.

Speaker 4 DNA tests confirmed it was Father Adelier closing this chapter in his remarkable journey.

Speaker 1 God, that's sad.

Speaker 9 And then it says, Jump to 2013, a pop country duo drops a dancing track that skyrockets to the top of the Brazilian charts and has everybody dancing to it in nightclubs and social events.

Speaker 39 I am going to leave you with some of the lyrics from that song.

Speaker 23 The sun is blazing, it's past noon.

Speaker 30 I'm not leaving.

Speaker 39 No one's moving me soon.

Speaker 38 I found my car in the pool outside, and my phone's in the microwave fried.

Speaker 30 DJ's crazier than the balloon riding priest.

Speaker 38 SSTGM, Sam, she, her.

Speaker 9 So now he's like a pop culture legend.

Speaker 29 Yes.

Speaker 44 Like, my life's so crazy, it's crazier than the balloon.

Speaker 36 The balloon riding priest.

Speaker 13 God.

Speaker 1 I'm just staggered at it was 2008.

Speaker 34 Yeah.

Speaker 1 So it's like this idea, there were people nearby and there was computers nearby and things that could have helped.

Speaker 10 Yes. Like a GPS.

Speaker 1 Fucking just learn it. That was like me getting that fucking car and then getting into it and being like, I don't know how to drive this car.

Speaker 41 Yeah, but a a GPS isn't going to steer you.

Speaker 35 You know what I mean? Correct.

Speaker 24 Like, I don't think learning the GPS would have helped at all.

Speaker 35 I think maybe something staying on the ground might have been a better

Speaker 24 decision. Walking.

Speaker 28 Well, this is like a long walk to raise money.

Speaker 25 How about, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 Let's keep it on the ground.

Speaker 1 And also, I think with launcher Larry's story, it's just like,

Speaker 1 do we all need to be told often that you can't control balloons?

Speaker 34 And they just go on the ball.

Speaker 19 And like, how many decades apart do we need to learn this lesson?

Speaker 36 It shouldn't be that close.

Speaker 1 I don't know. Like, 2008 seems like we're due.
Hey, hey, everybody, if you have some sort of plan to get a bunch of balloons.

Speaker 29 Well, there's Balloon Boy.

Speaker 1 Remember? Balloon Boy was fake, though.

Speaker 12 Remember that? Yeah.

Speaker 1 That was tragic, actually, because that was weird stage parents putting their child at the center or something. It was.

Speaker 1 I feel like the way America reacted to Balloon Boy, it was all like, oh, no, look away. Yeah.

Speaker 25 Look away.

Speaker 35 Like, oh, no, this isn't good.

Speaker 20 Yeah.

Speaker 1 It's very sad. Oh, anyway, that was,

Speaker 1 you interrupted my great announcement.

Speaker 1 Hey, if you were thinking of raising money or just going on a trip with balloons, don't do it. You won't be able to control them.

Speaker 17 This is our public service announcement.

Speaker 35 Talking, don't do it.

Speaker 27 Fucking the end.

Speaker 1 Listen.

Speaker 27 Okay.

Speaker 1 We'll work on that public service announcement. We'll do another one next year.

Speaker 25 That's more effective.

Speaker 1 Okay, this is funny sibling story. Hey, ladies, love what you do.
I'm the youngest of three daughters, and growing up, I always wanted to do whatever my sisters were doing.

Speaker 1 It was hard for them because I was so much younger and they really wanted nothing to do with me. My oldest sister Kaylee came up with a game for us to play,

Speaker 1 for us to play together that was a good compromise for everyone called Servant and Princess.

Speaker 1 From the title, you can probably guess how it went. Kaylee would be the princess and I would be the servant doing whatever she asked me to do.

Speaker 1 In return, I would get a quarter as a reward for all my work. I loved this game and I would ask her to play it with me as often as she would allow.

Speaker 1 If her friends came over, even better for me because I got to play with the big kids and would have more princesses to serve.

Speaker 20 That's so sweet.

Speaker 1 I look back and laugh at how funny and brilliant she was for coming up with this game where she got catered to all day. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And I felt included and loved the time I got to spend with her.

Speaker 1 Now that we're all grown up, we're very close, and I feel lucky to have her as a sister, even though we didn't really get along for the first 18 years of my life, which isn't that every sister story?

Speaker 4 Yeah.

Speaker 39 You're best friends and then you fucking hate each other more than you've ever hated anyone.

Speaker 35 Yeah. And then you're best friends the next day.

Speaker 29 Yeah.

Speaker 1 And then it just says, thanks for all that you do, Tori.

Speaker 41 That's cute.

Speaker 26 Did you see that?

Speaker 40 When like there's like a TikTok video of like the older sister, she's probably like 10 telling her little sister exactly how to ask her for what she wants.

Speaker 39 Yeah.

Speaker 35 And it's, you know, it.

Speaker 6 And at the end, no, you may not.

Speaker 34 And that little sister

Speaker 4 so triggered by that as a little sister.

Speaker 1 I mean, and my big sister sent it to me. Yeah.
Like, this is my favorite.

Speaker 1 and i the second because i knew you know it's coming say please may i blah blah blah blah blah please mayana no you may not no you may not

Speaker 1 and she makes her do it a couple times and adjust keeps adjusting it and do it perfectly

Speaker 31 okay

Speaker 43 little sisters

Speaker 1 it's the funniest and also they just they're always going to do that to you over and over right and then it's like oh the little the youngest ones are always always so wild.

Speaker 1 It's like, we're being mentally tortured on a daily basis.

Speaker 35 All we want is attention.

Speaker 11 And you've taught us that any kind of attention, whether it's good or bad, it's positive.

Speaker 10 Right.

Speaker 25 Because that's all we get.

Speaker 12 It's all we get.

Speaker 1 And it has to be earned.

Speaker 28 So we're starting a podcast. So here's this fucking podcast.

Speaker 25 And we will never.

Speaker 37 It's your fault, Laura and Leanne. It's your fucking fault.
Okay.

Speaker 1 This podcast is sponsored by PayPal.

Speaker 2 Okay, let's talk holiday shopping.

Speaker 1 From now through December 8th, you can get 20% cash back when you pay in four with PayPal. No fees, no interest.

Speaker 5 This limited time offer is perfect for the Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals you've been eyeing.

Speaker 7 Save the offer in the app now.

Speaker 1 So whether you're buying tickets to an improv show or a whodunit board game, PayPal helps you make the most of your money this holiday.

Speaker 7 Expires December 8th. See paypal.com slash promo terms subject to approval.

Speaker 1 Learn more at paypal.com slash payin4, PayPal Inc., NMLS 910-457.

Speaker 13 Goodbye. Goodbye.

Speaker 15 Don't miss Netflix's new series, The Beast in Me.

Speaker 1 It's a riveting psychological thriller from the team that brought you homeland.

Speaker 16 The Beast in Me follows acclaimed author Aggie Wiggs, played by Claire Daines, who has withdrawn from public life after the tragic death of her young son.

Speaker 1 She's unable to write and is a ghost of her former self. But Aggie finds an unlikely subject for a new book when the house next door is bought by Niall Jarvis, played by Matthew Reese.

Speaker 16 Niall is a famed real estate mogul who was once the prime suspect in his wife's disappearance.

Speaker 1 Horrified and fascinated by this man, Aggie finds herself compulsively hunting for the truth, chasing his demons while fleeing her own.

Speaker 16 It's a game of cat and mouse that sets them on a collision course with fatal consequences.

Speaker 1 The beast and me now playing only on Netflix.

Speaker 18 You will not want to miss this.

Speaker 46 Goodbye. Goodbye.

Speaker 2 This is called an absolute child hero.

Speaker 32 Yes. Hi, it's me, the child hero.

Speaker 43 It's me.

Speaker 10 For the past 24 years, I've had a thin white box in the bottom of my jewelry box.

Speaker 9 Inside is a bronze medal attached to a red, white, and blue ribbon fastened to a pin.

Speaker 29 You're welcome.

Speaker 9 George Washington's bust is under the words, Good Citizenship Award.

Speaker 9 In 2000, I was given this medal, interviewed by a local news station, and got my name in the paper.

Speaker 24 This is the story of how I helped to save my teacher's life.

Speaker 1 Holy shit.

Speaker 25 I love this.

Speaker 19 I remember watching a movie about penguins.

Speaker 14 All desks were pushed to the sides in my second grade classroom, and all the kids were sitting huddled together under the TV in the dark.

Speaker 35 Picture it.

Speaker 10 Miss Hill was at her desk behind us.

Speaker 20 I got up from the floor and asked her if I could go to the bathroom.

Speaker 44 She said there was another student out, but when they returned, I could go.

Speaker 20 About two minutes later, I got up to ask again.

Speaker 44 This time when I approached Miss Hill's desk, she was not there.

Speaker 37 As I got closer, I saw her sprawled out on the floor.

Speaker 14 Miss Hill was wearing glasses, and the reflection of the movie was playing on them.

Speaker 14 I could not see if she was conscious.

Speaker 37 I slowly and quietly got closer closer to her until I could see her eyes were closed.

Speaker 23 My heart was beating so fast and my chest felt on fire.

Speaker 39 I decided I needed to tell the most in-charge adult in the school, the principal, Mr.

Speaker 24 Johnson.

Speaker 9 I remember running down the hallway to get there.

Speaker 10 I made it breathlessly to the front office.

Speaker 4 The secretary asked, what do you need?

Speaker 23 I responded, Miss Hill is sleeping on the floor and she won't wake up.

Speaker 24 She stood up, opened Mr. Johnson's office door behind her, and repeated what I said.

Speaker 7 Like a superhero, he popped up and started running.

Speaker 41 When he got there, he turned on all the lights, scared the shit out of my second grade class,

Speaker 32 and immediately started performing CPR.

Speaker 20 The paramedics were called and all kids were ushered into another room for the rest of the day.

Speaker 6 I went home and did my homework as usual, not sharing the events of the day with anyone.

Speaker 28 And those fucking, the principal and the secretary, they were just like, thanks so much, buddy.

Speaker 38 It wasn't until Mr.

Speaker 20 Johnson called my mom that night and told her what I did that I realized it was important.

Speaker 20 I remember my mom with her ear to the phone, tears streaming down her face, just staring at me.

Speaker 32 It turns out Miss Hill suffered cardiac arrest at the age of 50.

Speaker 26 Oh no.

Speaker 20 Due to the quick action of Mr.

Speaker 9 Johnson and the paramedics, she made a full recovery.

Speaker 14 If she had gone without CPR for two minutes more, she would have had permanent brain damage.

Speaker 25 Oh my God.

Speaker 11 For this kid's little bladder, for Bailey's little bladder.

Speaker 1 And also just for hauling assets. Understanding, don't stand there in freeze mode.

Speaker 24 Yeah, this is something's off.

Speaker 31 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Miss Hill was in the hospital for the rest of the school year and retired that summer.

Speaker 32 She never taught, nor did I ever see her again.

Speaker 23 I would, however, get called down to the attendance office every year on the anniversary of the event.

Speaker 32 Miss Hill sent me letters from when I was eight to 18 thanking me for saving her life.

Speaker 10 The last letter I received was when I was a senior in high school.

Speaker 27 Miss Hill. Miss Hill writes her letters.

Speaker 35 She keeps up with her letters.

Speaker 27 That's lovely.

Speaker 42 The best part of the story, I I did some light stalking while composing this email.

Speaker 39 Miss Hill is still alive, a beautiful woman in her mid-70s.

Speaker 44 Her social media is filled with pictures of her children and six grandchildren.

Speaker 25 Come on.

Speaker 14 Well, that's how I peaked at seven years old.

Speaker 37 Thank you both for creating the podcast that created this community.

Speaker 7 At the same time, this little girl helped to save a life.

Speaker 9 Finding a dead body was on her bucket list, and CSI was her favorite show.

Speaker 36 Yeah, girl.

Speaker 35 I knew I wasn't the only weirdo. No.

Speaker 42 Stay sexy and look for the helpers, even the tiny ones.

Speaker 9 Bailey, she, her.

Speaker 13 Bailey.

Speaker 1 First of all, gorgeous intro of that email.

Speaker 24 Like the structure of that story.

Speaker 1 Just to like, clearly you were way ahead of the other second graders.

Speaker 19 Like, I'm opening with this thing I have.

Speaker 36 Let me tell you why I have it.

Speaker 1 The declaration, though, of like, it's me, the child here.

Speaker 12 It's me.

Speaker 1 It's so good.

Speaker 28 But also,

Speaker 1 you didn't peak at seven years old, Bailey.

Speaker 1 You just do the kind of work that goes unappreciated all the time, which is you are a logical, level-headed thinker that probably is like, oh, if you leave the dinner plans for your group of friends to that person, they'll go where they want to go, which doesn't have the right seating.

Speaker 1 Right. You take over and you're like, here we go.
This is where we're going. It's all going to work.

Speaker 14 Maybe that was the first fucking instance of your badassery.

Speaker 24 And for the rest of your life now, you've been on this trajectory.

Speaker 1 You're just doing it. You're the day-to-day, level-headed, don't panic second grader that's grown into,

Speaker 1 I'm assuming, a beautiful young woman.

Speaker 29 I of the tiger.

Speaker 25 Bailey. Right?

Speaker 1 Congratulations.

Speaker 29 I wish I had a little ribbon.

Speaker 27 I'll get you one. A little ribbon, Madam?

Speaker 14 A little ribbon with George Washington's busts on it.

Speaker 41 Did I say busts? No.

Speaker 43 Bus?

Speaker 1 George Washington bussing on it?

Speaker 1 Okay, I'm last.

Speaker 20 I got a look just now from Karen.

Speaker 42 That means someone's going to cry.

Speaker 1 Someone.

Speaker 1 Kid pastimes playing in the sand, Estrange Brother Edition. Hello from the hellscape that is the end of 2024.

Speaker 25 Hi. Hi.

Speaker 1 No one's going to save us but ourselves. Create genuine community, find your support system.
I'm reading an email right now, just so you know. I'm reading from the first paragraph of this email.

Speaker 26 They're opening up fucking hard and strong.

Speaker 1 They're coming in, saying exactly what needs to be heard.

Speaker 1 Create genuine community, find your support system, give what you can, and as the ever-fabulous divine said, be twice as gay, do twice as many crimes.

Speaker 41 Fuck yes, I love it.

Speaker 1 What an opening.

Speaker 1 You asked us for stories of what we did growing up to pass the time. My older brother is two and a half years older than me.
He would have a toy gun, and I'd have my water baby.

Speaker 1 And then in parentheses, it says, a plastic baby filled with water.

Speaker 37 What the fuck?

Speaker 9 Oh, because it was like heavy?

Speaker 28 Could squirt a baby.

Speaker 37 Oh, I think it was like a.

Speaker 1 Well, he had a water gun.

Speaker 25 Oh, a water gun.

Speaker 1 Sorry, my assumption was that she would use that baby to squirt water.

Speaker 12 But I think now that I reread it, you're right.

Speaker 1 It's just a toy gun. It's not a water gun toy gun.

Speaker 25 Let's keep going and I'll help you out.

Speaker 45 Okay.

Speaker 1 And sometimes the Terminator would hang out with the Barbies in Rainbow Valley. And then that says, the stairs went a crystal in the window cascaded rainbows all over the carpet.

Speaker 1 But my favorite thing we did was play in the sand patio out back. My dad was supposed to make my mom a flagstone patio and he finally hired someone to do it only

Speaker 1 40 some years after he promised. Consequently, we had a huge sand pit.
We would dig a complex riverbed. We stacked wooden logs for the spout of the water hose as our water fell.

Speaker 1 Once the stream was ready, my brother would run to the side of the house to turn on the water. He'd run back as fast as he could so we could watch our creation come to life.

Speaker 1 Once we even brought crawdads, we got at a real stream to put in ours, only for them to burrow deep in the sand and never be found.

Speaker 25 Oh my god.

Speaker 37 Oh my god. That's I have my toes hurt thinking about that.

Speaker 1 Yep, good luck in your sand pit, children.

Speaker 1 My only sibling, my brother and I drifted apart as drugs took over his life as a teenager. Now addicted and living on the streets, I haven't spoken to him in a long time.

Speaker 1 Writing in, I'm struck by what an amazing person he was. Most brothers would send the little sister to turn on the water.
He wanted me to see it.

Speaker 27 Oh no. Oh no.

Speaker 1 Thank you for reminiscing playing stream with me as I can't do it with him.

Speaker 36 B gay do crimes.

Speaker 1 Anonymous.

Speaker 27 She, her. Anonymous.
Come on.

Speaker 20 That's a sweet one.

Speaker 1 Here's the thing, because Seriously, the beginning of that email is so smart and good and strong. Yeah.
And it's like, and this is, I think those kinds of memories and things are truly like the glue.

Speaker 1 I feel like those kinds of reminding, even when there's loss,

Speaker 1 there is beauty. That's why you miss him.

Speaker 39 And there's still good memories, even though like they're tainted by this thing, which sucks.

Speaker 45 By loss.

Speaker 29 You can still like share them with people and feel them and feel good about them instead of just feeling sad.

Speaker 44 That's really sweet.

Speaker 25 Yeah.

Speaker 1 And it's the idea, like it's a great email anyway. Yeah.
But the idea of that they get to understand

Speaker 1 that that's what their brother did for them is so beautiful.

Speaker 20 I wanted her to see it.

Speaker 35 That makes me think of my brother because he would never have done that.

Speaker 25 Asher.

Speaker 1 My sister would have been like, get out of the sandpit.

Speaker 10 This is our sandpit.

Speaker 20 Oh, what a sweetheart.

Speaker 12 I know.

Speaker 34 All right.

Speaker 14 Well, thank you guys for listening to the hometowns.

Speaker 44 Please send yours in, whatever it is, at my favorite murder at Gmail.

Speaker 1 Try to to make us cry that'll be the new request dare you make us cry make us cool you know what it is make georgia cry it's easy to make cry yeah make georgia cry yeah do it i dare you good luck nothing

Speaker 1 nothing sad about animals no no no i feel like we have to make rules now no everyone knows that don't we mean poignant crying not crying not like oh my god don't call me names oh my god Please don't bully Georgia through email.

Speaker 29 I will cry.

Speaker 25 It's easy, though.

Speaker 27 That's the way to get it.

Speaker 36 Don't, don't, don't.

Speaker 27 Don't, don't, don't do that.

Speaker 36 Also, stay sexy.

Speaker 35 And don't get murdered.

Speaker 25 Goodbye.

Speaker 15 Elvis, do you want a cookie?

Speaker 1 This has been an exactly right production.

Speaker 19 Our senior producer is Alejandra Keck.

Speaker 1 Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo.

Speaker 9 This episode was mixed by Liana Squolachi.

Speaker 23 Email your hometowns to myfavorate murder at gmail.com and follow the show on Instagram and Facebook at myfavorite murder.

Speaker 46 Goodbye.

Speaker 47 You know what your customers are doing right this second? The exact same thing you are, listening to me. Which, let's be honest, is kind of flattering.

Speaker 48 But my point is, ads on iHeartRadio actually get heard. In the car, at the gym, on the couch, while people are walking their dogs, who's a good boy? Who's a good boy? You're a good boy, that's right.

Speaker 47 So why not make the next ad about you? Get started today.

Speaker 13 Call 844-844-iHearteRT to iHeartAdvertising.com. That's 844-844-iHearte or iHeartAdvertising.com.

Speaker 49 The courtroom isn't just about justice. It's about power and money and some truly bizarre loopholes.

Speaker 48 I'm Michael Foote.

Speaker 22 And I'm Melissa Malbranch, and we've got a brand new show called Brief Recess, a Legal Podcast.

Speaker 49 Every week, we talk about wild tales from court, trials gone wrong, and cases and rulings that shape our world.

Speaker 50 Today we're going to be talking about stolen antiquities, all the weird things Melissa found out in a state sale, the crazy conversations I had with a bouncer, and J.K.

Speaker 48 Rowley.

Speaker 22 We make the complicated clear clear and the serious surprisingly fun.

Speaker 49 From the exactly right network, new episodes of Brief Recess drop every Thursday. Watch Brief Recess on YouTube.

Speaker 49 Listen to Brief Recess on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 47 All right, good people, what's up?

Speaker 51 It's Quest Love and I'm really excited to announce that my podcast is back with new episodes, a new logo, and yes, even a new name. So welcome to QLS 2.0, the Quest Love Show.

Speaker 51 New conversations are on the way with some incredible guests like journalist term filmmaker Cameron Crow.

Speaker 52 It's like the the Barry Gordy thing, you know, if you send me a letter and it's B-A-R-R-Y, you didn't take the time to know how my name was spelled, and I can't take the time to know what you want from me.

Speaker 51 Listen to the Questlove Show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.