0:00 Are you tucked in tight?0:02 Good.0:02 Because tonight’s story starts in the deep, dark quiet of the garden.0:08 Did you know that some night-blooming flowers only open up AFTER the sun has gone to sleep?0:16 It’s true.0:17 They save their beautiful scent just for the moon and the stars.0:22 It reminds me of the secret courage you found in our last adventure, with those mysterious moonlit pebbles.0:31 You learned that some of the best magic only comes out when the world is quiet.0:38 And tonight… the quiet is about to be broken.0:42 Her name was Maya, and she was already supposed to be asleep.0:47 Her head was on her pillow, her blanket was pulled up to her chin, and her eyes were squeezed very, very shut.0:57 The house was silent.0:59 The street was silent.1:01 The whole world, it seemed, was holding its breath.1:05 And then she heard it.1:07 At first, it was so small she thought she’d imagined it.1:12 A tiny… heh heh heh.1:13 Maya’s eyes popped open.1:15 She sat up in bed, still as a statue, and listened.1:20 The sound came again, a little louder this time, floating through her open window from the garden below.1:29 It wasn’t a scary sound.1:31 Not really.1:32 It was a giggle.1:33 A tiny, bubbly, secret sort of giggle.1:37 But WHO giggles in the garden in the middle of the night?1:41 Not her mom.1:42 Not her dad.1:43 And definitely not Bartholomew, their very serious cat.1:48 Her heart started to beat a little faster.1:52 Thump.1:52 Thump.1:53 Thump.1:53 It wasn't a scared thump.1:56 It was a curious thump.1:58 An adventure-is-calling thump.2:00 She swung her legs out of bed, grabbed the small flashlight from her nightstand, and tiptoed out of her room.2:10 Down the stairs she crept, one step at a time, avoiding the floorboard that ALWAYS creaked.2:17 The kitchen was full of long, strange shadows.2:21 The refrigerator hummed its sleepy song.2:25 Maya unlocked the back door—click!—and slipped outside.2:30 The night air was cool and smelled of damp earth and sleepy roses.2:35 The moon was a bright silver coin in the sky.2:39 And there it was again.2:41 Heh heh heh… giggle… heh.2:43 It was coming from the very back of the garden, near the old oak tree.2:49 Maya switched on her flashlight.2:52 The little beam of light danced ahead of her, making the familiar shapes of her garden look new and mysterious.3:02 The tomato plants looked like lumpy giants.3:05 The bird bath looked like a silver shield.3:09 She held her breath and took a step onto the grass.3:13 Then another.3:14 She was a brave explorer now, on a mission to find the source of the midnight giggle.3:22 She crept past the grumpy-looking raspberry bush, its thorns like tiny daggers.3:29 She ducked under the low-hanging branch of the apple tree.3:34 The giggling was getting closer now.3:37 Louder.3:37 It was right around the corner, hidden behind the mossy roots of the big oak tree.3:44 Maya took a deep breath, peeked her head around the trunk, and pointed her flashlight.3:52 And she saw it.3:53 It wasn't a person.3:55 It wasn't an animal.3:56 It was… mushrooms.3:58 But not any mushrooms she had ever seen before.4:02 There were five of them, in a little circle, and they were glowing with a soft, silvery light, pulsing gently like tiny heartbeats.4:13 And every time a little night breeze tickled their caps, or a firefly zipped past, they would shimmer… and let out a tiny, happy… giggle!4:25 Maya gasped.4:26 Then she giggled, too.4:28 They weren't scary at ALL.4:30 They were ticklish!4:32 She crouched down and watched them for a long, long time.4:37 The Giggling Mushrooms.4:39 That’s what she’d call them.4:41 It was her secret now.4:43 A wonderful, magical, moonlit secret.4:46 Finally, feeling warm and brave and very, very sleepy, she tiptoed back inside, back up the stairs, and crawled into her bed.4:57 As she drifted off to sleep, she could just barely hear the sound from the garden, a soft lullaby of tiny laughs.5:07 The best secrets are the ones a garden only tells you after dark.
