The Kettle of Stored Conversations

The Kettle of Stored Conversations

From A Bedtime Story by Matthew Mitchell

April 20, 2026 · 5 min · Season 2 · Episode 37

About this episode

In this episode, Matthew Mitchell narrates the story of Leo, who works for a department ensuring reality remains consistent amidst bizarre occurrences.

Visit the “A Bedtime Story” show website to submit your story ideas for a future episode! Welcome to A Bedtime Story. I'm Matthew Mitchell, and tonight's story is titled The Kettle of Stored Conversations, Part 1 of this week's series: The Audit of Anomalous Artifacts. Leo did not work for the police, the fire department, or the tax office, though he wore a gray suit that suggested he was very interested in your receipts. He worked for the Department of Temporal and Physical Consistency. It was a long name for a group of people whose primary job was to make sure the world stayed as boring as possible. When a reality-warping object ended up in a suburban kitchen, it was Leo's job to put it back in a crate before the neighbors started floating away. The department headquarters was located in a building that officially did not exist on any city map. Inside, the walls were lined with filing cabinets that hummed with a low, electric energy. Mavis, the senior supervisor, sat behind a desk made of fossilized oak. She was currently reviewing a report about a garage sale in Ohio that had nearly relocated a whole neighborhood to the prehistoric era. "Leo, we have a spillover from the…

People in this episode

Host: Matthew Mitchell

Topics covered

  • anomalous artifacts
  • time travel
  • supernatural events
  • suburban life
  • fictional bureaucracy

Keywords

  • anomalous artifacts
  • time travel
  • supernatural
  • fiction
  • storytelling

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Department of Temporal and Physical Consistency

Products: silver tea kettle

Places: Ohio

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