Maury buzzed over toward the lead beaver and said “Melvin, you hang on to those big teeth of yours. Horace will be right down and figure this out.” Melvin looked at his watch, started tapping his right foot, and then said, “Well, we’re on the clock. Time started when we left the shop. It makes no difference to me whether we spend the time working or not.” Melvin then turned around and spoke to the rest of the beavers, “Okay boys, break time. I saw a small stand of birches on the way in. Let’s go back that-a-way and get a little snack!” Then they all turned around and walked back the way that they came.
Now Horace saw the beavers headed away from his tree and began to squawk loudly. “Hey there, you beavers, come back here! Come back here this instant! I have been waiting for you to get here for three days and I won’t have you leaving before you even get started!! Come back!!”
Maury flew up to Horace and shouted at him, “Settle down Horace, they are just going to lunch while we…YOU figure out what to do with that little girl down there.” “How am I supposed to know what to do with her?” replied Horace. She’s just another lost human. We get them every so often. I don’t know what to do with her.”
“Well, we’ll have to think of something and soon or those beavers will leave and you will have to schedule them again for another day”, said Maury.
“I can’t do that,” moaned Horace, “it’ll be another week before they can get out here again. I can’t stand being without running water. I already have dishes piled up all over in the kitchen, dirty laundry and I haven’t been able to make iced tea for almost a week! I can’t stand it, I tell you!” Horace was nearly shouting by this time and the noise caused Amanda to begin to stir. Horace and Maury both flew down to see if they could get her to wake up and leave.
Amanda felt very groggy and had a terrific headache from banging her head up against the tree, her vision was a bit blurred as she opened her eyes but it began to clear as she tried to sit up and get her bearings. She put her hands flat on the ground and began pushing herself up and to try to stand, but she got very dizzy and plopped right back down again and said “Whew! What happened? I think that I took a little nap and when I woke up I must have still been dreaming because I thought I saw the ugliest dragonfly I have ever seen and it was sitting right on my nose. Wow! What a dream that must have been!”
Now Maury is a very proud dragonfly and thinks that he is quite handsome. He took great offense to what Amanda said and said so loudly. “Just what do you mean by that? I am not ugly! In fact, I am said to be quite attractive to the damselflies in the area. Humph, ugly indeed!”
Amanda looked in the direction of Maury’s voice to see the little dragonfly sitting on a leaf of a low hanging branch. He was looking quite stern for a dragonfly and she could not believe her eyes or her ears.
“Did you just talk to me?” Amanda said in a very surprised voice.
“Yes, I did!” Maury exclaimed, “You insulted me. I was just trying to wake you up so that the plumbers could get into Horace’s tree. His water pipes are not working and you were blocking the entrance to the elevator.”
Now, Amanda could not believe her eyes or her ears. “You’re a talking dragonfly?” She said to herself and she blinked real hard and then shook her head to try to clear her thoughts. “This is NOT happening to me!” But, when she looked again, Maury was still there and he was still talking. “You just have to move! Horace really needs the plumbers to fix his water pipes and …”
Steve's Story Place 