The Sound of Windmills

 

The unfortunate aspect of the windmill was the annoying squeak as the blades slowly turned in the wind.  The birds simply had to fly away, but the chipmunks, ground squirrels and rabbits living in the area were going nuts, and last Saturday night a meeting was called.   

Everyone in attendance was voicing their opinion but no one seemed to have the answer as to how to stop the squeak.  It was keeping them up at night and it was affecting the dreams of those who did get to sleep.   The thing was, it wasn’t a soft pleasant squeak, it was a long, drawn-out scraping sound, like claws being dragged across a chipmunk-sized chalkboard.

Finally, one squirrel stood up and cleared his throat.  “Excuse me, but I’d like to make a suggestion.”  Silence fell across the group and everyone waited for the squirrel’s plan.  “I know two things, Owls are wise and capable of thinking of a solution to our problem, and two, some of us might get eaten in the process, but I think we should invite an owl to our next meeting.” 

Suddenly the room was a buzz with chatter.  Most thought Mr. Squirrel was completely nuts.  A few thought he was joking, even though his humor was usually restricted to knock, knock jokes.  Then came a voice from the back of the room.  Nobody had noticed it before, but a turtle had been sitting quietly, listening to everyone’s suggestions and ideas. 

“I think Mr. Squirrel is right, but I should be the one to invite the owl.  None of you are equipped to protect yourselves from owl claws like I am.” 

Linda Rabbit, with her nose twitching a mile a minute spoke up.  “But the minute you bring an owl into our meeting, we are all in danger. There could be fur flying everywhere.”

        The noise level of the group rose greatly.  Everyone was talking at once.  It was almost a panic, as if the owl was already there, even though it had only been the suggestion of an owl.

        Turtle again spoke up.  “I wouldn’t bring the owl into our meeting. I would take him right to the windmill and get his opinion there.  He’d never have to see any of you.”  The room was quiet as everyone thought about that plan.

        “I like it.” Chipmunk said.  “Me too.” said Linda Rabbit.  And so, it was put to a vote.  Everyone voted yes, for turtle to get owl to the windmill to solve the squeak problem.  No one would have to be eaten and there’d be no fur flying.

        The next morning turtle headed out in search of Mr. Owl.

        Slowly he made his way along the edge of the river.  He had seen Mr. Owl there from time to time and it seemed like a good place to start looking.  Off to the left of Mr. Turtle was the forest, and along his right side was the river.  It was a beautiful warm day and turtle thought about taking a little dip in the river just to cool off, so that’s what he did.  He slipped into the water and swam down to the bottom, just watching the fish swim by and occasionally looking up towards the surface at the duck feet paddling along.  The river felt cool and refreshing and turtle closed his eyes and just took a little break for a while there on the bottom.

        Meanwhile, back at the windmill, two chipmunks stood looking up at the big blades that were slowly turning and making the awful squeaking sound.   “Maybe, one of them said, we could scamper up there and if enough of us sit along the edge of the blade, our weight will be enough to stop it from going around.”

        His friend raised an eyebrow and said, “Do you have any idea how many of us it would take?  I doubt there are enough chipmunks in the world to gather the weight needed to stop those blades.”

        “OK then, maybe not all chipmunks but forest creatures in general.  Rabbits, squirrels and anyone else we could get to go up there and sit along the edge of the blade would do.”

        “And how do we not get thrown off, smarty-pants?”

        “I hadn’t thought of getting thrown off.  Maybe we should just wait for turtle to get back.”

        “God idea.  Let’s go get some lunch.”

        It was three weeks later when turtle finally found Mr. Owl.  He was sleeping on the branch of an Oak tree.  Turtle yelled a few times before owl woke up.

        “What is it, turtle?  Why did you wake me?”

        “My friends and I need you to look at a problem and see if you can solve it for us.”

        “Why would I do that?  What’s in it for me?”

        Turtle didn’t know how to answer that.  He just sat there thinking about it, until owl finally said, “So what is this problem you want me to solve?”

        “We have a windmill that squeaks.  It keeps us awake at night and drives us batty during the day.  We want it stopped.”

        Owl looked at turtle and blinked his big owl eyes.  Then he said, “Do you know why you had to travel so far to find me?  It’s because that squeak was getting to me also.  That’s why I flew so far away and live over here now.  I suggest you and your friends do the same.”

        Eventually, turtle found his way back to all of his friends who had sent him on the journey to find owl.  He told them what owl had said that they should all just move away.  And everyone did, but before Mr. Squirrel left, he put a Post-it note on the door of the farmhouse.  

 

       The End