Problem With Grackle

The forest animals have a meeting to figure out what to do about Grackle.

“And how is the neighborhood?” asked Mrs. Turtle.

“Oh,” said Stork proudly, “It’s one of the best around. Great schools, beautiful trees, and the neighbors are just fabulous.”

“Well, I love it.” she said to Mr. Turtle. And right as he was going to say, “I think we’ll take it.”

“SPLAT!” Right on the contract.

The very next day, the forest neighbors had a meeting.

“Something needs to be done,” barked Stork, “I can’t get anyone to buy a home in our neighborhood anymore. And so many have started to move out.”

“And it’s getting worse.” huffed Beaver, who was the forest’s trail cleaner.

“Grackle was such a nice bird when we first met him.” wondered Froggie.

“SPLAT!” Right in the middle of the table.

“Well,” chimed in Alligator, “does anyone have any suggestions as to how to deal with this problem?”

Everyone was quiet for a second.

“Someone’s got an idea.” Said Alligator. “Stork?”

“I have an idea,” squeaked Mouse. “Great, go ahead,” said Alligator.

“My idea is for everyone to wear one of my new inventions,” said Mouse as he pulled out a strange and wonderful contraption.

“I call it ‘The Under-Safe Hat’.” There were Ooh’s and Ah’s all around the table.

“You put the apparatus on your head like so and click this ignition button and spin this repulsivity dial to the desired level and anything that hits it will bounce right off.”

“SPLAT!” Right on the hat, and then the hat spun and slung the stuff all over everyone.

“See, it works,” said Mouse

“That looks expensive,” complained Owl.

“And uncomfortable,” whined Raccoon.

“And it doesn’t make cleanup of the forest any easier,” sighed Beaver who was wiping some off his forehead.

“SPLAT!” Right onto Beaver’s tail.

“Does anyone else have a suggestion?” asked Alligator.

“I have one,” hooted Owl. “I recently made some friends with a silkworm family. They said they could spin a net that will catch anything falling from the sky.”

“Wait a minute,” squawked Stork. “I’ve been to all parts of this forest and it’s really big. How long will it take them to spin a net that will cover the whole forest?”

“Well,” calculated Owl, “I think it will take about 20 years.”

Everyone around the table began to mumble and complain.

“Obviously that is not going to work,” stated Lizard.

“SPLAT!” Right on Mouse’s hat again, which spun again and flung the stuff all over everyone again.

“Mouse,” said Beaver, “Take that hat off, it’s making it worse.”

“Anyone else?” asked Alligator.

“I have a delightful idea,” said Rat as he put on his chef’s hat.

“You all know of my gourmet cooking background, and I’ve brought with me some scrumptious delicacies made from…”

“Ew!” interrupted Squirrel. “I don’t want to hear any more! Make him stop!”

“Here you go,” said Rat as he tried to pass the platter of hors d’oeuvres to Squirrel.

Snake had to look away.

“Your so-called “gourmet” cooking is really just garbage and rotten berries and little bits of fur and insects and stuff you find on the forest floor made into cute little bite sized snacks,” said Alligator. “I’ve you’re your recipe book.”

Stork was holding his nose.

“So,” said lizard. “I’m assuming that those yummy looking snacks right there are made with Grackle’s droppings?”

“This is your suggestion?” exclaimed Squirrel. “That we eat the stuff? That’s nasty!”

Mouse was intrigued.

“What’s in that white one with the brown lines on it?” asked Mouse.

“No, Mouse,” yelled out Snake. “Don’t do it.”

“Although they look mighty tempting,” said Froggie, trying not to laugh, “Most of us do not have the kind of stomach needed to digest your intriguing delicacies. Thank you for your hard work, though.”

“Well, if anyone is interested…” said Rat as he popped one of the sprinkled ones into his mouth.

“SPLAT!” Right on Rat’s chef’s hat, knocking it off his head.

“Raccoon,” said Alligator hastily, “Didn’t you tell me you had something to show us?”

“Yes,” exclaimed Raccoon, “Yes. My brother and I have been constructing a top secret ‘Pine Cone launcher’.”

“Wait a minute, that sounds dangerous,” said Froggie, “We don’t want to hurt Grackle, we just want him to stop.”

But Raccoon went on.

“See, you aim by lining up these two sticks. I’ve adjusted it to be very accurate, and I can mount it anywhere in the forest, the tops of trees, the pond, anywhere.”

Everyone was very interested.

“You are not seriously considering this!” Said Froggie in dismay, but no one heard her.

Raccoon went on, “I’ve set up a target in that tree over there. Would you like to see how it works?”

They all gathered closer and squinted to see the target that had been secured to a branch high up in the canopy.

“Yes, show us.”

Froggie watched in horror and the pinecone was placed in the sling, cocked, and aimed at the target.

“I do not approve!” she said in disbelief.

“Shhhh!” they shushed.

“Here goes!” whispered Raccoon as he pulled the trigger.

SPLOING. WHOOSH. BLAM.

Everyone was silent. The target was shattered into a hundred pieces. The pieces floated down to the ground like feathers.

“I don’t know about this,” trembled Squirrel. “I don’t want to hurt Grackle.”

“Yeah,” said Lizard as he sat back down. “We’ve known Grackle since he was an egg.”

“Maybe we can use it to scare him or something,” said Alligator.

“It’s too dangerous,” said Rat as he popped another treat into his mouth.

“What are we gonna do?” whined Beaver.

“I don’t think there’s anything to do,” complained Stork. “Looks like we just have to grin and bear it.”

“No,” said Froggie. “I don’t think so.”

Everyone turned to her.

“What do you mean?” they all asked.

“I think we should throw him a party,” said Froggie.

“What?” they all seemed to say at the same time.

“After all he’s done to us day after day?” yelled Raccoon. “You want to reward him for his misbehavior?”

“He’s ruined my business!” exclaimed Stork.

“And made mine harder.” whined Beaver.

“I haven’t looked up in the sky for months. I don’t even know if it’s still blue!” sobbed Lizard.

“I have to dry all my clothes inside,” said Squirrel, “And you know how small my apartment is.”

“I can’t believe you want to encourage his behavior with a party…” ranted Rat, “And I suppose you’ll have me bake him a cake as well?”

“Calm down everyone,” said Froggie, “Let me explain.”

“SPLAT!” Right on Lizard’s tail.

“Please hurry,” sniffed Owl.

“We’ve all known him for many years. We knew his parents, and even his whole flock,” said Froggie.

“They were a wild and fun bunch,” said Stork, reminiscing. “And loud.”

“And you remember that Grackle was hurt when winter came and they all had to leave, but didn’t know if he would make it on the long journey,” she reminded them.

“Yes, I remember,” said Raccoon, “They asked us if we could take care of him while they were away.”

“That’s right,” said Froggie. “How would you feel if your whole family had to leave you for a while.”

“I’d feel lonely,” said Squirrel.

“And sad,” whimpered Rat.

“And bored,” sighed Alligator.

“Right,” said Froggie, “So what I’m proposing, is that we let him know how much we love him and care about him by throwing him a party. I think he needs to know that we are his friends, and I think it would be a great opportunity for everyone to get together outside, without having to wonder if anything is going to fall from the sky.”

“SPLAT!” Right on Froggie’s finger that was pointing to the sky.

They all felt bad about what they had been thinking and saying, and agreed with Froggie. Mouse would take the invitation to Grackle.

The next morning, Mouse strapped on his contraption, and headed over to Grackle’s house. Grackle was hanging out on a high branch.

“Good morning Grackle,” said Mouse from the ground.

“Nice hat,” scoffed Grackle. “What do you want?”

“Everyone in the forest wanted to throw you a party because we all care about you so much, so, I came to give you the invitation,” he said, as he spun the repulsivity dial to the highest setting.

“A party, huh?” sneered Grackle. “Is it out in the open?”

“Why yes,” said Mouse happily. “it’s the field closest to the pond.”

Grackle snickered a little, but didn’t let Mouse hear him.

“Sure, I’ll be there,” he said as he swooped down and snatched the invitation from Mouse’s hands.

“Great,” said Mouse as he turned to walk away, “I’ll see you there.”

“SPLAT!” Right on Mouse’s hat, which spun and flung the stuff around the trunk of the tree.

The day of the party came and Grackle made sure to eat a big breakfast. He flew high above the trees, aiming and letting loose his barrage of artillery. Laughing, thinking, “They thought they could trick me by inviting me to a fake party. They were probably going to catch me and tie me up or something.”

“SPLAT! SPLATTY! SPLAT! SPLATATAT! SPLATTY! SPLAT!”

As he took a final low pass, he noticed everyone was waving at him and smiling. He could barely make out the message written on the once beautiful cake. It looked like it read:

“NO LOMS PON OBVCKLE.”

And then he noticed a large banner hung across some trees that read: “GRACKLE, YOU ARE THE BEST!”

And then he noticed some presents with his name on them.

It was then that he realized they really were looking forward to him coming so they could get to know him better. It was not a fake party to try to catch him, and he had ruined a really tasty looking cake. He felt horrible. He felt horribly horrible. He felt incredibly, horribly horrible. He decided he would come in for a landing and apologize.

He landed right in front of Froggie.

“Welcome, Grackle,” said Froggie, “Glad you made it.”

“What are you guys doing here?” asked Grackle.

“We’re throwing you a party!” yelled Squirrel.

“Why are you throwing me a party?” asked Grackle.

“We feel like we haven’t given you a chance to be our friend,” said Froggie.

“Friend?” asked Grackle. “After all I’ve done to make your lives miserable?”

“We know it’s been hard,” said Stork.

“We understand,” said Beaver.

“Beaver,” said Grackle, “and Stork. I’ve made it especially hard on your two, and you’re here too? You feel the same way?”

“We do,” they both said.

“Wow,” said Grackle. “Wow.”

Froggie put her hand on Grackles shoulder.

“Welcome home, Grackle,” she said.

Grackle started to cry. Not because he was sad, but because he felt like Stork, Raccoon, Beaver, Squirrel, Alligator, Owl, Froggie, Lizard, all of them, they all loved him.

“Guys,” said Grackle, “I’m really sorry for ruining the party.”

“Oh, that’s OK,” replied Froggie.

“And I’m also sorry for messing up the forest lately and making it hard for you all to live your lives normally,” said Grackle with his head low.

“Hey, we understand, you’ve been through a lot, and we haven’t been there for you.” Said Alligator. “But we are now.”

“You guys are the best,” gasped Grackle

“Beaver, I want to help clean up the forest,” said Grackle.

“That would be great,” said Beaver excitedly.

“I’ll help too,” yelled Stork.

“And sorry about the cake, Froggie, it looked wonderful.” Said Grackle.

“That’s OK, sweetie. I’ll bake you another one.” She said happily.

“What did it say anyway?” asked Grackle.

“The same as this one!” shouted Rat proudly from behind ahuge colorful cake with the words “WE LOVE YOU GRACKLE!” on it. “I baked a second cake just in case the first one got ruined.”

“Oh, no.” They all said holding their hands over their mouths.

Grackle didn’t know what they were talking about, but they told him before he ate a piece of it.

The End