Introducing: Barry Beaver (Bedtime Story)

Bedtime with Mrs.

Honeybee Today,

In the Honeybee neighborhood,

We'll be observing the clouds and seeing.

.

.

Hey,

Wait!

What's that?

What is that up there?

Whoa!

Is it floating down toward us?

Is that a big,

Giant mushroom in the sky?

It looks like a parachute,

Maybe?

It's so high up,

It's hard to tell.

Grab your binocs,

Mr.

Honeybee.

Melody Bee,

Does everything have to be abbreviated?

Time is precious,

And abbreviations are fun and useful.

Grab the binocs,

Mr.

Honeybee,

So we can see what's attached to the para.

Oh,

Melody Bee,

Though I am curious to see what that is,

Too.

Okay,

Mr.

Honeybee,

Grab your binoculars so we can see what's attached to that parachute.

We need your binocs to see the para.

I'll be right back.

Then we can figure out what that is.

All you have to do is close your eyes,

Get cozy,

And listen to the sound of my voice.

Mrs.

Honeybee will be your guide.

Let's begin.

You are here,

Walking the last few steps up to our bright-colored front door.

As you raise your hand to knock,

A sudden thunderclap rings out.

You look back,

And we open the door just in time to see a zap of lightning flash through the sky.

Whoa!

Did you see that,

My little Honeybee?

This morning it was perfectly sunny and clear out.

The weather cannot make up its mind,

So it had to do a little both.

Like when you can't decide which book to read next or what dinner to make.

You read a little bit of this book and a little of that,

And you make both pasta and soup.

The best of both worlds,

Right,

Little Honeybee?

Another clap of thunder interrupts our musings,

And we turn to look out for the lightning,

Counting how long it takes before it appears.

After getting all the way to 21,

We decide that the lightning isn't going to strike after all,

And we finally welcome you into our house.

As you come in,

Harold bolts out right under our feet.

Zooming between us,

He runs out to the grass,

Barking at the sky as if to beckon the lightning.

You tell that sky,

Harold.

Let the weather know how you feel.

We're kidding around about Harold,

But he seems serious in his endeavors.

So we join him outside,

Huddled around him looking up.

At first we see nothing,

But then the lightning we were waiting for finally strikes.

We clap and cheer for the marvels of the sky and look down to see Harold was not waiting for the lightning.

He has locked eyes with something else.

When we look back up,

We finally see what Harold sees,

A floating package,

A brown cardboard box strapped to a small parachute and falling straight towards us from airplane height.

What is that?

It looks like a parachuting box.

I know branches fly.

Our branches do at least.

But do boxes fly now too?

I can confirm that they don't.

My last shipment of lumber that was sent to the beavers at the hardware store was stalled for two whole weeks.

If boxes could fly,

That one could have flown here faster.

No,

This one seems special.

Like it's flying directly to us.

Like it's for us.

Talk about special delivery.

It's starting so high up.

Should we try to catch it?

We should,

Right?

What if it doesn't land gently and whatever's inside breaks?

We should definitely try to catch it.

But falling from that high?

It could be a bumpy landing.

Dear,

Can you go get my little rebounder trampoline I use while I write?

It's in my office,

Leaning against the wall by my writing desk.

Oh,

Good idea.

Maybe you can rebound off that.

Then we can catch it on the second,

Hopefully gentler,

Impact.

I'll go grab it.

Mr.

Honeybee comes back with the miniature trampoline that I bounce on to help me think when I'm stuck in a story.

Together,

We line it up to where the mysterious box is parachuting in and do the quick calculus in our heads as to where it will bounce.

Take a slow,

Deep breath into your nose.

Allow the fresh air to clear your mind so you can focus on this catch.

Then slowly breathe all the way out through your mouth and plant both feet into the ground with your eyes on the rebounder,

Waiting for our moment.

Here it comes.

Is everyone ready?

It's coming fast.

Look,

I think something's wrong with the parachute.

The parachute suffered a puncture on its way down,

And now it's falling heavy straight towards the rebounder.

Since it's coming so quickly,

We all skedaddle out of the way,

Letting it fall as it may.

The package,

With the broken parachute,

Whooshes by us,

Bounces off the rebounder,

And spins itself silly flying back up into the sky before it bounces in the same exact spot again on the rebounder.

At this point,

The package is unpredictable,

And we use one mind trying our best to slow it down.

The box continues its lopsided bounces on the rebounder as whatever is inside the package flops between the four cardboard walls.

With one final bounce,

The box finally arrives and crash lands in the grass.

At first,

The box stands dented but perfectly still.

Harold bravely approaches Snout first to get a sense of what could have possibly traveled to us this way.

I don't hear anything inside.

Do you?

I did,

While it was bouncing.

Something was clearly inside and throwing its weight around while it bounced.

That's why it was so hard to catch.

Harold sniffed the perimeter in smaller and smaller concentric circles until convinced that whatever is inside will stay in there.

The last time we got a package this mysterious,

It had acorns in it,

Remember?

We planted our very own electrified oak tree.

Of course I remember.

That was such a special thing for us to do.

The tree planting ceremony was absolutely beautiful.

Acorns are tiny.

Could this be a box full of acorns this time?

Harold approaches with less caution now,

Which quickly backfires when whatever was lying silently in the box bursts forth with a response.

So you did get my acorn.

Barry Beaver,

It's you.

In the fur,

It's me.

With a bit of a cranium headache,

I must admit.

Ouch.

I was promised a smooth landing.

We tried,

Barry.

We tried.

Not to worry.

I will take it up with the winds and the beaver boys back home.

Leave it to beavers to build a flight plan.

I could have helped,

Barry.

We have a new fleet of worker bees testing out their range.

I could have sent a caravan or something.

Are you okay?

Yes,

I'm okay.

It'll take more than a crash landing and a little tussle to take Barry Beaver down.

As if to scoff at his hubris,

Nature itself giggled with thunder and sent Barry to the ground,

Flattened out,

Trying his best to be invisible in the trimmed grass.

You and I each grab a paw to help him back up,

Assuring him that it was just thunder and warning that lightning will come soon,

Most likely.

The commotion woke Roger Robot up from his power cycle,

So he opened the garage to make sure everything is okay.

Having never heard a garage door before,

Barry Beaver again collapsed down into the grass,

Flattened like a pancake with his paws over the back of his head.

Is everything okay out there?

Why is there a beaver taking cover in our front yard?

I cannot take a single nap around here,

Can I?

What have you all gotten into?

Recognizing Roger's voice,

Barry peeks out from under his paws and smiles big when he sees his friend.

He jumps to his feet and then leaps over to Roger Robot for a big hug.

It's not a beaver,

Roger.

It's me,

Barry Beaver.

Brother Barry!

Hey!

Roger and Barry are longtime friends that have bonded over their shared love of problem-solving and sharp edges.

Roger Robot checks out Barry Beaver's chompers with each visit to ensure their strength and even modeled his multifunctional tool hands after them.

After their embrace,

Barry smiles big and Roger shows him the scissor hands he's made in their honor.

Never cease to amaze me,

Brother Roger.

Did you get my gigantic pile of census cards?

Yep.

Mr.

Honeybee and I had to invent a counter just to process them.

But we did.

Just finished last week.

Excellent,

Excellent.

Wow.

It's so great to catch up with everyone.

Ha!

I should parachute in more often.

Or,

You know,

S*** down the river.

Beavers are excellent at that,

Right?

Any good beaver loves him some options.

It's so nice to see you,

Barry.

What brings you here to us?

And how'd you get in a box?

With a parachute?

Oh,

That's an easy one.

A flying fish,

Of course.

Barry Beaver goes on to explain that a group of flying fish were passing by the Hodge Podge Lodge recently,

And a few of the beavers,

Staying overnight,

Got a couple of ideas about how they could fly themselves.

Barry,

Being one of those beavers,

Tried everything the flying fish suggested to make his stubby front paws into graceful,

Angel-like wings.

When nothing worked and the flying fish were due on their way,

They supplied him with a parachute that they gave baby fly fishes when they're learning to launch.

The lodge beavers and I did the rest of the work,

Packing me into the box and securing us to the parachute,

And ta-da!

Here I am!

Oh,

And I wanted to ask,

You got the acorns I sent,

Right?

We sure did,

Barry.

We planted one at the heart center of the Honey Bee neighborhood,

Up on that hill over there,

And the other viable seed we're making into a bonsai oak tree,

Because it likes to stay in the greenhouse and grow smaller.

Neato!

So,

About both of those trees,

They're different.

I hate to break it to you.

You're telling me.

Yes,

Exactly,

I am telling you.

I'll say it more clearly,

Do not trust them.

Those acorns,

Or anything that grows from them,

Don't trust them,

Not one bit.

They have vines of their own.

I buried the acorn,

Right?

And then the tree grew up,

Full of branches.

We gnawed a few off,

And wherever we put it,

We came back to find everything around it charred to a crisp.

I inspected it with my close,

Careful eye,

And before I knew it,

I was launched on the branch itself.

And not on purpose.

The flying fish had to wrangle me down,

Wrestle me away from the branch.

We have a few of the branches in the Hodgepodge Lodge that have to be tied down with bungee cord.

We cannot tell which oak tree branches are from that tree until they go haywire with lightning.

I've developed quite an unpleasant reaction to lightning.

Those acorns are something else,

I'll tell you.

Our branches fly too.

Well,

After being struck by lightning,

That is.

You fly on them?

Geniuses!

We do.

They're so much fun,

Once you get the hang of them.

A qualitatively different experience than flying on a shooting star.

But much less danger of running into black holes.

Which I prefer.

Well,

My friends,

You can fly your branches on over to the Hodgepodge Lodge any time.

That sounds wonderful,

Barry.

We absolutely will.

What about right now?

Now as in right.

.

.

Right now?

Now is the only real time there is,

You know?

Everything else is a figment of imagination.

Yes,

Of course,

Right now now.

Not in any imagination time.

Now now.

Pretty please,

There's a terrible emergency.

Which is,

Incidentally,

Why I'm here.

What?

Really?

It's been an emergency this whole time?

Oh yeah.

A bad one.

Why didn't you open with that?

Well,

I did,

Kinda.

But there's something so special about the catch-up,

You know?

Seeing friends you haven't seen in a while,

Catching up on all you've missed.

I couldn't just skip that part.

Keep it together,

Bear Bear.

You're a strong beaver.

So,

Did I miss anything?

How are you all?

Barry,

Tell us what's wrong.

What's the emergency?

Oh,

Okay.

My turn to talk.

Well,

Things aren't great,

I will say that.

Do we need to intervene?

Has there been an invasion?

An invasion?

No,

Not that I know of.

What?

What happened?

So you know those special branches you all fly on,

Oh so whimsically?

Yes?

Well,

We used others as structure support for the Hodgepodge Lodge,

And as the name suggests,

They are quite structurally needed and also quite turbulent.

Not a good combo.

Is there a fast-forward button?

Barry,

Can I fast-forward through this?

Oh,

Oh,

Yes.

We recently expanded the Lodge.

It's nearly double the size since you saw it last.

A bit slower,

Barry.

Okay,

Here it is.

We recently expanded the Lodge.

It's nearly double the size since you saw it last.

Well,

A handful of our guests have reported zappings,

And yesterday two branches flew straight up into the sky,

Right out of their structural place after lightning.

It's affecting the hospitality.

Our guests are terrified,

Aren't getting a wink of sleep.

And trust me,

You do not want to see wayward beavers on but a wink of sleep.

Vicious.

We have all the leftover Hodgepodge we can muster,

Holding it up right now,

But I could really use a hand or one,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

That's four more from Harold.

That makes ten.

Wow,

We got a lot of hands over here.

Before Barry Beaver can count Roger's hands,

He transforms his two hands into twelve.

Plus,

Wow,

Twelve,

That's,

I need a hand,

Or twenty-two,

Please.

You have just the right amount I need.

Of course we can help,

Barry.

What do you need?

Mostly a plan,

And then bore that plan to help the Hodgepodge Lodge not collapse on all of our guests.

Hmm,

Lightning seems to be the main issue.

Specifically,

How these branches react to the lightning.

A mitigation is needed.

We certainly cannot stop the lightning from coming.

Darn,

That was the plan I brought to the table.

Is that not possible?

Not possible,

My friend.

Tall buildings and umbrellas would have been on that already if it was possible.

Okay,

I hear you.

And though it is a tough truth to swallow,

I accept it.

Do we by chance have another plan?

Roger is on to something with the buildings.

I am?

Oh,

I am,

Surely I am.

We need a lightning rod.

Oh,

Those metal things on top of tall buildings?

Exactly.

That way,

The lightning will strike the lightning rod instead of the Hodgepodge Lodge.

It's perfect.

I can call in a favor with the beavers down at the hardware store.

They'll love this project.

Oh,

Good.

That's good.

You'd think we beavers would be best buds,

But they don't much appreciate my style.

What with their measuring and exactness.

That's not the Hodgepodge way.

We're more of a.

.

.

Hodgepodge?

You could say that,

Yes.

It tends to leave us in these urgent predicaments more than I care to admit in this here urgent predicament.

By that,

Do you mean emergencies?

Yes,

You could say that,

Yes.

We need to update your urgency settings,

My friend.

Please do.

With our plan in place,

We rush into Mr.

Honeybee's garage and meet around the workbench where he takes out each of the tools we'll need,

One by one.

He gives us each our part to play in this urgent predicament,

And we dutifully go about it.

You're in charge of helping him unpack the miniature induction furnace,

Which will be used to melt the metal.

Mr.

Honeybee explains that metal is needed specifically because it's an excellent conductor of electricity,

Which lightning is made out of.

The induction furnace is stowed away under his workbench,

And it's much heavier than it looks.

Take a slow,

Deep breath in through your nose and strengthen each of your muscles as you lift the furnace with Mr.

Honeybee using your strong legs.

Then slowly breathe all the way out through your mouth to stabilize the furnace on its special table and let your muscles be soft and squishy to relax.

Once on,

We make sure it's at the right temperature to work with copper,

Because that is the easiest metal to melt and is an excellent conduit.

The beavers arrive at the garage to deliver enough copper for our lightning rod and a little or a lot extra just in case we want to make a fancy one for Barry.

They walk by,

Narrowing their suspicious eyes at him,

Having dealt with these predicaments of his many times before.

Hey fellas,

How are ya?

We'll catch up later,

I guess.

Bye guys.

It takes all 22 of our hands in our protective gear to make Barry Beaver the simplest,

Most efficient lightning rod we could.

Once it cools,

We hold up the long,

Straight lightning rod and Barry seems underwhelmed at best.

Is this the base?

No,

Barry,

This is your lightning rod.

This?

Doesn't it need some pizazz?

Pizazz in an emergency?

Ha,

Listen to this guy.

Since this will rest atop the hodgepodge lodge indefinitely,

We understand Barry's attention to detail that's focused on the smallest picture possible in this scenario.

We each proceed to make him a shape of our own.

Melody B creates a heart.

I make two beaver teeth as a symbol for the lightning rod.

And Mr.

Honey B makes a lightning bolt with a cloud.

What extra decorative shape do you make for Barry Beaver's lightning rod,

My little Honey B?

When we're all done with our shapes,

We now have a collection of copper shapes that have no natural coherence.

That is,

Until Roger Robot reveals his addition.

A gigantic dragon roaring up to the sky.

The lightning rod dragon will hold the heart,

Have two long beaver teeth in its mouth,

And will be under the lightning bolt with the cloud.

Use soldering your shape on as the most perfect final touch.

It's gorgeous.

Now,

This is a hodgepodge lodge lightning rod.

Okay,

Gotta go.

Just as quickly and chaotically as he appeared,

Barry Beaver left in the direction of the Honey River.

We got word that he arrived just in time to install the lightning rod before the next thunderclap brought its lingering lightning.

The hodgepodge lodge has been saved.

Until the next urgent predicament.

Always remember,

Mrs.

Honey B believes in you.

You are special and you are loved.

I can't wait to see you again.