Davide la Locomotive

When planning stops at the title.

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After a flood washed away the homes of two families of beavers, the peacock asked each village to build them a new lodge.

Some time later, the lazy cat from Yolotown strolled over to Dunwell and found the turtle taking soil samples.

“Oh, turtle,” purred the cat, “you haven’t even started. We’re already building the walls. You’re so far behind.”
“We were checking the ground first,” said the turtle. “Have you done that?”

The cat licked its paw and smiled. “We have a plan.”

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Later, the turtle visited the lazy cat’s site.

“How’s it going?” he asked.
“Oh, we’re nearly done,” said the cat. “Just a few snags. We’re sticking to the plan.”

The turtle looked around. The floor tilted downhill. The rooms were triangular. A door opened directly into a brick wall. Some rooms had no roof at all.

“Interesting,” said the turtle. “We finished ours yesterday.”
The cat’s eyes narrowed. “Already?”
“No snags,” said the turtle.

The turtle spotted a piece of paper pinned to a ladder. It was labelled “Plan.”
He unfolded it.
In big, confident letters, it simply read:

Build house.

The turtle set the plan back on the ladder.

Across the room, two squirrels knelt on the bare boards, polishing a brass light fitting until it gleamed.
Then, with great care, they began screwing it into the middle of the floor.

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