"It doesn't need much, just a stick or two in the right place is all I need. Nothing fancy. Wouldn't do to have it too fancy. Then people would say, 'oh there goes old Eeyore, he's stuck on himself with that fancy house of his'. Wouldn't want that to happen." Eeyore was discussing his house plans with Gopher, who had graciously offered to rebuild Eeyore's house in a more secure fashion, or at least in a fashion which would stay in an upright position for more than a day, which is a problem that Eeyore hadn't yet figured out how to overcome.
"Do ya think I'll need dynamite for this job. Gotta get rid of the problem first, and dynamite always works for me." Gopher rubbed his paws together, thinking about how much of a boom the dynamite would make, and how quickly it would level Eeyore's existing house.
"Don't need anything that drastic, I would think. Just pull out that last stick, and the whole house will come down. That's been my problem, that last stick. Everytime my tail twitches it, the stick moves and the whole house seems to be in a great bit rush to meet the ground. I don't mind it so much, except most times I'm inside the house when this happens, and I'd rather it didn't happen, or if it did, could you rig up a warning device that would give me enough time to get out of the house, Gopher." Eeyore shivered, remembering the last time his house fell down on him. At the time he had been dreaming of an exceptionally tasty thistle, and his mouth had been open, dreaming of munching on that thistle. One of his house sticks landed between his teeth, and he didn't think that was a nice surprise at all.
"Give me some time to think about this one, Eeyore. You'll need sticks ..."
"Got them. They're lying on the ground right where my house used to be. Been using them for years." Eeyore pointed with his front paw to the pile of sticks lying criss-crossed about the clearing.
"Nope. You'll need all new sticks. Never work with used stuff; always has nicks in them that don't let me work the way I like to work. You want a quality job, you gotta do it right from scratch. That's what my granpappy always told me. Work with the best, and you'll get the best." Gopher kicked the sticks out of the clearing to make room for his newest creation. "I'll have my bulldozer here tomorrow. Shouldn't take more than a day or two. Yessiree, you'll love this new house of yours."
"A day or two! What am I going to do? Where am I going to live? It's hurricane weather, you know." Eeyore was gathering up the sticks that Gopher had kicked out of the clearing, thinking that maybe he had made a wrong choice contracting with Gopher to rebuild his house. He started mumbling to himself. "I don't need much, just a cover over my head. If he makes it too fancy people will talk, and that wouldn't do. I'll just rebuild my house over here, and if the new house is too fancy, I'll just say that's for my relatives when they come to visit. Nobody thinks bad about you if you build something nice for your relatives, but they may talk about you if you start putting on airs for yourself."
I'd appreciate any comments, both positive and negative (but preferably constructive if they're negative) about this story or my writing style. I can be reached at Wstoler@aol.com.