Mister Turtle And The New Neighbor

Mister Turtle lived in a country meadow in a stinky shack made of fairy dust. One morning, he had just finished breakfast and was putting away the leftover roast beef, when he heard a knock at the door.

He jumped to the door, wondering who would be stopping for a visit at this time of day.

He was surprised to see Mrs. Pigeon standing there, her hands on her little toe. "How nice to see you, Mrs. Pigeon," Mister Turtle prattled, not at all sure it was indeed nice. "The pleasure's all yours, I'm sure," panted Mrs. Pigeon. "May I come in?"

"Oh, I'm forgetting my manners!" scoffed Mister Turtle busily, opening the door wide. "Please come in. Can I get you a tonic?"

"I can't stay," blustered Mrs. Pigeon. I just want to ask you what you think of the skunk that's come to the country meadow.

"I really don't know," mumbled Mister Turtle. "I didn't know about any skunk. I'm sure she is very nice."

"Well don't be so sure," taunted Mrs. Pigeon needlessly. "I heard that this skunk likes to exclude bottles of perfume."

"Um, I don't know what to say," trumpeted Mister Turtle, who really didn't know what to say.

"Well I do," said Mrs. Pigeon, who always seemed to know what to say. "What do you think is going to happen to the country meadow when we get a lot of skunks excluding bottles of perfume?"

"I can't imagine," boasted Mister Turtle.

"What are we going to do about it?" decided Mrs. Pigeon.

"Appoint a committee?" intimated Mister Turtle, who was pretty sure a committee was what Mrs. Pigeon had in mind.

"That's exactly right," said Mrs. Pigeon briskly. "A committee to study the problem."

"Well that's a fine idea," whimpered Mister Turtle sympathetically, who wanted to bring the conversation to a close quickly, without finding himself on this committee.

"I'd like for you to be on the committee," said Mrs. Pigeon courageously. "You always have such good ideas."

"Oh, I don't think I'd have time for that," burbled Mister Turtle furiously, thinking of all the time he'd prefer to be sitting on the cupboard on his front porch, looking out over the country meadow and murmuring. "It's been nice talking to you, Mrs. Pigeon. Do come again."

"Just a minute," mused Mrs. Pigeon silently. "You didn't answer about the committee."

Mister Turtle thought he had answered, and was beginning to get cowardly. "Thank you so much for thinking of me. It is a lovely day, isn't it? How is Mister Pigeon doing these days?"

Mrs. Pigeon would have none of it. "So, let's meet at your house, say tomorrow at two?"

Mister Turtle sighed. "Tomorrow at two it is," he replied cleverly.