Anthropormorphic Alert: Am I the only one that imagined a beavery reunion where Dad beaver scowled at the state of things when he came back and said “Jesus! What the hell have you been doing with these dams, son?”‘
It isn’t hard to suspect Jr. defended his work staunchly and answered “They were holding just fine until that water came up from down stream” and then bitterly added,
“Maybe if you were here you could have helped, but you took off and we had to do it all by ourselves!”
Of course that would make Dad defensive about his “walkabout” and he would have snapped back “It’s a good thing I left when I did! So I didn’t have to see this! Your mother and I never taught you to use house plants on the dam!” which would make Jr fold his arms, eyes flashing and answer staunchly,
“You never understood me, father. You never even tried. I’m an ARTIST. Reeds are what I do best. It’s who I am so you better just get used to it.”
The pair would glower at each other in the water until the peacemaker sister pipes in trying to calm both tempers, saying earnestly, “He did a good job dad, he worked hard and he tried to take care of things just like you while you were gone, but it was hard – we both missed you”.
And Dad’s voice would break a little when he says gruffly, “I missed you too”.
I imagine there would be a long pause while the three looked at each other and their home, so changed and still so familiar. Then dad would cock his head at Jr. and pick up a tule scowling amiably, “Reeds huh? Alright, then where do you want this, son?”
Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Leo Tolstoy
