Barstool Beaver poked his nose out of the water, cautiously sniffing the air.
The late Fall sun was low on the horizon, and the cool brisk wind smelled crisp and clear.There was no trace of the wolf pack or the big old brown bear that occasionally stalked the beaver colony.
The drought had intensified this summer, and the lack of rainfall had taken its toll,The Split Tongue river was unusually shallow and slow moving..
Barstool Beaver hauled his body out of the sediment clogged water. The river bank was muddy and covered with fallen leaves, broken twigs, and other miscellaneous flotsam.
He was just three years old, but Barstool was already 26 inches long and weighed 55 pounds, both large for an adult beaver. His thick brown hair was lush and glistened with natural oils.
He shook once to remove the muddy water that was splattered across his body, and ambled towards the dam construction site.
“It’s time to get to work” he grumbled. ” I hate the night shift. It gets so cold after the sun goes down.”
As he walked towards the job, he reminisced about the good times.
The times when it rained enough, and the river was full and swift. When every able bodied beaver was needed on dam construction and reinforcement.
The times when there was enough work for every beaver to be productive, and to earn a full share of a plentiful food supply.
The times when he just had to just show up to get as much good food as a beaver could want, without having to work too hard.
“Yes ,” he thought,” My first year was so much better. Plenty of necessary work to do. I was important for just arriving at work .
They gave me a nice new home. Lent me the money to fix it up, and never asked my name or how old I was….The Good Old Days.”
Barstool Beaver shrugged his shoulder and kept walking.” Now they take back my home, its called foreclosure, and they give my nice snug burrow to a family of Otters.”
He stamped his front paw.” Not Fair! I should be entitled to a home and food. Maybe a warm snug bed…” He let the thought trail off as he was distracted by a female beaver approaching from his right.
Belinda Beaver was a petite silver tipped beaver. Her svelt body and opulent lush fur had most of the young males fighting to impress her.
” Hey Barstool, ” she smiled, ”
” Hey Belinda.” He waved.
” You want to swim with me?” She gave him a big wink.
” Sh sure,” He stammered, then remembered his work.” I’m supposed to work on the new dam tonight.”
” New dam? We don’t need a new dam.” She retorted. ” The original dam is working well enough for this old slow river. What do we need a new dam for?”
” It’s not just one dam, they have a series of five dams planned .” He shrugged” Its part of a comprehensive stimulus package to get all of the Beavers working again.”
She battered her long lashes ,” Honey too many dams will flood the valley, and besides I want to play now. ”
Barstool hesitated. She was right of course. Too many dams constructed along this section of the River Split Tongue, would result in some serious flooding.
” What the heck.” he thought. ” The Beaver colony will feed me even if I don’t work. After all, what good is a bailout if it doesn’t allow me some free time for fun and games.
I’m probably doing the valley a favor by not working too hard.Work Less prevent flooding.” He rationalized.
By the next Spring, the main dam was leaking badly.
There were 2 new very wobbly dams up river, and three partially constructed ones that washed away with the first Spring thaw.
When the drought ended in early May, the Spring rains swept all five new dams away, then overwhelmed the neglectd original structure.
The Beaver colony lost 60% of its population .
The local valley was flooded and eventually when the waters receeded a 2 inch layer of debris covered the formerly fertile fields.
Many animals starved. Hunger and poverty were rampant.
Just in time for a new much larger Stimulus package to rescue the entire valley .
STIMULATE THIS