It was a gloriously hot summer day in Elmwood. The fields were green, the sky was blue, and all around buzzed the busy sounds of nature. Everyone, it seemed, was happy. Everyone, that was, except B-Jay.
B-Jay was a wonderful red Beetle car who was feeling far from wonderful, stuck in a gloomy, dingy garage while his owner was far away enjoying his summer vacation. B-Jay stared out of the dusty, cobwebbed window to the hills and the trees that stretched far off into the distance, wishing he could be out there feeling wonderful. He wished he could be driving around the landscape with his roof back, enjoying the breeze and the feel of the hot sun.
All of a sudden, B-Jay had a thought. He couldn’t actually remember his owner locking the garage door before he had left. I wonder, he mused to himself. Maybe if I give the door a nudge, it might open.
And so it did.
Well, before you could say "thank you very much," B-Jay had escaped the confines of the garage, negotiated the driveway, and was accelerating quickly along the road in a state of sheer delirium.
"Whoooooooosh!" he hollered as he raced up the first hill.
"Wheeeeeeeeeeee!" he screamed, flying very quickly down the other side.
Now he was feeling wonderful, speeding along with his roof back, flashing his lights and tooting his horn. His wipers whipped across the windscreen at full speed; such was his joy.
"Vrooooooom!" he shouted as the road turned to the left. "Vroooooooom!" he shouted again as the road turned to the right. Faster and faster he drove, tooting and flashing, flashing and tooting.
As the woods got closer, the road started to twist and turn—up and down, left and right, right and left—but B-Jay did not slow down. He was far too excited. He just swerved this way then that way until it looked like he might never stop.
Suddenly, he hit a log in the road. He was going so fast that there was not enough time to avoid it. There was a bump and a thump and a bit of a jump as one of his wheels broke loose, bouncing along the road ahead of him. He screeched to a sudden halt.
"Oh no!" shrieked B-Jay. "Now what am I going to do?" B-Jay started to cry. Once again, he was feeling far from wonderful.
Just then, a tiny voice called out from the grass at the side of the road. "Does it hurt?"
"Does what hurt?" said B-Jay, sobbing. "Who are you?"
"Your leg," replied a tiny ant. "And I am an ant and my name is Zippo." As he said his name, he spun his baseball hat round and round.
"Well, it is not a leg; it is a wheel. And no, it doesn’t hurt. I just cannot go anywhere without it."
"Oh dear, you are stuck then," said Zippo. "Maybe I can help. Everyone knows that for their size, ants are far stronger than anyone else." He spun his baseball hat around again as if to showcase his skills.
"That may be so," said a voice high up in the cottonwood tree next to them. "But even you are far too tiny to carry such a large wheel."
"Who are you?" questioned B-Jay and Zippo together, looking up to where the voice had come from.
"My name is Aruna," came the reply as a rather large bird appeared, flying towards them. "I am a Great Horned Owl."
"Are you a wise owl?" asked Zippo. "Only I have heard that owls are wise, which means you could help B-Jay get his wheel back."
"Yes," said Aruna, flapping his wings to reveal a rather large wingspan. "We have many qualities and wisdom is one of them. And I may just be able to help."
B-Jay and Zippo found it very hard to disagree. Aruna was a rather magnificent owl and he could certainly grip it with his rather awesome-looking talons. Suddenly, the hedgerow erupted with the sounds of amusement.
"You might be magnificent and you might even be able to grip B-Jay's wheel," mused the voice, still chuckling, "but who has ever heard the story of the owl that rescued a wheel? That would be a tale to be told."
"And who might you be?" asked B-Jay, Zippo, and Aruna, who was not amused at such a mocking tone.
"My name is Maxwell," said a rather large St. Bernard dog, walking towards them and wagging his tail as he sniffed the floor around them. "I can help you. Everyone knows that St. Bernards are famous for rescuing people in their time of need. Our exploits have been very well documented. I could carry it on my back once I have tracked it with my superior sense of smell."
As he said this, Maxwell continued to sniff the ground around them as if he had suddenly sensed something important. That is true, they all thought to themselves. It is said that dogs do have an amazing sense of smell and Maxwell was a rather large dog. Surely he could carry it on his back.
"Oh, please!" said another voice from the hedgerow. Its tone was sarcastic and condescending. "You may have an incredible sense of smell, but everyone knows what will happen the second you smell food. Everyone knows what dogs are like. If you could just forget about food for five minutes, maybe... but I doubt it."
"Who are you?" they all echoed in chorus.
"I am Cressida," said a rather proud black cat, licking her paw before pruning her left ear attentively. "What you need is a great hunter! Oh, wait," she continued mockingly, "that would be me. There is no better hunter known to man or beast than a cat."
"But that still doesn’t solve the problem of how we can get the wheel back here," said yet another voice. This time it came from a hole in the ground near the tree from where the owl had flown down.
Once again, they all asked, "And who are you?"
"I am Bo," chuckled the badger, tumbling over and over towards them. "Digger Bo! I could even carry it on my wibbly-wobbly tummy." And with that exclamation, he continued to tumble over and over all around them.
"You still need my help to find it," disagreed Cressida the cat with a hiss. "Everyone knows a badger's eyes are only good at night. And for the love of God, will you please keep still? You are making me dizzy with all that tumbling."
They all carried on arguing about who would be the one to best help B-Jay. After what seemed like an eternity of hopelessness, B-Jay started to cry again. It was no good. He would be stuck there forever until they could solve the problem of who it would be that could best save him.
"Well, that settles it then," proclaimed Aruna the wise, after an hour of listening to them squabble. "We shall all go together."
"That’s brilliant," thought B-Jay, suddenly filled with hope. You truly are a wise old owl. "Surely if everyone works together," he thought, "then I really could get my wheel back."
"We will never get anywhere by arguing," continued the owl, "but if we work together, then we may be able to find and bring back B-Jay’s wheel." Aruna made such a statement that they all found it very hard to disagree. Even Cressida the overly proud cat could manage nothing more than a shrug of her shoulders.
So they all set off: the ant, the owl, the dog, the cat, and the badger (who was still tumbling) all in search of the missing wheel. B-Jay tried to remain optimistic while he waited, thankful that so many had come to his rescue, and dreamed of that moment when he might feel wonderful again.
After what seemed like an eternity, they all returned. B-Jay was overcome with relief when he saw them all approaching from the distance, carrying the missing wheel. He tried to remain calm, reminding himself that it was his excitement that had led him to this situation.
He expressed his gratitude to each of his new friends over and over and over again. He did not know how he could ever repay them, but he did have one idea that could reward them for their friendship. He would return at another time. On another sunny day, he would take them all on an adventure. He wasn’t sure what kind of adventure, but he was sure that if they were capable of finding a missing wheel, then they could surely think of the greatest adventure ever.
Once his wheel was attached, he said his farewells and made a promise to each of them to return. Then, much slower than before, he headed home just as the sun was sinking into the horizon. He couldn’t resist one final glance into his rearview mirror, and as he did so, he caught a glance of Digger Bo still tumbling in the hedgerow behind him.
He smiled to himself at how clever they all were and at how wonderful it felt to have his wheel back. How wonderful it felt to have new friends. He flashed his lights and tooted his horn. Once could not hurt.
Then, he closed the garage door behind him, grateful to be home.