Today I opened My GRL randomly to page 51. With eyes closed, I pointed to the page. The word closest to my finger is “worked.” This is our prompt.
Worked by John W. Howell, © 2025
“Well, that worked.”
“What do you mean. This is a mess.”
“It may not look pretty, but at least the leak is stopped.”
“I’ll give you that, but what an eyesore. The neighbors are going to have a field day at the New Year’s Eve party, talking about the mess you made.”
“So you are just worried about what the neighbors will say?”
“Darn right I’m worried.”
“You should be happy that we got the leak under control and not worry about the gossip.”
“I’m the one who has to deal with these folks. All you do is work most of the time and don’t have talk to them.”
“Still. For the most part, we keep our place neat. This was an emergency. Don’t you think they will understand that?”
“I still don’t understand why it has to look like such a fright?”
“The water pressure was just too great to take the time to make a lovely patch. I had to get the water stopped before it ruined everything.”
“Can you fix it now?”
“No the binder has to set up before I make any more adjustments.”
“How does this happen anyway? You built our place. Did you do a lousy job?”
“This is a small setback, and you are making a mountain out of a molehill.”
“You don’t have to listen to the whispers.”
“We had unprecedented rain, and the water pressure was just too much.”
“Why didn’t this happen to others?”
“Take a look.”
“What?”
“Do you see any dams left downstream?”
“OMG, where are they?”
“So much for wondering if ours was built properly. I don’t think you have to worry about what is said at the New Year’s Eve party. I think you and I will be the only ones there. The rest will be chasing their tails trying to find logs to rebuild.”
“You are my hero. Happy New Year, you eager Beaver you.”
*Blush*
Fiction Favorites 
I love to see Canada’s national animal hard at work. 🦫
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Yes. Busy, busy, busy. Thanks, Darlene.
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Not sure why the word ‘binder’ made me think of beavers. Had me going until then.
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It was a clue for sure. People would not say “binder,” and if I wrote “mud,” it would be a slam-dunk giveaway.
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Three cheers and a tail whump for the DIY champ of the neighborhood.
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I agree, Dan. The engineers of the animal world.
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This was great, John. Happy New Year!
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Thanks, Kymber. Happy New Year.
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Well, ‘I’ll be damned’ comes to mind…🦫
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Dammed fine job of making us wonder which animal was going to be involved this time, John, Happy New Year.
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Way to cleverly use the prompt to tell a cute story. 🦫
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I have zero clever dam puns in my brain. As someone who’s had several surprise water incidents in my house I missed all your clues entirely. Well done!
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Hilarious, John. I bet you chuckled as you wrote. Who doesn’t love busy beavers! I hope you had a great Christmas…and are preparing for a fabulous New Year. 😄🦫😄
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Me thinks a busy beaver is a happy beaver, John. They know how to construct a good life.🦫
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