Late one evening, Blacky bear, Baddy fox, Jumpy monkey and Meeku mouse were returning back home in Jumpy’s car after a picnic.
“Drive carefully, Jumpy. It’s getting dark and the roads are quite bad too,” said Meeku.
“Don’t worry, Meeku. I am an excellent driver,” replied Jumpy coolly.
Just as he finished talking, the car started shaking.
“Jumpy! Do excellent drivers shake their cars like this?” said Baddy irritated.
“It’s not my fault. Seems like we have a flat tyre,” said Jumpy.
He brought the car to a halt to the side of the road. They all got out and saw that one of the wheels had a puncture.
“Oh no! How will we reach home now?” said Blacky worried.
“Don’t worry, Blacky. There is a spare tyre in the car’s boot. We’ll just replace the flat tyre with the spare one,” said Jumpy.
Jumpy fetched the spare tyre from the boot of the car, while Blacky removed the punctured one.
“Baddy, now fix the spare tyre so that we can resume our journey soon,” said Blacky.
“Why should I fix it? You removed the flat tyre, so you should be the one fixing the spare tyre,” said Baddy.
“That makes no sense!” said Blacky.
“It does! When we play cricket, whoever throws the ball into somebody’s house is the one who has to go and get it back, isn’t it? By that logic, whoever removed the tyre has to fix it,” said Baddy.
Blacky got angry. “You are just trying to come up with a reason to not do any work! You better fix the new tyre; if not, you have no idea what I will do to you!” threatened Blacky.
“You cannot do anything to me,” said Baddy.
“I’ll show you!” said an enraged Blacky.
As the two were arguing, Baddy’s legs brushed against the punctured tyre. The nuts on the tyre were loose and they rolled down a steep ditch. Jumpy and Meeku saw the nuts rolling, while the other two continued to fight unaware.
“Stop fighting both of you!” said Jumpy. “See what you have done. Without the nuts and bolts, how will we replace the spare tyre now?”
“This is all Blacky’s fault. If he had just changed the tyre without arguing, we would have been on our way now,” said Baddy.
“Why couldn’t you do it then without arguing?” Blacky snapped at Baddy.
The two began fighting again.
“Will you both calm down and think of a solution for the problem?” said Meeku.
“There’s no use, Meeku. Without the nuts and bolts, we cannot fix the tyre. And the closest mechanic shop is quite far away,” said Jumpy sadly.
“Don’t lose heart, Jumpy. Every problem has a solution. All we need to do is to look for it,” said Meeku.
“So says the smallest and weakest one among us!” mocked Baddy.
“But I do have a solution,” said Meeku.
“What is it?” asked Jumpy eagerly.
“Just as Baddy mentioned, I am small and weak. You three can lower me down the ditch with a rope so that I can pick up the bolts and nuts, and pull me back up after that. We can then fix the tyre and be on our way. But for this, we will have to work together,” said Meeku looking at Blacky and Baddy.
“This is a great idea! I also have a rope in the boot of the car. We can tie that around you,” said Jumpy, running to fetch the rope.
They tied it around Meeku and lowered him down the steep ditch. After he picked up all the nuts and bolts, the other three pulled him up.
Baddy then helped Blacky fix the spare tyre.
“Thank you, Meeku. Because of your idea, we will be able to reach home now,” said Blacky.
Baddy agreed with him. “You are right, Blacky. Even though I mocked him, he remained calm and came up with a solution—he is indeed bigger than all of us!” he said and apologised to Meeku.
The four friends then got back into the car and resumed their journey home.
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