Mr. Smiles Adventurous Day

Mr. Smiles’ Adventurous Day

By

Samantha From

Mr. Smiles’ Adventurous Day

Mr. Smiles woke up to a bright, sun-filled morning. It is his favorite way to say hello and greet the day. He was a small man, but his big smile and positive attitude filled the room. He got ready in a bit of a rush, quickly showering and getting dressed. He did not have time to eat breakfast at home but planned to grab a sandwich at Lena's Cafe when he got into town.

Mr. Smiles always had 25 smiles packed in his red backpack.

But as he was about to leave home, he got a feeling he would need more smiles, so he grabbed a five pack of smiles and stuffed them in his pocket. He walked over to the garage and hopped into his bright yellow pickup truck, turned the ignition, and hit the road.

Meanwhile in town, Bert Badger was already cranky, and it wasn't even noon yet. Mr. Smiles pulled into Badger's spot and of course greeted him with a huge beaming smile. Bert sneered in return with a grunt of irritation. He was having trouble with his windmill but refused to climb back up the tower to see if a gear was jammed. Since Mr. Smiles was such a little guy, he told Bert he would climb the windmill tower to see what was wrong.

As Mr. Smiles climbed the tower, he realized this should have been done on another day. It was starting to get windy and he was afraid he might get blown off the tower. Still Mr. Smiles climbed and climbed, and thankfully his red backpack acted as an anchor to keep him from blowing around. After what felt like 100 steps, he finally reached the top, and could see the opening of the gearbox in the windmill tower. To his surprise, was a toolbox waiting for him. Mr. Bert must have left it on a previous trip up there.

Now Mr. Smiles had never repaired a windmill before and was not quite sure where to start. He looked at the gears and they were all jammed up and not able to move, no matter how hard the wind blew. Using all his strength, he tried prying the gears apart with a huge metal rod that was leaning up against a wall. That didn't work. So, then he wedged the rod in between two gears and with all his might, he whacked the end protruding out with Burt's huge hammer. Nothing happened, so he whacked again. And again. And again. Well what do you know, after five big whacks, the gears started moving.

The wind was really blowing hard now, and Mr. Smiles knew he needed to get to safety below on the ground. But before he started to climb down, he took all the smiles out of his pockets and backpack. He dropped them toward the ground, but the strong, stiff wind grabbed them up and carried them faraway to people in need of a smile. Each smile came with a card to write a note to let Mr. Smiles where you found his smile.

His work was complete and now he was ready to climb down the tower. Mr. Smiles filled his pockets and backpack with a small hammer, a wrench, and as many tools he could carry. He felt sure he would not get blown from the tower. So, when he was ready, he began climbing down the ladder toward an angry-looking Badger who was relieved and very thankful for what Mr. Smiles had done.

About halfway down the ladder, Mr. Smiles foot slipped and the wrench in his front pocket fell out. It's a good thing Bert Badger was paying attention, because he jumped back out of the way, just missed being hit on the head.

Finally, Mr. Smiles made it all the way down the ladder and was safely on the ground. In disbelief, Mr. Smiles smiled a sigh of relief.

“That was the scariest thing that I have ever done,” talking out loud to himself. He was so glad his feet were again on the ground that he didn’t see Bert walking up to him.

Bert came over and shook Smiles hand so hard his feet came a little off the ground.

“Well, well, Smiley! Who knew a little guy like you could repair a windmill?” Bert shaking his hand with such a strong grip, Mr. Smiles feet came off the ground.

“I almost took a good whack on the head from that wrench you dropped, but it all worked out and you are safe.”

Mr. Smiles sheepishly grinned at the compliment as he pulled his hand from Badger’s grip.

“Hey, I don't know about you, but I have worked up quite an appetite,” Badger said patting Mr. Smiles on his back. “I was going to Lena's for a burger. Do you want to ride along?”

Mr. Smiles’ smile got even bigger because he had missed breakfast and was planning to eat at Lena’s, so he was more than happy at the invitation to ride into town.

Bert’s truck was double the size of Mr. Smiles and twice as tall as him. It was a huge jump for Smiley to get into Bert's truck, but it had been such an amazing day and his stomach was really growling. He decided a hamburger was just what he needed.