Where The Wind Carries You/Part 5

"This smurf is pleased to know that this story has a happy ending, and that you all have made it home alive and making amends for how you treated Lazy in that situation," Empath said, smiling.

"Oh, that isn't the whole complete story yet, my fellow Empath," Tapper said. "If Handy would kindly smurf us the honors of smurfing this tale to a close..."

"Thank you, Tapper, I appreciate it," Handy said. "When we made it home, we started work on building a new windmill to smurf it stronger than ever, and Papa Smurf was there to see how the work was progressing."

And as Handy told the rest of the story, Empath and Polaris saw in his mind Handy speaking with Papa Smurf as he was overseeing the work details being done. "The new windmill's going to be real smurfy, Papa Smurf," Handy said. "We should have the whole thing completed in a day or two."

"Excellent work, Handy," Papa Smurf said. "Is Lazy being much help?"

"Oh, absosmurfly, Papa Smurf," Handy said. "I trust Lazy with any job now."

"I'm very happy to hear that, Handy," Papa Smurf said, sounding pleased until he heard Lazy snoring. He then looked at Handy rather strangely, as if expecting an explanation.

"Let me show you, Papa Smurf," Handy said, as they both approached the structure being built and looked inside. There they saw Lazy sleeping away on a table, with his snoring powering up an automatic painting machine that Handy created for him.

"Of course, Lazy's good for smurfing some jobs better than others," Handy said with a chuckle.

Papa Smurf also had to laugh at the sight. "At least you're smurfing good use of him, Handy." - "All right, my little Smurfs, what's going on here?" Papa Smurf asked as he approached Tapper's Tavern and saw the Smurfs gathered there to tell Tapper's story.

"Oh, nothing, Papa Smurf," Handy said. "We were just telling Empath and Polaris about the time that the six of us were smurfed in a volcano and how we managed to smurf ourselves out with my whirlysmurfer."

"Yeah, and how we managed to escape being smurfed by sharks out in the ocean," Hefty added.

"I'm sure that must be a very important story to tell, but we still have the rest of the village to clean up and fix, so I suggest that we would all smurf back to our tasks and make sure they are done before we smurf anymore stories," Papa Smurf said. "Is that understood?"

"Yes, Papa Smurf," the Smurfs gathered at Tapper's Tavern said before they headed off in separate directions.

After the other Smurfs left, Tapper spoke to Papa Smurf. "It was all my doing, Papa Smurf. Empath and Polaris were curious to know about what happened to me in the volcano, and so I just simply started smurfing the story that attracted a bit of attention from my fellow Smurfs. I wasn't trying to be disruptive or anything."

"This one can assure you, Papa Smurf, that Tapper's intentions for telling the story were purely for informative and educational reasons," Polaris said.

"I understand, Polaris," Papa Smurf said. "What's important about these stories is that they are smurfed with a purpose in mind so that we will learn something that can be useful to be in the future. But however entertaining these stories may be, we can't let them be smurfed as distractions from smurfing important village tasks, especially when dealing with emergency situations like the one we have smurfed through."

"This smurf understands and acknowledges, Papa Smurf," Empath said. "This smurf only hopes that we will not have to go through such an experience like the one Tapper and his fellow Smurfs had went through in that instance."

"But if I had to smurf through it again just to see my fellow Smurfs come to the knowledge of the truth, Empath, then I would gladly smurf whatever it takes to do so," Tapper said.

Just then Brainy had approached the tavern and saw Papa Smurf with Empath, Tapper, and Polaris. "I heard that there was something important smurfing here just a few minutes ago, Papa Smurf," Brainy said. "What was it all about?"

"Oh, it was just a story being told, that was all," Papa Smurf replied while slipping a wink at Tapper.

THE END