The lawnmower that lied

Larry was a yellow and blue petrol lawnmower.  He was very carefully greased and groomed and had never been left out in the rain.  He was in perfect condition. 

At night he slept at the bottom of the garden in a shed with all the other gardening tools, such as spades, rakes, garden forks and wheelbarrows.

Larry knew that he belonged to a wealthy family because the garden he had to mow, was very large.  Every day he worked on a different part of the garden.  Although he was tired when he came home, he enjoyed the outside air and loved to tell the other tools where he had mowed that day. Sometimes when he was being used near the fence, he would chat to the neighbour’s lawnmower whose name was Linda.

It did not take long before Larry and Linda became very close friends and would spend as much time as possible together.

One day as Larry was cutting the grass, he felt something hard under his blades.  He looked down and saw a very expensive gold diamond bracelet.  He decided he would keep it and give it to Linda as a present.  Quickly Larry wound it around his axle away from the blades.

That night, the chief gardener told the tools about a bracelet that the lady of the house had lost.  After he had gone, they discussed the missing bracelet amongst themselves.  The garden spade, who was the leader, asked them if any one of them had seen it.  Everybody, including Larry, said no.

Larry was very pleased that it was dark in the shed so that no one could see him blushing.

The next morning all the tools were taken out of the shed and asked to keep a special lookout for the bracelet.  Larry was wheeled out and the gardener started the engine and began to cut the grass.

As he moved, the bracelet began to loosen on his axle.  Larry now began to tremble because if he stopped to adjust the bracelet and prevent it from slipping, the gardener would become suspicious. In no time at all the bracelet slipped off the axle and caught in his blades.  There was a big crunching noise and Larry stopped turning with badly damaged blades.

The gardener turned him over.  To his horror, he found the missing bracelet wrapped around Larry’s blades.  The gardener asked him how this had happened.  Larry had to admit that he had stolen the bracelet. He was then placed in the shed in disgrace.

At night all the other tools refused to talk to him and during the day, he was all alone.  Larry was very unhappy and while he waited for his blades to be replaced, he vowed that he would never tell another lie in his life!

Barbara Louise Gillman