Plot Bunny #3: First Scene

And I'm back with the first scene of How To Fix A Traffic Light (my working title)!  It's rather short, but I hope you'll enjoy.


               “Tommy!  You FOOLISH squirrel!  Do you WANT to cause an accident?!”
                Tommy jumped as the voice of his foreman Madeline exploded through his headset and hastily flipped the red light switch. For the thousandth time, he wondered why the Labor Distribution Association (LDA) had chosen him, the most awkward, daydreamy fellow in his class, to operate a traffic light--especially a traffic light at an intersection, where he had to control four at once.
                Maybe, he thought gloomily, the LDA wished to “improve” him, but if so, it wasn’t working.
                “TOMMY!”
                “Augh!”  Tommy half-groaned, holding his ear.  “What?”
                “I’ve been trying to get your attention for the past three minutes and seventeen seconds.  There’s been a malfunction in Number Three.”
                Tommy sighed. “On it.”  He exited the control room and climbed through the hollow pole until he reached the third traffic light over.  He clambered into it, peering at the wires until he found the problem: a loose wire.
                He supposed he really should have noticed this before, but thankfully he wouldn’t have to worry about that for a while.  He was relatively new at his job, and so Madeline was keeping a special eye on him.
                Obviously that had its drawbacks, but on the whole he was grateful for it.  Without her constant reminders to keep his mind on the task at hand, he’d probably have been fired already—maybe even sent to the forest to live among the wild squirrels.