Two Dozen Too Many Mechanical Squirrels

Carlos loved mechanical squirrels so much that he built two dozen.

He’d wind them up and giggle as they ran around the apartment, scaled his bookshelves, even danced, until the tension of their springs spun out.

It was great fun.

By week two, however, things went terribly wrong.

The squirrels never stopped. Day and night they clamored over him, filled the apartment with incessant chattering, chewed up all his shoelaces.

After five nights without sleep, lying on the edge of insanity, he realized things had gone terribly wrong: the squirrels had learned to wind themselves.