Dr Pesastra's Disaster

DR PESASTRA’S DISASTER

Dr Pesastra was in a muddle. He had run out of bandages to bandage his patients’ fingers and thumbs.
In his country there were more and more people who needed houses to live in, so more and more houses had to be built. The workmen worked hard and fast, laying bricks, and sawing wood. However, when it came to nailing the roof together they often hit their fingers and thumbs with the big hammers they used. Throbbing fingers, and especially thumbs, had to be bandaged up for protection. But Dr Pesastra had run out of bandages!
To solve this problem, Dr Pesastra left the hospital and got on a bus to travel to another country. This country had lots of mountains and big beautiful lakes. There was a bandage-making factory there.
Dr Pesastra travelled for two days to get to the factory. He explained to the manager of the factory that his country needed more houses for the increasing number of people, and that the workmen were working so fast they were hitting their fingers and thumbs with their hammers as they nailed on the roofs. And he had run out of bandages to bandage them.
“No problem,” said the manager, “at the moment we have lots!”
He sold Dr Pesastra one hundred packets of bandages, and said “In my country we live a peaceful life beneath the mountains, by the lakes. We don’t use many bandages in the summer. In the winter however, people go up the snowy mountains to ski and often hurt their arms and legs. This is when we need our bandages.”
Dr Pesastra nodded as he carried the bandages out of the factory in a big bag.
“Goodbye,” he called as he got back on his bus to go home.
The bus drove through the peaceful mountains and around the beautiful lakes and eventually got back to where Dr Pesastra lived. Waiting at the hospital there was a queue of workmen with throbbing fingers and thumbs. Dr Pesastra undid his big bag and bandaged the fingers as before.
“What a price we pay for more houses,” he sighed, “so many injuries!”
The workmen all went back to the building site happy now their fingers and thumbs were bandaged. They continued building the houses.
It was autumn when the houses were finished and people moved in to live in them. Nice new houses but no room for gardens. Not at all like

the spacious houses beneath the mountains that Dr Pesastra had seen. They had lots of room for gardens.
Dr Pesastra looked at the houses and sighed.
“We’ve built little boxes to live in. Is this really what we wanted? Were all those throbbing fingers and thumbs worth it?”
He thought not.
“What a disaster!” he said. “People do not want to live in boxes!”
He said to the Mayor: “People want gardens and space.”
But the Mayor was not sympathetic.
“There is no space for gardens,” he said, “we have to house lots of people quickly. If you want space go and live in a country with mountains and lakes and lots of room!” he added.
Dr Pesastra nodded.
“It would be nice,” he said.
But he was happy here in his hospital. The building work was over for now so he had no real need for the extra bandages.
“I stay here as the people are so nice,” he said. “Yes, I really like it here. It is my home. I couldn’t live anywhere else now.”
The Mayor smiled and they both walked down the street, happy in the knowledge that they were needed in this growing community. They were happy to know also that now most of the people here had a home of their own, however large, or for that matter, however small.