Chapter Two

It was a sunny day in the middle of Autumn, and the littlest otter was swimming up river. Of course, the littlest otter didn't have a name at the moment because he didn't have a pod. But for the convenience of our human readers, who are forgetful creatures and require names for anything important in order to remember that they exist, we will for the moment call him the littlest otter.

The river was small. Just large enough that an otter could sensibly frolic across the width without stopping to worry about its size. The gentle current posed little challenge, and so the little otter would casually swim, pause to pry loose a fresh water clam here and there, and occasionally climb out of the water to sun himself on a limestone outcrop or nap in a convenient cave. He had traveled this way for many days, and was searching for some place where he would belong.

Nowhere ever seemed to be a good place for very small otters with big ideas. Everywhere he stayed too long people would complain that he had too much energy, or say that he "caused trouble" with his ideas for games, or even accuse him of "looking for trouble" when he got bored. What was a young otter with big ideas supposed to do in a world that didn't care how sensible or practical a game was, only that it was different and therefore bad. But he was in no hurry to settle down anywhere, having become quite used to keeping his own company. And until he found a place to live where the creatures didn't mind his ideas, he was perfectly happy to settle for the occasional adventure here and there whenever someone needed his help. This is why the littlest otter left the river on that sunny Autumn day to investigate a Commotion.

He clambered up a hill with big overhanging oak and black walnut trees. There were wild blackberry bushes with razor sharp thorns, but his claws were nimble and his fur thick, so they didn't bother him. The littlest otter saw big white sheets through the foliage in the distance, so he kept climbing up the hill. The trees stopped abruptly, and the littlest otter observed a well kept lawn. Not knowing what might be going on, he sensibly stayed hiding in the thick brush that grew in among the trees, and observed the people in the yard. There were about a half dozen humans, and they were setting up enormous tents, with thick white canopies and sides that were tied to big metal poles. Inside the tents he could see all kinds of decorations. There were brass lanterns with glass sides and giant candles inside. There were enormous white Magnolia flowers with some smaller burgundy ones for accent, and there were twenty tables under the two tents, each with a different set of decorations on it. This was such an enormous amount of effort for humans, and the littlest otter had never seen anything like it!

Just then, the littlest otter heard a crash up the hill. He looked to the top of the hill where there was a house for humans. The back of the house was facing him, and had stairs leading up to a porch with a door. At the bottom of the stairs he saw three otters gathered around some object. Three other otters! This was worth investigating! He sprinted off along the edge of the trees hoping to get closer to the other otters without going across the yard or being seen by humans.

As he moved through the brush, he started to worry, though. Would the other otters talk to him about what they were doing, or would they be grumpy that another otter was sneaking through their yard? Would they like him for being friendly, or would they think he was making trouble by investigating? He decided it was best not to worry about what the otters would think of him. He would find out soon enough, and it might be the case that they could use his help. Of all the things the littlest otter liked to do, his absolute favorite was being helpful in a sensible and practical way.

Once he got close enough to the collection of otters looking at the object, he bounded out of the woods. The largest of the other otters noticed him immediately, and they all turned to look at him. The littlest otter greeted them in the formal way that otters greet each other when on a sojourn, and mentioned that he left the river to investigate because he was curious why so many humans would be doing a great outdoor thing, when they usually do things in buildings like the one they were all standing next to.

At this, the other otters perked up and became excited. They explained that their humans had decided to be a pod. For otters, pod-ness is a thing to be decided formally, and once decided it is done. But humans are forgetful creatures, and so they have to make a very big deal out of anything important so that they don't forget it. And they have to invite many other humans to experience the big event as well, so that way even if several of them forget the important thing, the others can remind them that it happened. Thus, once humans decide to be a pod through their formal ritual of offering rings in a suitable location, they still have to do something with all their relatives and friends to make sure that they don't forget how they have been podded.

This made sense to the littlest otter, so he nodded attentively. The requirement of having other humans involved seemed very impractical to the littlest otter. But on the other hand, if humans were really so forgetful, it might be a sensible way of doing things, even if it were not a practical one. These otters clearly had a lot to teach the littlest otter!

The littlest otter looked back at the tents, and then he looked at the colander and the pile of rocks scattered around the brick patio where they were all standing. He was very interested in what the new otters were trying to accomplish. His curiosity showed, and the new otters explained that they were trying to solve a problem for the humans. It turns out that flowers are extremely important for the ritual of pod-remembering, but this collection of flowers all had stems too long to fit in the container that was intended to show them off. The otters had taken it upon themselves to try and remedy the problem by shortening the stems so they would fit better into the container. 

Flower stems are tough and woody, so shortening them is not a trivial task. Humans have lots of very useful tools to help with this difficulty, but unfortunately most of those tools are designed for use by humans without thought to how other creatures might have to make use of those tools. In this case, the otters had taken the tool that their humans used for flowers, a two-sided cutting tool known a "scissors," and sensibly tried to apply the force needed to make the device work. This involved placing flower stems between the cutting surfaces of the “scissors" and then dropping a heavy weight onto the lever end of the “scissors.” The only weight they could move reliably up the stairs was a colander full of rocks.

The otters had tried this three times, and all three times the result had been mixed. Whenever the otters had tried to cut multiple stems at the same time, the "scissors"  partially cut two or three out of ten stems placed between the cutting surfaces. The one time the otters had tried cutting a single stem, it had cut clean and fit into the container quite nicely. But it was so much work to drag all the rocks up the stairs so they could chop only a single stem! So the otters were trying to figure out how to cut many stems at the same time. But the "scissors" never worked for more than two stems at a single time when they dropped a colander of rocks. If that is the best rate of cutting stems, it would be several days before the otters could finish cutting all the stems for all the flowers!

But more than that, there were several other tasks the otters needed to take care of before the big event the next day. The littlest otter began to think about the problem of cutting stems. It was tough, and he liked challenges! These new otters seemed very nice, and the littlest otter liked how helpful they seemed to be for their humans and for each other. So he asked if they would like for him to help with the tasks they had to accomplish.

The otters all looked at one another, and it was generally acknowledged that an extra pair of paws would be very practical, and that they would all be very appreciative of some help. The littlest otter excitedly turned himself in a circle. He was sure that if he thought about it for a while he could come up with an interesting solution to the problem of cutting stems. In the meantime, he asked about the other tasks that still needed to be accomplished.

The new otters explained that the first task was to carry the end of a thick power cord from the house down to the tents on the grass. The path had to go underneath a long row of bushes along the fence. They had measured, and it was at least 300 Medium Otters long! The cord would reach, but it was very heavy, and none of the otters could move it by themselves. The second task was to search the garage for all the lanterns to go out in the tent for extra lighting. The tent already had some strings of lights up high, but the otters were sure that would not be enough, so they were sensibly going to make sure the lanterns were there as well. There were four lanterns in the garage, but no one remembered where they were. The final task had to do with the white cloths draped over the tables in the big tents. Every table had some decoration on it, but the otters were skeptical that this would hold the white cloths adequately if the wind blew at all. So they were planning to attach the tablecloths to the table with something more sensible.

The littlest otter agreed that was a lot of work to be done! The littlest otter suggested that maybe they should start working on some of the other tasks, and maybe one of them would think of another way to cut all the stems, and it was generally agreed that this was a sensible idea. So Small Otter led them over the wall of the house where there was a plug hidden behind a metal trap door. On the ground was a giant coil of thick green cable, with a plug at either end. The littlest otter could see immediately the path underneath the bushes that had been described. They would have to take the cord down the side of the house until they ran into the fence, and then make a sharp left turn to go under the bushes.

Medium Otter plugged one end of the cable into the wall, and then all four otters began moving the enormous roll of cable along the wall and toward the bushes. It was slow work, and all the otters became tired very quickly by trying to lift that much weight. Medium Otter suggested leaving the spool in one place and dragging the free end along the path. It was generally acknowledged that this was a good idea. Medium otter began dragging the cord, and the others followed behind.

The littlest otter looked around as they walked. The entire area of ground next to the house was covered in bricks arranged in beautiful patterns. At the edge of the bricks, over by the bushes, there was a small pond with a waterfall. The waterfall was built with with small flat rocks about the size of the littlest otter's head, all of them square or rectangle shaped. Around the edge of the pond were scattered small round river rocks of various shapes and colors. Beyond the pond and waterfall were the bushes, and a tall wooden fence with boards so close together you couldn't see through. As they approached the entrance to the bath beneath the bushes, the littlest otter could see that the cord was becoming harder for Medium Otter to drag. Soon after they took the turn along the fence, the difficulty became too much. Even when Small Otter helped pull, the cord was just too difficult. Starfish Otter went to where the cord rounded the corner to the hidden path, and saw that the cord was getting caught at the base of a bush. She tugged on it to try and bring more of the cord around the corner, but the cord didn't move. So the otters all went back to the giant spool to investigate. After tracing the path of the cable it was clear that the cord had been tied in a tangle as it uncoiled. It took all of them working together to untangle the mess so the cord could move freely again.

They were about to go back to pulling the cord through the bushes, when the littlest otter had a though, so he chattered to the others to wait. What if the cable got tangled again? They had only gone a fraction of the distance, and if the cord got tangled again, they would all have to come all the way back to the coil to untangle it. Maybe someone could stay here to untangle the cord as it was unwinding. The others agreed that this was sensible, and so it was decided that Small Otter and the Littlest Otter would stay to unwind the cable, Starfish Otter would pull it around the corner so it didn't foul on the root of the bush, and Medium Otter would keep tugging the end along the path to the large tents.

The rest of the cable task took a little time, but their plan worked. The littlest otter and Small Otter had to deal with three different tangles, but each time they were able to untwist the difficult bit and keep the flow moving. Once the one end was plugged into the wall and the other into the dangling end of the tent lights, all the little lights in the ceiling of the tent lit up the shadows in the rafters. 

After this the otters all congratulated themselves, and made their way to the garage. Since no one knew where any of the lanterns had been left, they decided the most practical approach was to split up and each search different parts of the garage. The others explained to the littlest otter that the lanterns were all about the same size as him. The humans moved them around whenever they needed more light to see something because their eyes don't work as well in the dark as otter eyes do. Each lantern had a red button that, when pressed, made the lantern shine a bright light all around it. When the button was pressed again, the light turned off. Anywhere in the garage that was dim or had shadows would be a good place to look for lanterns. 

They decided it was best for the littlest otter to take the corner of the garage by the door for his searching spot, since that was the easiest place to not get lost. He started by just making a patrol of his area to get an idea of what was there and how to navigate. There was a human sized table with some things on it, but the littlest otter couldn't tell what was up there, and there was no obvious way to get on top. Next to the table was a set of metal shelves that went all the way to the ceiling. The shelves were not solid, but made of small metal bars closely spaced, and they were piled high with boxes and tools and pieces of wood cut to various sizes and shapes. Walking past the shelves put him in the corner, where there was a floor lamp that went almost all the way to the ceiling. The lamp cast light onto the ceiling that spread over much of the room, but the area around the base of the lamp was surprisingly dark. On the other wall of the corner he saw that the humans had stored all kinds of boxes all stacked together in a haphazard and inefficient way. 

First the littlest otter searched quite thoroughly under the table, reasoning that it was the dimmest and darkest place in his corner of the room. He found six cans of paint, a ruler, a strange contraption with a tank and dials on it, lots of sawdust, and a half eaten peanut butter sandwich. But he could not see anything that looked like the lantern described to him. So next he checked the bottom metal shelf. There he found a stack of books next to a box of gray plastic figures, some of which had been painted in realistic colors. The figures looked like tiny humans in armor, some of them wearing scary looking helmets, some of them carrying chainsaws, and some holding elaborate books while pointing dramatically. The littlest otter thought they looked very adventurous, and it made him start thinking up stories about what brave things the characters must get up to. He almost got distracted, but a noise in the far side of the garage brought him back to the present. He looked to the noise and saw Medium Otter pushing a box out of his way.  This gave the littlest otter an idea! He started pulling the stack of books off the shelf and dragging it over to the stack of boxes next to the lamp.

Now otters are not typically known for ability in climbing, but rivers are lined with so many cliffs, boulders and steep rocky slopes that river otters have developed dexterous paws and a keen instinct for how to place their feet when on a steep slope. Most young otters are already proficient at scrambling up and down steep river slopes before they first venture into the water itself.

And so the littlest otter had little trouble scrambling up on top of the pile of books, and from there on top of another box, and so on until he was at the very top. This put him catty-corner from the edge of the table. While otters might be quite capable climbers, they are most certainly not very good at jumping. Fortunately the distance from the edge of the boxes to the edge of the table was small, so a short hop and he felt the wood of the table surface beneath his feet. Looking around he saw a tool with a sharp sawtoothed metal disk, attached to a complicated device. And there, right next to the contraption was a cylindrical object with a red button. He pushed the button and was blinded by the resulting illumination. He quickly pushed the button again to turn it off. This was a very practical place to put an extra light, since the area directly under the floor lamp did not get much light from that lamp. Pleased with his discovery, he peered off the edge of the table to check the progress of the other otters. Starfish Otter was sitting patiently by the door with another of the lanterns, but Small Otter and Medium Otter were still rummaging through their parts of the garage. The littlest otter thought about going to help look in the other parts of the garage, but there were still so many interesting things on the table that he hadn't explored yet.

 He maneuvered around the large bladed contraption and found a clamp device. Experimenting, he found that there was a lever that, when turned, made the clamp close and open. He thought about how useful it would be for cracking particularly tough clams. Next to the clamp was a thing which appeared to be a long metal finger. Moving a knob on the side caused an extremely sharp artificial claw to slide out one end. The artificial claw was bigger than his entire paw.

This struck the littlest otter as an extremely sensible thing for humans to keep around, since humans don't have claws on their paws to help them scratch and cut things. He felt that this must be the result of some very sensible advice given to the humans by their otters. Right next to the artificial claw he found a container with a dozen more artificial claws just like the one that slid out of the metal finger. This struck him as another very sensible choice. Since artificial claws couldn't keep growing the way natural claws do, they would eventually grow dull and need to be replaced. These otters were really being quite helpful to their humans! They must be a wonderful pod. 

Having explored the rest of the table, the littlest otter made his way back down the box pile, carefully only letting the lantern drop a short distance at a time. By the time he made it back to the door Small Otter was already there with a lantern, and Medium Otter was not far behind.

The Pod celebrated the second of their tasks to be completed, and dragged all the lanterns down to the tents. Once the lanterns were deposited underneath the main table, they proceeded to the storage room.

The storage room was separate from the garage, but also on the ground floor. It contained two large machines that humans use to wash and groom their artificial fur, and a pile of random things that the humans needed from time to time, but didn't know how to store properly. One of these things was a gray cylindrical object that the littlest otter had never seen before. The other otters showed him how it was actually a long sticky tape wrapped around and around in a spool. This was what they planned to use to attach the tablecloths. This task turned out to be the easiest of the three. The tape was easily acquired, and easily moved down to the tents. The four otters quickly set up a process where Starfish Otter held the spool and tore off pieces about as long as her forearm, Medium Otter stood on his back legs and passed them up to Small otter and the littlest otter, who scrambled up the tables. The Small Otter would pull back the corner of the tablecloth so that the littlest otter could shape the tape into a loop such that the sticky side faced out in all directions. The littlest otter could then attach the loop to the table, and the littlest otter could let the tablecloth down so it was caught and held by the tape.

It took less than an hour to secure all the tablecloths to the tables in at least three places, and while the otters were working through the routine, the littlest otter became very familiar with the tape substance. As he worked it with his paws, a plan formed in his mind. He became excited, but held all his excitement inside until the very last table was completed, whereon he leapt to the ground and turned himself excitedly in a circle, and declared to everyone who could hear that he had A Plan!

The one task that they had all put off was the task of cutting the hard woody flower stems. And the littlest otter had a plan for quickly cutting all of them that might just work! He outlined his plan for the other otters, twice turning himself in a circle to emphasize his point, and the other otters all considered the plan. The littlest otter waited silently while the Pod discussed his plan, and finally it was generally agreed that it was a good plan that was worth trying.

After this Small Otter was dispatched to retrieve several small round rocks from the pool, and the littlest otter was sent to acquire the pack of spare artificial claws from where he had discovered them on the tall wooden table in the garage. After all the materials were acquired, the four otters constructed their first prototype. Small Otter held one of the stones by the top and the bottom while the littlest otter held one of the artificial claws to the stone. The entire claw was twice as long as Small Otters front arm, and without a metal finger to hold it, it was very scary. Medium Otter tore strips of the sticky gray tape and wrapped them around the stone and the steel claw until they were firmly attached with the sharp part of the blade sticking out just below the bottom curve of the rock. 

 Once the first implement was constructed, the littlest otter demonstrated how the contraptions might be used. He claimed the smallest of the stones (since he was the smallest of the otters) and placed three flower stems against a flat square slate rock borrowed from the waterfall. Using the rock with an artificial claw attached, he smashed the rock down upon the flower stems using the exact same motion he would use for smashing open a clam. It took only three strikes, less than two seconds, and the flower stems were cleanly and efficiently cut. The other otters were very curious, and wanted to see how this solution worked for even more stems. So he repeated it for six flowers, and then for nine. The nine flower stems were more than he could handle at once, and he barely managed them after eight or nine blows of the stone. Nevertheless, the otters decided to try twelve stems all at once, and the littlest otter had to let several of the stems get shoved to the side just so he could sever the few that would fit beneath the blade.

After this the three otters of the Pod consulted, and decided that the littlest otter's solution was very robust to even difficult and challenging conditions, and therefore was the most practical and sensible solution to cutting flowers! They finished crafting stones with artificial claws, each crafted to be the ideal size for that otter. Small Otter continuously fetched new stems for the other otters, while Medium Otter and the littlest otter chopped flower stems against flat gray stones from the waterfall. Starfish Otter floated on her back in the pool, smashing her rock against a flat stone placed on her belly. All of the otters were extremely cautious, and took far more time than they would for the same amount of clams. Artificial claws were very dangerous, and the extra caution was clearly the most sensible approach to the task.

It was well after dark by the time all the extensive collection of flowers was trimmed and placed back into the vases intended for them. Medium Otter was exhausted to the point of falling asleep, while Small Otter and Starfish Otter were left with sore paws, but were extremely satisfied. The littlest otter was exhausted over his whole body from swinging a stone that was noticeably larger than he would usually choose. But all the other otters were happy with how well he had helped. Even though he had a really good idea, he still pitched in and did a lot of the hard work as well, and the Pod valued otters that worked as part of the team. He was also, it was generally agreed, very good at accepting other otters' ideas and working as part of a team. 

Small Otter helped Medium Otter up the stairs to curl up. But Starfish Otter remained at the bottom of the stairs, holding her pink starfish and chattering with the littlest otter about various bits of exciting anecdote from the day. Once they were alone and there was a convenient break in the conversation, Starfish Otter mentioned how much the Pod appreciated having the littlest otter around, and would he be at all interested in hanging around the Pod more often. The littlest otter mentioned that he really enjoyed the company of the other otters and that he didn't really have any place to go, but that he also didn't have anywhere to stay other than the river down the hill. Starfish otter acknowledged that this was reasonable, and invited him to stay with them in the house for a while and decide if he liked being there or not.

Of course the littlest otter accepted this offer, and Starfish Otter took him upstairs to where the Pod slept. Medium Otter then went to spend the night with the woman to keep her company, and hold her hand so she would not float away. But the littlest otter curled up in the Pod's sleeping spot, and for the first time in almost a year, another otter held his paw and he didn't sleep alone.