Do Unto Otters...

On a beautiful lake named Lake Golden, fed by an ice capped mountain nearby, were three otters that included a sister and two brothers. Wanda was the girl otter. She had an older brother named William, and a younger brother named Wally. They loved playing together, jumping on each other and swimming on their backs across the lake.

The lake was a quiet, peaceful and delightful place, as its residents neither held resentments nor knew rejection.

It was a place where friends were free to be themselves. Honor and respect for one another were a natural part of the community.

New to the area were a young boy named Ollie and his parents Mr. and Mrs. Oswald. They had just moved into a beautiful Victorian style house that sat only a stone’s throw from the lake.

This house had a large porch with a panoramic view of the lake.

The property was a rare find as it was secluded, well maintained and included a large parcel of land.

Ollie's parents were older and his brothers and sisters were already grown and living on their own.

Ollie was often without someone to play with, as he lived many miles from his nearest neighbor. But, sometimes Ollie's parents would go to town so Ollie could play in the park there.

Ollie looked forward to going to the park because usually lots of other children were there. Ollie didn't have many friends and often he would play tricks and make fun of other children to get them to notice him.

One day, when Ollie was down by the lake, he saw the three otters playing together in the water and having a blissful time.

But to Ollie this was not a cheerful sight.

Instead it made him feel sorry for himself.

Soon his self pity turned to anger because he didn't have a friend to play with while other children did.

Seeing the otters having so much fun led Ollie to lose his temper. He picked up a rock and angrily threw it at them.

The rock hit one of the otters directly in the eye.

There was a high pitched cry and the otters scurried off.

Days went by while Ollie moped around and continued to feel sorry for himself. Then, one chilly day he went down by the lake and wandered around to the other side where there was an old abandoned dock.

The dock extended out over the water quite far and it had many boards missing from the walkway; others were rotted.

Ollie walked out on to the dock, not realizing the hazard.

Each time he saw a rotten board he would jump up and down trying to break it. Ollie thought it was fun. As he neared the end of the dock he jumped up and down again and the dock broke apart.

Through the rotted opening and into in the water fell Ollie, breaking his arm.

After a while Wally, the younger otter, swam by and saw Ollie floating on the broken dock.

Wanting to play, Wally pushed Ollie's life raft farther into the water.

Now Ollie began to worry that he would never get to shore and cried even more.

Hours went by, and now Ollie was getting very cold and could hardly hang on any longer.

His cries were reduced to murmurs and sputters and as he was losing all hope, the older otter William swam up from behind and began to push the raft towards the shore.

Ollie was more encouraged the closer he got, until he finally reached the shore and was able to stand.

Ollie was grateful and as he stood up he turned to look at the otter that helped him.

He noticed that it only had one eye.

William just stared back at Ollie and then he swam off.

Then Ollie remembered what he had done to William and felt ashamed of himself.