Lower Primary Prose Winner
Miss Jasmine Lois Perry
Geraldton Christian College
The Otters That Made a Big Difference
Once upon a time there lived an otter named Oscar who lived with his mum Olivia. What Oscar didn’t know is that he would soon have to leave, because Oliver the main male would be coming back to have babies with Olivia again.
One day Olivia taught him how to catch food, Oscar was excited! His mum led him towards a shallower part of their inlet and dived down into the glistening water. He saw her tail swish through the depths of the inlet, floating on his back.
Olivia resurfaced after a minute or two with a clam in her paws. Oscar asked what it was, but Olivia did not answer. She dived under again and came back up with a pebble, giving it to him. Oscar was dumbfounded what was he meant to do with a pebble?
“You need to use this pebble to crack open the clam to eat the food inside. I will demonstrate.” she said, diving under again and coming back up with a different pebble in her paws “watch me”.
She floated on her back with the clam on her belly and started smashing the rock on the shell. Oscar watched intently. Soon enough the shell cracked open, and Olivia gave it to him.
Oscar slurped it up in one gulp. “Now it's your go” she said, giving the other pebble to him. He copied her and ate the delicious meat inside.
One day Oscar realised Olivia looked worried, he asked her why. She sighed, saying “I never wanted this day to come, but you’re going to have to leave soon. I must spend more time with your father so you can have little brothers and sisters.”
Oscar was confused, he had to leave his mum! All the memories he had made with her, would they all just …. fade away?
The next day his mum said in a shaky voice “you need to leave now” and burst into tears. She hugged him “goodbye my beautiful Oscar, I love you and I always will no matter what” Oscar hugged her with all his might then let go, he looked up at her with glistening eyes, “but where will I go?" he asked. His mum replied, “don't worry you'll know; it's embedded in your instincts”.
Before he left, he made sure to put his favourite pebble in the pocket under his arm, leaving with a heavy heart.
He followed his instincts all the way to a small ledge where he stopped for a rest. While sitting there he thought about all the memories he had made with his mum, like splashing water at each other with their tails, playing tag and catching fish!
Oscar sighed, slipped off the ledge and into the water just follow your instincts he thought, shaking the water off his fur.
He swam non-stop for the rest of the day, stopping at a large river that headed towards the ocean. He floated on his back next to a small bank and fell asleep.
The next day Oscar’s eyes fluttered open and he spotted a berry bush near the shore. He turned over onto his belly and started swimming towards it. He thought he saw an animal lurking in the bushes but ignored it. He crawled up onto the bank and saw an animal with gleaming eyes, a bushy tail and stripy fur.
Oscar yelped, managing to dodge the hungry feline. Ack! He thought I forgot to be careful!
He scolded himself, but then a thought came to his mind I could throw my pebble at him, that ought to do the trick! He threw it hard, hitting it on the forehead.
It hissed and ran back through the brush with its tail and hair sticking up. Oscar lay there panting; grateful his mum had given him the pebble. He decided to name it Percy. It’ll be my companion for the rest of the trip. My best pebble friend.
He kept swimming, nonstop for days on end, only stopping to rest. Soon enough he got to the ocean, his eyes were sparkling with amazement, its wonderful he thought.
Resisting the urge to turn around and swim all the way home into his mum's embrace, he swam unwillingly into the moonlit waters of the ocean.
It was monstrous, larger than any lake he had ever seen. As he swam out towards the reef he heard a rustling sound. He gripped Percy firmly, to his surprise he saw another otter crawl out of the brush.
Her fur was sleek and glistening in the moonlight, her eyes were emerald green. She was the most beautiful otter Oscar had ever seen.
He couldn’t speak. The beautiful otter spoke first “Hi, my name is Ollie,” she said in a cheery voice “what’s your name?”
Oscar hesitated “uhhh m-my name i-is O-Oscar” he blushed. Was he meant to say something? “Where do you come from?” he said, “From the ocean silly!” Oscar dipped his head. “Do you want to go on an adventure with me?” “S-sure,” he said.
Off they went, with Ollie leading the way and Oscar on her tail. They foraged for some berries; they were delicious! When they got back, Oscar started to feel something weird in his tummy.
Oscar questioned himself, do I feel affection for her? Ollie said, “come on, it’s getting late, you can sleep next to me tonight if you have nowhere to go”.
“Uh, sure, okay” He followed her towards a large hole in a small bank. Oscar scrambled up onto the bank as Ollie slid gracefully up. “Hurry up slow poke!” she said in her usual cheery voice.
“I’m coming,” said Oscar. The large den was unfamiliar to him, but he could tell that Ollie had been living here for a while now. She went straight towards a little nook in the corner and curled up. She yawned “you can sleep over there” she murmured, pointing towards another larger nook.
Oscar fell asleep straight away.
The next day Oscar woke up, but he could not see Ollie anywhere. I slept in! he thought I've never slept in! He scrambled out of the nook and went to look for her.
Oscar found Ollie under a tree with flowers in her paws, wow they’re beautiful he thought what can I give to her? he realised with a jolt. Then, for some reason he started swimming towards her. He couldn’t stop himself, it just felt like the right thing to do.
Before he knew it, he was next to her. He felt an instinct to reach out and grab her hand. It felt soft.
They floated together, bobbing up and down with the waves. He knew then that they were meant to be together. And from that day on they were. Every single day.
There we were, floating on our backs holding hands and showing other otters what love truly is” Oscar said, beaming down at his little children. They were in their family den back at the inlet, where he spent his childhood playing with his mum.
“And that’s why otters now have favourite pebbles and always float together, holding hands” he said. “Together, your Mum and I made a big difference.”