Carl Odell had finally made it to the ranger station it had taken a little longer then he had expected as it was up hill and it was nighttime. Carl was worn out in everyway. It had been a long day just making sure Ted and Ralph didn't decimate the camp then he had had to make the food because he was the only one who could cook. Carl was responsible. That was what everyone called him responsible. So of course when a responsible person is with a group of college age males the responsible person gets all the hard work that no one else wants to do.
So when he had mentioned the Ranger station it automatically was assumed he would make the hike there. Carl didn't even fight it anymore he just went off and did it. Sometimes he wished he could just leave all responsibility behind him but he couldn't. If he tried he would feel guilty because he was needed.
Carl walked up the station. It was a nice building. Obviously it was a place a ranger could live in to handle any emergencies as was common for large parks. It looked like it was large enough for a bed, kitchen, and living room. A nice wood façade too. Carl tired the door and found it locked. He knocked a few times then tired the door bell. It was late but that would wake anyone up and it was important. Carl then tired looking through a window. It was dark in there.
"Oh just perfect." said Carl in annoyed voice. "No one home."
Dejectedly Carl sat down on the stoop outside the cabin and looked back towards where the fire was. He planned to get up in a minuet after catching his breathe and walk to find help. After all this was a big park someone somewhere had to have a phone or could be of help. Of course when he looked where the fire should be there wasn't anything. By now it had been put out.
Carl took a second to take this information in that there were no lights from where the fire should be. Taking out his compass he reoriented himself and figured he was looking in the right place
"But of course" said Carl in an annoyed tone. He had hiked all the way here after waking up before getting any real sleep in and now there wasn't even any emergency. "Knew this was a bad idea"
Carl ran his hand through his sandy blond hair. Then he looked at his options. He could go back to camp spend half an hour searching for Ralph who would be lost, knowing Ralph, then spend at least an hour setting up camp again then maybe get some sleep in, or he could wait a little while and let the others could sort it out a bit themselves. Part of him was hoping they could.
He knew he should get back there soon those three could NOT take care of themselves and of course since he was responsible he would be the one to fix everything up. Well okay John could take care of himself but he was too much of a loner and would never be of much help to Ralph and Ted who needed help.
That was when he heard voices:
"This is so weird!" said one voice
"Yeah I know but I like it!" said another one
"Let's play tag!" said the first voice energetically
"Some one here?" asked Carl as he stood up and looked into the darkness
"Oh hello! We didn't see you" said a shadowy shape. Carl thought it looked odd
"Wanna play?" asked the other voice
"Um… what?" asked Carl
"Play! You know tag, catch, swimming, sliding that kinda stuff. What you never played before" said the second voice
"Well sure I did. When I was a kid and when it wasn't so late at night" said Carl a little surprised
"What does that have to do with anything?" asked the first voice moving toward shim
"Well um I do have to sleep" said Carl
"Then why are you here? You don't sleep here." Said the second voice also moving towards him
"Um well it s a long story. I sort of came here and then found out I didn't need to be here" said Carl
"Well while you're here why not play?" asked the first voice
"Um.. well…"Carl was unsure how to answer that "I guess I have to go back to camp…"
"Don't sound to happy over that." said the second voice
"Well I don't really want to sure, but I have to." Said Carl
"Why?" asked the first voice
"Well um… listen this is really interesting and all but who are you… I can't even see you" said Carl
"Oh sorry about that" said the first voice. "Um I don't really have a name"
"How is that even possible?" asked Carl now thoroughly confused.
"Because of this" said the second voice stepping into the light. Instead of a human like Carl was expecting there was a tall otter man. He was obviously a male as he was naked. He had tan brown fur.
"Oh that was tactful" said the first voice glibly as he too stepped into the light revealing another naked otter man this on was chocolate brown in color.
"What the fudge!" said Carl surprised out of his mind. Carl never was one for curse words.
"What's fudge?" asked the tan otter
"You're otters! Otter people. How is this even possible…?" Carl said mystified.
"Well one second my buddy and I were down at one of our favorite slides a little ways down the hill by that river and we were splashing around and the next thing we know I feel weird, he feels weird, and suddenly we're growing and getting big and suddenly we look like this. Strange huh? So then we caught some fish and took a nap. Or at least I did and then we played awhile and we came back up here and were just talking about it when we ran into you." said the chocolate colored one.
"In other words we have no idea" said the tan one
"So wait you were otters before what ever happened?" said Carl looking at them both
"Yep!" they said together
"So how can you talk? I mean how you can speak English" said Carl quickly realizing that he did not want to get into another verbal triad with these two. Al though they were pretty funny
"Not sure about that" said the tan otter thinking for a moment. Carl has to admit it was pretty cute seeing a look of consternation on his face "I guess it's because we've heard humans speak a lot before. I mean our home is around that big black stone you move those big smelly things on. And this place is so close, you know, we heard a lot of people talk and stuff so I guess we just picked it up."
"It is weird though" said the Chocolate one
"Yeah this falls under my mind as weird" said Carl "Um… My name is Carl by the way nice to meet you"
"Nice to meet you Carl" said the Tan one with a smile "I guess you can call me Flip. Cause I like to flip about under water and stuff"
"Oooo! Oooo! Can I be Slide? Cause I like sliding so much!" asked the chocolate one to Carl.
"I guess so. Its not like I can control you or dictate how you call yourself." Said Carl with a smile.
"Thanks" said Slide happily
"So wanna play?" asked Flip again
"Yeah we can show you our home in the lake and stuff!" said Slide happily
Carl thought for a moment on the one hand he should get back to camp and help the others out. On the other hand this was a chance to do what he always wanted and just play. And these otters were so funny… and he was curious how they became this way….