Otter Chaos! Read Free Page B

we didn’t get eaten ourselves.”
    â€œThat’s a little extreme, even for you,” frowned Grandma Maple. “Having beavers in our back yard is bad enough; we don’t want wolves at the door as well.”
    Papa Brown was beginning to look rather worried. “Does anyone have any other suggestions at all? What about Coco and Berry?”
    â€œWe can’t concentrate with those two whispering!” growled Coco, pointing an accusing finger at her little brother and his friend at the back of the chamber. “Otherwise we probably would have come up with something really, really clever.”
    â€œWoody and Sooty,” said Papa Black. “Do you have any thoughts you’d like to share?”
    â€œHoles!” said Woody, jumping up excitedly.
    â€œExcuse me?” said Papa Brown.
    â€œWe can make lots of little holes in the dam,” said Sooty, also jumping up and down. “That way the beavers can stay where they are, but the fish can carry on swimming down the river as usual.”
    â€œAnd the beavers probably won’t even notice,” added Woody.
    â€œHoles …” pondered Papa Brown, scratching his chin. “I like it!”
    Papa Black turned back to the wall and started prodding the drawing of the dam with the end of his stick, making little holes all along its length. He then added lines showing water flowing through and drew baffled expressions on the blobby beavers’ faces.
    â€œHoles!” he said cheerfully.
    â€œHoles!” confirmed Papa Brown.
    â€œHOLES!” cheered the otters.
    â€œAll we need now is a crack team of dam busters and a cool name for the operation,” said Papa Brown, obviously excited to be taking action at last. “Any suggestions?”
    Storm and Shadow swiftly put their paws up.
    â€œAny suggestions that don’t involve toads or turnips?” added Papa Brown, at which the twins lowered their paws with a sigh. “A name that will inspire greatness in the brave team entrusted with this mighty task?”
    There were cries of “Woodworm Warriors!” and “Operation Fish Holes!” and “Beaver Deceivers!” Then Woody put his paw up and waved at his dad. “You’ve already given it a name!”
    â€œWhat did I say?” asked Papa Brown.
    â€œDam Busters!” said Woody. “
Operation Dam Buster
!”
    The otters selected for Operation Dam Buster were not the most obvious choices, but they were the ones most likely to work quickly and quietly and with the least amount of fuss. So Papa Brown and Papa Black left Cottonwood Lodge with Woody and Sooty because they had come up with the idea of Operation Dam Buster in the first place – and were far more responsible than their older brothers and sisters. The beavers would still be sleeping in their lodge and they needed to stay that way for the plan to succeed.
    â€œI wish we could just be friends with the beavers,” whispered Sooty as the young pups turned the bend in the river and followed their fathers towards the dam, swimming slowly with their heads just above the surface of the water.
    â€œMe too,” agreed Woody. “There’s enough fish for all of us.”
    â€œOur dads did
try
to talk to them,” said Sooty, “but they didn’t seem very friendly at all.”
    â€œMaybe it’s because we woke them up?” said Woody. “I know Grandpa Bruno can be grumpy when he’s disturbed. Grandma Maple tells us all to hush when he’s having a nap so as not to wake the ogre!”
    The four otters reached the dam and Papa Brown and Papa Black made paw signals to instruct Woody and Sooty to dive underwater and spread out along the length of the structure. When the dam busters were in position they began to pull away lumps of grass and moss and removed some of the smaller branches, letting them rise to the surface and drift downstream.
    The two adults continued to give