Саманта Сильвер - Busy As A Beaver

As I stood staring at the first house, I wondered if maybe I shouldn’t have brought Jason along with me. After all, whoever had done this to the beavers was obviously violent. Still, I didn’t intend to be super aggressive or anything like that; I just wanted to talk to the person who had done this and see if we couldn’t sort something out.

Of course, there was always my magic as well. Because I wasn’t allowed to use magic in front of regular humans, I pointed at myself and whispered the same spell that I had used to protect the beavers’ lodge.

“ Praesidioroa.”

With a spell in place, I knew that even if the person who attacked the beavers came after me, I was still going to be safe.

I made my way towards the first house on the street, a slightly run-down rancher with an overgrown front lawn. A couple of moments after I knocked on the front door, an older woman who I didn’t recognize answered the door.

“I’m sorry, I’m not interested in buying anything,” she told me as soon as she saw me.

“Wait, I’m not selling—” I tried to reply, but before I got the words out she’d already slammed the door in my face. “Anything,” I finished saying to the large wooden door now only a few inches from my face.

I briefly considered trying again, then decided against it. I could try the rest of the houses on the street first, after all.

The next house looked quite a bit like the previous rancher, but at least this one looked like somebody had mowed the front lawn at some point in the last year. I made my way up to the house and knocked, smiling as I heard the bark of a dog. I knew exactly who lived here.

“Dr. Wilson!” a man in his thirties exclaimed when he came to the door, holding back a big yellow lab by the collar. “Is there something wrong with Eddie?”

“No.” I shook my head. “Sorry to bother you, Casey. I actually didn’t realize you lived here. Someone on your side of the street has been destroying the beavers’ dam further down the creek that runs behind your place, and I’m trying to figure out who it is. I’ve just been knocking on doors, hoping to find the person.”

“Oh, try two doors down from here. The man who lives there, Brett Jones, has a little bit of a temper, and he was complaining to me the other day about the extra water in his yard.”

“Has it been especially bad?” I asked.

Casey shrugged. “I dunno. Sure, the water level is a little bit higher than it normally is, but I figured it was just because of the extra snow in the mountains melting into the creek or something. I didn’t realize it was beavers. But you can’t buy a house that backs onto a creek and expect the water level to stay constant all the time.”

I nodded. “Thanks for the heads-up.”

“No problem. Let me know if Brett gives you a hard time. I’ll keep an ear out just in case.”

“Thanks, Casey,” I said with a smile, and he nodded as he made his way back into his house.

I left and made my way towards the house Casey had directed me to. The exterior had been painted white with gray trimming that gave the whole place a nice, modern look. A fancy sports car out the front was obviously his pride and joy. I made my way up to the front door and knocked, not knowing exactly what to expect.

The man who answered the door was one hundred percent the man who had been destroying the beavers’ dam and lodge. As soon as I saw him, I knew. He had the same frame, the same dark hair, and the same way of moving.

“Yes?” he asked, his face a mixture of idle curiosity and light annoyance.

“Hi, I’m Angela Wilson, the local vet in town. I’m wondering if you have a few minutes to chat.”

“What about? I don’t have any pets,” the man said, crossing his arms.

“It’s actually about the beavers that live downstream from the creek that runs behind your house,” I said.

“Is the city finally going to get rid of those pieces of crap? Good. Let them go mess up someone else’s property.”

“Actually,” I said, “I was hoping that we could somehow come to an agreement that would result in you and the beavers being able to live peacefully together.”

“Not a chance in hell, lady. Thanks to them, the creek behind my place is flooding, and it’s messing with my lawn. I want them gone, and I don’t care what it takes.”

“Would it be alright if I come have a look?” I asked, and the man looked like he wanted to say no for a minute. Then, he changed his mind.

“Sure, let me just grab a jacket,” he said, reaching to the side and grabbing a small coat. He threw it on and came out the front with me and led me around the side of the house, through a large gate, and into the backyard.

The backyard was immaculately taken care of. The lawn was obviously healthy, and a shed along the other side of the yard was full of gardening equipment. Along the house were multiple flower and vegetable beds, and I imagined this man must live pretty well during the summer when they bore fruit.

“This is a really nice yard,” I commented, and for the first time, the man smiled.

“Thanks,” he said. “If only those bloody beavers weren’t ruining it for me.”

“Can you show me where it’s flooding?” I asked. He nodded briskly and led me towards the creek at the far end of the backyard. To be totally honest, when I saw it, I had no idea what the problem was. Sure, the water level had risen a bit, and I could see about a foot of manicured grass underneath the water, but that was it. As far as I could tell, there was nothing here to actually be angry about.

“That’s what’s been going on,” the man said. “Their stupid dam is flooding onto my yard, and I need it to stop.”

“I’m sorry for being dense,” I said cautiously, “but it looks to me as though the flooding is really quite minimal.”

“Yes, but the point is, it’s my land. Those stupid beavers have no right to block up the flow of water and have the creek level rise onto my property.”

Oh boy. This was definitely not going to be easy.

“Don’t you think the beavers have a right to live as well? Without the dam, they can’t get the water level high enough for their lodge, and it leaves them vulnerable to attacks from predators like coyotes.”

“Good—the sooner the coyotes get at them, the better. As far as I’m concerned, the beavers have no right to anything. They didn’t pay for the land that their lodge is sitting on like I did, and their actions are coming onto my property.”

“How about this? Why don’t I pay you for the portion of your property that’s covered by the extra water brought on by the beavers’ dam existing?” I offered. If all it took to end this dispute was me paying a little bit of money to allow the beavers to live comfortably where they wanted to, I was fully willing and able to do that. This guy might’ve been a bit crazy, but I really just wanted this fight to be over.

“Absolutely not,” the man said, crossing his arms. “I bought this house because of the property backing up onto the creek, and that’s that. Why do you care about the stupid beavers anyway?”

“I care about them because, like us, they’re animals just trying to do their best in this world. There is no reason to destroy their home just because it made the water creep up onto your property by an extra foot.”

“Spoken like somebody who isn’t inconvenienced by it herself,” the man said. “Now, I think I’ve shown you enough. I want you to leave now.”

Not wanting to cause a scene, I headed back towards the gate and the road. As the man headed back towards the front of his house, I stopped. “I do implore you to please just let the beavers be,” I called out after him.

“Not until they stop ruining my land,” the man shouted after me. I let out a sigh. This had definitely not gone nearly as well as I had hoped.