Саманта Сильвер - Busy As A Beaver

“Me too,” I whispered back.

“I know you’re glad Angela is safe, but if you don’t mind, I have a few questions to ask,” came Chief Gary’s gruff voice from behind us, and Jason and I separated. I looked over sheepishly at him; I wasn’t quite sure just how mad he was at us. Going by the look on his face, probably about a seven out of ten.

That was ok. I could handle a seven.

“Now, Angela, I need you and Sophie to tell me everything that happened here.”

Sophie and I recounted our story, making sure to emphasize the part where we met Chuck in public but he followed us afterwards.

When I finished off by telling Chief Gary and Jason how Sophie called 9-1-1 and we waited here for them to arrive, I held my breath, wondering just how much we were going to get yelled at.

“I cannot believe the two of you,” Chief Gary said, shaking his head.

“What? You told us we needed more evidence,” Sophie said.

“No. No, I specifically thanked you for the information, and said that the police could now focus their attention on Charles Green in order to find the evidence needed to prove he did those things.”

“He would have never admitted it to the police, though,” Sophie argued. “But to us, on the other hand, it was different. Plus, I recorded it, so now you have all the evidence you need to prove he was the one who attacked Gloria.”

“Yes, and then he proceeded by attacking the two of you. I’m thankful that you managed to overpower him, but the two of you are going to end up giving me a heart attack.”

“Sorry,” I said. “We honestly didn’t think he was going to attack us. After all, he was just an old man.”

An old man with magical powers that were more powerful than my own.

“Well, I’m glad the two of you are safe,” he said gruffly, turning to speak with the officers that had been the first on the scene.

“I’m glad too,” Jason said, nodding to Sophie.

“She saved my life,” I told him.

“Thank you,” Jason told Sophie. “Seriously, thank you.”

“We didn’t tell Chief Gary this, but Chuck had magical powers,” Sophie whispered. “Angela was amazing. She got me to run away, since I was at such a huge disadvantage compared to the two of them. But I couldn’t run. So I came back, and I hit him over the head with the piece of wood.”

“Which ended up saving my life,” I replied. “He was more powerful than me; I couldn’t break his protection spell, so nothing I did could hurt him.”

“Geez,” Jason said, shaking his head. “I really wish you wouldn’t get into these kinds of situations, but I always relied on the fact that you had your magic. I never imagined that you would come across someone else with the same powers.”

“Same, to be honest,” I admitted. “After all, the magical population is pretty low. We’re the only ones in all of Willow Bay with magical powers. It has to be something like zero-point-two percent of the population or something.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re ok,” Jason said. “Really, really glad.”

“Me too.” I smiled. “Now, if you don’t mind, let’s see if we can head back. I want to check on the beavers.”

The three of us got up, got permission to leave from the cops, and headed back to my car, where I handed my keys to Jason, letting him drive. I still definitely wasn’t feeling up to it if I didn’t have to; I was still pretty shaken up.

But it was over. Charles Green was in custody. He couldn’t hurt us anymore. And we had gotten justice for Gloria and for Buster.

Chapter 20

As soon as we got back to Willow Bay, Jason dropped off Sophie at home, then turned to me.

“Where do you want me to drop you off?”

“Just in the park is good,” I replied. As soon as Jason stopped in the parking lot, he looked around.

“It’s getting late. I’m coming with you.”

“Ok, but I hope you’re not wearing a jacket you actually care about.”

“Wow, you weren’t kidding,” Jason grumbled a few minutes later as he pulled a twig away from his face. “How on earth did someone get here to attack your beavers?”

“They came from the residential side.”

“Why didn’t we come from the residential side?”

“That involves trespassing.”

“Oh, like that’s ever stopped you.”

I made a rude gesture as we kept going, eventually reaching the clearing where the beavers had set up their lodge and dam.

“Stay back a bit,” I told him. “Beavers aren’t super trusting animals, they might not come out if they see you until I’ve introduced you.”

“Alright,” Jason said, moving towards the trees. I turned to him and laughed.

“Are you afraid of the beavers?”

“They have really big teeth, ok?” Jason half-whispered, and I giggled.

“They’re not going to hurt you.”

“You can’t guarantee that.”

“You grew up in New York City the son of some major gangster. How on earth are you afraid of beavers?”

“We don’t have a lot of wildlife, ok? And the raccoons that live in the city would eat you if they got the opportunity. I figure beavers are the same.”

“You’re ridiculous,” I laughed as I made my way towards the lodge. Instead of going straight there, however, I made my way past the lodge and towards the dam at the far end of where the beavers had been building. I could just see the pipes that had been set up by the man I’d been connected with by my friend at Wildlife Services.

Because the owner of the property had refused to help, it had made the work a little bit more difficult for the wildlife worker, but it had gotten done.

The pipes were a relatively new system used to redirect troublesome flows caused by beavers. Although this wasn’t exactly a majorly disruptive beaver flow, I figured it was the best work-around to both keep the beavers safe and stop the owner of that property from continually coming to attack them. Thanks to the work-around, the pipes allowed water to flow more naturally until it reached the area before the dam, at which point the water accumulated once again. This resulted in both parties being happy: the beavers had all the water they needed to keep the entrance to their lodges underwater, and the creek was back to its normal level behind the houses.

“Hey, is anyone there?” I called out, and a few seconds later, Naba came waddling out.

“Hello, human. Has our problem been solved?”

“I think so.” I nodded. “It turned out it was the human who lives four houses up the creek. He was upset because your dam caused the water level on his property to rise, but I got a man to come in and do some work with pipes, and now everyone should be happy.”

“Oh, good. Thank you so much,” Naba said. “I can’t believe he was that upset. We were just trying to live here.”

“Yeah, I think he overreacted, personally.” I glanced over at Jason, wondering if I should introduce him, but he still seemed hesitant to come over and actually meet a beaver. Big city people were weird.

“We are used to humans not being kind to us, sadly,” Naba said. “It was nice of you to stick up for us.”

“Not a problem,” I replied with a smile. “I’m going to keep the cameras and the spell going until I’ve had a chance to speak with the guy, just in case.”

“Alright. Thank you again. The fourth house up, you said?”

“That’s right.” I nodded.

I said goodbye to Naba and made my way back to Jason.

“Come on. Let’s go back home.”

The next morning, before the vet clinic opened for the morning, I made my way back to the house where the owner who hated the beavers lived. I wanted to let him know that he wasn’t going to have any more issues with the water levels.