An Offer in View 
     
    
   
   
    
     BY SAGE and RICHARD COX 
     
    
   
   
    
     Does an otter know what 
     
     it is to be alone or is 
     
     it something that disap- 
     
     pears when he grows up 
     
     and moves away up or down 
     
     the little stream that he 
     
     grew up on? 
     
     This small brown, sleek 
     
     animal spent his days 
     
     slithering into small 
     
     dark pools, sliding down trickling stick-filled runs of cold chattering 
     
     water looking for beautiful little trout and tiny shimmering stickleback 
     
     minnows to eat. There wasn't always enough to catch so that the otter 
     
     could feel the contentment of lying in the warm spring sun near one of 
     
     the larger deeper dark pools where he often found himself when the sun 
     
     was highest in the sky. 
     
     This was one of those 
     
     warm, round tummy days that 
     
     made everything feel so 
     
     good and close all about. 
     
     He'd just finished clean- 
     
     ing all around his small, 
     
     sharp-toothed bewhiskered 
     
     mouth and just started 
     
     slicking down his short, 
     
     handsome fur when...well... 
     
     he yawned once and then ’ _ ‘ . . V 
     
     twice. The second yawn just wouldn't stop so he slowly let his head hang 
     
     down the warm sandy stream bank and drifted off to sleep. And a good 
     
     sleep it was! It didn't last long because it never did for otters. A good 
     
     sleep was well—appreciated but an otter is a busy fellow and likes to be 
     
     on the move. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
        
     
         
     
            
     
    
   
   
    
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