Otis Goes to a Wedding
Original Children's Fiction

Rating: G
Category: Original Fiction
Pairing(s): None
Warnings: None
Summary: Otis the Ferret has an adventure.
Notes: For Fauntling, on his Tenth birthday.

The author would like to point out this is a TRUE story, and was filled in on her ferret’s antics by the people involved. The white specks on the photos are flecks of latex paint. All pictures are taken at the time of The Great Weasel Escape.

Otis was a ferret…

…and he lived in Vancouver with his two humans, Alyx and Matthew…

and his three friends Sharkey, Kipling, and Gryphon, who were all cats.

Otis was a young ferret, and very adventurous. He loved to go outside on warm sunny days and play in the garden, chasing the bright butterflies that came to rest on the flowers.

Sometimes Alyx would say; “Let’s go for a walk, Otis.” Then she would bring out his blue harness and leash and off they would go. Sometimes they just went to the bank, or the store. The bank was fun because he could play with the pens on the counter and scatter the papers on the desk and make a big mess. Otis loved to make messes.

But sometimes they would just walk and walk, and see all the things there were to see. This was the most fun of all, because there were always new people to meet. But for some reason many of them did not seem to have any idea what Otis was. A policeman on a great big motorcycle asked if Otis was a mink. Well that was pretty close, Otis thought, he didn’t mind that. But then he met two young girls who asked if he was a badger. Well, that was sort of close too, but Otis didn’t think he looked much like a badger. Then a young man with the most amazing green hair asked if he was a seal. No, that was way off base! Otis didn’t like water and he certainly did not like fish. The very worst was when a little boy asked if he was a walrus! A WALRUS?! Otis wanted to bite him on the ankles but Alyx wouldn’t let him.

“No,” said Alyx, “he is a ferret, and his name is Otis. Walruses are much larger.”

Walks were fun, even when people asked if he was a walrus. Otis would have been happy to play outside all day long until it was dark. However there were times when Otis did not get to go outside. Sometimes his humans were too busy to take him out. Then he would sit and stare out the window, watching the butterflies and hoping he would get to go out again soon.

One day Shane and Norma came over to help his people paint their apartment. Then no one had any time at all! Everywhere were cans of paint, rolls of wallpaper, and boxes of floor tiles. They tore up the carpet and pulled out all the things in the kitchen and made a HUGE mess. All the neighbours thought it was great fun to watch, but poor Otis just wanted to go out into the sunshine. Everyone was much too busy to play, except for Gryphon the orange-spotted kitten. He knew a wonderful game. Why didn’t they play Follow the Leader? Otis played this for a little while, but when Gryphon jumped over the paint pan and Otis tried to follow, there was an awful accident. Otis did not jump very well, and he fell right into the pink paint. After that, little pink footprints followed him around everywhere he went. Otis had almost decided the day was wasted when Gryphon came and whispered something into his ear.

“Did you know,” he said, “that the door has been left open? If you are very quick and quiet, you can go out by yourself to play!”

Otis went to look, and sure enough the door was open. Otis went straight through it and into the yard. He did not stop there, however, there were other places to see. The one place he wanted to see right then was the little white church next door. He had passed it many times, but he had never explored it before. Well now he would.

He ran straight to the church, but when he arrived he saw something very odd. There were cars everywhere! Big ones! Blue ones! Little ones and middle ones! But all the cars seemed rather small and plain when he saw the white car. It was so big it seemed to go on forever, and it was white as snow. It glinted and sparkled in the sunlight, and a man in a black uniform stood beside it. He seemed to be waiting for something. Otis stared at the man and the car for a long while, but then he heard music coming from the church, and he went to see what was making it.

He ran up the stairs as best as his short little legs would carry him. He went right up to the doorway and peered into the church. There were many people inside, all seated very quietly. That didn’t look like fun, Otis thought. Who wanted to go sit quietly someplace when it was much more fun to run around and scatter things? But then his little bright black eyes caught sight of something. At the end of the long aisle there stood a woman wearing a beautiful long white gown covered with sparkling sequins and glass beads. On her head was a long train of white lace, and she was holding a large bouquet of white roses. The sequins were so shiny and bright Otis had to blink his eyes. It was as if someone had taken all the stars out of the sky and put them on the white dress. They were so pretty! Maybe that woman would not miss just one. Otis ran down the aisle right up to the woman and jumped up to grab one of the pretty sequins.

The woman did not really have time for little ferrets that day. She was very busy getting married. She was listening to the words of the minister as he spoke his sermon, when something pulled very hard at her dress. She looked down, and there was Otis. He was hanging by a sequin from her gown and slowly swinging back and forth. Her mouth hung open as she stared in disbelief.

“There is a rat swinging from my dress!” she exclaimed.

The man she was marrying reached down and grabbed Otis, who held onto his sequin very tightly. The man pulled. Otis pulled. There was a great tearing sound. Otis now hung by the scruff of his neck and looked at the crowd of people, his precious sequin in his mouth. For a long time no one spoke.

“That is no rat!” someone finally said. “That is just a ferret. Pass him to me. He can sit on my lap until the wedding is over.”

The man passed Otis to Aunt Mary, who had asked for him, and she put him on her lap. Otis curled up quietly, deciding just to watch now that he had his sequin. But, because he was only very young, he fell asleep and slept through the rest of the wedding.

The next thing he knew, he was being carried out of the church. As he opened his eyes, he saw that he was going with the Bride and Groom to the big white car. The man in a uniform held the door open for them, and they, along with Otis and Aunt Mary, all got inside. Then they drove off, a long line of cars following them, all honking their horns. Otis had never been in a car before, and he looked out the window the whole time they were driving. Finally they came to a large house that had been decorated for the party to follow the wedding. There were paper streamers and silver bells hung in the doorways. A man was taking pictures of all the people. Otis thought this was just wonderful. There were so many people, and they all wanted to pet him and hold him. They gave him many treats from a huge table full of food, and he was allowed to get into all the mischief he liked, putting his head in shoes, climbing up dresses, running across furniture. No one seemed to mind!

The bride, whose name was Kathy, said “Why don’t we take some pictures with the little ferret in them to remind us of him? I suppose we will have to find out who owns him, but we can have some pictures!”

More fun! Otis had never had his picture taken. Now he had more pictures taken than he ever wanted. There he was with Kathy and her new husband, her mom and dad, all her aunties and uncles, and her grandpa. Then they took a picture of him in grandpa’s boot. Finally they took one last picture of him on the table eating cake. It was all very wonderful, but by now Otis did not feel so well. Then he had a drink of some bubbly stuff in a fancy glass, and that did not help at all. By the time everyone was ready to go home, Otis was asleep in grandpa’s boot, dreaming about chasing the butterflies in his own back yard. Otis went home that night with Aunt Mary. He slept on the car seat next to her the whole way home. He was a tired little ferret. It had been a long day.

Meanwhile back at home, everyone had realized that Otis was not home and everyone was looking and calling. But no matter what they did, they could not find him. He was not under the neighbour’s bush, he was not under the bed or in the laundry pile. He was not in the bathroom cupboards or the storage closet, he simply wasn’t anywhere.Alyx and Matthew were both very worried about him. They thought perhaps he had been stolen or was lost. They sat up most of the night hoping he would come back. But when morning came and he was still not home, Alyx phoned the newspapers. She told them she had lost her ferret, and if anyone saw him could they please phone her.

Now it just so happened that Aunt Mary had phoned the same newspaper just a few minutes before. This made the man at the newspaper think that maybe, just maybe, they were talking about the same ferret. He asked Alyx if she lived near the white church on Twelfth Avenue, and when Alyx said yes, he told her about Aunt Mary’s call and gave her the phone number. Alyx called Aunt Mary, who said yes, she had a ferret, and it sounded a lot like the one she had lost.

Alyx asked her friend Dan to drive her over to Aunt Mary’s house. All the way there she was nervous. Oh it had to be Otis, it just had to be! She was very worried it might not be. Finally they reached the house, and Alyx ran up the steps to knock on the door. Aunt Mary answered, and led Alyx into the living room where Otis was.

“He’s sleeping right now,” she said, “but you can still look and see if he belongs to you.”

Alyx walked into the living room and saw Otis. There he was, flat on his back, all four little black feet in the air. All around him on the couch were cookies, grapes, raisins, and crackers. Otis did not even notice Alyx had come for him. He was much too full and sleepy.

“Yes,” said Alyx, “That’s my Otis, and after all the worrying I did, I find him here, too full to care that he is going home.”

Alyx thanks Aunt Mary for taking such good care of Otis and got back in the car, Otis on her lap. Otis was too full, and he had a stomach ache from everything he had eaten at the wedding party. He was very quiet the whole way home. Then once he got there all he did was crawl onto the sofa and go back to sleep. A little while later Gryphon came to take a nap with him, and Matthew put a blanket over both of them. Everyone was glad to see him back home.

“So just where did you go?” asked Gryphon that evening, when Otis finally felt well enough to talk.

“I went to a wedding,” said Otis. “And I ate so much that I didn’t feel well and my stomach hurt.”

“So,” said Gryphon, “I guess there won’t be anymore adventures for you!”

“Well,” said Otis thoughtfully, “no more weddings, perhaps, but there is that house across the street…”

Disclaimer:

All original fiction and the characters, places and situations with them are copyright Alyx Shaw, and may not be published, copied, distributed or archived without the author's prior written consent.

The characters, places and situations described in these stories are fictional unless otherwise stated in the story headings.

(C) 2008 Alyx Shaw