“Not really,” Theo replied with hesitation. He had a feeling that he was about to learn a lot about otters.
“Well, otters are very friendly little fellas, and this otter — we call him Otto — has sort of become a family pet. He hangs around the pond and sometimes he comes up to the house. We leave cat food out for him every night. Last year my dad even took him to the vet when he got sick. So, Otto is a little guy that we like a lot.”
“Otto the otter?”
“Yep.”
“And why is Otto in trouble?”
“Well, you see, there’s this family across the road, the Murrays, and they’re nice people and all, or they used to be nice anyway, but they’re kinda ticked off at us right now because the Murrays are really into gardening and stuff like that. Their place looks a lot better than ours. Back behind their house they have this fancy little pond — they call it a water garden — where they keep these big fat goldfish called koi. Are you familiar with koi?”
“No.”
“They’re these big ornamental fish; I think they come from the carp family. They’re beautiful, red and orange and white. We used to go over all the time, back when the families were speaking, and look at their koi. We’d feed them, too. Anyway, it looks like Otto has discovered their pond because a bunch of them were found dead, stripped down to the bones.”
“Otto has been eating the koi?”
“I guess so. They started complaining about a month ago, really upset. Mr. Murray threatened to shoot Otto if he caught him in the backyard. He didn’t catch him, but he kept finding dead koi that had been eaten. It’s a real mess. Then last week Mr. Murray called the house, yelling and cussing, and said he had set up a motion-activated video camera with night-vision stuff, and he caught Otto eating his koi. He’s got a video. Then he filed a complaint in Animal Court, and we’re supposed to have a hearing this afternoon.”
“This afternoon? It’s almost five o’clock now.”
“I know. We’re not sure what to do. My dad doesn’t want to hire a lawyer, and I was thinking maybe you could help us.”
Theo loved Animal Court and went there as often as possible, often pretending to be a lawyer. In Animal Court, lawyers were not required; the parties were allowed to represent themselves. Judge Yeck was a friend. Theo considered the situation and said, “Let’s go.”
Ten minutes later, Theo slid to a stop in front of the courthouse on Main Street. He ran to the basement and found a small empty room where lawyers sometimes met with their clients. He quickly pulled out his laptop and went to Google.
He had watched dozens of trials, and in doing so had learned the lesson that great lawyers leave nothing to chance. They succeed because they spend hours in preparation before they get inside the courtroom. He didn’t have much time, but he had to prepare. He skimmed the Wikipedia pages for otters, then the ones for koi. After a few minutes he raced to the other end of the basement where Judge Yeck conducted Animal Court four afternoons each week. In the hallway, Byron was waiting with his father. Quick introductions were made. Mr. Kerr said, “We got the otter outside in my truck, if you’d like to see him.”
“He’s very cute and makes a good impression,” Byron added.
“He’s here?” Theo asked.
“Yep. Billy’s got him in a cage.”
Theo thought for a second and said, “Probably not. Let’s not tell anyone that Otto has come to town.”
“Whatever,” Mr. Kerr said. “You’re the lawyer, I guess.”
They went inside, sat in folding chairs, and listened in amusement as two neighbors argued over a barking dog. Evidently, they had been there for some time because Judge Yeck looked extremely bored. He finally raised both hands and said, “This is the third time we’ve sat here and argued over this noisy dog. I prefer not to do so again. Mr. Dumas, you either put a muzzle on your dog, or keep him inside, or get rid of him altogether. I have no sympathy for a dog that barks all night and keeps the neighbors awake. Do you understand?”
“I can’t keep him in, Judge, because he’ll just bark all night in the house.”
“Too bad. That’s your problem, but it should not be your neighbors’ problem. I want the dog shut up, or I’ll have no choice but to put him down.”
“Can you do that?” Mr. Dumas asked.
“I certainly can. I have the authority, vested in me by city ordinance, to order the extermination of any animal inside the city limits. I’ll show you the law if you don’t believe me.”
Theo had read the ordinance and knew it well. He also knew that Judge Yeck had handed down the death sentence to only one animal, a rabid dog that had bitten two people. He liked to talk tough, like a lot of judges, but deep down inside he really loved animals.
Theo also suspected the judge would take a dim view of Otto’s nighttime raids into the Murrays’ water garden, but he knew Otto’s life was probably safe, for now anyway.
When the barking case was over, four people left the room, none of them happy. Judge Yeck looked at the remaining spectators and said, “Well, hello, Theo. Nice to see you as always. Are you involved in this last case, the hungry otter?”
“Yes, sir. And hello to you, too.”
“Okay. I’ll ask Mr. Murray and Mr. Kerr to come forward.” The two men walked a few steps and sat at the opposing tables. Mr. Murray pointed at Theo and looked at the judge. “Is he a lawyer?”
“Well, sort of,” replied the judge.
“Well, I don’t have a lawyer. Do I need one?”
“Not really. I can do a pretty good job of finding the truth, with or without lawyers.”
“Doesn’t seem fair,” Mr. Murray mumbled.
“I’ll keep it fair,” Judge Yeck said rather sternly. “You filed the complaint, Mr. Murray, so you’ll go first. How many witnesses do you have?”
“Just me.”
“Okay. Keep your seat and raise your right hand. Do you swear to tell the truth?”
“I do.”
“Then tell us what happened.”
Mr. Murray shifted his weight and cleared his throat. “Well, Judge, I got this real nice water garden out back, got it landscaped and all, with lily pads and such. I spend a lot of time in the yard. About three years ago I started buying koi. Are you familiar with koi?”
“Sort of.”
“Fancy name for big fat goldfish. I think they originated in Japan a long time ago. There are a lot of varieties, lots of sizes and colors, and, well, they’re just beautiful in the water garden. They live forever, that is unless some damned otter comes along and raids the pond.”
“I don’t allow foul language in my courtroom, Mr. Murray.”
“Sorry. So I stocked the pond with a lot of koi. At one time I had close to a hundred. We love the fish. My grandkids love them. They’re just beautiful, and very hearty. Doesn’t matter how cold or hot it gets. They survive. I have enlarged some photographs if you’d like to see them.”
“Sure.”
Mr. Murray handed the judge three large photos of the koi in the water garden. He had a photo of his house and the Kerrs’. He was prepared, and Theo envied the time he had had to get ready for trial.
“Please continue,” Judge Yeck said.
“Yes, sir. Well about a month ago I went to feed the koi — got to feed ’em twice a day — and I was horrified to see some of them had been eaten. Something had attacked them in the water garden, dragged ’em out, and devoured them. Nothing but a few heads and a bunch of bones were left. I counted four of my koi dead. You wanna see?”
“Sure.”
Another large photo revealed the carnage. Judge Yeck studied it, then handed it to Theo, who gave it back to Mr. Murray.