Knock knock knock. "Now who could that be?" Otis asked aloud as he stood up from his desk. He didn't need to answer himself. He knew perfectly well who was at the door, just as he knew the answers to his recently-completed math homework. That was the thing about Otis; he was really smart. Smarter than many of the kids in his class. In fact, there was only one kid he knew who could even compete.

"How's it going, Otis?" Todd enthusiastically greeted his best freind of several years now.

Otis smiled slightly and replied, "Come on in, Todd."

Todd rushed into the house and automatically asked, "You recording Nova?"

"Yeah, I always record that show..."

"There's an ad you need to see. Come on!" Todd practically dragged Otis to the living room. Otis rolled his eyes in Todd's wake. Most of the time he enjoyed Todd's enthusiasm, but other times the guy could be a bit annoying.

Once they got the show playing, Otis was intruiged by the its topic, the canine brain. He took every single word that was spoken by the experts in like pine-scented air, watched the cartoony diagrams with enjoyment. He was thinking, This is why I love this show...

...when Todd tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, here's that ad I was talking about! Pay attention!" Otis did as his freind advised and watched closely. The advertisement featured a girl in a purple buisness suit, sporting a golden badge, talking about an orginization called Odd Squad and encouraging kids to join. The acting's pretty bad, Otis thought to himself. I could do such a better job.

"We have to join this!" Todd exclaimed, shutting off the TV. "It's perfect for us. They need all the smart people they can get!"

Otis shook his head. "I dunno, Todd."

"What's the problem, then?'

We're pretty busy as is, you with your garden and me with gym and dance..."

"Come on, Otis!" Todd urged. "Think about it. This is our chance to make a difference in the world! We could fight odd, together!"

"Well, I guess I could find room..."

Dear Otis:

First of all, this is NOT a fill-in-the-name letter. I wrote this myself, in order to congratulate you and welcome you to Odd Squad with open arms. You recieved a perfect score on your Odd Squad Academy enterance exams, something that has never been achieved by any agent, past or present. Therefore, we hereby invite you to skip the Academy and join Odd Squad as a full-fledged Investigation agent (you expressed preference for this department) in Precinct 24680. You will be expected to appear at Headquarters this coming Saturday.

Welcome to Odd Squad, Agent Otis.

Warmest regards,

Big O

Otis could hardly belive his eyes. A perfect score? The first-ever perfect score? He reread the letter just to make sure. Yep, it was still there: You recieved a perfect score. Todd wasn't going to belive his eyes either, Otis knew. He had to show this to him. He could imagine the reaction now...

"...oh. Well, ah, congrats, Otis." Todd's overly enthusiastic expression had vanished once he started reading the letter. That hadn't been the reaction Otis had expected.

"Didn't you get a letter? You're the smartest kid I know," Otis asked.

Todd answered, "Yeah, I got into the Academy... look, I gotta go. See you round..." Todd turned and left the room. Otis stood silently for a moment, looking in the direction his freind had gone.

It could have been a trick of light, but Otis could have sworn Todd's ice-blue eyes had flashed green.