Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story (2024) Movie Script
I'm going to tell you a story about a man...
My husband, Billy.
And how he was lost for a while.
Until beauty found him.
How are you?
We moved here for a better life.
Billy took me to the Shetland Islands.
Britain's most northerly outpost.
Whales? To see them.
So, yes, it was a good year.
- The whale watchers.
- Born here.
But he seemed to be gone for a long time.
It was in his nature.
I asked him what that really meant, and he said he didn't know.
We moved into an old house by the sea...
...and started to fix it up.
Because the storm petrels migrate...
- To South Africa...
- But suddenly, life and routine...
...were closing in on us again.
Lerwick Thistle 0
Bonis United 0
Westside Rebels 0
"Fast food."
I think sometimes when you get everything you want,
you convince yourself it's all you need.
You convince yourself you're happy.
I think we were both guilty of that.
But isn't that true for everyone?
Billy was suffering from heartbreak.
Maybe that's what men go through when they can't be fathers.
It never showed. He'd actually convince you otherwise,
just like he convinced himself.
I never imagined a small creature appearing at his feet...
...would change everything.
Hello!
It was March.
It was March 3rd, when I was lucky enough to meet her for the first time.
She was so skinny.
What are you doing here?
She was eating a crab.
When otters eat crabs...
They use more energy trying to eat them than they get from them.
It wasn't a good sign.
Otters are usually very shy around here.
Her being so calm around me meant...
She must have been desperate.
Hello!
I don't know where she came from.
But I heard an otter mother had been killed on the road near the house.
So I assumed it was her mother.
And that she was too young to take care of herself.
Maybe I was her last resort.
She was weak and alone.
And that took me back to a moment in my childhood.
When I was in a situation where I felt alone.
It was a terrible feeling. A feeling of insecurity.
And I projected that feeling onto her immediately.
Good morning, little one. How are you?
Are you hungry? Come on then, come.
Watch the fingers.
And as she grew stronger, we started spending more time together.
Until eventually, what started as a mere chance encounter...
...turned into trust.
Leave the engine alone, otter.
Yes, that's the gas can.
I named her Molly. I don't really know why.
It just sort of came to me.
She brought a smile to my face that stayed.
I'm not sure Billy realized what Molly needed then.
She didn't need a friend...
...she needed a mother.
- What are you planting? - Your favorite flowers.
What, lavender flowers?
Good idea. Until Molly comes and digs them up.
Listen, if the otter digs them up, I'm holding you responsible.
Good. Don't do that.
Maybe because Molly lost her family, she quickly became part of our family.
She seemed lonely and needed people around.
Billy bought a book about otters to learn about their needs.
But it didn't have the answers.
So, he decided to try and find the answers himself.
Get in the water. I filled the bathtub for you.
She's not a sea otter, even though she lives in the sea.
She's a river otter, and her fur clearly needs...
...fresh water to get rid of the salt.
She has no body fat, so she uses her fur to stay warm.
So if it's in bad shape, she'll get cold very quickly here.
Are you rubbing yourself well? Okay, rub yourself dry.
I'll wash the sweater later.
Maybe that's why she spends so much time...
...rubbing herself with my sweater after her bath.
She seems to sleep a lot. I thought she needed a nice bed.
I learned a lot about Molly...
...one of them, her different moods.
Sometimes she comes and just wants to play.
And sometimes she comes and is angry, as if she's in a bad mood.
Sometimes she wants to pull up Susan's flowers.
And she's picky, and sometimes very.
Her favorite food is salmon.
But I can't afford it much.
So, she tends to eat haddock or mackerel.
Molly's recovery process took over our lives that spring.
Until eventually, it seemed like everything revolved around fish.
This time? Bait? Nothing.
Don't think I don't know why we're here!
What do you mean?
You know what I mean. We came to catch some fish for our picnic.
We came to catch fish for Molly.
And yet I wanted haddock.
I'd like some haddock,
but...
I don't see us catching
much haddock.
She was eating the odd little one.
She ate all the haddock!
A cod!
Lower the box and I'll aim for it.
Two moving targets is a lot
to handle. That's good!
We know it's down there.
Can you hold this and I'll release it?
Molly will be happy to eat this.
When we're not out fishing...
Billy's on the phone, calling
everyone to bring more fish.
It's costing us a fortune!
But it was clear Molly was
gaining strength day by day.
Billy decided we needed
a new fridge.
He filled the other fridge
with fish for Molly.
Okay, if you'll steady it,
I'll lift it and drag it across the floor.
Will you clean it before bringing it in?
We can do that,
but it's clean inside.
But it's dirty on the outside!
Yes, okay, but...
Yes, we can clean it. No.
Is that bird droppings?
Are you ready? No need to rush.
Yes.
Watch your back.
Okay, there's just a short distance left.
Okay, great.
Have a fun time
on the B9076.
Did you find Mukilteo Island beautiful?
Why don't you try visiting
the North Maven Peninsula?
It was impossible to upset Billy,
because he loved Molly so much.
I guess, to be honest with myself,
I have no idea what I'm doing.
I can do the obvious tasks.
I make sure she eats well...
I prepare her bath.
But anything beyond that
is outside my knowledge.
I don't know how old she was
when we first met.
She can't be more than six months old.
She definitely wasn't old enough to survive the winter.
So, she still has a lot of life skills to learn.
And she won't learn them from me just tossing her fish.
I noticed the otters here...
eat the little fish they find in the seaweed.
Molly, here.
So, if I can teach her how to catch them, that would be a start.
Molly.
Molly, come on.
Little Molly.
Look, look here.
Not there, look where I'm pointing.
Come on, you're an otter. You're supposed to be good at this.
Molly, come on!
Little Molly.
Molly!
You're not getting it, are you?
Is this okay? Are you happy with your dinner?
Are you happy with your dinner? I'm glad I can help you.
Where are you going now? Where are you going?
She's like got a button on her head...
that when I push it, she takes off.
Billy and Molly weren't that different.
They both seemed to have an extraordinary ability...
to focus on one thing.
For about 15 minutes.
And I mean, building an extension to your house...
and being a year ahead of schedule.
And sometimes that can be very difficult to live with.
I went into the barn one day and found a package from Amazon.
I'm usually the one who does the shopping.
But it wasn't addressed to me. It was addressed to Billy, and I opened it.
And there were two packages of colorful balls.
And the first thing I thought...
was, 'Wow, did he buy those for Molly?'
I don't know if I'm doing the right thing.
I feel a bit silly sometimes.
But I see how happy she is when she plays.
If she had a family, she'd be tough and moody.
But I'm her only family, and I have bills to pay.
Billy's job at the power plant...
sometimes meant he'd be away for long shifts.
So I had to step in.
Hello.
Hi. The reason I'm calling is a bit strange this time.
I'm not calling about the dog.
There's a wild otter that comes and visits us almost daily.
And we've noticed she has a very rattly chest and coughs a bit.
And we were wondering if she might need some medical help.
How's the little one today?
She's good. Sleeping under the boat.
Did she have any haddock? Let me know when she wakes up.
Billy! I'm supposed to be working, and so are you!
Crab sticks, wow!
Crab sticks in soup, not the tastiest.
Okay, new listeners, we're discussing Colin Skink's soup recipe.
I'm a fan of oxtail, but it seems its popularity declined in 2020.
It's a soup that's losing popularity! Yes, I know...
Hello, little one.
This will help you get better.
Are you ready?
Good girl.
Good girl.
Molly's presence in Billy's life gave him a sense of responsibility.
And he lived up to that.
But part of being a parent...
is knowing when to fulfill the child's needs...
and when to fulfill your own.
Billy didn't feel the need to leave the confines of the yard with Molly.
As if he were trying to convince himself...
that she needed him more than she did.
by claiming her life was confined to the boundaries of this park.
And that wasn't true.
Jed and I discovered that on our morning walks.
Hello!
Hello.
Hello, Molly.
She spent a lot of time fishing in the lake,
a long way from home.
I saw another side to her there.
She was more confident and self-reliant.
Being outdoors and living like a wild otter
was probably better for her health, really.
She also made friends.
She played with other otters.
One was a male who sometimes visited home.
Billy called him Bozo.
He was a bit of a big boy.
But seeing Molly with Bozo
made me realize
that although she took up a lot of Billy's life,
she took up only a small part of hers.
I wasn't sure how he'd feel about that,
so I kept it to myself and Molly.
I was happy she was living another life away from ours.
Because if she hadn't, of course...
I might have been deprived of my husband.
But she made him happy, and he made me happy.
Isn't that what love is?
Letting someone be who they are
because that person is all you need.
Jed! Fancy a walk?
Let's go for a walk.
Jed, come on! Jed, come on!
Come on!
Jed! Jed!
Come on, Jed!
Little Molly, will you join us too?
Let's go fishing.
Come on! Come on!
My little Molly!
You've become good at catching your own prey.
At some point, the roles reversed between Billy and Molly.
He used to help her...
And now she helps him.
Molly has become skilled at fishing.
I can't find all your catch.
Look how expert she's become!
Molly caused me some alarm. She was stretching out, motionless.
As if awakening the child within me.
This wonder and joy
that we allow ourselves to lose as we get older.
The weather in Shetland is unusually warm today.
The pleasant conditions are expected to continue
for the next two days,
influenced by a high-pressure system
from Scotland and the rest of Northern Europe.
Temperatures are expected to reach 20 degrees Celsius.
With Molly needing less time and attention,
Billy was finally able to finish building her house.
The delay caused us a lot of stress.
I remember being so happy that our lives would return to normal.
Until one evening, he came with a big smile on his face
and said he'd finished the house.
He asked if I wanted to come see it.
I almost suggested he go live in it.
It's called a two-bedroom cottage.
It just has a kitchen, or a living room and a bedroom,
just like our houses.
I put Wi-Fi in Molly's house today.
Wi-Fi? Yes.
Molly's house has Wi-Fi? Actually, yes.
And my house doesn't have Wi-Fi.
She doesn't know she has Wi-Fi. It's for the camera.
But yes, technically, her place has Wi-Fi.
Okay, darling. We'll find a solution.
I'll give you something for it.
But you've been saying that for a long time. True, but...
Then I found out you'd given Molly's place Wi-Fi.
As I said, she doesn't even know she has Wi-Fi.
I'll give you a new Wi-Fi router for your birthday.
Don't you dare.
Birthday?
I put a camera in her place.
And a special app so I know when she's home.
As lovely as Molly's place was,
and as much as we enjoyed seeing her in it,
I think it set the stage for Billy to realize...
that he'd probably gone too far.
Billy had always said he wanted Molly to reach a point
where she could survive the winter
without his help.
With the days of summer shortening,
and the autumn nights drawing in, he had to keep that promise.
We started noticing another otter visiting the house.
Often at dusk.
One evening, we realized who it was.
It was Bozo.
He was looking for Molly.
I should be happy for her.
But instead, I was reserved.
She's my baby.
It was hard to see her go off with him.
There's nothing I can do about it.
Maybe all I can do is turn a blind eye for a while.
I'll stop feeding her.
It's not my intention.
But that's what I have to do.
I can't forget that morning.
It was a very critical moment.
And I think Billy realized that.
As if he was storing up memories of something.
He knew it was going to pass.
Molly came to visit us several times in the following weeks.
Then she stopped coming.
Winter soon set in in Shetland that year.
Until the wind and cold took hold of life again.
And the roar of the angry North Atlantic.
I found a dead otter on the beach this morning.
I thought it was Molly, but...
When I took a closer look, I realized it was a small animal.
Maybe the wind blew it away from its mother.
I would have left it for the gulls.
But I couldn't.
It was a small creature...
It lived for a while.
Not just another animal.
A creature of flesh and blood.
Just like Molly and me.
Billy regretted his decision to stop feeding Molly.
He pretended otherwise, but I was sure of it.
He started leaving fish for her outside again.
Hoping she would come home.
But only the gulls ate them.
A month turned into two.
And there was no sign of her.
Billy found no peace except outdoors.
Amidst the storms.
I took Billy at the end of January to see the Up Helly Aa procession.
The townspeople build a Viking ship.
And parade it around town.
And then burn it in the playground.
Is this a tradition?
Or perhaps just a distraction from the harsh Shetland winter.
I hoped it would lift Billy's spirits a little.
But he was thinking of something else.
I never had any children.
I don't think people
who have children...
realize that a part of you...
mourns the loss of something
you never had.
You live with it.
But maybe the feeling of loss
is always deeper.
It always seemed like madness to me
to spend so long building something beautiful,
only to burn it to the ground.
Susan!
Susan!
Molly, Molly.
My little Molly?
Molly.
Molly!
Where were you? You scared me.
Welcome home.
You picked a good night to come back!
You have no idea the state you put us in.
Oh, you're so sweet, my little one.
You're my little one.
It was good to see him happy again.
She was the apple of his eye.
And you know what?
Surely the man who loves and cares
every day is better...
than the one who doesn't.
Are those breasts?
Yes, they are. How wonderful.
She's wriggling.
She can't find a position
that's comfortable for her.
Look at the size of her belly.
She's definitely pregnant, no doubt about it.
Look,
she's making her bed.
She doesn't have many scattered
pillows to worry about.
Look how cute!
Honestly, the way she's lying down...
Lying on her back.
I think she's about to give birth.
How do I feel about Molly being pregnant?
When your young grow up, you prepare them
and nurture them,
help them in any way you can to reach adulthood.
And then, they start living their lives.
You're going to have young, Molly.
Are you going to have young?
In a strange way that parallels this, I feel like I've done the same thing with Molly.
If Molly comes back with her young,
I'll feel like I've done my duty
and completed my job.
By May, Molly's visits had become regular,
but we noticed a change in her behavior.
She seemed exhausted.
Instead of wanting to play and hunt around the boat,
she just wanted to sleep.
And she slept for long periods.
And one day, when she visited us,
we discovered why.
Look at this.
Wow, look at this.
Good job, Molly.
How cute is that!
Molly became a mother, Jed.
That's really good. He looks about 9 or 10 weeks old.
She's a little angry.
Get away a little bit.
Get your teeth away from her, pup.
Go away. I'm trying to get some rest.
Look at this. I'm tired of you, go away.
She'll have to leave her pup there
and go fishing and then come back. He's all alone there.
But he looks really happy.
Soon, Molly's pup will go with her wherever she goes.
And then Billy will have to give them their space.
So he can keep his fear of humans.
But he told me
he had one last thing to do.
Which was to say goodbye.
So, I got him a gift.
Okay, get your clothes off right now.
Your skin is inflamed.
I have a feeling you're forcing me
to do this.
Me too.
I don't know, I don't know.
It's supposed to be tight.
Help me get my arms in the other sleeve.
There we go, done!
Over a year ago, Molly arrived here on this shore.
And there's a whole part of her world
I haven't seen and wasn't part of.
She's always been the one to come into my world.
But I've never taken a step into hers.
But I have to, I want to.
I want to see her world with her.
Now that she's a mother.
She's taking life more seriously.
The fun side of her personality is still there,
she hasn't lost it.
And I think some of that has rubbed off on me.
She doesn't ask me for fish anymore.
Or bother me for attention.
Or dig up Susan's flowers in the garden.
Or pee on my boat.
Or chase Jed and his ball.
She's just being herself.
Completely independent of me.
I see the creature for what it is.
So graceful...
In her environment.
She's absolutely perfect.
Then that little bit of thought in her head changes.
And she leaves.
And I was left alone
But I'm not alone, am I?
The water's cold and the wetsuit chafes me
Water leaks into my mask and the salt burns my eyes
I need to pee
But I don't care
Because I'm captivated by this scene
And this imaginary line
That separates us from nature
That separates Molly's world from ours
If she taught me anything...
It's that there's no dividing line between our worlds
Molly entered our lives
Probably when we needed her most
And changed us
It grew to a suitable size
She showed us the truth again
Look
She reminded us of who we were
And not what we would become
I lost them, okay, I found them
Beauty is a powerful thing when it comes suddenly
And Molly showed us that
And she doesn't know the impact she had on us
What are we having for dinner?
How about haddock?
I'm tired of haddock
Well,
We have a lot of it. Our fridge is full of it.
I brought you a present. This is for you.
Do you want to play with it?
Good girl!
My husband, Billy.
And how he was lost for a while.
Until beauty found him.
How are you?
We moved here for a better life.
Billy took me to the Shetland Islands.
Britain's most northerly outpost.
Whales? To see them.
So, yes, it was a good year.
- The whale watchers.
- Born here.
But he seemed to be gone for a long time.
It was in his nature.
I asked him what that really meant, and he said he didn't know.
We moved into an old house by the sea...
...and started to fix it up.
Because the storm petrels migrate...
- To South Africa...
- But suddenly, life and routine...
...were closing in on us again.
Lerwick Thistle 0
Bonis United 0
Westside Rebels 0
"Fast food."
I think sometimes when you get everything you want,
you convince yourself it's all you need.
You convince yourself you're happy.
I think we were both guilty of that.
But isn't that true for everyone?
Billy was suffering from heartbreak.
Maybe that's what men go through when they can't be fathers.
It never showed. He'd actually convince you otherwise,
just like he convinced himself.
I never imagined a small creature appearing at his feet...
...would change everything.
Hello!
It was March.
It was March 3rd, when I was lucky enough to meet her for the first time.
She was so skinny.
What are you doing here?
She was eating a crab.
When otters eat crabs...
They use more energy trying to eat them than they get from them.
It wasn't a good sign.
Otters are usually very shy around here.
Her being so calm around me meant...
She must have been desperate.
Hello!
I don't know where she came from.
But I heard an otter mother had been killed on the road near the house.
So I assumed it was her mother.
And that she was too young to take care of herself.
Maybe I was her last resort.
She was weak and alone.
And that took me back to a moment in my childhood.
When I was in a situation where I felt alone.
It was a terrible feeling. A feeling of insecurity.
And I projected that feeling onto her immediately.
Good morning, little one. How are you?
Are you hungry? Come on then, come.
Watch the fingers.
And as she grew stronger, we started spending more time together.
Until eventually, what started as a mere chance encounter...
...turned into trust.
Leave the engine alone, otter.
Yes, that's the gas can.
I named her Molly. I don't really know why.
It just sort of came to me.
She brought a smile to my face that stayed.
I'm not sure Billy realized what Molly needed then.
She didn't need a friend...
...she needed a mother.
- What are you planting? - Your favorite flowers.
What, lavender flowers?
Good idea. Until Molly comes and digs them up.
Listen, if the otter digs them up, I'm holding you responsible.
Good. Don't do that.
Maybe because Molly lost her family, she quickly became part of our family.
She seemed lonely and needed people around.
Billy bought a book about otters to learn about their needs.
But it didn't have the answers.
So, he decided to try and find the answers himself.
Get in the water. I filled the bathtub for you.
She's not a sea otter, even though she lives in the sea.
She's a river otter, and her fur clearly needs...
...fresh water to get rid of the salt.
She has no body fat, so she uses her fur to stay warm.
So if it's in bad shape, she'll get cold very quickly here.
Are you rubbing yourself well? Okay, rub yourself dry.
I'll wash the sweater later.
Maybe that's why she spends so much time...
...rubbing herself with my sweater after her bath.
She seems to sleep a lot. I thought she needed a nice bed.
I learned a lot about Molly...
...one of them, her different moods.
Sometimes she comes and just wants to play.
And sometimes she comes and is angry, as if she's in a bad mood.
Sometimes she wants to pull up Susan's flowers.
And she's picky, and sometimes very.
Her favorite food is salmon.
But I can't afford it much.
So, she tends to eat haddock or mackerel.
Molly's recovery process took over our lives that spring.
Until eventually, it seemed like everything revolved around fish.
This time? Bait? Nothing.
Don't think I don't know why we're here!
What do you mean?
You know what I mean. We came to catch some fish for our picnic.
We came to catch fish for Molly.
And yet I wanted haddock.
I'd like some haddock,
but...
I don't see us catching
much haddock.
She was eating the odd little one.
She ate all the haddock!
A cod!
Lower the box and I'll aim for it.
Two moving targets is a lot
to handle. That's good!
We know it's down there.
Can you hold this and I'll release it?
Molly will be happy to eat this.
When we're not out fishing...
Billy's on the phone, calling
everyone to bring more fish.
It's costing us a fortune!
But it was clear Molly was
gaining strength day by day.
Billy decided we needed
a new fridge.
He filled the other fridge
with fish for Molly.
Okay, if you'll steady it,
I'll lift it and drag it across the floor.
Will you clean it before bringing it in?
We can do that,
but it's clean inside.
But it's dirty on the outside!
Yes, okay, but...
Yes, we can clean it. No.
Is that bird droppings?
Are you ready? No need to rush.
Yes.
Watch your back.
Okay, there's just a short distance left.
Okay, great.
Have a fun time
on the B9076.
Did you find Mukilteo Island beautiful?
Why don't you try visiting
the North Maven Peninsula?
It was impossible to upset Billy,
because he loved Molly so much.
I guess, to be honest with myself,
I have no idea what I'm doing.
I can do the obvious tasks.
I make sure she eats well...
I prepare her bath.
But anything beyond that
is outside my knowledge.
I don't know how old she was
when we first met.
She can't be more than six months old.
She definitely wasn't old enough to survive the winter.
So, she still has a lot of life skills to learn.
And she won't learn them from me just tossing her fish.
I noticed the otters here...
eat the little fish they find in the seaweed.
Molly, here.
So, if I can teach her how to catch them, that would be a start.
Molly.
Molly, come on.
Little Molly.
Look, look here.
Not there, look where I'm pointing.
Come on, you're an otter. You're supposed to be good at this.
Molly, come on!
Little Molly.
Molly!
You're not getting it, are you?
Is this okay? Are you happy with your dinner?
Are you happy with your dinner? I'm glad I can help you.
Where are you going now? Where are you going?
She's like got a button on her head...
that when I push it, she takes off.
Billy and Molly weren't that different.
They both seemed to have an extraordinary ability...
to focus on one thing.
For about 15 minutes.
And I mean, building an extension to your house...
and being a year ahead of schedule.
And sometimes that can be very difficult to live with.
I went into the barn one day and found a package from Amazon.
I'm usually the one who does the shopping.
But it wasn't addressed to me. It was addressed to Billy, and I opened it.
And there were two packages of colorful balls.
And the first thing I thought...
was, 'Wow, did he buy those for Molly?'
I don't know if I'm doing the right thing.
I feel a bit silly sometimes.
But I see how happy she is when she plays.
If she had a family, she'd be tough and moody.
But I'm her only family, and I have bills to pay.
Billy's job at the power plant...
sometimes meant he'd be away for long shifts.
So I had to step in.
Hello.
Hi. The reason I'm calling is a bit strange this time.
I'm not calling about the dog.
There's a wild otter that comes and visits us almost daily.
And we've noticed she has a very rattly chest and coughs a bit.
And we were wondering if she might need some medical help.
How's the little one today?
She's good. Sleeping under the boat.
Did she have any haddock? Let me know when she wakes up.
Billy! I'm supposed to be working, and so are you!
Crab sticks, wow!
Crab sticks in soup, not the tastiest.
Okay, new listeners, we're discussing Colin Skink's soup recipe.
I'm a fan of oxtail, but it seems its popularity declined in 2020.
It's a soup that's losing popularity! Yes, I know...
Hello, little one.
This will help you get better.
Are you ready?
Good girl.
Good girl.
Molly's presence in Billy's life gave him a sense of responsibility.
And he lived up to that.
But part of being a parent...
is knowing when to fulfill the child's needs...
and when to fulfill your own.
Billy didn't feel the need to leave the confines of the yard with Molly.
As if he were trying to convince himself...
that she needed him more than she did.
by claiming her life was confined to the boundaries of this park.
And that wasn't true.
Jed and I discovered that on our morning walks.
Hello!
Hello.
Hello, Molly.
She spent a lot of time fishing in the lake,
a long way from home.
I saw another side to her there.
She was more confident and self-reliant.
Being outdoors and living like a wild otter
was probably better for her health, really.
She also made friends.
She played with other otters.
One was a male who sometimes visited home.
Billy called him Bozo.
He was a bit of a big boy.
But seeing Molly with Bozo
made me realize
that although she took up a lot of Billy's life,
she took up only a small part of hers.
I wasn't sure how he'd feel about that,
so I kept it to myself and Molly.
I was happy she was living another life away from ours.
Because if she hadn't, of course...
I might have been deprived of my husband.
But she made him happy, and he made me happy.
Isn't that what love is?
Letting someone be who they are
because that person is all you need.
Jed! Fancy a walk?
Let's go for a walk.
Jed, come on! Jed, come on!
Come on!
Jed! Jed!
Come on, Jed!
Little Molly, will you join us too?
Let's go fishing.
Come on! Come on!
My little Molly!
You've become good at catching your own prey.
At some point, the roles reversed between Billy and Molly.
He used to help her...
And now she helps him.
Molly has become skilled at fishing.
I can't find all your catch.
Look how expert she's become!
Molly caused me some alarm. She was stretching out, motionless.
As if awakening the child within me.
This wonder and joy
that we allow ourselves to lose as we get older.
The weather in Shetland is unusually warm today.
The pleasant conditions are expected to continue
for the next two days,
influenced by a high-pressure system
from Scotland and the rest of Northern Europe.
Temperatures are expected to reach 20 degrees Celsius.
With Molly needing less time and attention,
Billy was finally able to finish building her house.
The delay caused us a lot of stress.
I remember being so happy that our lives would return to normal.
Until one evening, he came with a big smile on his face
and said he'd finished the house.
He asked if I wanted to come see it.
I almost suggested he go live in it.
It's called a two-bedroom cottage.
It just has a kitchen, or a living room and a bedroom,
just like our houses.
I put Wi-Fi in Molly's house today.
Wi-Fi? Yes.
Molly's house has Wi-Fi? Actually, yes.
And my house doesn't have Wi-Fi.
She doesn't know she has Wi-Fi. It's for the camera.
But yes, technically, her place has Wi-Fi.
Okay, darling. We'll find a solution.
I'll give you something for it.
But you've been saying that for a long time. True, but...
Then I found out you'd given Molly's place Wi-Fi.
As I said, she doesn't even know she has Wi-Fi.
I'll give you a new Wi-Fi router for your birthday.
Don't you dare.
Birthday?
I put a camera in her place.
And a special app so I know when she's home.
As lovely as Molly's place was,
and as much as we enjoyed seeing her in it,
I think it set the stage for Billy to realize...
that he'd probably gone too far.
Billy had always said he wanted Molly to reach a point
where she could survive the winter
without his help.
With the days of summer shortening,
and the autumn nights drawing in, he had to keep that promise.
We started noticing another otter visiting the house.
Often at dusk.
One evening, we realized who it was.
It was Bozo.
He was looking for Molly.
I should be happy for her.
But instead, I was reserved.
She's my baby.
It was hard to see her go off with him.
There's nothing I can do about it.
Maybe all I can do is turn a blind eye for a while.
I'll stop feeding her.
It's not my intention.
But that's what I have to do.
I can't forget that morning.
It was a very critical moment.
And I think Billy realized that.
As if he was storing up memories of something.
He knew it was going to pass.
Molly came to visit us several times in the following weeks.
Then she stopped coming.
Winter soon set in in Shetland that year.
Until the wind and cold took hold of life again.
And the roar of the angry North Atlantic.
I found a dead otter on the beach this morning.
I thought it was Molly, but...
When I took a closer look, I realized it was a small animal.
Maybe the wind blew it away from its mother.
I would have left it for the gulls.
But I couldn't.
It was a small creature...
It lived for a while.
Not just another animal.
A creature of flesh and blood.
Just like Molly and me.
Billy regretted his decision to stop feeding Molly.
He pretended otherwise, but I was sure of it.
He started leaving fish for her outside again.
Hoping she would come home.
But only the gulls ate them.
A month turned into two.
And there was no sign of her.
Billy found no peace except outdoors.
Amidst the storms.
I took Billy at the end of January to see the Up Helly Aa procession.
The townspeople build a Viking ship.
And parade it around town.
And then burn it in the playground.
Is this a tradition?
Or perhaps just a distraction from the harsh Shetland winter.
I hoped it would lift Billy's spirits a little.
But he was thinking of something else.
I never had any children.
I don't think people
who have children...
realize that a part of you...
mourns the loss of something
you never had.
You live with it.
But maybe the feeling of loss
is always deeper.
It always seemed like madness to me
to spend so long building something beautiful,
only to burn it to the ground.
Susan!
Susan!
Molly, Molly.
My little Molly?
Molly.
Molly!
Where were you? You scared me.
Welcome home.
You picked a good night to come back!
You have no idea the state you put us in.
Oh, you're so sweet, my little one.
You're my little one.
It was good to see him happy again.
She was the apple of his eye.
And you know what?
Surely the man who loves and cares
every day is better...
than the one who doesn't.
Are those breasts?
Yes, they are. How wonderful.
She's wriggling.
She can't find a position
that's comfortable for her.
Look at the size of her belly.
She's definitely pregnant, no doubt about it.
Look,
she's making her bed.
She doesn't have many scattered
pillows to worry about.
Look how cute!
Honestly, the way she's lying down...
Lying on her back.
I think she's about to give birth.
How do I feel about Molly being pregnant?
When your young grow up, you prepare them
and nurture them,
help them in any way you can to reach adulthood.
And then, they start living their lives.
You're going to have young, Molly.
Are you going to have young?
In a strange way that parallels this, I feel like I've done the same thing with Molly.
If Molly comes back with her young,
I'll feel like I've done my duty
and completed my job.
By May, Molly's visits had become regular,
but we noticed a change in her behavior.
She seemed exhausted.
Instead of wanting to play and hunt around the boat,
she just wanted to sleep.
And she slept for long periods.
And one day, when she visited us,
we discovered why.
Look at this.
Wow, look at this.
Good job, Molly.
How cute is that!
Molly became a mother, Jed.
That's really good. He looks about 9 or 10 weeks old.
She's a little angry.
Get away a little bit.
Get your teeth away from her, pup.
Go away. I'm trying to get some rest.
Look at this. I'm tired of you, go away.
She'll have to leave her pup there
and go fishing and then come back. He's all alone there.
But he looks really happy.
Soon, Molly's pup will go with her wherever she goes.
And then Billy will have to give them their space.
So he can keep his fear of humans.
But he told me
he had one last thing to do.
Which was to say goodbye.
So, I got him a gift.
Okay, get your clothes off right now.
Your skin is inflamed.
I have a feeling you're forcing me
to do this.
Me too.
I don't know, I don't know.
It's supposed to be tight.
Help me get my arms in the other sleeve.
There we go, done!
Over a year ago, Molly arrived here on this shore.
And there's a whole part of her world
I haven't seen and wasn't part of.
She's always been the one to come into my world.
But I've never taken a step into hers.
But I have to, I want to.
I want to see her world with her.
Now that she's a mother.
She's taking life more seriously.
The fun side of her personality is still there,
she hasn't lost it.
And I think some of that has rubbed off on me.
She doesn't ask me for fish anymore.
Or bother me for attention.
Or dig up Susan's flowers in the garden.
Or pee on my boat.
Or chase Jed and his ball.
She's just being herself.
Completely independent of me.
I see the creature for what it is.
So graceful...
In her environment.
She's absolutely perfect.
Then that little bit of thought in her head changes.
And she leaves.
And I was left alone
But I'm not alone, am I?
The water's cold and the wetsuit chafes me
Water leaks into my mask and the salt burns my eyes
I need to pee
But I don't care
Because I'm captivated by this scene
And this imaginary line
That separates us from nature
That separates Molly's world from ours
If she taught me anything...
It's that there's no dividing line between our worlds
Molly entered our lives
Probably when we needed her most
And changed us
It grew to a suitable size
She showed us the truth again
Look
She reminded us of who we were
And not what we would become
I lost them, okay, I found them
Beauty is a powerful thing when it comes suddenly
And Molly showed us that
And she doesn't know the impact she had on us
What are we having for dinner?
How about haddock?
I'm tired of haddock
Well,
We have a lot of it. Our fridge is full of it.
I brought you a present. This is for you.
Do you want to play with it?
Good girl!