The Foods of Olympia

There are an alarming amount of mountain trails which names begin with "The Devil's ...". But this fact isn't nearly as alarming as the moment I walked onto my second floor porch to water the fuchsia, and found a large black bear sitting, waiting for me. And the presence of this bear wasn't nearly as alarming as the words he spoke to me in a hushed and reassuring tone. And the words themselves, with their idyllic complexities and rich evidence of this animal's ability to think in abstractions, weren't nearly as alarming as the fact that this bear was indeed speaking at all, and to me, on my second floor porch.