Out for a drive again because I have no other convenient way of enjoying nature, I find myself drifting off toward the Cascades and onto smaller and smaller roads. It's late July, the sun is setting, the air is mild and uneventful. My sister calls me again to try to get me to do something spontaneous, and I turn her down. A female friend with a velvety voice asks me what I'm doing tonight, I hesitate and say I'm just driving around. Later, when I get home and find my room-mates gone, I might rent a DVD and eat a whole rotisserie chicken, I don't know.

Something appears in the road in front of me--I swerve so hard my car almost tips over, and then stare out the window with intense interest.

Some kind of gigantic creature has just stepped into the road. It is mammalian in nature, covered in short, pig-like fur, round feet like an elephant, a thick neck that tapers seamlessly into blunt head with dark eyes smaller than my own. At least fifty feet tall, must weigh around fifty tons.