Where the Wild Things Are

Last night, we left Bobchi's around 9:30. It was pitch dark, with only a solitary porch fixture to feebly light our way. Of course, we weren't afraid; we've seen skunks, foxes, deer, and raccoons in the past, but nothing larger than that. All of them run at the sight of people.

So far.

Last night, as I headed out to load up the car in the darkness, I heard a very deep growl from somewhere to the south, like the distant grumble of thunder -- "Grrrr."

Is it about to storm? I thought, looking up into a perfectly clear sky. My brow wrinkled with momentary confusion, but I shrugged it off as I strapped Shiloh into the car and popped the car trunk.

As Julie brought another armload of stuff from the house, I heard the sound again; this time from the direction of the garden, where the cherry and crab apple trees are. A very low and throaty -- "Grrrr."

I frowned, looking up from the trunk and turning to peer off into the darkness.

As I turned to look, I saw Julie turn, too. So I didn't just imagine that, I thought.

"What is it?" Carol asked as she walked up, noticing us staring into the blackness with curious expressions.

"Hmm," was all I said, going back to arranging water bottles in the trunk. She's easily exciteable, and I didn't want to cause unnecessary alarm over a mysterious and unidentified sound.

A minute or so later, Julie, Carol, and Shiloh were in the car. I headed back to the house, needing to open the garage door so that I could transfer an electrical cord that I'd be needing the next day. As I passed the willow tree by the steps, I heard it again. Very low, very deep, very big -- "Grrrr."

Needless to say, I grabbed the cord from the trunk and very quickly threw it into the garage before running back to the car. Once inside, I started it up and whipped it around so that the headlights played across the yard... which was now empty, save for the crab apple and cherry trees rustling softly in the wind.

I'm 89% sure there was a bear there by the trees last night. The growl was much too low to be a fox, raccoon, skunk, or even a cougar (all of which are native to this region of Manitoba). It seemed big. And unless my infamous arch-nemesis, Captain Squirrely, gained about 300 pounds since last I saw him, I have a serious problem thinking it was him on the business end of that growl.

In any case, there was something out there. And it wasn't particularly afraid of us, either, because it hung around and growled defiantly at us three times in the space of five minutes, when other animals would have simply fled into the night at the sight of us. It was something that isn't used to just turning tail and running off at the first sight of trouble, something that is comfortable being near the top of the local food chain.

So it was a largish something, and it was a fairly confident something. The only question is -- Exactly what kind of something was it?