Shortly after arriving home from the cabin, Desiree drifted out the back door to check on a small garden she’s been tending throughout the summer. After only a minute or two, she popped the door open, leaned in, and called to me:
“There is a big vole or something out
back.”
“What?”
“There is something big back here.
Come look at it.”
Intrigued, I trotted to the door and
followed Desiree across the deck toward the east end of the house. There, under
the chokecherry bush, I saw what she was talking about.
“That’s a beaver. A giant beaver!” We
were not confronted with a real beaver, but rather an artistic relief rendition
of one. We both started laughing.
“And I think I know where it came
from,” I added as we drew close. “It’s from the old Montana Historical Society
Museum. This is Tad’s work.”
Our friend Tad has been working on
the new Montana Historical Society Heritage Center, and this looked
suspiciously like something from the old museum. A flurry of texts, followed by
a phone call, confirmed my hunch—Tad had been tasked with disposing of the
beaver, a life-sized representation of prehistoric beavers that once inhabited
our Montana spaces.
The beaver will eventually find
permanent residence near the lakeshore on the property adjoining ours. I’m
sharing a photograph of Desiree with the giant beaver as we found it near our
house.
—Mitchell Hegman
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