Somehow, as the story goes,

the female residents mated with the

bull weasels know as “devil beasts”

or wolverines – and a half-humanoid,

half weasel  race began. But this

wasn’t the cause.

*

The cause was the military gene splicing.

GMO experiments began, at that

installation on the shores of the

of the Arctic Sea.

*

Now it must be remembered, an otter

is a weasel,and the otter is a very

clever beast with a tendency to be

playful.

I was paddling a canoe along the shore

of Poplar Lake at dusk. I came upon an otter

family sliding down a wet rock and

splashing into the lake. They were making

high pitched squealing noises almost as

if they were laughing.

*

I glided by so quietly in the semi-dark

across the calm lake, that the otters

scarcely noticed me. My presence did not

bother them. For once a human being