The Bear

Just back from a professional conference on Slug Research in Glasgow.

A bad thing happened on Weds. Someone drank too much, stayed up too late, took a hefty dose of temazepam to allow decent sleep, then woke the next morning to find a bear had trashed her hotel room. She found a pre-packed salad strewn on the floor, a bruise on her forehead and a loaned book she'd been reading soaked in apple juice. How these had occurred was entirely amnesiac, as the bear had enacted these while she slept. He is a very clumsy bear.

This person happens to feel printed books are sacred objects, and that defiling them is sinful. She reacts badly when others disrespect her books, so has no defense except that the intruder bear broke in while she slept and committed acts of desecration. She has sourced and purchased through the internet a replacement book in VG condition (since the specific book edition is now out-of-print) and hopes this will arrive soon. Luckily the original book did not have irreplaceable, hand-written marginalia such as Fermat's Last Theorem.

"I have a truly marvellous demonstration of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain."