A beaver returned to the polluted Detroit River and caused the people of Detroit to rejoice. It was one hundred years since a beaver had been seen in the area. Everyone said the environment was returning to normal.
We got behind that.
We watched the video a few million times. It was claimed that workers at the power plant across the river had used a motion-sensitive camera. We stared at the mound of sticks, then saw a humped shadow moving about. That’s the beaver, we said.
For a while it was the beaver that mattered. Even though we knew it was probably some stuffed thing put there by two guys with a camera. And some string.