listening to orcas island

During the night, perhaps a dozen otters visited the deck of the cabin. We awoke hearing the sounds of their running and sliding across the wet wood, a few shrill squeaks, and the surf raking and tumbling stones. In faint light from moonlit clouds, we could see the silhouettes of the otters poised suspensefully on the low dune between the cabin and the beach.
Elsewhere that day, the singing of raindrops and mud along a footpath....