When we think about The Pacific Northwest. Especially when we narrow it down to Puget Sound, and in Bremerton (a short hop across the sound from Seattle), we typically think about a few things. Obviously marine life and ferries, probably companies like Boeing and Microsoft, and possibly arts and music and the drug scenes that go with them.
Wait what?
Ok maybe not. And honestly drugs aren’t officially part of this story. I bet they were at least tangentially involved though.
That is neither here nor there. So what I am gonna do is give you the story exactly as it was told to me.
It all began one quiet evening when Miss Edna, a retiree living alone in a modest house on the edge of town, decided to do her laundry. She was a no-nonsense woman, known for her punctuality and sharp eye for detail. On this particular night, as she was transferring clothes from the washer to the dryer, she noticed something unusual in the corner of the room.
There, among the shadows and the lingering scent of detergent, was a creature she couldn’t quite believe. It was a shrimp – but not just any shrimp. This shrimp was enormous, about the size of a small dog, with antennae that twitched and eyes that reflected the dim light of the room. Miss Edna, known for her composure, felt a rare moment of panic. She quickly closed the door and called her neighbor, Mr. Thompson, for help.
Mr. Thompson, a middle-aged man with a penchant for fixing things, was skeptical at first. A giant shrimp in a laundry room? It sounded preposterous. Nevertheless, he grabbed a flashlight and headed over to Miss Edna’s house.
Upon arrival, he found Miss Edna quite distressed. She insisted he look for himself, so, with a mixture of curiosity and disbelief, Mr. Thompson opened the laundry room door. Sure enough, there it was – an oversized shrimp, seemingly out of place and looking rather agitated.
Mr. Thompson, not being an expert on marine life but possessing a pragmatic approach, decided the best course of action was to capture the creature and figure out what to do with it later. He fetched a large fishing net from his garage and, after a few tense minutes, managed to trap the shrimp without causing it or himself any harm.
Unsure of where such a creature could have come from, they decided to contact local authorities. The next morning, a team from the local wildlife agency arrived. After some examination, they concluded that the shrimp was a species of mantis shrimp, known for their large size and powerful claws. However, the exact details of how it ended up in Miss Edna’s laundry room remained a mystery.
Theories ranged from it being an exotic pet that had somehow escaped, to it having been inadvertently transported in some shipment. Regardless of its origin, the wildlife agency took the shrimp to a marine research facility where it could be properly cared for and studied.
Miss Edna’s laundry room returned to its mundane state, but the story of the giant shrimp became a local legend, often recounted with varying degrees of embellishment. In the end, the giant shrimp incident was a reminder that sometimes the most unexpected things can happen right in the comfort of our own homes.
