The Beast of Fort McMurray was born in the forest. What makes a beast a beast in our minds is repetition: in each case, real or imagined, these beings appear repeatedly, impacting different people and places in the larger community. This is standard behavior for monsters, but atypical of fires, and this, even more than its speed, size, or ferocity, is what set this fire apart: the way it persisted—for days—much as monsters do in the stories we tell about them. It is through these repeated encounters that victims and adversaries assess their attacker’s character, establish a relationship, build
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