menace

The dim-witted creature knew exactly who had dangled from a rope ladder hastily lowered from a balloon and landed in the same spreading elm branches that the fluffy-tailed, beady-eyed menace called home.

For some reason she pictured the animal wearing Judge Quinzy’s thick and distorting glasses, which made its glinting amber eyes appear larger and more menacing than they already were.

But the drivers seemed somehow menacing to her, with their fake friendliness and huckstering offers of a ride.

Suddenly he didn’t look so off and menacing.

The weed that is now a discomfiting menace was once a rarity.