Coyote Scary

Earlier tonight I was sitting on my back stoop when, suddenly, a small dog began howling in the adjoining cow pasture and startled me. This at once struck me as strange, since I had never heard a dog back there before. The nearest house in that direction is a good half mile away, so he was awful far away to be roaming around at that time of night. Also, I could just make out the sounds of the neighbors' dogs as they bayed and moaned in the distance- so I was fairly sure my unwanted visitor wasn't theirs.

Then it struck me- it had to be a coyote. You think I would have figured it out sooner. The howling went on for a good five seconds at a time- a low, plaintive sound that cuts through your heart. He was crying.

He couldn't have been more than two hundred feet away. Fortunately, my dogs decided to forgo the inevitable chase. Instead, they just staked out the corners of the property and listened to his howls. I can't say as a blame them. He sang with a sweeter voice than most humans I've ever heard.

It was fitting he chose the blues, this place being so close to the Delta.