Just Outside the Chaparral

Posted on November 27, 2002 in Creatures Neighborhood

The winds stopped abruptly. I woke to silence.

Just now I heard the coyotes howling. Every mop dog who yearns to be a wolf joins in the agonized whining. Why do the wild dogs do it? Perhaps to reassure themselves that they are not the last of their species, that extinction is not nigh.