Coyote Ugly

by Harold N. Walters

The coyote pair swam the straits to Emily’s island, mated, multiplied, and eventually their offspring became fearsome packs. Unable to slough off the pain caused by the treasonous, brutal abuse inflicted by her former lover, Emily was unable lay her burden down. Emily hid inside her house behind her barred and bolted door and watched through its window for flitting, coyote shadows among the moonlit shrubbery, shadows to which she transferred her fear. Obsessively, protectively, she fastened the buttons of her sweater up to her neck. Emily feared the streets and her ringing telephone which she refused to answer. Hyperventilating, her heart heaving, Emily barricaded herself and sobbed, “I’m afraid of those coyotes.”

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Harold N. Walters, author of When Harry Met Jennifer, lives in Newfoundland, the Canadian province that contains the remnants of the Appalachian Mountain Range; the Canadian province fondly called "The Rock."