As a #writer, I keep watch of my environment, as it provides many unexpected prompts for #storytelling.
 |
| Photo by Oscar Sutton on Unsplash |
There are 18 windows on 3 walls of my office, which afford me a good view of who’s racing up or down the street or what’s going on in the surrounding woods. Most times, it is observing the wild life that fascinates me the most; whether it’s the deer feeding, the woodpecker’s occasional visits to the tree in the front yard or the crows and wild turkeys. I enjoy the squirrels scuttling up and down the trees as wild rabbits chase each other on the lawn. I was even privileged once to track a white squirrel during the winter and spring. The chipmunks, woodchucks, and foxes are pretty fast, and so is the weasel that hides in the cave in the boulders. There was the rabbit which stayed by our front door for weeks. As if s/he had been hired as our security guard.
Oh, I cannot forget one cloudy, rainy, Summer evening when I saw a black bear going for an evening stroll at #Lake Scranton—well that was not really from my window but a few feet away from my car as I was switching seats with my husband.
With all that, nothing prepared me for the day I met Scruff. It was lunch time and I should have had my camera with me, but had left it on my desk in the office. I was enjoying a deer family of about 4 or 5, feeding in my front yard and across the street. They normally don’t budge even if the FedEx or mailman pulls up into the yard so I was curious when in a gust of wind, all I could see was their white tails, fluffed high in the air making a beeline for the woods.
Curious, I leaned over to see what had startled our bold neighborhood friends.
That’s when I saw him, limping along in a nonchalant manner as if he were king of the road. Not because he looked big and healthy like other coyotes I’ve seen in the area; but one look at him and you could tell he was bad to the visible skeleton his skin was tightly stretched over. You could tell he was not one to be trifled with. Although there was no visible signs of blood or scrapes or gashing wounds on him, he looked haggard and tired as if he had just conquered his fiercest battle ever and escaped unscathed.
I have no idea where Scruff came from that afternoon or where he was headed nor why he paid no attention to any of the animals high-tailing as far away from him as they could. Yet, he left a great impression on my mind.
I shudder when I think of him, think of the possibility of what might have happened had I been out for a stroll and come face-to-face with Scruff that day. I don’t want to know, but I still keep my eyes peeled out and my camera handy for another chance to see him and capture a snapshot of that elusive Scruff, the coyote.
~Arama Christiana
#aramaproducts
IG: @aramaproducts
Pinterest
IG: @aramaproducts
