Street Shadows

by Claire Gilchrist

  Scruff kept up a quick pace. They stopped for water, but didn’t take the time to hunt. She was impressed at how Scruff navigated the busy neighbourhood. Here, houses were denser, and Pica often didn’t see any green space. Scruff melted into the shadows on the street in front of her, freezing if a car passed, and if she wasn’t following him carefully, she found it quite difficult to find him in the darkness. She began to mimic him, and when a large, noisy group of humans walked past them, they simply froze. Even with nothing to hide them, and only a few feet between them and the humans, they weren’t detected. Pica wondered how humans were so strong when they seemed to have no senses at all.

  By the time the first rays of morning light broke across the dark grey sky, Pica was ready to stop. Her paws ached, and she was very hungry. They slept the day away, out of sight of the humans in a small shed, and when darkness came again, Pica jumped up, stretching her aching muscles. “All right — let’s go. But I need to find some food.”

  “Me, too,” Scruff agreed. They travelled more slowly at first, moving up the street, one on either side, senses on alert, looking for food. They came to a busy street, and Scruff showed her where, in the alley around the back of the buildings, there were lines of delicious-smelling Dumpsters. He motioned her to be silent, and they approached the Dumpster slowly. Within seconds, Pica had located a rat and, as it moved in front of her, leaped toward it. It swerved away from her but ran straight into Scruff, who snatched it with a quick pounce.

  “Nice work, Pica! That was awesome.”

  Pica grinned. It hadn’t been her intention to do that, but it was effective. Scruff shared the meat, and although small, it tasted delicious and whetted her appetite for more. They found some human food in a small container beside the Dumpster, but it tasted spicy and made her cough. They worked together to kill another rat at the next Dumpster they came to. This time, Scruff scared it toward Pica, and she pounced on it, nervous that she would miss. When she felt the small body under her paws, she yelped with joy. It felt wonderful to make a real kill, and to be able to share it with Scruff.

  “Good teamwork!” yipped Scruff from where he was standing a few metres away.

  “That worked pretty well,” said Pica, smiling. It was interesting that, in the hunting lessons her parents had given her, they had always stressed the importance of solo hunting. She now saw how hunting with two or more coyotes could have a real advantage, and wondered why she had never hunted in a team with her siblings. It was fun, and easier, too.

  “Lots of coyotes hunt in pairs,” said Scruff, reading her mind as he dug into the food. “It’s just that you have to be able to hunt alone, just in case. But it can be a real advantage to work together.”

  “Did you learn that with Jagger?”

  “No. He wasn’t a big fan of hunting with anyone else. But I’ve seen other coyotes hunting together.”

  “How did you learn to hunt in the first place?”

  “Oh, Jagger did teach me how to hunt. But we never went anywhere as a team, you know?” Scruff’s voice was wistful.

  “That’s too bad. I went hunting with my family all the time. But it was hard — I could never catch anything because of my eye. But when I was captured and went to that place, I got lots of hunting practice, and I think I’m doing a lot better now.”

  “What’s wrong with your eye?”

  Pica looked up at him, surprised, realizing that he hadn’t known or noticed. “Something happened when I was younger, and now I can’t see out of one of my eyes. That’s why I always had so much trouble hunting, I think.”

  “Oh. Well, it seems like you’re doing fine now,” Scruff replied encouragingly.

  “I hope so. I haven’t really had the chance to see how much I’ve improved yet.”

  They continued to eat in silence for a few minutes until the aching hunger had worn off. Pica groaned, feeling her full belly. “I think I need a rest before I can go on.”

  “You, who never wants to stop?” teased Scruff with a smile.

  “Come on — could you run right now?”

  “I guess not. Okay, let’s find a spot to rest for a bit, and then we’ll continue. I think we can get there tonight, especially now that we aren’t so hungry.”

  They wandered around until they found some soft dirt under a few trees in the corner of someone’s backyard. They couldn’t smell any other animals around, and the house was dark and silent. Pica curled up with a sigh of relief, letting her stomach swell out. Scruff curled up beside her, his head and neck pressed lightly against her back. She stiffened and felt him immediately move away. “Sorry,” he said quietly.

  “It’s okay.” Pica didn’t really know what to say. She felt cold, and the idea of being able to share heat was very appealing. The last week had been a little warmer, but tonight the air felt frosty and there was a wind that ruffled her fur, pushing cold air up against her skin. She waited a few minutes, shivering, until the idea of warmth became too tempting. She slowly moved to curl up against him, feeling the heat from his body relaxing her. She fell asleep almost immediately.

  TWENTY-FOUR

  TRUTH

  Pica

  When Pica woke, her stomach was feeling normal again, and she stood and stretched, immediately missing the feeling of the warm body next to her. Without the shared heat, she quickly began to cool off. Scruff, next to her, jumped up.

  “Hey.” He looked at her and smiled.

  “Hey.” Pica couldn’t quite bring herself to smile back. She felt a little bit embarrassed about having curled up so close to him, and didn’t know how to act. She tried to meet his eyes but found it difficult. She took off down the alley, calling out behind her, “Okay, let’s go then.”

  They loped through neighbourhood after neighbourhood, Scruff somehow knowing where he was going. He was obviously trying to take as direct a route as possible, but sometimes they had to detour because of strange smells or busy roads. The streets all seemed so similar to Pica, with dense apartment buildings that rose high above the streets. There was much more night activity than she was used to near the golf course, and she couldn’t figure out how other coyotes could make a home here. Where did they sleep? How did they deal with the constant noise? She felt sad, thinking of how the hillside where she grew up would never be home to another coyote family.

  She noticed Scruff’s focus intensify as they began to make right-angle turns, double back, and walk in wide circles. “Are we close?” Pica called as he dashed across the street, following a smell.

  “Yes. I know we’re close to the park where I smelled them. I just can’t quite remember where it was.”

  They continued circling and were travelling down another nondescript street when something made Pica stop in her tracks. It was Dane. He had been here recently. She located the scent along a horizontal metal bar that marked the side of the stairs. She yelped in excitement and Scruff trotted over to smell it, too.

  “We found them!” Pica couldn’t keep the excitement out of her voice.

  “Yes. But the scent isn’t that fresh — we’ll need to fan out to figure out where they came from.” Scruff sounded less excited.

  “All right.” Pica was frustrated because the smell was too old to know what direction Dane had been travelling. But even without this information, she couldn’t help but feel optimistic. She was sure they would pick up the trail soon. The first few directions they tried didn’t work, but when they left the road and headed downhill toward a cluster of low-lying apartment buildings, they had their first hit.

  “Right here,” Scruff called out, sniffing a post, and continuing on down the hill. They passed into a small industrial area. A few long, low buildings lined the streets, and there were patches of forest and bushes behind them. Scruff and Pica fanned out, each trying to find a recent scent mark. Pica looked up at the sky — there wasn’t much time left if they were going to find them before daybreak.

  Then, suddenly, from the other side of a chain-link fence came the muted
but unmistakable sound of Sage’s happy hunting yip. Without even realizing it, Pica sent out a long return howl, running along the fenceline, looking for a way through. For a moment, she didn’t hear anything, and then a chorus of yips and howls rang out loudly through the dawn. She saw three furry bodies tearing around the side of the building, and she yipped even louder as she recognized her family. She threw herself against the fence as Dane, Sage, and Gree approached from the other side, whining and licking at them through the wire mesh.

  “Pica!”

  “I can’t get through!”

  “Where were you?”

  “How did you find us?”

  “Where is everyone else?”

  They all talked at once and over top of each other, when suddenly Gree stilled and stepped away. Her fur went up, and her stance abruptly shifted to a much more aggressive pose. Looking over Pica’s shoulder, a deep growl ripped out of her.

  “You.”

  Pica looked over her shoulder, and saw Scruff standing a short distance away, his body position submissive, looking at them with wide eyes.

  “Mom, listen. It’s Scruff. He helped me —”

  “I know who he is,” Gree cut her off. “Your father’s killer.” She left Pica and began galloping down the fenceline. Pica knew she was heading for somewhere where she could get through. And as soon as she did, she would attack Scruff. “No! Stop!” she screamed as her mother squeezed under the fence. Gree stood up and shook out her fur. She was fierce — tall, with lean, strong chest muscles and a long, pointed muzzle. Seeing Scruff running away, she leapt toward him in pursuit.

  “Mom — stop!” Pica leapt directly in front of her, feeling the full force as Gree ran directly into her, bowling her over. Pica couldn’t get any more words out, unable to breathe from the impact. Gree stopped and turned, looking at her with surprise. She looked around for Scruff, but not seeing him, took a few steps to return to Pica.

  “Pica — what was that all about?”

  “It’s … I need to …” Pica couldn’t get the words out.

  “Take a second. Breathe.” Sage was beside her now, her body pressing against Pica’s. Pica saw Taba come around the side of a building with Kai, and they also scraped under the fence to cover Pica with kisses. Then they just stood there together. Pica soaked up the feeling of being with her family again. She could feel their eyes on her as she struggled to regain her breath. Finally, she was able to speak.

  “You can’t attack Scruff — he helped me. When I was back at the hillside, I ran into him —”

  “How did you end up back at the hillside?”

  “What happened to you?”

  “Are you okay?”

  Everyone in her family interrupted Pica at the same time. Then they all stopped and Gree laughed. “Clearly, we have a lot of catching up to do. For now, we’ll show you where we’re living. It’s already light and we can’t stay here. We’ll talk about everything.” She glanced at the direction where Scruff had disappeared and her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “You can tell us what you want to say about Scruff, but I can’t promise not to go after him tomorrow night.”

  Pica followed her family back through the fence and to a small ravine situated between two of the industrial buildings. It was a good spot — quiet and out of the way, with no paths or roads running through it and a creek trickling down the middle of it. They all tucked in under a large tree and began to talk.

  Pica began by explaining what happened to her after they had left her in the schoolyard. Everyone stared at her with wide eyes. Her parents had heard about coyotes being captured by humans, but had never talked to anyone who had lived through it. Her siblings were amazed. Kai kept interrupting her to ask more about one detail or another. Eventually, Sage sighed impatiently. “Enough with the details! What happened to you once you got free, Pica? How did you get back here?”

  Pica told them everything about returning to the hillside to look for them and running into Jagger in the new construction site. She tried not to leave anything out, and her family listened intently.

  When she stopped, Gree spoke up. “I can’t quite believe it. It’s a miracle you are here.” She nuzzled Pica gently, giving her face a good lick. “And you are right, Scruff is a bit of a complicated situation. I guess we might have misunderstood his relationship with Jagger. That is a surprise to me — they always seemed so close.”

  “Well, I don’t know how it happened, but I like him now,” Pica replied. “I believe him — I don’t think he meant to help Jagger kill Dad, and even if he did, well, Jagger told him that you guys killed his parents. So he was kind of messed up.”

  Gree and Taba exchanged glances. Neither of them spoke for a moment, but they communicated something silently. Pica looked at her siblings, who returned her puzzled glance, also sensing something weird.

  “What? What are you looking at each other like that for?”

  “Nothing,” Gree said gently. “It just sounded like you were taking his side, Pica. You know that he and Jagger are our enemies.”

  Pica bristled. “I don’t see why Scruff has to be our enemy. He is nice, and —”

  Gree interrupted her, snapping, “And what, Pica? You think we should welcome him into our pack? We barely have enough land for us. You’re forgetting that the pack comes first, no matter what.”

  “He is a good hunter, though, and he’s strong.” Pica wasn’t sure why she was suddenly defending him. She just felt mad that her mother wasn’t even giving him a chance.

  “All that matters is the pack.” Gree’s tone was final.

  “But …” Pica couldn’t stop herself, even though she saw Dane giving her a look. “But, it doesn’t mean we have to hate everyone else, does it? I’m not talking about Jagger, but —”

  “You don’t know what you are talking about!” Taba cut her off angrily. Gree shot her a look that told her to stay out of it.

  Gree took a long breath. “Pica, you’re right, we don’t have to hate everyone else. But it’s complicated. There are some things that we never told you.”

  “Like what?” Kai popped in. He was following every word.

  “Well …” Gree paused. Her face was serious now. “A lot of what Jagger told Scruff was true. Our family is large, and we did need more land for all of you. The hillside wasn’t big enough unless you all left as soon as you were old enough. Your father and I wanted to make a bigger and stronger pack, so that we would never have to worry about being challenged there.”

  Pica glanced at Dane. He caught her glance, and his expression told her that he had no idea about this, either.

  Gree continued, “The Forest Pack was standing in our way. Scruff was born to them the same year you were, along with other pups. Their pack was growing, too, and not only did they occupy the land we wanted, but we were worried that they would want to expand to the hillside.” She paused, looking into each of their eyes to make sure they were following. With conviction in her voice, she continued, “You need to understand that Jagger was telling Scruff the truth. He didn’t kill the Forest Pack. We did.”

  There was a stunned silence. Pica could barely breathe. None of her siblings moved a muscle.

  “What?” Pica finally got a single syllable out. Her mouth had dried up and she couldn’t even swallow.

  Gree made direct eye contact with her, her eyes soft. “It’s not as bad as you think. We never intended to kill them, just run them off the land and force them to go elsewhere. We wanted more land, but not at the expense of getting injured in a vicious fight. But the spring when you were born, Scruff’s father got sick. We saw big chunks of his fur falling out, and we could see all of his ribs. Then he disappeared — went somewhere to die, we figured. We saw that Scruff’s mother was sick, too, probably with the same thing. And this was our opportunity. They were all going to die, and another coyote was going to just come along and step into that space. But if we were there when she died, we could immediately claim the forest for our family.”

 
“What?” Pica repeated, her voice a squeak. She heard blood pumping loudly in her ears. She could barely follow all of the details.

  “Once she — Scruff’s mother — was too weak to run, we decided it was time to force her out. We knew the pups were as good as dead — I don’t think they had been getting enough food all along. One night, we left you all with Taba and went to challenge her. She was out hunting, and knowing what we were up to, tried to return to the den area. We cut her off and she panicked. I don’t think she even looked when she crossed the street — a truck hit her and killed her.”

  “No.” Pica heard her voice quiver with anger. “A truck didn’t kill her — you killed her. You’re a murderer — and so was Dad!” She jumped up, furious. “How could you lie to us? All this time you blamed Jagger —”

  “We never blamed Jagger.” Gree’s tone was sharp. “All we said was that he was a dangerous coyote — and he is. Dangerous to our family. And look at how he treated Scruff, his own brother — he should have treated him much better. Pica —”

  “Wait — what?” Pica broke in. “How are they brothers?”

  Gree sighed. “I guess you never knew that, either. Jagger was born to the Forest Pack a few years back. Something bad happened — I’m not entirely sure what — but his parents drove him away when he was only five months old. We didn’t see him again until after they died.”

  As Gree paused, Pica realized that she wasn’t breathing. Taking in a huge gasp of air, she tried to steady herself. “Why didn’t you tell us any of this before?”