Christmas at Joes

3. Most Memorable Rescue Part 2 Fate

    By this point in Frosty's story, several of our bar regulars had turned on their stools to listen in. Like me, they thought this might be the end of the story and chuckling they started to turn back around, but stopped as Frosty said, "Yeah, fate was definitely on my side. Now for the actual rescue."

Frosty sipped his beer, he knew he had an audience. More of the bar regulars and servers leaned in to hear the rest of the story. He began, "Yeah, it was fate that had me on that road just before dawn. I was coming back from dropping those kids off at the airport. At this time there was very little traffic, and my mind and eyes were wandering more than would have been the case in normal traffic. I spotted something off the side of the road. I assumed it was a dead animal. Then I thought I saw it lift its head.

"I quickly pulled over to find out what it was —possibly a deer or a stray dog in need of help. As I got closer, I realized it was a darn coyote that had been hit by a car. Not an unusual occurrence in these parts as a lot of folks will go out of their way to run down those dogs. This one had probably been too slow crossing the road and the car had clipped his rear. He hobbled like his back hip had been damaged.

"I expected him to run away as coyotes, especially injured ones will avoid human contact at all costs. Yet, this one was approaching me as if he expected help. He wasn't growling but his lips were sort of drawn back. I realized he wasn't snarling; it was an old injury to his muzzle that sort of made him look like he was smiling. He approached cautiously. He was a gorgeous animal sort of resembling an emaciated German Shepherd that had seen better days. He came right up to me and collapsed at my feet with a whimper."

"Dang!" Lupin sitting at the bar echoed everyone's sentiments at this unusual behavior. Then he asked, "Was this critter by any chance missing the top of his left ear probably lost at the same time as he got that injury that made his muzzle look like a smile?"

Frosty was completely taken aback by the question and we were all surprised when he answered, "How did you know that?"

"I think I knows a lot more than that." Lupin slipped into his backwoods dialect he always used for storytelling. "I think that's the Kai'yote I rescued back in the winter of '98. He wuz little more than a scrawny pup. I guessed he'd been driven out by his pack. Ya know, when the weaker ones gets run off when the pack knows a hard winter is a comin' and food is gonna be scarce. I figured his ear got bit off as they drove him out. Kai'yotes will eat their own in hard times. He was lucky to have escaped with his life. Although he didn't look that lucky when I found him. He was near starved to death.

"I give that critter some of my jerky and got him comfortable enough with me to share my tent so I could nurse him back to health. I 'spect that was why when he was hit by a car he came to a human for help."

Now the entire bar was buzzing with speculation. Could this be the same coyote? I always thought that story Lupin had written for the Tahoe Environmental Appeal was just that — a story. Lupin is known for being a teller of tall tales. When I asked him, he confessed it was based on several actual events.

When things quieted down, I suggested we let Frosty finish his story.