What's in a Smile

Chapter 9: The Wind

  "Hey dad!" I called from the top of my treehouse. It was the first warm day after a cold and rainy winter. It was spring and flowers were blooming. "What's up?" My dad asked. "Me!" I replied. "Can I sleep up here tonight? I promise I'll be careful and I have my trusty guard dog." Sniffles wasn't much of a guard dog, but he was my only friend. "Okay, but you better bring some blankets it will get cold up there." With that I climbed out of my treehouse, grabbed everything I would need and headed up to the treehouse.

  I was so excited to sleep in the treehouse that I couldn't sleep. I looked up at the night sky and the moon. Seeing the moon or stars was pretty rare thanks to the clouds that usually blanketed the sky. Tonight was different. The moon was huge. A full, bright moon hung in the sky. I sat staring out the window when I heard something.

  At first all I heard was the rustling of a bush in my neighbors backyard, which the treehouse overlooked. Then I heard a sound that I hadn't heard since moving to Oregon. It was a howl. A loud, followed by a deep throaty growl. I froze. I thought about New Mexico and the sound of the coyotes howling at night. This howl was different though. I watched the bush to see if anything came out, but nothing did. The howling and growling had ended.

  I grabbed Sniffles and headed down, when I thought it would be safe. I went into my parents room and woke up my dad. "Dad, something was in the neighbors yard!" I remembered the chickens and said "maybe it's what got the chickens. It was howling and growling dad and the bushes were rustling." "You do know that there are Coyotes here too." My father was still half asleep. "Dad, I remember what Coyotes sound like. This was not a Coyote. It was bigger, louder." "Just stay inside Kristina I'm sure it was a coyote. Or maybe it was the wind rustling the bushes. We will check it out in the morning."

  As I crawled into bed I started to think back on everything that had happened. Something was definitely wrong in this neighborhood. How could my dad think it was the wind? I could understand the rustling could have been the wind, but the howling was another story. It was time to investigate.