Coyote's Visit

The nightcrawler hits the water and sinks beneath the surface, leaving ripples in the pool. I sit on the shore and setting the pole down, lean back and close my eyes. The scent of the surrounding pines weighs heavy on the summer breeze and dappled sunshine sparkles in the riffles further downstream. I relax and let my mind wander. I can feel the sap pulse through the hemlocks behind me. The wind whispers secrets in their branches. A red squirrel pauses and tipping his head to listen in, chip-chips his two cents before scurrying into a hollow log.

I sense Grandfather Coyote's approach although he makes no sound. Maybe it's the faint canine scent on the lazy breeze or the slight change in the whispering high above, or maybe it is just a familiarity with him that gives him away.

With eyes still closed, I let a smile creep to my lips and call out. "You're getting clumsy and careless, Old One. If that's the best you can do, you're gonna end up hanging on someone's wall soon."

Coyote laughs and pounces on the end of the fishpole, sending it rolling into the pool. Half expecting something like that to happen, I catch hold of it before it slides too far into the pool. Laughing as I crawl back up the bank, I splash water up at the grinning form of my guide. At the top I sit down next to him and reach into my pack for my lunch. My hand comes out with a zip-loc bag, still closed, but with no sign of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich that I know was there when I left the house.

Grandfather is staring intently at a spider on a fern. His attempt to look innocent is passable, but the smear of peanut-butter stuck to his muzzle gives him away. I shrug and pull the bag of trail mix out and watch the spider with him.

I reel in the line and check the bait. The crawler is a little soggy but still usable so I cast it back into the pool.

"Coyote, I've been wondering about some things..." I begin. Grandfather cuts in, "That's good, wondering is healthy, it keeps you from thinking...thinking is dangerous". He scratches his ear and turns his head to me. His eyes dance with mischief, "So what have you been wondering about, tail-chaser?"

I ignore the humorous insult, and ask, "Well, does a shaman pick his totem spirit or do you pick us?"

He scowls, or at least as much of a scowl that a grindog can muster. "That's it? That is what you have been wasting your time wondering about? By the Great Mothers nine nipples!"

"Look, I will tell you the same thing I have told all the other silly naked apes that have asked that question throughout history... does it really matter?" He paused to pick an almond out of my trail mix. "This world and the other worlds are full of mysteries and adventures. There are enough tricks and pranks to play to keep us all busy for about an eternity and a half. If you spend your time worrying about things like who chooses who, you may miss an opportunity to laugh, and every time that you don't laugh when you have a chance, the darkness gets stronger."

I roll his words over in my mind. The mention of the darkness confuses me. "What do you mean by Darkness, Coyote?" I ask, "I have learned that good and evil are measured by perception. For instance, the Navajo call you evil, and although I know you can be a major pain, in my experience, you don't fit the image of a demon or devil..."

Coyote stops rooting around the trail mix and looks up. "I can be whatever I chose to be, Two-legs. Don't forget that. There are things I have done in the past that I did for my own reasons. Now maybe I owe the Navajo an apology, but I doubt they are gonna forgive and forget that easily. Maybe in a few more generations, or maybe when what is gathering on the horizon gets here.

"The darkness I spoke of is not evil, although some may see it as that. It is just another piece of the great song. It is a part of the unmaking and remaking that this world experiences from time to time." Grandfather finishes my trail-mix and looks to my pack. I shake my head at the question in his eyes.

"Well, I should be going, I am needed in your capital tonight...seems one of your leaders is about to get himself in trouble, and I want to be there to make sure no one misses him being hoisted by his own petard."

I reach out and scratch Grandfather's ear. "Ok, till next time then. Walk In Beauty, Grandfather."

Coyote stretches and as he wanders away says, "Walk in Beauty, tail-chaser. Sometimes you almost make me glad I chose you." His laughter rings in the pines and then fades away on the wind....

Bryan M Welsh

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