Trickster Coyote

This morning the news delighted in showing video of a wild coyote that somehow found its way into a busy Chicago Quizno's during the lunch rush. The patrons said he came in through front door and proceeded to make himself comfortable in the open beverage cooler. When they realized this was not just any dog, people made haste for the exit, but plenty hung around outside taking pictures, calling friends (and the local news, obviously), and just generally gaping in at the wonder of it. A coyote in the Quizno's. Can you imagine?

The coyote looked tired but wary enough to keep both eyes on all the gawkers. He just sat there, stone faced, I suppose until animal control came to take him away. They say his leg was hurt but that he should be fine and will be released into a nature preserve today. Aside from wondering how the hell he got there, my heart went out to Coyote...here he was, trapped in a Quizno's with eyes and flashes all around him and his only comfort was the refrigeration of the cooler meant for Coke and Gatorade and apparently now...Coyote.

It's weird to see such a thing because I am reading one of my all-time favorite books again, Green Grass, Running Water, by Thomas King. I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in Native American fiction, mythology, and damned good writing. He's phenomenal. I first read it in one of the best literature classes I ever took: Native American Literature, if you could guess.

Other books you should consider: Fool's Crow by James Welch, Love Medicine and Tracks by Louise Erdrich, and Saánii Dahataal and blue horses rush in by Luci Tapahonso. Amazing reading. Native American cultures are as similar as they are different, with some mythologies crisscrossing across tribes and time. What you will find in the novels, stories, and poetry is a rich slice of history and humor that is nothing short of staggering. I do not overstate. Read them.

And watch out for the Trickster Coyote...in a Quizno's cooler near you!