Coyote's Garbage
(as observed by Robert Oakes)
I have a Coyote that lives on my
street and I tend to watch his comings and goings. One of the things he
does, is every garbage day he carries the mound of garbage he has down to the
curb. Some of it is rotting, some of it he stole from other people, some of it
is broken or things he no longer needs in his life. It is a massive pile
of garbage and he usually injures himself as he carries it on his back to the
curb. Once it is all there he sits down beside it, all the while looking
very pleased with himself. When the garbage man comes around , Coyote
starts to growl. If the garbage man tries to cart any of it away, Coyote will
lash out and try to bite him. The garbage man, if he is new to the job,
will try quite a few times to get the garbage, usually sustaining injuries to
himself. Otherwise if he is a veteran he will give up and move on to the
next house.
After Coyote is sure his mound of
refuse is safe, he will load it onto his back and make the slow and painful
journey back to his home. Every week he repeats this process, and every
week the garbage heap gets a little bigger.