I must have walked a mile down the snow-covered road before I noticed. There was so much else to watch for besides what lay at my feet: on the right, icy slopes rising to a girdle of pines and craggy summits beyond; on the left, Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley, plunging down to the unseen river before rising through snowy wastes and clumps of naked aspens to yet more forests and mountains. And there was the howling.
The First Howl
The first wolf howl is special. It certainly makes you look up. I won’t claim that it made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. I will say it was eerie and beautiful and utterly unforgettable. A second howl came, and maybe a third. And the sound echoed off the valley sides before it died away in a mournful diminuendo.
That was when I glanced down and saw the tracks. If there is no mistaking a wolf’s cry, there is certainly no possibility of error when it comes to the creature’s footprints. I squatted down, put my hand on the snow and found the print was both longer and wider. We were going in the same direction, too. A little further down the road, the valley was closing in and I saw deep tracks running down the hillside on the right, lots of them, all clearly wolves. On the left side of the road there was fur lying in clumps: grey crinkly hairs with a reddish tint.
Loving This
This is the worst kind of discrimination: the kind against me! Kids don’t turn rotten just from watching TV. I don’t know what you did, Fry, but once again, you screwed up! Now all the planets are gonna start cracking wise about our mamas.
Shut up and get to the point! Okay, it’s 500 dollars, you have no choice of carrier, the battery can’t hold the charge and the reception isn’t very good. I don’t know what you did, Fry, but once again, you screwed up! Now all the planets are gonna start cracking wise about our mamas. OK, this has gotta stop. I’m going to remind Fry of his humanity the way only a woman can. I’ve been there. My folks were always on me to groom myself and wear underpants. What am I, the pope? No! Don’t jump!
4 Comments
#034 : November 12, 2010
Save me, Jeebus. Fat Tony is a cancer on this fair city! He is the cancer and I am the…uh…what cures cancer? Get ready, skanks! It’s time for the truth train!
I hope I didn’t brain my damage. I’m allergic to bee stings. They cause me to, uh, die. What good is money if it can’t inspire terror in your fellow man?
#035 : November 12, 2010
You mean it controls your actions? Don’t underestimate the Force. I suggest you try it again, Luke.
#036 : November 12, 2010
Don’t kid yourself, Jimmy. If a cow ever got the chance, he’d eat you and everyone you care about! I’m going to the back seat of my car, with the woman I love, and I won’t be back for ten minutes! And here I am using my own lungs like a sucker.
#037 : November 12, 2010
Can’t you people take the law into your own hands? I mean, we can’t be policing the entire city! Son, a woman is like a beer. They smell good, they look good, you’d step over your own mother just to get one! But you can’t stop at one. You wanna drink another woman! Fat Tony is a cancer on this fair city! He is the cancer and I am the…uh…what cures cancer? Bart, with $10,000 we’d be millionaires! We could buy all kinds of useful things like…love!