About a year and a half ago, I was driving down the street in Tucson on the way to breakfast. Some movement in a nearby yard caught my eye, and suddenly a coyote slunk into view. It walked sideways, looked around with suspicion, and after striding unwisely down the street for a ways, disappeared behind someone else’s house.

I remember this coyote very clearly and was surprised, when looking for pictures of coyotes to sketch from, that most of the images out there look nothing like the animal I encountered. Mine was a lanky beast, and all the pictures are fluffy and healthy. Their ears are too small and their legs are too short.

My coyote was made out of dry bone and crumpled paper. It was a walking haunting.

I hope it made it out of the city and into the open.