Echo

Somewhere between Caney Creek and Dipping Spring Hollow, Echo lost her way, which is an unfortunate event for a dog. What let her down? Her nares flared, taking in a myriad of odors, quickly filing them. No, it wasn’t her sense of smell. It was her sense of direction that turned on itself like a shot from a gun. In fact, that very clap had sent her running in the first place. Maybe it was her imagination. Maybe he hadn’t intended to level the gun and point right between her eyes. But every instinct in Echo said run. So, she had. And in the volley of shots that followed, she found herself flying—flying through a dense grove of shortleaf pines and trees whose branches bowed under the force of a stiff Oklahoma wind, flying over small tributaries of the river thick with the scent of rabbit and red squirrel. Part of her wanted to stop, inhale deeply, roll in the dry pile of deer dung, and revel in the patches of sunlight between trees, but Echo’s inner instincts remained clear, run, run as if life depended upon this single act.

****

At night coyote calls carry. They rise and fall on the wind, weaving an intricate song. Leo crawled onto the platform of her home’s roof. She listened to the hunger in the voices of the howling creatures and looked upward at the stars overcrowding the black Oklahoma night. The heat from the roof radiated through her into a temperate atmosphere.

Six hours ago, there was a preliminary hearing for her divorce petition. Jake had not appeared. Despite his aggressive threats, she hadn’t seen him since he accosted her in the restaurant. The rumor was he had a new relationship. She wasn’t surprised. Leo remembered how Jake relentlessly pursued her when she was an insecure, naive high school freshman. He worked his well-honed charm and made her feel desired. Though the relationship was clandestine, she had fervently believed the promises he made and never questioned the premise of why they couldn’t be seen in public together. At that time, she had zero experience with bad men. When someone said they loved you, you trusted them. She thought about her two-year marriage and knew how despite years of commitment, some relationships are composed of, at best, debilitated threads, nothing more substantial than the diaphanous clouds skittering across a nighttime sky. The coyote's melody cascaded.

Leo understood distant pining and internal desire. Ray. What was she going to do with these developing feelings? For now, nothing. She had to tuck them away and fold them into the fabric of her being. How different the evolution of her relationship with Jake had been from Ray's. Leo held in her heart an abundance of memories of Ray from her childhood. She had grown around those events, carrying them inside her body. For years, their lives had entwined. And for as long as she had known him, he remained steady and true. He never made her feel like she was a pest. He was patient and listened to what she said, no matter how ridiculous. He was ever kind.

The last time she saw him before his departure was at the farewell cookout. Leo thought she wouldn’t see him again, but there was a return. And now, in an unforeseen yet remarkable arc, he was her battle buddy. A premise she knew little about but was quickly learning. Being with Ray was a connection renewed, a relationship redefined, like a wet colt, striving to stand on her own for the first time, afraid of knees buckling underneath its weight, yet eager and pushing through, growing stronger and more confident with each fledgling step. Outside, with the Oklahoma night rich with stars and a half-moon that flitted in and out of the scudding clouds, she sighed. Isolation, the sounds of nature woven into stillness, were now comforting, cocooning.

****

Echo hadn’t meant to moonlight hunt; foraging was easier in the day. But when she made her nighttime nest, rooting around and around in the pine needles, she startled a rabbit. Meals were never guaranteed. The cottontail was flying, and then so was she–every muscle in her body taut, firing full twitch. In and out of the shadow and silver light, tonight relying on scent more than sight, she trusted these instincts; the drive of the pursuit was exact and true.

****

At first, Leo wasn’t sure if the form was the shadow of a cloud racing across the moon or a coyote. The apparition was lean and moved with agile urgency. As the cloud moved past the moon, Leo stood up with a start and whispered, “Oh, puppy, what are you doing here? You’re so far away from home.”

****

And when Echo was done, her belly full, she looked up and noticed a figure standing on top of a house in the remoteness. She stood stock still, observing the shadowed form who intently surveyed the landscape as if searching for something. Then quite suddenly, the body disappeared, swallowed whole, into an opening. A light from inside the house turned on, and Echo knew the occupant could either cause her great harm or provide a degree of comfort. She would have to watch and see.