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Dial Coyote: Ch3 (Captivity)


The days passed as spring moved into summer and Dial felt the warmth touch his pen in the morning hours before the brick wall blocked it in the afternoon. He did like the suns warmth though was glad to now be in this green place and not back home in the dunes and hot rocks. He noticed it getting hotter the last two months and recalled the desert had already been twice as hot two months prior. As time passed he made a game of it to keep track of time. He was not precise but knew he had watched at least 60 moons since his arrival. Every day he looked forward to one thing and one thing alone; his training.

So coyote and human had trained ever day for a month and his understanding and vocabulary had become in the thousands of words. Now when she talked things were making a lot more sense. It helped that she was aware of his deficiency. She was talking slow and choosing words wisely he could understand. They were beyond simple cognitive exercises anymore as she had realized his intelligence could someday rival a human being. This seemed impossible and she started having fantasies that the coyote was once human, or could have been a human in a past life. For some reason that made a lot more sense to her than just an intelligent coyote with no humanity at all. Though what we call human is often not a description of species, but rather a description of morals and values. It was clear to her that this animal had a distinct personality and emotional state and she tried her best to keep him happy. Day by day she found herself treating him more and more human and less like an animal.

Every day he lived like an animal. He was an animal so this did not upset him much. He had no pride to be damaged because he had seen her ignore him and treat him dumb and stupid when others were around. He did not worry, he knew by evening when they were alone she would welcome him again for the intelligent creature he was. The training was done in the evenings in the time between David going home for the day. While the interns slept or prepared for their shifts. After training Rosie would sometime after 9pm. When it got dark it was hard for her to train him as it relied so much on shared sight and visual cues as it did on audio verbal skills.

After she left Dial she was required stay until 10pm to address any issues the female intern had before her shift started at 10pm. She had some other work to do but was a trained accountant and often finished her daily paperwork early and spent the rest of the evening writing in quiet. She also had a history volunteering with teaching. It was this skill set that compelled her to take a minor in developmental skills. An odd mixture for any university graduate, but one was to pay bills the other was her passion as she wanted to help teach to troubled people. When she came to the animal sanctuary it was because they had a captive born that would not eat. She ultimately realized it was suffering from depression and she was able to conclude it just needed a friend in its pen. It worked splendid and the wolf regained its appetite. Dr. Miller hired Rosie as an intern but since she had a unique skill set in accounting and legal matters she was a perfect fit for other jobs on the ranch. Eventually she moved up to second in command.

Now her duties were accounting mostly but she also spent her time caring for the mental well being of the patience and residents. Some were wild and could be released and she followed protocol to make sure they did not get too familiar with humans. Others has been injured wild and become too familiar and had to be taken out of the wild for the threat they posed and for their own safety. Dial realized he had appeared this way. Finally there were always plenty of animals born in zoos that may need a temporary home while waiting for a zoo of their own.

Most common though were the cases where a human being tried to raise a wild animal as a pet and found it to be a wild animal not a pet. Sadly most animals like this must be destroyed if an incident occurs or they simply have nowhere to go. Rosie was part of the heart behind caring for the animals but they could not save the world. They just managed to save a few animals that would have died without their assistance. Dr. Miller had fallen in love with her and the two were married. They now were in their forties and a well established couple. They did not always see eye to eye but their bond was strong. Dial felt that like coyotes, they would be mates for life. This made Dial a bit jealous but he was lucky to have her attention and teachings and realized he was just lonely and needed a friend not a mate. The other coyote he smelt nearby was male and he had been isolated during his stay. Originally his pen was picked because a coyote needs a good amount of space and he was wild.

In recent years the ranch had felt the weight of the housing crisis. This had pros and cons. Government grants were now smaller and fewer and some of the staff had to be let go. Even charity had diminished and bill time was always stressful. Though Rosie was a genius as finding money in places others would not think to look. She applied for many grants stating that if little procedures and codes were followed they would be applicable and may get extra funding. She helped turn the non profit into a business. David was the medical vet and biologist who owned the business and cared for the health concerns and medical care. His wife ran the business side of things but always spent half her day caring for the emotional and psychological needs of the animals to keep them happy. Even the ones who needed to remain wild so they could be released.

The benefit of a depression is that there are a lot of educated people and not enough jobs, some hungry people needing experience to make their resumes bigger. Also people willing to do all the dirty rough tough jobs that were necessary to keep things running well and up to code. Things David tried to not do himself, as he has plenty of his own work to do. Though both of the millers dictated and lent a hand and were very involved in everything that occurred on the sanctuary. She had been working hard to qualify their animal recovery center into an educational facility but they needed funding to build and maintain and change layout so that the animals that were to be released were not overly exposed to human visitors. By doing this some extra money would be generated to help with expenses but most of the money would come in form of government grants they would be then qualified for. It was a busy time and much construction was occurring. However; they could only afford to maintain two interns, and most of the labour heavy work was done by the male intern.

It is not a bad deal at all for an intern. Sort of like working at home for parents that give you a place to live and feed you and give you minimal wages so you can afford things that are not provided. It is not a job you tend to make money doing but it is all about the experience and resume credits. Some interns do this as a stepping stone but others do it because they love it. Some day they may be promoted and be a more full time higher paid employee when there are other interns to take over their old jobs. Construction had been going slow due to the tight budget and having to let most of the labour go two years ago. By now Dial had learned the names of these two individuals from Rosie. The male was called Anthony though he preferred Tony. The other who was very playful and sweet to him and been first to trust him, was called Dianna. However; she often just went by Dee, which Dial found interesting because it sounded nothing like Dianna. She once stated it was her grandmother’s name and liked to distinguish herself in the family as Dee.

He had also given some contemplation to his own name. He thought maybe it best he pick one for himself as coyotes do not name their children the way humans do. His name seemed odd and not one a human would use. Rosie had been the one to name him but he had amazed her so much that the memory of why she picked the name just faded from her mind. He was Dial now and seemed to like the name as he felt honoured to be given one at all. He had learned he was a coyote; he knew what he was but did not know a human name for it before. He somewhat liked that name but knew it described his kind, not himself. Occasionally they would call him tricky or trickster or trick, which he found amusing. He did not fully understand why though his vocabulary still was limited and sometimes humans talk to fast for him to get everything they say. He had learned names for most things within his sight or things brought to him. What he had trouble with now was the little words in-between descriptive words.

At any rate the most interesting part of his mornings was watching Tony walk around doing his duties and sometimes playing “tricks” on him because he did not know he was smarter than an ordinary coyote. Dial started to like Tony a lot because he laughed a lot of the time and spoke a lot to him for company even though he did not expect the coyote to understand anything said. Tony talked to him like he was a human being. He probably would not have done so if he knew he was learning to understand what he said. Dee did this too but often was flirty about it because she thought his fur was cute and he needed some love. Tony however would have entire conversations with him. It was through his innocent secret babbling that Dial learned a lot more about humans than was taught. He only understood ¼ of things spoken but was getting better with each day spent with Rosie.

One time Tony had let him know he preferred wolves over coyotes but that coyotes were cool to so do not worry much. He even admitted he wished he could be a wolf and liked to imagine himself running. He said a word Coyote did not understand, “Therianthrope”. As days passed he started to understand more of what this word meant. Humans that liked to feel close to animals, imagine they may have an animal spirit watching them, that their totem is an animal and tend to be gentle and kind to animals. Also some more strange fancies such as becoming an animal, believe they had a power inside them, meditation and spiritual beliefs. Something Coyote did not quite understand were talks about Lycanthropy in myths an fiction, Furry fandom and how Therians are not furries. Though furries can be fun people you just need to watch out for the weird ones. The coyote really was confused at the specifics but generally thought Tony weird, but that is why Dial liked him so much. It was too bad he did not like coyotes as much as wolves but he seemed to like him just fine.

“If he only knew i can understand him...mostly”, Dial chirred like a laugh sometimes while listening to Tony talk through the mesh fence. The work station he often was at fixing things or building things was located directly across from the pen. All of the scary electronic noises were done elsewhere as not to scare the animals but when wood had been cut Coyote got to watch Tony building many things. Dee he joked about his rough appearance, often sweaty for head and clothes, iconic young face with a big black beard too old for him. She would tell him that he should get some muscle on him to fit that beard or shave it off entirely to look his age. Men grow beards to hide their age not their youth. He liked his appearance though and knew she was being kind not cruel. Also his slender appearance and knack for carpentry made him look like a famous religious icon. Of which he would often joke back that he was a naturalist who believed in other things. She would tease him he was a animal loving hippy but she was also and felt even the Millers had a bit of hippy in them. These two were not quite young enough to be the millers children but were in their mid twenties.

So much of this has escaped dial but he did recognize patterns and analyzed human behaviour and learned a lot even without being taught. His increased vocabulary helped but he also started to learn words for things to. Sometimes he would act cute and sniff or stare at foreign things in hopes a human would speak its name. He could learn what a shovel was, or lumber, or nails. Even if he was being told Nails are not for eating. He knew that but was a master at manipulating humans to reveal knowledge to him. Whatever he learned he seemed to easily retain and did not forget much at all. He was very gifted for a coyote, a human gifted this way may be said to have a photographic memory. His was not that it was just very good.

Dial woke up at 3am today. Coyotes tend to take naps rather than sleep one long stretch like humans do. Most of his naps occurred during the day as coyotes are most active between dusk and dawn as those are hunting hours and time to escape heat of the day. He had not has this problem since being migrated to the facility. It was much cooler here and he tried to be awake for the hours of the day when sun reached his pen so he could lay in the dirt and warm up. Around 10am when sun was hot he would take a nap until Rosie arrived. He was taught time in a basic way and Rosie had cleverly put a battery operated outdoors proof clock where Dial could use it to tell time. She stated that it was for the interns so they could be more efficient and Dr. Miller fell for the ruse as he was incredibly efficient.

“Scientists are very orderly. He is like an alpha wolf. Not just because he runs things here but it is his personality. He is a leader and sometimes that means being tougher than others around him. He is a bit to serious at times but has a heart of gold and i love him dearly”. She would explain. Though sometimes she would talk too much like a human and forget he needed things explained simple and new words explained to him in a way he could understand.

It was clear to Dial now with the clock the schedule of things. No one had days off as there was just too much work to do. However if work was finished early or things quicker than expected, some days folks got to rest or were granted a day off because it could be spared. Even without training Dial, Rosie had a unique schedule of her own. There always had to be a property manager on duty during the day but at night both humans needed to sleep so the interns worked to maintain the facility. In the past they had a night manager and more interns but now they were just the four of them.

By 6am Dial heard the door of the intern trailer open and could smell Tony’s sent as he walked around out of sight. Though he could also hear him and it was still dark so he could see him better. Tony often said he was most creepy at this hour as his eyes glowed whenever his flashlight beamed that way. He was used to this and just teasing but Dial could smell real fear on him showing that Tony definitely had some fear of the darkness. Dee seemed to love the night and had no fear smell at all. She was still working while Tony woke and got ready and then started. Though the two did not have shifts together, they simply would spend the early hours socializing if Dee denied herself sleep and Tony had a slow morning or could work while talking. Dial always found it funny that humans needed the beams of light to see at night. Their eyes must be very bad indeed.

Soon though mornings first light crept and dawn was coming earlier and earlier. Even a simple coyote knows the difference between the seasons. Each season has its own challenges. Though he had just missed the snow and had never encountered it before. He was only two years old after all and even for a coyote, had so much of his life left to live. Though he knew not of his life span and had all but forgotten that he almost died once before and that’s why he was brought here to heal. He understood this though and was very grateful to the humans but still desired to go free and they seemed to have found logic to say he was too much a threat in the wild. Rosie had tried to teach him why and about all he understood was getting food from humans elsewhere was bad. But Rosie had seen his intelligence and wanted him to stay. She had not even considered that Dial may want to run free. He was so special and unique all she could think about was seeing how far he could grow. Dial liked this though as found a thirst for knowable inside he never had known was there. Suddenly so many mysteries were able to be solved and humans certainly were helping him accomplish this.

“...and how are you today Dial”

Dial lifted his head and waged his tail a bit and stood up with a back popping stretch. He then walked over to the cage for some well awaited scratches. He leaned against the fence as his usual behaviour and was rewarded for his effort.

“That’s a good boy, sorry i don’t have any snacks for you right now, you will have to wait for later to eat?”

Dial understood just enough of that to be disappointed as his belly is always hungry when he wakes up. Dial saw that he had an empty bucket and a claw tool and had become familiar with the routine. He walked over to the roofed den area which was like a large cage next to the main pen with a small gate hole and gate opened and closed from outside. He then willingly walked through the small opening and then sat on the hay under the roof and waited. Dial knew exactly why Tony was there and he appreciated the housekeeping service.

“Aren’t you the smart one,” tony said as he walked over to the passage between the two areas and closed it. Once Dial was secured, without need of meat to lure him Tony smiled.

“Good boy! Thank you Dial”

“Bark”

“Just for that i am going to sneak you a whole chicken breast from the freezer for your lunch today”

Dial knew the words chicken, sneak, and lunch; and he then spun in a happy circle. Truly he had grown to appreciate the perks of living here. Though he hoped one day he could choose to do so without need of the pen and fence. For the remaining two hours before the Doctors arrival, Tony Was in Dials home cleaning up after his droppings and washing the algae from his bathing pool and ensuring he had plenty of clean water to drink from as well. He cleaned up and though there was not much left to do he started picking up Dials Toys.

“Whine.”

“Sorry boy, but these need to be shared with some newcomers and you are hogging them all to yourself. Rosie told me to leave the rabbit ball for you though since it is your favourite. The rest need to be shared”.

As far as dial was considered those toys were his personal property, and he did not get much of that in prison. He was angry at this and whined and even growled a little while he watched Tony pick up his toys. He then whimpered apologetically for his temper and tried to beg and be cute.

“Wow these must mean a lot to you eh boy. I am sorry though i need to follow orders. You won’t be here for much longer anyways as we have found you a new home.”

Dial looked shocked and tony missed the reaction completely.

“WHAT!” he barked with purpose. Of course it was nothing but a loud bark for all tony knew. However; it was deep in tone and not quite like a coyote more like a big dog.

“Wow that is new. Hmm best not let you out for a bit until you calm down. I trust you but you seem a bit worked up. You must really be upset i am taking your toys. Tell you what. I will leave you the hollow ball with the bell in it and the rope toy”.

Dials pen had become a bit spoiled and Rosie had left him a few presents having discovered his gift. Though she had kept it to herself as decided and was only training him when the doctor was home and the interns asleep. He was so angry and scared now. He had understood just enough of what Tony stated to know he would soon be leaving this place. He did not want to go. Though he wanted to still run wild he preferred this place and the people here and felt them like family now. He feared going to a place where he would never break out and would be treated as just a dumb animal. He begged and whined as tony finished his job and locked both gates. He then left rather than letting Dial back into his pen. He was putting on quite a show but was really feeling it this time. By the time Tony returned the doctor was pulling into the gate. Dial was moping down on his belly looking depressed and pathetic. His toys being stolen were the least of his woes. He did not want to leave and wondered why Rosie would allow it. Had she lied to him and betrayed him?

At 9am daily the doctor arrived. Except Sundays which was his day alone with Rosie but even she did not come on Sundays unless there was a lot of work left to do. She wrote in her morning and came in around 2p and left at 10. Her evening was spent doing tasks around the pen and accounting work she needed to concentrate on without distraction. Though she had found the habit the last month of finishing her duties as early as possible to rush out and train him. This worked well because she needed time to ensure the doctor would not return and catch her in the act. This gave her about four hours between 6pm-10pm which varied each day a little. This was her time with Dial daily. Tony stopped work by 4pm daily and had four hours to himself. He did a variety of things and had no set schedule so Rosie had to be cautious she knew what he was up to so he did not find out her secret. Though he was so random his had proven impossible.

Soon tony found out about the visits she was not supposed to and found her in the pen. Though as he could see coyote was very friendly he did not mention it. The two got along well as they were very much hippies at hart though even Rosie was just an infant in the late 60’s Tony was a child of the late 80”, and while not raised by hippies he had always found himself one with nature and their ideals seemed to flow well with him. So he found it fun. He always knew coyote to be friendly from his own secret friendship with the animal. Dr. Miller was the one to stuck up to be open minded. Though she kept the exact truth from him and simply stated that Dial was intelligent and she was teaching him tricks. He had no idea she was teaching him to understand English and this gave Dial a unique advantage as most humans did not know he was ease dropping on them. though he still had very far to go in his development.

Tony was off elsewhere tending to his daily labours and other things often saved for him because he was male. Even if he was skinny for a male of his size and age. Tony was tall but slender and looked like he should not have the strength to lift the things he did. Though dial perceived him like a coyote, and he had the skinniest of limbs. Good for running but very weak and even Tony’s arms had more bulk than his limbs.

“Good morning there Dial!” The coyote looked up from his pathetic sad posture.

The doctor approached. He still did not trust him fully but Rosie had explained as best she could to act friendly to him as it would be bad to be timid or aggressive. Though he let a small growl escape his breath as he felt betrayed. Just a small one but the doctor noticed. Dial had learned to act overly nice to humans. He discovered this for himself far before Rosie ever had to explain. She had asked him to act this way. She explained it was for his own good. He was smart enough to understand why. He already observed that humans naturally are cautious around him. They do not wish to be bit or threatened and may even wish to pet him if he is friendly. You do not want to give them unnecessary reason to distrust you as it makes things more complicated. So far he had appeased and manipulated her into finally understanding him and his gifted mind. Even recruited her as a teacher which she thought was her idea not his.

Having seen Coyote be upset and suspicious rather than his normal acted happiness, the doctor walked way and said no more to him. He then walked over and started a conversation with Tony similar to the ones that Rosie and Dee had nightly between shift changes.

“What is his problem, he seems grumpy with me today.”, Dial heard from across the way.

“Oh he is more emotional than you give him credit for. I retrieved the toys from his pen and he put up such a big stink about it that i decided to leave him just a few. I counted over twenty in there and he was acting like a child. Poor baby did not want his toys to be put away...”

“Ouch!” Dials face turned sad again and he stared to wince loudly at Tony. That was not funny coming from him, and almost seemed a bit cruel which was not like Tony to behave. Dial just decided to not take that personal but it still upset him. For a moment he forgot about his real problem.

...Though I left him ones Rosie asked.”, Tony told a little white lie and pushed his own choice onto Rosie as he knew she would get away with not following his instructions exactly as asked.

The doctor looked like that was his next question he was about to mention he forgot a few.

“Well good, he was being spoiled anyway, and there are other animals here that would like to share them. Also we have a pair of wolves who will need his pen soon and we are just waiting for confirmation to where he will be going.”

“Any leads? Or best guesses”

“It sounds like Florida has room but it is a bit far to transport a wild animal from North Dakota. New Mexico is where he was found and they have no facilities. Arizona has a waiting list that may be awhile. To many coyotes already in pens in the south.”

“Wow Florida! No where colder eh? He was nearly coyote jerky; I think he would appreciate somewhere colder to retire since he will not be going back to the wild.”

“You have a knack for taking the science out of the equation but reaching the same conclusions... Well Wolf Park in Indiana may be interested in him but specializes in animals raised by humans with bonding. He seems pretty friendly and trusts humans in a way i have seen few coyotes. However; he was found in the wild so we are unsure. If he passes some tests and they come to meet him he may be a good fit but they also need to wait for room. They are not a zoo but rather they are a larger version of what we have here. Only they do not rescue animals and occasionally let their wolves breed. They are an educational facility which is what we are striving to become so if we establish good relations it may be beneficial for our business side of things. Also it is a few states away but Indiana is a much closer drive than Florida.

“What about Canada?”

“Well it is much harder up there to find a suitable logging, chances are he would end up in a zoo and no guarantee he would get proper care or a big enough enclosure”

“Anything is better than what he has now”

“True but not everywhere is as lucky to Wolf park for their pen sizes and he is a lot better off here than elsewhere. He may even be a good fit to live here if not for the fact we are a medical facility and always have new patience to admit entry. Sadly the one facility that wants him is not as up to code as i would like and while i can ensure he gets proper medical care he may suffer from some depression as his pen is a joke there”.

“I imagine that Rosie will not allow that. Your wife has a considerable influence here if i may say so”

“Well we need tough folks to get the work done don’t we. Besides i could not run this place without her and she is doing most of the negotiating and home hunting. I am just a doctor and am in charge with the care and transport of the animal”

“He looks rather lonely here anyway and the other coyote here is to be released so there is little point in putting those two together. No point forming a bond and ripping it apart.”

“Indeed. What we hope is to find him a home with another coyote that needs socialization. Thus the two of them can be very happy together. But we would need to get him fixed if he ends up with a female so that no more pups are born needing homes. I would prefer not to have to have him fixed so we are waiting for a facility that has a male companion for him.”

Dial still only understood about ¼ of what was said but had followed the general conversation with interests. If only he was able to speak their language he could simply ask Rosie questions later. From what he understood they were talking about him and where he may end up. It seemed there were many choices and some were better than others but he did not understand the ramifications of zoos and educational facilities. However; the latter sounded much better to him and the humans as well. He liked the idea of ending up with another coyote but was confused what “fixed” meant. Some things are better left unknown. He wanted to know more and just when things got interesting the two men walked off without even saying goodbye. They had too much work to do and it seemed they chatted a lot this way in passing.

The facility used to be more like a job with bosses in charge. It had grown small in size and due to everyone pitching in extra work, they had become like a family. Seniority was always respected and demonstrated like living in a pack. This much even a coyote understood. Coyotes mate for life and unlike wolves that may wonder and join other packs; coyotes tend to have only their own children to look out for. Sometimes children from previous litters may return and help their parents out before they find mates of their own. Sometimes litters can be big. Dial had been part of such a litter but knew well enough not to mate with his own siblings and he was not yet mature enough to do so. He was now two had just suffered through his first mating season as an adult and found no mate of his own.

For the rest of the morning Dial waited anxiously for Rosie to arrive and hoped he could get answers or communicate what he had overheard. Normally it was fun to watch Tony go about his chores. Mostly ot of boredom relief. There was nothing much better to do than watch the things humans did outside his fenced little world. Sometimes he wished he was a simple minded coyote. he still enjoyed play and coyote things but his new intelligent mind had prevented him from being oblivious to concerns no coyote usually worries about. Like today for instance; so he moped while idly paying attention to Tony and waiting for Rose to get there at 2pm.

Tony had been awake since 4am, start work at 6pm. Then he worked for eight hours, five of which Dr. Miller worked. Then tony was free to do as he desired with the rest of the day and would be asleep just after sunset around 7-8pm daily as he head to rise at 4am. He called this a famer’s schedule and did not think of himself working nights at all even though it was still pitch black at 4am even in summer.

Dee however was a night worker and woke at the time Tony slept and thus was quiet getting ready in the morning, The trailer was just big enough to have a main area in its middle and two isolated small bedrooms on both ends. Dial had not seen it but the two often described it and anything left misunderstood he tried to learn words from Rosie to fill in the blanks next time the story would be told.

Dee woke at 8pm and started work at ten but would always come in early to talk with Rosie before she left for the night. Then Dee worked on the more quiet tasks during the night but sometimes her jobs were just a physical as Tony’s. The difference as that most of her jobs were lighter labour and tony worked heavy labour daily not occasionally. Tony was skilled and had a construction background so naturally this was the shoe he fit. Dee started with few skills of her own but was eager to work hard and learn to do just about anything. Her determination was not an instant asset the way Tony was. However; she had stood out because she was so eager to be there and earned her position. She used to be head intern and deal out tasks for all others but as most of those people were now gon and jobs still needed to be done, she went back to her old job and did not complain. This alone made her a highly respected asset like Tony and she was there as long as she desired to be.

Both of them were there to learn through daily working with the doctor and his wife. She had split training but was a critical asset to study for business operations of a non profit as well as that she wrote fiction on the side along with nonfiction on animal social behaviours and emotional needs and disorders. She was not an official but her school had set her off in the right direction and she learned the rest through doing and personal study. Both interns could learn a lot though Tony seemed to be satisfied just being able to work with and around the animals, while Dee seemed to have a future elsewhere, maybe working at a zoo or studying and documenting animals in the wild. She had very minimal education and wanted to learn all she could before going back to school to get her university degree much like Rosie. Though this kind of was like a zoo already so she may wish to do something else later in life. To Dial however it was just a very comfortable prison. He would want to stay more if he simply had a choice in the matter.

Dial knew Rosie was busy writing at her home alone. Though these days she mentioned she had been spending her time creating lessons for him to learn so that the short time they had would not be wasted. He still did not understand fully everything spoken but was learning more each day. She often called it her school for coyotes. The two had a fun understanding with each other, like family. Soon Rosie knew he was an emotional complex and caring being and not just a simple minded or dangerous animal. He could still surprise her by acting wild or simple, but she treated him very warmly and he hoped it was as an equal not as an interesting pet or property. Somehow when the two hugged he felt that she thought more of him and though his fur was a bit stinky she did not seem to mind much. Inside he felt he was bonding and she was seeing he was not just gifted with a brain he was gifted with a heart. It was always here but now his brain just made it race for so many new reasons.

Though he felt betrayed now and his imagination was getting the better of him. By the time Rosie did show up he was suspicious of her. Worried she was going to sell the intelligent coyote for good relations with Wolf Park. He was not far off from the truth but his imagination was far worse off. He was angry as he was not property to be sold but tried to understand it had to be a good thing not a bad. More humans to look after him but he wanted to stay here. Wait what was he saying? He knew he wanted to escape and get free and go back to the wild. He felt so conflicted and no longer knew what was best for him. If only he could live here without need for a pen. It may break their rules but he would gladly stay if they provided him food and shelter and were kind to him. He would no longer need a pen to occupy and would not cause such problems and he would not need to go to some strange new facility.