Street Shadows by Claire Gilchrist

Author:Claire Gilchrist
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dundurn
Published: 2019-08-30T16:00:00+00:00

He spent the next few nights exploring the city, looking for somewhere he could use as a home base. The skunk smell had weakened, but it still impacted his ability to hunt. Prey smelled him coming before he could smell them, so he was forced to eat garbage. Thankfully, in this busy part of the city, there was lots of food lying around on the streets, so he found enough to stay alive. However, he grew steadily weaker, suffering from a poor diet and a lack of deep sleep.

One night he found a small park and stopped there, sniffing around the garbage can to see what he could eat. Digging into a paper-wrapped object, he found the leftovers of a human meal. It made his lips and tongue burn as he ate it, but he didn’t have too many other options. He lay down then, enjoying the brief moment of peace and quiet.

“Hey!” Scruff’s eyes shot open at the sound of a gruff bark behind him. He turned his head to see a pair of coyotes staring at him, their hackles up. He jumped to his feet, lowering his head submissively.

“Get out of our territory,” the female said, wrinkling her nose and turning to her partner. “I can’t even breathe with him around.”

“This is our park,” the male added with a growl. “I don’t know where you come from, but you’re lucky you’re just a runt or we would take this more seriously. We’ll give you three seconds to get lost or we’ll show you what happens to coyotes who trespass here.”

Without waiting another second, Scruff turned and fled, making a mental note not to go into any more parks until he could smell better. He trotted for hours that night, feeling desperate for a quiet place he could call home. Right as the sky was beginning to lighten, the sidewalk he was following came to a T. In front of him was a very busy road, with train tracks running high above the road on the far side. He stopped, listening. Something was coming down the tracks, and he jumped as a sharp squeal announced the arrival of a train running overhead. He watched it in amazement as it floated over the road, running along the elevated tracks. Then, his eye was drawn to a narrow patch of green that ran under the tracks. He ran to the edge of the road, looking carefully and waiting for two cars to pass before crossing and approaching the green area. There was a tall chain-link fence that separated the sidewalk from the bushes. He trotted along it, hoping to find some way in. Up ahead, he saw some people walking toward him and changed direction, looking the other way. Finally, he saw it — a low spot dug underneath the fence. He squeezed through, diving into the deep grasses and bushes on the other side. He paused, his heart beating, trying to take stock of where he was.

He heard another elevated train coming and ducked his head, flattening his ears as it raced overhead.

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