a Coyote's in the House (2004) by Leonard Elmore

Author:Leonard, Elmore [Elmore, Leonard,]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2011-01-21T02:29:37.812000+00:00

Chapter Nine.

Buddy didn't want Miss Betty to come, telling her, You'll mess up your hair and I'll get blamed for it.

She came anyway, jumped the fence with Antwan and ran into the trees, Buddy yelling at her to go back home. Miss Betty did stop long enough to tell Buddy, Look, I've been in the woods before, so quit yelling at me.

Now Buddy had to ask, When were you out here? in a stern voice, like he was her father.

Antwan already had the cat's scent in his nose. He said to Buddy, I brought her here the other day, homes, while you're falling asleep watching your movies. She's cool in the wild, knows her way around. You want to stand here arguing? Or find the cat before some coyotes get hold of her?

That ended the argument.

They put their noses to the ground and ran this way and that following the scent, sometimes in circles. It told Antwan this cat wasn't only scared, she didn't know where she was going. Hey, but Lola was brave just to come out here. You had to give her that. Antwan was thinking he ought to get to know cats more. Talk to 'em first.

They came to a hollow choked with brush and Antwan stopped to sniff and look it over. If she wasn't in there now she was a minute ago.

Lola's in there, Miss Betty said, always sure of herself, and started to work her way though the tangle of brush.

Right away Buddy was yelling at her, Don't go in there!

Miss Betty stopped before she was too far in. She looked back saying, Don't you remember the story of Brer Rabbit, the part where he wants to get thrown in the thicket? It's a good place to hide.

It was a brier patch in the story, Buddy called to her, just like this one. You're not a rabbit, Betty. You're not a cat, either. You're too big to go in there.

Too late. She was already into the brier patch.

The next thing they heard from her was, Uh-oh.

I told you, Buddy said, didn't I? Now you're caught by the thorns and all that prickly stuff.

They heard her voice say, How do I get out? Oh, now you want my advice, Buddy said. Turn around and come out the way you went in. He looked at Antwan. What should she do?

Learn never to go in places like that. You know what her coat's gonna look like she comes out?

It's why I warned her, Buddy said.

And you're gonna catch the blame. Antwan grinning at him now. 'Cause you old and wise to the ways of brier patches and such.

They could hear her moving through the branches snagging her coat, and now she stepped out in the open, poor Miss Betty, covered with burrs and bits of leaves and things, stuck to her topknot to tail.

You have to get somebody, Antwan said, to bite all those burrs off you, somebody more devoted to you than I am, 'cause they're prickly, cut your mouth up and swell your tongue.

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