continued from page 23
“Probably Buddy, Roy, Delbert,
and Waylon, they all work good togeth-
er and mix it up well, so it’s not just a
bunch of howling. They put a little
rhythm in it with their howls, you can
dance to it. We’ve got another gig
Friday in Alpine and one in Marfa for
the closing of the film festival. I’ve got
Terry and Lloyd available to take care
of the Midland oilman this weekend. I
think I’ll push off; that second beer
made me a little sleepy.”
Over the next year Hal and Lou
became good friends, spending
evenings listening to music, having a
few drinks and talking about life and
their particular place in the world. Hal
taught Lou the coyote language, what
the yips, yelps and barks really meant.
She taught him the perspective of a
human being.
After Lou went to bed, Hal spent
most of his nights reading her books --
he was geared to stay up at night. He
would sleep during the day while Lou
was at work. He started with maga-
zines and a few audio books. He soon
moved on; Mark Twain, Woody
Guthrie, Kurt Vonnegut, J. D. Salinger
and all of Larry McMurtry’s books.
Then one night on the patio Hal
said, “Lou, when you don’t have to
hustle so much, you end up with a lot of
time on your hands. It’s natural to start
thinking about making a little art. The
other night I was hanging out with my
friends and Buddy said to me, “Hal,
we’ve been practicing a couple of
songs, do you have time to listen to us?”
Lou you won’t believe how good they
are, and they want to sing for you if
you’ll listen.”
She replied, “Of course, I’d love to
hear them.”
The coyotes joined Hal and Lou on
the patio. They sang “Rave On” by
Buddy Holly and then “Only the
Lonely” by Roy Orbison. Buddy was
the lead on “Rave On” and Tanya was
the lead on “Only the Lonely.” Lou
started howling along with them, and
made Hal get up and dance with her.
“Y’all have no idea how good you
are. I’ll get my buddy in town to come
out here and record y’all. We’ll make a
CD to listen to in the truck and around
the house. Work up a few more songs.”
They made the CD with original
tunes in addition to “Rave On” and
“Only the Lonely.” They had a roaring
good time driving around West Texas,
all the windows down, music blaring
while they sang along. Those that
24
Cenizo
heard it started calling it “Coyote
Country Blues.”
Lou and Hal were having a drink
one night, when he asked, “I under-
stand some humans don’t like others
because of the color of their coat, how
does that work?”
Lou laughed, “It’s not their coat, it’s
the color of their skin, but yeah that’s
true, always been trouble about that. I
guess prejudice comes in all sizes and
colors, but ignorance is always at the
root of it. It’s not just skin color or race,
sometimes it’s gender. At one time in
Texas a woman couldn’t get a loan or
buy a house without having a man co-
sign. There’s prejudice toward gay peo-
ple, toward people that speak different
languages, people with different reli-
gions. There’s even prejudice associat-
ed with political parties. In the end it’s
always ignorance that causes it, not
dumb but ignorant. Even I’m preju-
diced, I’m prejudiced against judgmen-
tal prejudiced people.”
Hal just scratched his ear, and said,
“Well, a coyote wouldn’t do that.”
Another night Hal asked Lou about
politics. “Lou, it seems from what I’ve
read that the winner of a political office
in Texas is the candidate that raises the
most money, is that right?”
She said, “I’m afraid it is, but I wish
that wasn’t true.”
He said, “Well, I’ve got an idea,
what if y’all put a cap on how much
they can spend. So much for governor,
different amounts on down the line.
Then it wouldn’t matter so much
where they got the money. Seems it
would be cheap enough to monitor
what they spend. There would be an
additional advantage too. The voters
could see which candidate managed a
set amount of money the best without
raising more or borrowing at a deficit.
Once the allowed amount was raised
they would be free to do their job, and
it wouldn’t do them any good to raise
extra money because they couldn’t
spend it.”
She replied, “That really sounds
simple and good Hal, but the law
would have to be passed by people that
are in office now. They’re not about to
cut off all that money. Politics pays
pretty good, I hear.”
Hal said, “Well it seems to be a real
poor way to pick leaders, a coyote
wouldn’t do that.”
Another night he asked Lou, “Why
do humans have wars? We have terri-
tory problems too, but usually nobody
gets hurt badly, the loser just moves on
to a different territory. War puzzles
Fourth Quarter 2015
me. I’ve listened to enough TV news
and read about it in books so I know
that it has gone on forever. It costs a
whole lot of young valuable lives, not to
mention the tremendous amount of
money.”
Lou answered, “I sure as hell don’t
know, I lost a sister and a cousin to war.
It’s the age old question about why it
continues. You’d think people would
get sick of it and quit.”
“Well, you can bet your chili a coy-
ote wouldn’t do that.”
“I also lost my husband to war, and
I’ll never forgive it for that,” Lou
added.
“My sympathy, Lou.”
“Let’s change the subject, did you
know that the name coyote is an Aztec
word, coyotl, and that the Mexicans
changed it to coyote. Y’all have been
around almost two million years, and
range from Panama to Alaska? You
live around 12 or 14 years, you can run
about 40 miles per hour, and jump 15
feet or more. Some Native American
people and other Aboriginal people
worshiped coyotes as deities. There’s
also a famous cartoon character named
Wile E. Coyote, that’s always being
outwitted by a roadrunner, but every-
body knows the coyote is the smarter
one of the two in the real world.”
“No, I didn’t know any of that. I
should read more about coyotes. I do
know we survive because we will eat
almost anything except a roadrunner.
We eat any kind of animal, fish, birds,
bugs, rats. In the summer we eat a lot
of fruit and vegetables.
“You probably know it, but we
sometimes mate with dogs and wolves.
That produces a more aggressive ani-
mal than a pure coyote. There’s less
fear of people when the pup has a little
dog blood in the mix. A couple of them
have threatened or bit people. The
most famous time was when your gov-
ernor shot one of us with a laser sighted
pistol while jogging through our habi-
tat. Humans have tried to wipe us out a
couple of times, especially in Texas, but
instead we’ve steadily expanded our ter-
ritory from the west toward the east and
we are thriving in all the states now.”
Howl for Hire went on for seven
years. Eventually they charged $500 a
night. They added a few new cus-
tomers and didn’t lose any old ones.
The biggest job was the Super Bowl in
San Antonio. Lou took all the coyotes
for the whole week and charged $5,000
a night. They showed up at the
reopening of Boquillas Crossing in Big
Bend at no charge. Along with their
cousins from Mexico they serenaded
reopening the crossing, closed since
9/11.
One night on the patio Hal said,
“Lou I’m getting old in coyote years,
and I’d like to see a little country while
I can still appreciate it.” Lou said,
“Well, let’s plan us a trip. I’d like a little
road time too.”
About a week later they were set to
go. They left early in the morning, with
Hal’s head out the window, goggles on
and Lou with a big cup of coffee and a
full thermos beside her.
First they headed to Clovis. Lou
stopped at Nor Va Jak Music Inc,
Norman Petty’s studio. Hal got out
and hiked his leg on the front door.
They laughed all the way to Fort
Sumner.
After Clovis they headed west to the
Pacific Ocean. Hal walked out in the
water up to his belly and let out a big
howl.
They followed the coast highway
north to San Francisco where Lou
stopped at City Lights Bookstore to buy
a signed copy of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl.
When she started out the door
Lawrence Ferlinghetti himself stopped
her. “Is your name Lou? Do you have
a coyote in your truck named Hal?”
Lou stammered, “How did you
know that?”
Mr. Ferlinghetti said, “I’ve been
talking to him telepathically the whole
time you’ve been in here. Would you
please bring him in so I can meet him?”
Lou and Hal came back in the front
door.
Hal raised his paw to Lawrence and
said, “Pleased to meet you, Mr.
Ferlinghetti, I’m Hal. You’re the only
human besides Lou I’ve communicated
with and the only one to speak to me
telepathically.”
Ferlinghetti shook his paw and said,
“You’re my first coyote conversation. I
talked to a rabbit one night for a long
time in the ‘60s but it never responded.
Anything in City Lights you’d like to
see?”
“Could I see the basement where
Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Cassady spent
their time?”
“Right this way Mr. Hal, they sat all
over the room, not in any special place,
but this where it all happened years
ago.”
Hal sniffed, and looked at every
square inch of the room, and finally
said, “Thank you so very much
Ferlinghetti, it’s been an honor to be
here. I haven’t read all the Beat litera-
ture yet, but being here will inspire me