to read as much as I can.”
Ferlinghetti brought Hal 10
or 15 books. “If you want any-
thing else we ship to Texas.
We have a policy here that’s
been in place since we opened
in 1953, we don’t charge coy-
otes. You’re our first cus-
tomer.”
Hal laughed, “Thanks so
much for the books. Can we
communicate through email?
Lou is my communicator.”
Ferlinghetti replied, “I’d
love to have an ongoing rela-
tionship with you Hal. I feel
like there’s so much you can
teach me.”
Hal shook his hand again.
“I can certainly learn a lot
from you.”
After San Francisco they
headed north along the west
coast to Canada, stopping at
Muir Woods so Hal could
brag to his friends at home
that he had hiked his leg on a
bigger tree than they would
ever see. When they got to the
Canadian border a funny
thing happened at the inspec-
tion station. The drug dog
started whining and wouldn’t
even leave the building.
They
hung
around
Vancouver a couple of days,
and then went all the way
across Canada west to east,
stopping in a different town
every two or three hundred
miles until they hit the Atlantic
coast in Maine. Hal again
walked out in the water up to
his belly, and howled.
They followed the Atlantic
coast to Boston, New York,
Washington D.C. and finally
to Georgia, and then turned
back west to Texas going
through Fort Worth, Odessa,
and south at Pecos. They were
gone a month and had seen
everything Hal had wanted to
see. The coyotes met them at
the gate and they all let out a
howl. Everyone gathered on
the patio, looked at pictures
and talked about the trip.
That night, Hal said, “Lou,
you’re a hell of a friend to do
that for me. I had a great trip
and I feel sure I’ve been far-
ther than any coyote has ever
been, especially in a truck with
a good looking woman driv-
ing. Not to mention meeting
another human I could talk to
and him being a hero of mine
to boot. As you know we
buried Buddy in the yard not
long ago. The rest of my
howlers are getting a little long
in the tooth, as y’all might say.
What do you say we shut this
money maker down and kick
back for a while?”
Lou said, “That would be
just fine with me. You’ve put
a lot of money in the bank for
me, enough that I won’t ever
need any more. There’s plen-
ty of money to care for your
friends until they pass.”
“Lou, I love you more than
any coyote I’ve ever known.”
Lou laughed, “Hal, I love
you more than any coyote I’ve
ever known, too.”
Lou invited everybody to a
howler retirement party at
Kokernot Field in Alpine. She
served barbeque, iced tea and
cold beer from Big Bend
Brewery. The coyotes sere-
naded the crowd. The crowd
just went wild, demanding the
songs again and again.
At the end folks gave Lou
hugs and patted each coyote on
the head. Lou passed out CDs.
Lou, Hal and the coyotes
lived happily ever after, riding
around in the truck, hanging
their heads out the windows
with their goggles on, playing
music, howling, eating lots of
barbeque, cheeseburgers and
chicken fried steaks with lots of
cream gravy on Sundays. Hal
slept on the floor at the foot of
Lou’s bed every night for the
rest of his life. A coyote would
do that!
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2015 Chamber Events
October - Marathon to Marathon & Quilt Show
November - Cowboy Social at Ritchey Brothers Building
December - Fiesta de Noche Buena
– go to marathontexas.com for details –
Cenizo
Fourth Quarter 2015
25