Читать книгу Scratch - Steve Himmer - Страница 7

WE’LL WEAR THE SHAPES OF COYOTES, TO SLIDE UNDER THE scrub and travel close to the ground. You’ll keep up more easily on faster legs than your own, with a coat that blends into the bushes and sharper senses attuned to all you might otherwise miss.

Why should we look like coyotes? Why not something else?

These bodies are fast. They’re strong for their size, but small enough to avoid being noticed. And if your kind should see us, so what? What are two scrawny coyotes to be alarmed by, slinking along at the edge of the woods? We could wear rabbits, or butterflies, but neither of those would command your attention. You’ll listen to a storyteller with teeth and a growl, so long as it’s something you think is less fierce than a wolf. Coyote’s shape has worked for me many times, has worked so well he’s been blamed for my mischief, so there’s no reason his body won’t suit us for this story, too.

Follow me now. Get down on all fours. Use your forehead to push the low branches aside as we move toward the border between the town and these trees. This story begins on the edge of the forest as all stories do.