The Coyotes of the Wash: Red Hugh

I was cuisin' along all nice and sedate like, not because I couldn't get along any faster. No, my speed was in check because I was a listenin' to some hummin' coming from up ahead a ways. I was nearing the busted up gate near the houses on't other side of the wash, ready t' swing left and through it. As m' wheels straightened out again, I turnt m' eyes up the trail. That's when I saw him, unmistakable. It wasn't just coyote, it was Red Hugh Coyote, and it had been quite a while since last I laid eyes on his visage.

He'd been a loungin' (and hummin') at a little bit of turnout off t' the right. Once he saw me a comin' he got up and walked up the trail, just a bit, before turnin' back t' his turnout agin. I figure he thought better'n t' head up that trail the same way I was a goin' knowin' that i'd a given him chase. He wasn't wrong either, I would've. At this point I was goin' pretty slow so as not t' put the scare into him, and it was nothin' to stop and see what he'd do. Well, o' course, he did jus' what I expected he'd do - he stopped and watched me.

Haven't seen ya in a while, Red Hugh, I said while steppin' down on the right crank t' inch forward some. Red Hugh ain't the most shy of coyotes, but he's still wary an' he retreated up an embankment a bit behind the turnout. That was an interestin' song y' were hummin' there, it sounded kinda familiar like. "Just a little something I came up with while lounging here," and he started singin'. He sang:

"I was once out strolling one very hot summer's day

When I thought I'd lay myself down to rest

In a big field of tall grass

I laid there in the sun and felt it caressing my face

As I fell asleep and dreamed

I dreamed I was in a Hollywood movie

And that I was the star of the movie

This really blew my mind

The fact that me, an overfed long haired leaping gnome

Should be the star behind a Hollywood movie, hmm

There I was

I was taken to a place

The hall of the mountain kings

I stood high by the mountain tops

Naked to the world

In front of

Every kind of girl..."

It all sounded very familiar, but you know, coyotes, and Red Hugh ain't any different, cain't carry a tune and I jus' warn't sure. Then, how-some-ever, he got t' the chorus part:

"There was long ones, tall ones, short ones, brown ones

Black ones, round ones, big ones, crazy ones..."

(Miller, Scott, Dickerson, Jordan, Brown, Allen, Oskar, Burdon - War)

I wouldn't let him finish and broke in, you're nothin' if not a fancy liar, Red Hugh. I know that song an' it sure ain't yours.

I was creepin' forward again t' get one more good shot of Red, but he started t' move off. At that I punched my front brake a little too hard, while comin' to a stop, and pitched forward, left foot clatterin' on the rocks. I don't know if Red took offense at m' words or was scairt by the sudden jerky movement, but he was gone, disappeared into some higher brush. There was no use now, he wasn't comin' back, and the western hills were just about to make their final grab for the sun. It was time for me t' go as well.

Incidentally you're probably thinkin' Red Hugh Coyote takes his name from Red Hugh O'Neill, the last Earl of Tyrone, but you'd be wrong. Instead, he's got a distinct if subtle red hue to his coat, which is particularly noticeable in the last light of day. He's a bit on the thin side, and while wary like any other coyote out there, is also curious (to a point) about visitors.

Red Hugh blends in pretty well, don'tcha think

a bird in the yucca and a coyote in a bush

there's Red Hugh