[live] animal sighting

When the coyote trotted up, all I could manage was a wide-eyed stare. It heard her. “Lindsey. Lindsey. Lindsey, look!” My roommate, who had jokingly howled not but ten minutes earlier, was still in the tent while I melted some snow for hot chocolate. I must have startled it as much as it me—he darted back the way he came. Part of me had wanted to lure him over for a game of fetch; another part of me wanted to run screaming into the tent for cover. Though the coyote was gone, I resorted to the latter, but with more a squeal of delight in the wild I just witnessed.