I heard a howl on Broadway last night. Yep, you heard right, howl. I had the TV on low while a car commercial ran. I figured the howl was part of the commercial and disregarded. Then it came again. Awooooooooooooooooo. It's true I have my share of drunk guys stumbling out of the Social Club downstairs, and so far I've heard a few songs belted out, but never a howl. I looked at the television, no sign of a werewolf.
Awooooooooooooooo. That time the howl scared me. I ran over to the window and pulled up the blind just in time to see a dog running across the street to the gas station. I felt a chill, fearing that the poor baby had been hit by a car. As I watched, he stopped by a pump, sat down and raised his head and howled. He didn't look hurt. He howled again and then loped away into the dark neighborhood.
Loped? Loped. Not ran off. That's when it occurred to me that maybe it wasn't a dog. Had I had a wolf sighting on Broadway? It looked like a wolf, it howled like a wolf, it loped like a wolf. Dog or Wolf? Or...a Coyote.
I admit I'm a bit of a Castaneda fan and even superstitious on occasion. Maybe it was a vision? my spirit animal come a calling to remind me that there was still mystery in the world. Howling to tell me to turn off my television. I obeyed.
But in the morning, the timer turned the TV back on. There on the news ran a teaser: "Coyotes in Los Angeles? More at the end of the hour".
This from the Associated Press:
December 7, 2006
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- The number of reported coyote sightings has increased in West Hollywood, the Hollywood Hills and Beverly Hills, officials said Thursday.There have been about seven coyote sightings in the last seven to 10 days, said Sam Baxter, West Hollywood's facilities manager.
I didn't report the Lincoln Heights sighting. Who says only the rich people see Coyotes?
I had a similar "wild animal" experience the other night. I live off of Crenshaw and Washington, which is smack right in the middle of historical old LA and miles from any hills or wilderness areas. Even so, we've got flocks of wild green (and quite noisy) green parrots that frequent the large palm trees in the neighborhood. We've also got rats that run across the telephone lines at dusk (I watch them in my backyard). Even wilder, we have big possums. One night I opened my front door and there was a big possum on my front porch. It looked at me and I looked at it; we both were kind of shocked. Then it shuffled off to who knows where. But none of these animals seem that out of the ordinary to me, even though I can't figure out where the possums live during the day (!). Anyways, I had a new experience last week that really surprised me. It was night time and this big cat-like creature came bounding across the street into my front yard. When it got closer, I saw that it wasn't a cat but that it was a ... racoon! I couldn't believe it. I mean, my neighborhood has been in existence since the the late teens/early twenties (my house was built in 1923), so it's not like (at least I don't think) the racoons were hold outs from natural wild prior to development. Also, if they migrated here, I don't know how they did it. They would have had to cross over all kinds of major streets (like I said, I live at Crenshaw and Washington, the heart of the city), not to mention the 10 freeway. I've lived in urban LA for 17 years now and I've never seen a racoon in any of my neighborhoods. I've lived in my house for 8 years, and last week was the first time I saw one. Then, on Friday night (the same week), I saw two racoons make the same loping trek across the street into my front yard and then continue on their scurrying, scavenging way. Like I said, I'm still a bit shocked about how they got here. And like the possums, I can't figure out where they live during the day. I mentioned this experience to a friend and she says she's seen racoons in her yard, too. But she lives in Echo Park, which, to me, seems a more likely locale for racoons due to the proximity of the hills there (even though she lives in the barrio portion). Anyways, just thought I'd add my animal experience on top of yours.
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