We were half a mile away from the Roman Luck house and I could still hear. Midnight could too, he tensed each time. I felt it. Bad people still put out traps in the woods. Leaf and I found a coyote once, his back foot caught in the metal teeth. The coyote screamed and screamed. He tried to bite Leaf, and did, on his upper arm, a deep nip, but Leaf got him free all the same. The coyote ran off on his three good feet and didn’t look back. Leaf stayed out in the forest for two days straight, waiting for the trap man to return to his snare. When Leaf finally came home the front of his shirt was dripping blood. Mim didn’t ask questions. She never asked Leaf questions. I see the coyote sometimes, standing in the trees at the edge of the farm, looking at me with his big ears and bushy tail. I know it’s him, because of the limp. He watches us for a while, and then retreats into the woods, back to doing his coyote things.
