Matt
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
Coyote-ish.
But it wasn't moving like an animal that's wary of vehicles.
It just stood there facing us in the middle of the lane, head slightly tilted.
Marin's uncle slowed.
He didn't honk.
He didn't accelerate.
He didn't swerve.
He braked to a stop a safe distance away.
The animal looked at us.
I know that sounds like me projecting meaning onto a stare, but I mean it literally.
Its head was up, eyes on the truck, still.
Then it opened its mouth, and it made a sound I can only describe as a laugh that didn't belong to an animal.
Not a hyena whoop.
Not a coyote yip.
A human-like exhale, broken into syllables, like someone chuckling under their breath.
It was brief.
It could have been anything if you heard it once in the wrong context.
But after the week we'd had, it landed like a weight.
Marin's uncle whispered something under his breath in his language.
He didn't spit.