Shadows of the Redwood - By Gillian Summers Page 0,55
Laurie said.
Risa was torn between grabbing the front seat and sitting in the back, but finally the lure of Knot’s company won out. She sat next to Keelie. Sean took the front passenger seat.
“You really are, um, fragrant,” Keelie told Coyote. “You’re also bigger than I thought you were. Can you scooch over?”
“I don’t want to muss my tail. I have it just right,” he said. He looked out the window. “Are we going to the forest now?”
“I certainly hope so,” Sean answered fervently.
Keelie understood. She, too, couldn’t wait to return to the redwoods. She’d never thought she would want to leave Los Angeles, but this wasn’t her home anymore.
Sean closed his eyes and was soon fast asleep. Knot crawled up onto the rear deck and curled up. Laurie turned onto the L.A. freeway.
“I think it’s faster going up the coast road.” Coyote pointed his ears forward.
“The day I take driving directions from a coyote is the day I see a unicorn,” Laurie declared.
“Well, we know that ain’t going to happen,” Keelie muttered.
“I heard that.” Laurie drove on, but then took the next exit and they made their way to the coast road.
Keelie smiled. It was funny seeing Laurie arguing with a coyote.
“How about we stop at In-N-Out Burger?” Keelie hadn’t had one of their burgers in a year.
“They have great dumpsters.” Coyote licked his black, doglike lips.
“Eww!” Laurie and Keelie said in unison.
The coyote turned his golden eyes to Keelie. “Listen, it’s not like I can drive through and ask for a burger. A coyote has got to do what a coyote has to do to get a bite in this town.”
Keelie had never thought about how hard it was for a coyote, or any animal, to exist in an urban environment. She didn’t want to ask him about what else he did for survival in L.A.
“I like In-N-Out dumpsters,” Coyote was saying. “It’s a part of life. But if you really want to show a lady a good time, you’ll take her to Beverly Hills—Wolfgang Puck’s garbage cans. Delicious.”
“How about we drive through and buy you a real burger?” Keelie suggested. “Let’s skip the dumpster diving.”
“You’re kidding me? Right?”
Laurie nodded. “I think it’s a great idea.”
Coyote laid his paw on her shoulder. “Can we get fries?”
“Sure.” Laurie glanced dubiously at the paw.
Knot snorted, as if disgusted.
At the drive-through window, Keelie got another surprise. Coyote knew how to read. And now she wondered if Knot could, too, because the two animals stared intently out the window at the menu board. Knot would meow, and Coyote would say, “Large or small?”
Risa was the only one baffled by the menu. They ended up with many white bags full of food, and stopped at a sandy-beach overlook to eat. The wind was blowing steadily from the Pacific and the waves sparkled in the sun.
The elves looked healthier here, and more alert the farther they got from the city. Keelie felt better too. There was something about the concrete and steel that had sapped her energy.
After they resumed their trip north, the elves slept deeply. Keelie didn’t mind letting Sean ride with Risa in back, because they were both out of it. Coyote had curled up on the floorboard, too, and Knot was in his spot on the rear deck.
The miles went by as Keelie and Laurie talked about school and plans for the future. When Coyote woke up, Keelie listened to Laurie and Coyote talk about all the cool places to hang out in Los Angeles. Coyote and Laurie had even attended some of the same concerts.
Keelie accepted this as part of her strange new reality. She wondered what it would take to really startle her.
She glanced into the back seat at Sean, who still slept. She knew he had been wiped out, but she figured he could join the conversation. She had been thinking about how their relationship had heated up. Where were they headed? They had years ahead of them. Of course, Sean was ridiculously older than she was, even though he acted as if he were her age.
But. She turned her head and studied the long blond lashes resting against his cheeks. Asleep, and so handsome. Her heart quivered as if it had been shot by Cupid. She had no idea what her own lifespan would be. Would she be like Dad and live hundreds of years, or like Mom, who never made it to forty? That was her last thought before she fell asleep.